Day 1 (October 3, 2025): Orillia, where 77% said ‘yes’!

I’ve often been asked how I come up with my travel destinations. To be honest, the inspiration can come from the weirdest of sources. Back in 1978, the pain-reliever, Anacin, had an ad on Canadian television that explained how families in Orillia, Ontario had taken part in an Anacin trial. The ad concluded that, In Orillia, 77% said ‘yes’ -- as in, they would continue using Anacin.  Ever since that ad campaign in 1978, I’ve wanted to visit Orillia - for no other reason than the fact that the scenes of the town in the 1978 ad intrigued me, and I thought it would be a neat to visit and try to understand the people there, as to why they preferred Anacin over Aspirin or Tylenol! As I said, inspiration comes from the weirdest of sources.

I’m also a total pushover for great airfare deals.  So, when WestJet had return fares of $190 to Toronto, I said to Pam, “Let’s go to Orillia!”  It was just too good to pass up.

Pam finished school at lunchtime Friday, so just after 1PM, we headed to the airport for a 3:20PM WestJet flight to Pearson.  The aircraft, a 737 Max 8, had just come in from Charles de Gaulle. Despite the ongoing flight to Toronto being packed, it left pretty much on time and landed at Pearson right on time, at 4:50PM.  By 5:30PM, we were in our Hertz Nissan rental and battling Friday afternoon commuter traffic, combined with weekend cottage-goers, pouring out of Toronto and heading to the Muskokas, also known as cottage country.  The distance from Pearson to Orillia takes 75 minutes with normal traffic.  It took us 1 hour, 40 minutes, but it certainly could have been worse on a Friday afternoon.

We checked into the basic but comfortable Best Western Plus Mariposa Orillia Hotel and soon after headed across the street to Kelsey’s Roadhouse Grill, where we enjoyed ribs (Pam) and fully-dressed nachos (me).  By 10PM, it was lights out.  We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow, and we need a solid rest to be ready for that!

Upon takeoff from Halifax Stanfield, we were shocked at how low the water levels are in the lakes near the airport - the cumulative effect of months of extreme drought.

The fall foliage in Nova a Scotia is really taking off!

Orillia, population 32,000.  Pulling into the city where “77% said yes” just before dusk.

Link to 1978 Anacin ad
This is the Anacin ad I referred to above -- do you remember this ad?

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