Sitting outside with my laptop on the deck with my coffee, I just realized that I am in Canada for over 7 weeks (!). While that may sound long, time went fast except for the first two weeks. Hotel quarantine and traveling in current conditions (#covidtimes) give stress for sure. But moving here was something I was looking forward to for months! Super exciting to finally be here 😊
In the last weeks, I learned new things every day, and sometimes I was amazed about small differences and new experiences. From the wide roads, big cars, drive-thru's (I am obsessed haha), big packaging compared to Europe, the friendliness, outdoorsy lifestyle to many mosquitoes, and how long it takes when you order something online (feels like forever). But also, I got married to my favorite person😊 Whohooo 😊 So, all these changes happened quite fast and after a beautiful trip to the Northern part of Ontario, It feels like I finally have time to take you with me on the adventures that were happening the last weeks! 😊
Hoggs Falls
After my quarantine period, our first nice day away was to Hoggs Falls. We were prepared with bugs spray and a bag with our camera gear and water. We walked the trail along the waterfall and walked between fields, forest areas, and flowers with 3 white petals. The white trillium flowers were growing everywhere near the trail and are known as the “Ontario” flower because it only grows in Ontario, Canada, and was adopted in 1937 as Ontario's floral official emblem.
Our goal was to find a small wooden bridge along the trail, we saw images before and it looked cool. We found the wooden bridge! We took some pictures and after a couple of minutes and many mosquito bites, it was time to go to Hoggs Falls!
With some climbing (yes in a maxi red dress), we reached the waterfall, and it was magical!
Niagara Falls
While moving here we also planned our wedding. It was finally our big day! 😊 We had an amazing day, outside in a beautiful setting, with a small group of family members and lots of loved ones on the live stream! I love the words said and how our eyes met while we couldn’t wait to say yes to our adventure of a lifetime together!!!
We stayed in one of the hotels with an amazing view of the falls. I loved the moment when I opened the curtain at 5 am and saw the moon and falls together. After our wedding day, we walked along Niagara Falls, it has always been a special place to both of us, and now walking around as a married couple made it even more special.
Cabin life
After our stay in Niagara, it was time to pack our bags again and head to the northern part of Ontario for an off-grid stay in a beautiful and cozy wooden cabin in the middle of the forest.
Super excited and happy we arrived at our cabin standing between hundreds of tall maple leaf trees. We dropped our bags and drove to Doe Lake to see the views. After that, I hiked around the trails near the cabin, and then it is time to cook dinner.
That night of course I had to go to the bathroom outside of the cabin, so with a torch and a little bit scared I went outside. I looked up and saw lots of bright stars filling the sky while the trees almost formed a frame around them. Quickly I walked back to the cabin and heard a different (scary) sound.
The next morning, we woke up early to go back to Doe Lake and see a bit of sunrise. This area of Ontario is more quiet, hilly, and has many beautiful lakes. We wandered around, made some pictures while the sun was shining soft light on our skin.
Of course, then it was time for a coffee at the drive-thru of Timm’s after such an early start 😉
And then out of the blue, I saw lupine flowers along the road. For those who do not know, I love flowers and these I wanted to see for so long. We pulled the car near the road and jumped out. With the risk of getting covered in mud, I found a beautiful spot in the middle between the flowers. My love is so sweet to take pictures and our shoes were muddy but, we did it 😉
We drove around the area and saw beautiful big butterflies and for the first time, I saw a porcupine along the road.
The next stop was the hike near lake Bernard. We were the only ones walking around and found a beautiful spot on one of the rocks looking out on the lake. While sitting there together It made me daydream of owning a house near a lake.
That evening something funny happened. After dinner was watching something on the tablet and I suddenly saw torch lights outside. At least that is what I thought. But it was fireflies zooming around the cabin haha.
While we got warned that we might see some wildlife, nothing bigger than the baby squirrels playing around the cabin showed up until our last night in the cabin. That evening something was making noise outside. I was too tired to check and fell asleep. Suddenly my love woke me up. He saw antlers and eyes curiously looking through the window. We both were wide awake and tried to see if the moose or a deer was still there. But we found only tracks of hooves in the sand near the cabin.
While we were awake anyway, we took pictures of the beautiful night sky.
Muskoka
The next morning, we packed our luggage and went for a hike near Muskoka. While walking along the waterline of the lake we saw a beaver sitting and eating. The trail wandered further into the woods and brought us along with many beautiful spots. We stopped for a break and while sitting down on a blanket we enjoyed the sight near the lake.
After our hike, we drove back, and we started planning new adventures 😊
Soon more!
With a smile,
Nicole
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