Trip to the Cottage

Rob and I went to a cottage from Monday to Wednesday with 3 other couples and we had a fabulous time! We enjoyed food, fun, food, fellowship, food, games, food, hikes, food, conversation, food, and oh, did I mention food?

The cottage was simply beautiful. We found it online, and reserved it sight unseen, and we were not the least bit disappointed!





It is a large 5 bedroom cottage. Four of the bedrooms were good sized, and contained queen size beds, so that worked out very well for us. This is the view from the loft down into the great room.



This was the view from the bedroom Rob and I used.



Looking up to the loft from the great room.

The cottage had two full kitchens. This is the one in the basement, which other than the fridge, we did not use.

This was a "living room", also in the basement.

The loft, with a pool table.

One of the bedrooms.

The bedroom Rob and I used. It was in the basement.

This is a group shot. From left to right, Rob A, Karen, Paula, Ray, Rosanna, Jacob, Rob V, Dianne.



Jacob & Rosanna



Rob & Dianne



Ray & Paula

Quite a few pool games were played, especially between Rob V and Jacob, who I think were quite evenly matched.

Paula and I played each other a couple times...I think both times we set records for the longest pool game! :)

We had met at Rob and Dianne's on Monday morning, as Rob's employer had kindly lent us a van that we could use. All of our luggage DID fit, without too much effort. We were on our way at about 8:30 in the morning. The ride was uneventful, save for our attempts to make a pitstop in Peterborough! The route we took through the city didn't lead us by any Tim Horton's, so we were through town, and in need of a place to stop. Planning to stop at a gas station as a last resort, Jacob suddenly spotted a Tim Horton's a short distance ahead. We pulled into the parking lot, only to see that it was closed for renovations! So, we kept going, and soon found a Giant Tiger. Deeming this to be a suitable alternative, we stopped, and 5 of the 8 of us went in to use the facilities we were sure they would have. Indeed, they did, but only for employees, although they kindly allowed us to use the washrooms. I'm sure they thought it rather strange to see that many people wanting to use their washrooms!

We found the cottage without difficulty, arriving at lunch time. We unloaded the van, explored the cottage, chose bedrooms, settled in, had some lunch, went for a walk, relaxed, played pool. Until it was time for the evening meal preparations. Monday's meal was prepared by Jacob & Rosanna and Ray & Paula. Chicken on a beer can, roasted potates, corn, beans and apple sauce - yummy!

We took our food very seriously...especially the chicken...which was scrumptious. I'm not sure of the exact process, but I know each chicken was rubbed in spices, and then barbeque'd while sitting on a non-empty beer can.

The dining area.

Monday evening we played some games, chatted, and went to bed at a reasonable hour. On Tuesday morning, we enjoyed the flat Dutch pancakes for breakfast - Jacob did the bulk of the work for this. We thoroughly enjoyed them too!

Our getaway was not without an adventure though! The driveway to the cottage was a reasonably steep hill, that we had pretty much slid down when we arrived on Monday. Under the dusting of snow, it was a sheet of ice. As we would need to go home on Wednesday, the guys decided to see if they could get the van up the hill. However, despite their efforts, the van would not get to the top of the hill - the steepest part of the hill was at the top. Having pushed as far as possible, they left the van there, and came in to phone CAA.

A few hours later, a tow truck came to our rescue.

Cold work, laying down in a pile of snow!

Once the hook was securely attached to the van, the tow truck operator started winding in the cable. I was surprised how slowly this went. For the next 4 pictures, I took them over about a 2 or 3 minute period, while standing in the same position.

Inch by inch, the van was pulled up the hill. However, the work wasn't done, as there was a second hill to climb. Rob V was able to fish-tail his way up this hill, and from then on, we parked the van at the top of the driveway, near the road.

Where the van was before it was pushed/pulled out.

Parked at the top of the driveway. This made repacking the van on Wednesday quite a bit more work, especially since it was very cold Wednesday morning, but our men took care of this for us!

Rob & Dianne and Rob & I were responsible for Tuesday's dinner and Wednesday's breakfast. We served rouladen, scalloped potatoes, meatballs, salad, roasted vegetables & garlic toast.

The rouladen required some assembly, and as we take our food very seriously :), the process was well documented by photos!

Each rouladen was a thin piece of beef, rolled up around bacon, peppers and a pickle.

Then it was dipped in flour, and browned.

Lastly, put into a baking pan, covered with gravy, and then baked.

Tuesday night the guys played monopoly - the Dutch version. This made it a bit more challenging for those not fluent in Dutch - and Jacob did a lot of translating! Ray won this game.

We stayed up quite late Tuesday night, and were up a bit earlier on Wednesday, as we planned to leave around 11. Breakfast was another feast of omelette, french toast and fruit salad. We then cleaned up and packed. Ray diligently vaccuumed the entire cottage, and it took him a long time - thank you Ray! We definitely left the cottage cleaner than when we arrived, although it was quite clean when we came, apart from the dishes. We ended up washing nearly all of them prior to first use.

Here's a few miscellaneous pictures.

Our walk on Tuesday afternoon, on a nearby rail trail.

Rosanna enjoying a book...

The guys relaxing and talking together.

On Tuesday, after the van was extricated, the guys went into town to the local arena. We had hoped to skate on the lake, but it was not frozen. As the guys still wanted to skate, they went into town, and did have the opportunity to do so. They also stopped at a store to pick up a couple items that had been forgotten, and Rob bought me some flowers! Thank you, dear husband!

On Wednesday, shortly before arriving at Rob & Dianne's, we took the van through the carwash. This might have been the highlight of our trip :) The particular gas station we went to offered a touchless or soft cloth car wash. Rob V asked which we should choose, to which Ray replied "The soft cloth is more fun". So on the merits of fun alone, we went through a soft cloth carwash! :)

All in all, a good time was had by all - thank you dear friends, for all your contributions to our getaway!