Muskoka Adventures Day 3

The Final Forray

Monday was Lucy's first birthday! Lisa made her a pretty party hat, we sang Happy Birthday, Mom Adams made her a lamb and rice "cake" with a little candle and everything. It was possibly the cutest celebration I've ever seen.

Monday began with WORK! Wedding work. Wedding-planner-Lisa had made the delightful decision that our table centrepieces should involve birchwood candle holders. I had no idea what this even meant, except that they were wooden candle holders (duh) until I saw what they would look like:


Awesome.

What I also didn't know was that they were to be hand made by us. I'm not really one to shy away from power tools, but I get nervous using other peoples' big expensive equipment because I am Emily: Destroyer of Technology. So Lisa and I let the boys get started and instead ensconced ourselves in the kitchen to make breakfast. We spent most of that particular morning completely polarized: Lisa and I making breakfast, cleaning house, washing dishes, and finally enjoying a cup of tea on the porch; Jim and Graham at the drill press, breaking for a meal, then drinking tea back at the press. Eventually, Lisa and I got a little restless and joined them at the press to see how things were going:




Then we forced them to take a break:


Which they actually didn't really appreciate, so we gave them back their tool.


We decided to make one last journey into the wilds. Now, between this decision and the actual forray, there is an unfortunate story involving car keys and an automatic locking mechanism on the rental car. The moral of the story is this: Mazdas have an automatic locking mechanism which activates if all the car doors are closed and the keys are NOT in the ignition. They had fallen out of my pocket onto the back seat. It was a $70 lesson about cars and now I am wiser. We told the nice people at Enterprise about the incedent (there was no damage from the saviour from Gravenhurst whose job it is to help unfortunates such as ourselves, but in the interest of full disclosure...). They've given us 25% off our next rental for the trouble. Enterprise is basically awesome (and cheaper than Budget, surprisingly).


Anyway, annoyed with myself, I hiked with Lisa around familiar ground. We were cheered up and reminded of yesterday's great victory with this:

As we rounded a corner (sort of) I came basically face to face with this thing. It was no more than 20ft away. And it didn't move. I hissed at Lisa until she noticed, then the three of us stood completely still in this strange triangle. Lisa got two great shots. He seriously posed for her pictures for a solid five minutes. After the second shot, he nodded once then went on his merry way. We wanted to follow him, but he was too quick.

Awed and somewhat humbled, we continued up the rock mountain and eventually settled down just to watch scenery unfold before us.

When we got back to base we told all about the deer and made them look at our pictures (because we're like that). We saw how much the boys had completed. It was impressive.

Then Mom Adams asked us if we wanted to go for a boat ride. DID WE!? I hadn't been on a boat in over a year and forgot how cold it could be. We went everywhere we could think of (and everywhere Dad Adams was willing to take us). We drove around "Bird Shit Island" which is so named because it is a nature preserve and utterly covered with seagulls, cormorants, and a few herons. There are photos on Mom Adams' blog (Great White North), but not here as our camera was burried somewhere in the trunk of the car. Back at the base, we ate a good lunch of leftovers, then had to say our goodbyes and head back to the big smoke.

We all a spectacular time. I cannot express how grateful I am to Mom and Dad Adams for their hospitality and generosity. I hope to make another visit or two before summer's end (and will happily rent because it's totally worth it). Thus ends this adventure, and spurs the creation of a new one.