The great white North !

A few weeks ago, our wonderful neighbours asked us to go to their cottage, just passed Perry Sound, with them for the weekend. Since my hubby and I love the great white north so much, we were excited to accept the invitation.

We headed up on a Friday morning and arrived there mid afternoon. It was only a three and half hour drive but we made a few pit stops on our way, so we ended up taking closer to five hours to get there. Their cottage was wonderful. When they purchased it, it was a very run down little shack. They gutted it entirely, changed the floor plan around, added a mudroom and wonderful deck facing the lake. What a view!

The boys or should I say men? Decided to take their ATV’s out for a spin and check out the area. Us womenfolk stayed behind and got the cottage organized and watched some tv while we waited for them to get back. When they did get back, we all got ready and headed out to dinner. Now as you know most small northern towns don’t have much more than a variety store and LCBO store, but this town had a wonderful hidden gem that made the best Schneitzel! They were the biggest portions I had ever seen and they melted in your mouth.

As we left the restaurant , we were greeted by 2 amazing deer standing about 20 feet away from us. Picture Perfect. We admired them, and they admired us and then we got in our car and headed down the long driveway only to see the baby deer folicking in the woods along side the road. We headed back to the cottage and settled in for the night.

Saturday morning we got up and had a hungry man breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast. What a feast. I swear breakfast always tastes better in the North. We then got all geared up for the -13’ weather and headed out on our Atv’s. We crossed the frozen lake near the cottage. What an interesting sensation. I knew the ice was more than thick enough to carry us, but at the same time my brain was thinking “I am on a frozen lake”. What a site ! the ice went forever and other than our Atv noise, the silence of nature is beautiful!

We spent about 4 hours out riding on trails through the woods. We stopped around lunch time and had a much needed bowl of warm soup. Then hit the road again to head back to the cottage. There is so much to see in the woods. We saw chipmunks, squirrels, a big patch of blood that could have been from a hunters kill or perhaps an animals dinner? We saw the most amazing rocks and granite walls. The boys dropped us off at the cottage and they went of for another short venture. But first they did the most amazing, fun donuts on the frozen lake infront of us ! show offs !
That night we had a feast of homemade ribs and we settled in to watch “The tourist” on tv. I had a wonderful nights sleep after all that fresh air and a huge meal.

Sunday morning we tidied up the cottage, packed up and hit the road to go back home. I had a wonderful weekend, and it brought back so many great memories of my childhood camping excursions. My family went camping every single summer. Sometimes we used our family camper, other times we rented a cottage. But no matter where we slept, I can tell you this, we had a great time. Nothing beats family time, scrabble matches, roasting marshmellows on the fire, jumping in a cold lake, singing along to Johnny Horton, after dinner entertainment of seeing the bears at the dump, hungry man breakfasts with last nights leftover steak and potatoes, canoeing with my sisters, feeding chipmunks peanuts, fishing off the dock, swatting at black flies who eat hunks out of your neck, getting lost in a good book while sitting on the boat dock in a comfy chair, throwing a tennis ball into the lake for our dog to jump in and grab, the sound of loons on the lake, the sunrise and sunset across the lake, practice holding your breath while using the stinky outhouse……………these are some of my favorite memories.

Nothing beats the great white North !