Top Twitter moments: The Nation Vacations

With not much to do but wait for the NHL season to roll around, we’re looking back at some of the best moments from Nation history and today I’m looking at a few of the Nation Vacations we’ve taken over the years.

A while back, Zach Laing crowdsourced the Nation’s Twitter following for some of their favourite moments that we’ve all shared over the past handful of years, and one of the things that came up was the Nation Vacations we’ve taken together in the past. And since I’ve been on every single one of them, I tapped in to be your guide for some of the best moments from past Nation Vacations. Whether it was our ski trip to Jasper, the first real group getaway for the Nation, the weekends in Calgary, or the flights we took to Vegas to watch our boys play, there is nothing better than the times when we can all get together to watch hockey and make some memories.

After months of talking about getting together and hitting the road, the first trip we ever put together was a weekend in Jasper to get some skiing in and watch a game from the mid-mountain chalet. After arriving in Jasper, we settled into our hotel and then hit up the restaurant to finish up a game and get acquainted. Since it was the first time we had ever done this, a lot of folks hadn’t ever met each other yet and it was a lot of fun to watch people get to know each other based on nothing more than social media handles. To be honest, seeing Nation Citizens get together for the first time is always my favourite part about any of these events and that first trip to the mountains was no different. While our boys got dummied in that game, the seed for further Nation Vacations was planted and it wouldn’t be long until we got back on the road.

With the experience of that first bus trip to the mountains under our belts, the most logical progression was to pack a bus full of the Nation’s finest and make our way down to Calgary to watch our boys go to war in the Battle of Alberta. Over the last couple of years, we haven’t seen many wins down in Calgary but that doesn’t mean we haven’t had an insanely good time. From the bus rides down to the endless chants to taking over the press level at the Saddledome to meeting up at Singapore Sam’s at midnight post game, I can’t even begin to tell you how much I miss these weekends away. As I’m writing this in mid-December, all I can think about is how we probably would have had at least one of these in the books in a normal year, but at the same time, I know that the next time we’ll be able to travel together will be absolutely electric.

With all of the insanity that’s gone down this year with COVID-19 ruining basically everything, it’s almost unbelievable that we were able to get this incredible group of people down to Vegas for our second Nation Vacation to Sin City. From the moment we landed, this amazing crew was ready to party and that’s exactly what we did. On night one, we took over the PBR Bar and absolutely packed the place to watch the Oilers beat Anaheim before jumping on the mechanical bull they had out back and disappearing into the Vegas night.

The next morning, we all hydrated as best as we could before making our way to T-Mobile Arena to watch the Oilers and Golden Knights get after it. For the second straight year, we didn’t get to see a win down in Vegas but it really didn’t matter all that much because it was the moments we spent with each other that truly mattered. I know I probably sound a little bit sappy with all of this, but this trip down memory lane made me appreciate all of you so much that’s honestly tough to describe. Without you fine folks, this website wouldn’t be anything and we certainly wouldn’t have the opportunity to pack a plane full of amazing people to make some foggy memories in another destination. I know I’m starting to sound a little sappy here, but this walk down memory lane forced me to look through some of the amazing times we shared together and, as I mentioned before, I can’t wait until we’re able to get together again.