MuskokAmazing!

It has been a crazy year what with us both leaving jobs, starting a business, Eleda starting school, etc, etc, etc.  Alan and I decided that we needed to get away for a bit, but there was no way we could take a week off to go somewhere warm or anything like that (not to mention I don't think either one of us would have been able to relax after the first few days being away from the kids and the business).  At the right moment a Travelzoo email landed in my inbox with an awesome deal for the JW Marriott "The Rosseau" resort in Muskoka.  After my wonderful parents agreed to take the kids for 2 nights/3 days, we headed north.  

We had decided ahead of time to stop about halfway, which is conveniently the location of the Vaughan Mills mall, complete with both Bass Pro Shops (for Alan) and the Disney Store (not so much for me, but for Christmas gifts for the kids).  We had a great time shopping, and then continued on our trek.  I haven't been north of Toronto since I was a kid, and I had no recollection of the sheer beauty, especially with all the late autumn colours.  It was breathtaking.  We especially enjoyed all the Inukshuks left atop the Canadian Shield.

Getting to the resort we were upgraded to a room with a balcony which was just lovely.  Each suite is equipped with a nice little kitchen, dishes, pots & pans etc, so if you wanted to you could do all your own cooking.  We will consider this next time as the restaurants on the resort were very expensive.

We spent quite some time out on the balcony with a glass of wine watching the sun set.  It was very romantic.  There are a LOT of pics in this post, but I just couldn't resist sharing.

The view from our balcony:

Our first bottle.  There were quite a few, but that's part of what a childless vacation is about, right?

 Here's Alan posing with his Bear Grills knife, his favourite purchase from the Bass Pro Shops trip.  It's actually so cool that even I think it's cool.

Alan wanted to go fishing, so we took a walk down to the docks.  It was raining lightly, but really quite nice.  No fish were caught, but Alan had his fishing rod and I had my camera, so everyone was happy :)

A loon just swimming on by.

I really suck at self-portraits, but I wanted a photo of the two of us on the lake and we were all alone.

 Alan's fancy new knife comes complete with attached flint.  Even though everything was wet, Alan wanted to show off his fire-starting prowess.  He is man.

 Few things make Alan as happy as setting a fire without matches.

Alan: "I bet I can climb up there".  And he did.

Ta da!  It doesn't look that high, but remember at eye level I'm shooting from almost 6.5 feet up.

Our first deer sighting.

I think this was our fourth deer sighting.  I didn't get the camera out in time for the others.

On our way home, we stopped at a cranberry farm (conveniently  located at the same place as the Muskoka Lakes Winery... shocking that we stopped).  I'd never seen a cranberry harvest before, so I thought it was pretty neat.

The last bunch are just shots of the Shield taken from the car on the highway on our way back home.  I really couldn't get enough of their majesty.