Used to for brevity, the back road to my in-laws place is much closer (I live in the northern suburbs, the highway comes into the south-east of the city), but these days I usually have my grandchildren with me and they get carsick on winding roads. The highway cuts through the hills and is relatively straight, the back way follows the ridges and winds like a snake with a broken back.
I live west of Toronto and there is only one major highway going that direction, one day there was a large part of the highway that was closed down going both ways so we had to take back roads and side streets. It was a nightmare. A trip that usually take about 1.5 hours ended up taking almost 5
