A Weekend Away

Thank the Powers That Be for Long-Weekends.

Josh and I recently decided to use some of our vacation time this year to make ourselves a bit of a long weekend in July and possibly get away. We realized the last time we had gotten away was back in 2006 when we went to visit Heather in Montreal. We considered flying somewhere, but then recalled that I had not yet got my passport...and so the decision was made to drive up to Gimli for the weekend.

We packed ourselves up and left early Saturday morning. Our route there was a little round-about, taking us through some small towns and on some majorly slow highways. At one point traffic came to a complete stop, and as we wondered why we noticed a turkey standing on the side of the road, staring up at traffic. I was so stunned I completely forgot to grab my camera and snap a picture. After our wildlife encounter we made our way to Winnipeg Beach for their Boardwalk Days. We checked out some of the merchants and little shops and Josh reminisced about the little town where he spent most of his summers as a kid.

We got to Gimli by about noon and decided to wander the town. We grabbed some food and ended up meeting up with Michelle and her family who had come to Gimli for the day. Michelle's uncle has an adorable Jack Russel tarrier named Daisy who we got to spend some time with - she even got Josh to carry her for a bit. She's an awfully cute dog, but damn is she spoiled! Later on we checked in, enjoyed the beach for a little bit and got ourselves some dinner.

Our room was pretty nice. We had a balcony with a view of the beach, a nice little kitchenette and had a separate livingroom. It was a nice area to lounge around in after another walk around town and some swimming that first evening.

Day Two was packed to the brim with activities...and while awesome, was completely exhausting. We started our day with breakfast (there was an amazing bakery in town with everything from breads to cakes, cookies and éclairs. Mmmmmmmm!) and then went out to enjoy the sunshine on the beach. Seagulls had claimed the beach-front early in the morning, but were slowly driven away by tourists coming to enjoy the sand and sun. We lounged in the sun for a while and eventually decided to rent some kayaks and go out onto the lake. Man did I wish my camera was waterproof!

Paddling around the lake was a lot of fun and I think both Josh and I want to do that again. I haven't been canoeing in ages, and this totally reminded me of that. Next time I'll bring a water safe camera, I promise. :-) With our kayaking adventure behind us, we grabbed some lunch and went for a hike.


Disaster. 100%. Before leaving on our trip we had looked up some hiking trails nearby, unfortunately researching did not prepare us for the horrors that we would encounter. Armed with bug spray and sunscreen, we went on our merry way, only to find the trails flooded and filled with mud. Not only that, but most of the hiking trails we came across were overgrown and scary looking. At one point we even reached a dead end...the trail just stopped. WTF?

We tried hiking on two trails around Camp Morton, an old Catholic camp built in the 1920's and 30's. The grounds around the camp were well maintained and we checked out a few of the structures (including a water-tower which Josh attempted to lift and take home with us). While the camp was nice, the trails surrounding it were complete and epic fail.

During our journey into untamed woods, Josh began to hone his tracking skills. He sensed nearby prey and began to lock in on his target. We found some pretty cool looking deer tracks along the trail, in the tiny portion that wasn't completely made out of mud and knee high grass. I definitely was not made for country life.

After some icecream and another refreshing swim we went and grabbed dinner. The rest of the day was spent wandering the town and taking photographs, relaxing in the hotel room and watching some movies. By the time night rolled around we were both exhausted. Despite the fact that I'm still sick and coughing, sleep certainly came easily Sunday night. Zzzzzzzzz....

The next morning saw another delicious pastry filled breakfast, a visit to a tea shop and our journey home. We managed to make it home in about half the time that it took to get to Gimli and came home and basically crashed. Josh, Michelle and I all set up Diablo II on our computers and just vegged out for the evening. All in all I must say I had a pretty awesome and relaxing long weekend. Great weather and great company - who could ask for more? :-)