Once immersed in wintertime Corner Brook, it only takes a few days to grow exhausted and depressed due to the constant gray skies and never-ending snow.

For me, this leads to thoughts of how and when I can make another escape. With a few vacation days left before the end of fiscal and 34000 Aeroplan miles burning a hole in my pocket, it was time to take advantage of the beautiful fact that a flight from NL to anywhere in Quebec is only 15000 miles (instead of the 25000 miles to anywhere past Quebec).

In addition, a flight with two stops costs the same as a normal flight - so I could add in some remote, hockey-playing Quebec town which would normally be expensive to reach, but then fly back to Montreal afterwards and not have to base my whole vacation out of said remote town.

Sitting down at the best Corner Brook brunch spot which is in a strange mini-mall, Isy asked about the next trip I was planning. I told her about getting out of town just for a few days to head up to Rouyn-Noranda and she seemed on the verge of being unimpressed with how I hadn't asked her if she wanted to go.

Once we sorted out that this would be a great opportunity to visit her father and relatives around Montreal, everything was back on the up and up! Haha.

Everything wasn't on the up and up as the trip approached though. A few days prior to leaving I had a scratchy throat, and by Thursday morning I was struggling with hot spells and achiness as we pulled out of frigid Corner Brook and on to the Trans-Canada Highway.

Now I love obscure airports and logistics, but even I might have to admit this Thursday was going to be a long day. Our flight left Deer Lake at 620 in the morning. Then we had 4.5 hours in Halifax. Then a 2 hour flight to Montreal. Followed by a 4.5 hour layover in Montreal. Then an 80 minute flight up to Val d'Or. Then 3.5 hours in Val d'Or. And finally a 25 minute flight to Rouyn-Noranda where we'd land at 1040 at night Quebec time.

By the time we made it to Montreal, I was useless when it came to providing layover companionship. Thankfully there were some marginally comfortable seats where I could stretch out, far away from any loud children or tourists, but where I could still sit up every 5 minutes after working up the gumption to peer off at the Auburn & New Mexico State March Madness score.

Also of note, as someone who uses about 2 sick days a year, I wasn't finding the amusement in using precious vacation days when I was actually sick.

Isy knew little of the Rouyn-Noranda/Val d'Or area where we were headed up in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region. I took advantage of this fact, to sell her on the trip by informing her of the totally truthful fact that Rouyn-Noranda is known as the "Hawaii of Quebec."

As we headed northwest from Montreal, up to the same degree north as places like Timmins and Thunder Bay, she peered out at a white landscape of boreal forest upon the Canadian Shield. The look on her face made me think she was struggling to see the close resemblance of Val d'Or to Honolulu.

Landing in Val d'Or and channelling my inner Michael Jordan, it was time for my flu game. There was no way I was going to skip exploring a distant and new noteworthy Quebec metropolis just to rest in an airport, so I pulled us into a cab and rode into the modest, mining town of 32,500 souls.

Dinner was going to be at this promising microbrewery, where I loved the look of their merchandise, as it leaned into the local mining industry and had sweet shovels and pick axes on their bottles and shirts.

(Yeah yeah Donnie & Steve, make your Gravediggaz jokes here.)

Ready for a quiet, low-key evening at the Microbrasserie Le Prospecteur, instead the doorman immediately turned us around because they had live music tonight; and not just a random guy singing but some guy who commanded and sold out all of the $25 tickets. The place was absolutely packed and we were now SOL as I hadn't really thought I'd need a backup plan in Val d'Or on a Thursday in March.

I wanted to keep walking around in search of dinner, but Isy wanted to get back to the airport to prevent stressing out about missing our last flight.

We hadn't walked by any exciting food establishments so far, so I convinced her to give it one more street worth of exploration. Every direction looked like housing areas though, so taking a side street, we then popped out at this corny, yet acceptable chain pasta place we'd already seen.

With 19 locations in Quebec, Alberta & Saskatchewan, I can now say I've had Mia Pasta.

Afterwards, we had to walk over to the local QMJHL arena. While I've never heard anything about their team moving, Val d'Or is small, mines can close at any time, and their team doesn't have the best attendance. Even though I'd love to save my first walk into this arena for when I return for a QMJHL game, I couldn't risk the arena closing in the meantime.

Holy cow was I happy we walked over to the Centre Air Creebec. As this is one of the 4 remaining QMJHL arenas I have left to see, I would be excited by anything, but the Centre Air Creebec is a gorgeous 1949 relic where it's remarkable that they still play junior hockey in this 2100-seater.

I don't want to post a ton of pictures because I really hope to someday return and post a proper Val d'Or experience, but man does a Foreurs game look like a good time.

Most hockey fans will come up here and get both Val d'Or and Rouyn-Noranda in one shot, with it being this far north of Montreal and the two towns being so close together. The problem for us though, was that we couldn't get an Aeroplan flight that would allow us to stay in Rouyn-Noranda any longer.

As tomorrow was opening night of the QMJHL playoffs, Rouyn-Noranda was the #1 seed in the whole league and got to play at home as a result. On the other hand, Val d'Or was the #13 seed and off playing in Victoriaville. If we were to wait for the Val d'Or Foreurs to come home, we would have had to stay 6 nights up here and that wasn't happening.

Stepping out from the arena, I accepted heading back to the airport early as it was now dark.

If we back it up a few minutes, while sitting eating pasta at Mia Pasta, I got a call from Air Canada and we both grew worried because why else would the airline be calling - except it was just Air Canada staff in Val d'Or checking that we were still going to take our flight to Rouyn-Noranda?

She went on to explain that Rouyn-Noranda and Val d'Or are so close that almost everyone will get their family or employers to pick them up in Val d'Or instead of waiting 3.5 hours through the layover. Some people even pay for a taxi for the 1 hour drive.

What a silly idea - as if we were going to skip out on quality Val d'Or Airport time!

Everyone finding alternative transport explained why the airport was deserted though - which worked great as I belly-laughed while turning off the Habs game here in Quebec - sacré bleu! - instead using the remote to put on the Bruins game as I put my feet up in the lounge.

There would be no olé, olé, olé chant tonight in Val d'Or. Let's go Marchand!

After wondering about security and the emptiness of the Val d'Or Airport, finally someone showed up at the last minute and we needed to clear their security into a cavernous room. Once in there, we barely stopped walking as the woman wanted to scan our tickets immediately as the lights of the plane were approaching. One minute later, our plane from Montreal landed and no one got off - it was just the two of us out on to the tarmac and into the plane where I'm sure the passengers were annoyed with having to land only for us. Oh well! What a funny little system.

Pulling out of Val d'Or, the plane went nowhere near 30,000 feet as it milk-runned its way over to Rouyn-Noranda so quick that we didn't have any seatbelt-free time.

Which was fine, because even through my excitement of another new airport upon landing in Rouyn-Noranda, Isy and my sick self were both ready to attack that last cab ride and collapse into slumber following our fourth flight and third layover.

(I obviously still had time to appreciate the sweet, neon-light accented skyline panorama of Rouyn-Noranda above the baggage carousel.)

Continue to Part 2...