Gloucester Pool

Consider yourself warned - this is going to be a monster post, especially in terms of photos. Sorry to those of you who, like me, are on dial-up. If posting this isn't a kick in the pants to finally get signed up for high speed, I don't know what is. We've been meaning to do it for ages. I hesitate to spend the money, but it will seriously cut down on my time online.

We've been away for several days. We went to visit my sister Steph and her husband Mike at a cottage on Gloucester Pool, close to Coldwater, Ontario. For those of you as bad at non-401-connected Ontario geography as I am, Coldwater is fairly close to Orillia. Believe it or not, this was my first time at an authentic Muskoka cottage. I can understand the appeal. It's very woodsy, and outdoorsy, and seemed like a very Canadian place to be. Unfortunately, we picked the Worst Time Ever to make a long road trip. I filled the truck up on Monday or Tuesday at 95 cents. By the time we left town on Wednesday morning, gas was up to $1.19. As we drove toward to Toronto the prices were all hovering around the dollar mark, and we couldn't figure out whether Chatham was (for once!) ahead of the trend, in some sort of Twilight Zone, or what?? At any rate, we were on vacation, so we didn't really care. What were we going to do, not go????

We landed at the cottage around 4 p.m. It's on a very twisty, windy access road, which made getting there fun. Liam did really well in the car - slept pretty much the entire way, aside from a stop we made in Vaughn to get something to eat and feed him. Here he is, getting reacquainted with Aunty Steph:

I love that he has his hand squished up between his face and hers in this photo: enough with the kisses!!!! And I didn't think he would reach that kissing-is-gross stage for several more years:

Here is the cottage itself. Could you get more Muskoka-y than this? Not that I have anything to compare it to, I suppose, but this is what I always imagined the quintessential Muskoka cottage to look like:

You can see the afternoon sun streaming in - the cottage has a southwest exposure, so afternoons are perfectly sunny and warm. Which meant that going down to the dock as soon as we got there was a great idea. Liam changed into his bathing attire, which included a little terry surf hoodie to keep the sun off (though Mike sort of killed the innocent fun when he said it made Liam look like Hugh Hefner):

There are several modes of water entry at the cottage - you can dive straight off the dock, or use the diving board, or a slide, or the steps - but most popular of all proved to be "The Ball":

Well, for Chad, anyway. Liam stuck to the steps, and this is as deep as he got:

After a welcome-to-the-cottage swim, we made dinner (actually, Steph and Mike fed us):

...and then enjoyed the sunset, visible from the deck...

...and once Liam was in bed, the adults spent the night playing Texas Hold 'Em. Which I have never played before, but I am pleased to report that I did respectably well. I wasn't the first one out, anyway:

Next morning - perfect weather - what was on the agenda? Back down to the dock...

...and more flying off the ball...

Repeat as necessary until it was time to leave. You pretty much get the gist of the trip!!

On the way home, I had to stop to take one last photo, this time of a Coldwater landmark - this is a tiny little town of only about a thousand people, but we found this:

I don't know why it's called a Corner Store when it's actually in the middle of the block - whatever...

Unfortunately for us, by the time we went home, gas was up to $1.27. We didn't stop to fill up in Coldwater - decided instead to wait to see what the price was like closer to Toronto. Big mistake! We bought another half tank in Vaughn for $1.33 per litre. We stuck to a half tank, thinking we'd buy just enough to get us home. Well, gas in Chatham is $1.36. We should have filled it the whole way. Wrong again!

One more note - on the way home, we stopped briefly in London. Liam did fine up until that point but then he got fussy. So we pulled over and I fed him. We thought that would be the end of that, but he got increasingly agitated and cranky and by the time we were back on the 401 it was a full fledged scream with waterworks and all. After enduring about half an hour of this and being at wit's end, I finally risked life and limb and climbed into the back seat next to him. Well, it turns out all he wanted was a little bit of company. The crocodile tears dried up and he started laughing and smiling. Which was all fine and well for this trip, but if he thinks I'm going to sit with him and entertain him in the car during every trip, he's got another thought coming...