It's been a long trip, but a fun one.  I don't imagine I'll ever want to do it again (just not THAT into curling, that I need more than one championship!), but I'm really glad I came. It is, of course, a totally different experience to be in the building for the event than to watch about 1/4 of it on television (TV features one of the four games, during any given draw, naturally), and I learned a ton. Here is a link to the best story I found about the final. It suffers from typo-itis, but the information is more detailed than what I found elsewhere.  It's from the local paper in Brandon.

Headed out about 8:30 for the drive to Winnipeg.  Seemed easier this time--probably because I knew what to expect, and didn't discover that I had a 2.5 hour drive when I got in the car and turned on the GPS.  Wide-open landscape between Brandon and Winnipeg, and the snow cover and the frosty trees were beautiful.  

Got to the airport in good time for lunch before getting on the plane.  For once, all went smoothly!  Next stop: Minneapolis.