4 Days of Bliss

Well, we're back from our wonderful winter get-away. Sunday morning we left from Hanover to make the 4+ hour drive up to & through Algonquin park to the small town of Whitney for our yearly winter retreat (just Joel & I). This was our fifth year staying at a Couples Only resort up there. We had our usual favourite room (pictured in the last blog), with a 5X6 jacuzzi in view of the fireplace & a nice big king-sized bed.

On Sunday after we arrived we hung out in the games room and played some ping-pong and darts while we waited to check into our room. We had a lot of fun :)

Sunday night we had our first wonderful dinner. The meals there are incredible, gourmet food, but not one of those places where you leave hungry...in fact I never did finish my whole plate! Friends of ours gave us the greatest advice the first year we went there: they told us to get our dessert to go (since you're stuffed anyway), and you can enjoy it later in your room while sitting in the hot tub or curled up watching a movie...we've done it every time. It's such a treat.

Monday was awesome. The weather was perfect for a ski...about 0 degrees I believe. A welcome change from the -20 degree weather we'd skiied in the year before. We ended up buying a park pass for Algonquin and we did the Pinetree Loop, which had gotten raves about being some of the most exhilerating skiing on earth. It was incredible! The trails were nicely groomed and even track set so we could ski right in the track. This was helpful on the big descents, until you lost the track because people had snowplowed, or whiped out and the track suddenly disappeared. I fell a few times, and once almost got speared by my hubby... It was an amazing day of skiing. I was thrilled we decided to do it Monday because that was our best & only day with good weather!

My darlin getting ready for the big ski

The gorgeous lookout that rewarded us on our trail. There was a little cabin situated right there with a stove in it where we enjoyed some turkey pepperettes, cheese & flatbread crackers :) WOW, who could ask for anything more?

They had a bag of birdseed in the cabin so I fed some little chickadees from my hand...it was so much fun! I remembered doing that as a child when we used to ski at Laurel Creek.

We also saw a tonne of moose tracks right on the trail, but unfortunately we never did see the big guy who left these tracks. They looked awfully fresh and we were hoping...no such luck, maybe next time.


We also saw these marks in the snow made by a mooses antlers as he drank from the little stream below...cool! We heard some pretty awesome stories from the ladies that worked at the resort about a moose they call bullwinkle who hangs out on the side of the highway and then charges vehicles when they drive by :) Too funny. Paula was telling us that he will jog up the road infront of her, and she'll drive real slow, honking her horn, flashing her lights, but the stinker won't get out of the way.

Tuesday it rained and went up to 4 degrees. I didn't feel like a 19 km ski that day, so Joel headed out on his own and I enjoyed some wonderful quiet time where I got to journal for the first time in ages. He was a little nervous out there on his own after hearing about a lone wolf that had been wandering around Whitney causing some havoc & seeing some wolf prints in the snow. We kept in touch by cell phone, but really, there wouldn't have been anything I could have done for him. Back in the nice, warm, dry room, I did some reading, and just had a real relaxing time. I had booked a massage, but the lady had to postpone it, so Joel & I ended up having massages together later that evening before supper. It was a nice treat.

Wednesday was our day to leave. We were awoken at 6:30 a.m. to the sound of the wind coming down our chimney, sounded almost like thunder it was so loud. When we got up and looked outside we couldn't see a thing. We ended up decided to start our trek home anyway since I didn't want my mom to have to take another day off work to watch the kids. We knew we could stop in Bracebridge and stay with Aunt Ruby & Uncle Paul if the weather didn't improve. Through the park and through Huntsville was okay, but just before Bracebridge it got really bad. We ended up spending the afternoon and night at my aunts house. There was a strict schedule there that we had to agree to before we could stay ;) News at 6 pm, Wheel of Fortune at 7 pm, supper after that, and lights out at 9 pm (hee hee). We tried to hold our own at the Wheel of Fortune, but Aunt Ruby kicked our butts! We had a really great visit with them. Thanks again Uncle Paul & Aunt Ruby...love you guys!!

Next year we're really going to miss our winter adventure, but it's our 10th anniversary so we're saving our pennies to head south. Aunt Ruby told us about her neighbours having an awesome time at San Andres Colombia, so I think we'll be heading there. It's not real 'touristy', you get to mingle with the natives & hang out in town and it's apparently some of the most amazing snorkeling...it's right up our alley. Finally we'll be able to explore Colombia together :) We just love the Colombian people.

Mel