Travel: Muskoka, Hunstville, and Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada
Spring's coming fast. So that means, we're approaching summer... and that's cottage season.
It's funny for us because our perspective on a 2-hour drive was just way off, totally in the different side of the spectrum. We came from Manila where space is pretty tight. So that meant traffic on the roadways are most often heavy or just in a complete stand-still. We migrated to Canada about a decade ago and traffic in Manila was already bad then. If I woke up late and didn't leave our house by at least 6AM, I would most probably spend my morning stuck in the car. And that was 10 years ago. My family and friends have constantly been updating us on these types of situations - I heard you can spend at least 2-3 hours just stuck in the middle of traffic, when your destination is pretty much just 20km away.
Now... here in Canada, there's just so much space. You could even get to another country with a 2-hour drive (yup, that's us crossing the US border).
Summer means cottage country here. Because Canada is mostly known for it's wintry weather, when the weather warms up and it's sunshine all around, you'll immediately want to head on to a lake, soak up the sun, and enjoy the beautiful outdoors. Just to clarify... my husband and I will always and forever LOVE WINTER. Like I hide in shade when the sun comes out. Maybe because we grew up in such a tropical climate, we've overdosed on sunshine. But of course, if you have temperatures that can get as low as -30℃, you'll welcome a few months of summer. Still with a large hat and knowing where the nearest air-conditioning source is. Carl and I also spent our "civil wedding honeymoon" at Algonquin, just east of Hunstville.
We were fortunate enough to spend a good number of days in cottage country again. In Aug of 2011, we were invited by my Tito (my uncle) and his group of friends and their families. And what a joyous time that was. Because they all had kids - mostly below 10 years old at that time, our days were filled with activities. Looking back, thank God I had the energy to join in on the commotion. I would've knocked out if we did the same things today. The beautiful part was also because there were so many moms in this group, you're sure to be fed any time of the day. We spent our days swimming in the lake, sometimes doing our nails, kids and parents playing a multitude of games (we even had a relay of some sort), lounging in the sauna, swimming again in the afternoon, and eating all the grilled up meat. We even got to tour the little town on their Main Street and enjoyed a few ice cream cones. At night, we'd compete with either the choice of a Wii dance competition or the usual karaoke battle. Because my husband could only take a few days off, he left earlier and took a train back to Toronto.
If ever you get to visit Canada, or are already in Canada, I urge you to visit cottage country. It's calm, beautiful, and serene. Enjoy a glass of wine or a cold bottle of beer while marvelling the beauty. It makes you appreciate stepping back and enjoying nature and the beauty of God's creations.
Here are some photos to take you to Muskoka on our mini civil wedding honeymoon.
And here are some more photos to take you to Hunstville and Bracebridge.
Just returned from there. So pretty. Didn't want to come back.
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