My Birthday in Los Suenos

On a cold winter night (-18c), in Fort William, Ontario, a beautiful baby girl was born on January 22.  And that's when I entered the world.  I weighed in at 8lb 5oz and was 24 inches long.  I was always grateful that I had long legs, never in my life have I had to have a pair of pants shortened.

For those of you who don’t know this, Fort William no longer exists.  It’s kind of cool to say that I was born in a place that is no longer.  On January 1, 1970, Fort William and Port Arthur, along with two townships, Neebing and McIntyre amalgamated and became known as Thunder Bay.

It’s hard to believe that 45 years have gone by.  And this birthday, was definitely the warmest I’ve had yet.  It was very overcast, but still 31 c.  A long way from those freezing cold ones up north.  Much prefer spending a winter birthday in shorts and t-shirts rather than parkas and long johns!

We had heard about this place called Los Suenos; a marina with boats to take out tourists.  We had looked on the map for it; and since it wasn’t listed, thought it was a small fishing village.

I couldn’t have been more wrong!  We called a cab and headed up the highway just a few minutes before we turned off heading towards the ocean.  A few minutes later, we turned into this absolutely beautiful resort.  Called Los Suenos.  And for the next few hours, we got a glimpse of how the wealthy live.

Along the way, there was one beautiful condo after the next; and according to our driver, the really “nice” houses were on a private road.  Apparently Michael Jordan has a place there; and prices were said to be in the millions.

We also passed the Marriot hotel complex, and were told that a night there is $500 plus.  We then drove to the dock; left our cab and started looking around.

There were lots of really really nice boats.  In fact there were 3 of them, that we figure we could afford about a half a tank worth of gas with our yearly income.  Oh to be that rich!

There was a Tiki Hut style restaurant that wasn’t open yet; but we poked our heads in to take a look.  The first entrée listed was filet mignon for $40.50 - Yikes!  Obviously we weren’t going to be eating here.

We headed out to the pier and found some rocks to sit on and just watch the comings of goings of a marina.  We even stopped at a fishing tour company and inquired about some prices.

First price was for a boat, 3 bedrooms and holds 6 people.  Full day $3595.00 - YIKES!!! The cheapest boat available for a half day was $995.  You guessed it… we didn’t go out for a fishing tour!

Around 4:00, the boats started coming in.  They used the dock closest to where we were sitting; as a drop off point.  And not one of the boats had a successful catch.  A couple of them had “bites”.  Seems like a lot of money to spend to have a “bite”.  But to live and play in this area, you have to have a lot of money; and for some of these people, 4 grand is just a drop in the bucket.

We headed over to The Hook Up for dinner.  It had been recommended to us; and turned out to be a good choice.  Most of the people in here seemed to know each other.  Lots of the boat captains; and many of their passengers.  The place was really hopping.  The food was great; and it didn’t cost an arm and a leg to eat there.

All in all it was a great birthday.

There was also a special birthday in our family on Friday.  Mike’s baby brother turned 50!!!  Tomorrow, our niece Stephanie turns 24; and on the 27th  the latest addition to the family turns 1.  We wish all a very happy birthday and hope that everyone enjoys their day.

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