Collingwood, Ontario

A month or so ago, a singer I would like to see was going to be performing not far away, and a short overnight road trip was planned. It was Tim's weekend with Gavin, and I requested off work from the bar. It was going to be great.

Then the show was cancelled.

I was extremely bummed :-(

All I wanted was a night away from work, dogs, house, any thoughts about anything, know what I'm saying?? I feel nonstop majority of the time and still never get everything done that I need (ie, cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, laundry, playing with dogs, playing with Gavin) and/or desire ( Putting together the games and crafts G and I used to do, I'm about 55 blog posts fewer than I was last year at this time, and I haven't had the pleasure of taking a bath in over two years. At least!!). I was now leaning towards calling my coworker covering the shift and letting them know that I would be available after-all. It's not like I don't desperately need the income anyway. My dream for a break was over. And that was okay. There will be another time.

Until a phone call late one night led to a different trip for the weekend. I hadn't picked the bar shift back up yet. It was still Tim's weekend. But the destination was a tad bit further away. Hmmm...could this happen? Can I use personal time from Owens? Will my parents be available and willing to help make this work?

After an astounding YES to all of the above, and a half workday Thursday, I was on my way to Collingwood, Ontario.

 Good thing I have a passport.

I just had to be back by Sunday evening. Whilst it was a short trip, it was great.

Did we do much up there? Why no, no we didn't. It was between seasons and the caves and cavern tours were closed. The zip line was closed. The tree walk was shut down along with the suspension bridge. We missed everything by a couple weeks.

Do you think that stopped me from enjoying time away? Absolutely not. I had zilch responsibilities for nearly 74 hours. That in itself, was phenomenal.

We arrived Thursday night around 8PM, after taking a few wrong turns and adding some time to the drive. GPS machines are annoying, I never learned to read a map appropriately, and the stops we made for directions were less than helpful. But we made it. It really wasn't that bad.

We arrived safely, dropped off our bags, said hello, and went to get food before crashing for the night. 

Friday morning, we hit up a walk behind the resort.

At the end of the boardwalk, you could go down and follow some rocks or walk near the bay.
I went for the rocks. Alone.

But someone cut up around the bend you see there, and beat me to the end.

Checking out the lighthouse out there.

It's hard work balancing over those large, goose s$*t slicked rocks.
Pardon my French, but we are in Canada, eh.

I'll just shimmy over this one. Rolling an ankle isn't in the plan.

A controlled balance requires the arms to be up and out.


What is it? Looks like a bird. Or a plane?!!

Nope. Just a big pile of rocks. I added one.

Heading back over the boardwalk...

And had to stop and take a picture of the hosts, Joyce and Tom.
Thanks for the invite!!

Of course, therefore we needed one, too.
Thanks, Tom.

 Back at the resort we cooled off a minute, went and ate lunch and drove up to the slopes.
No way would I think about going down this BIG hill wearing ski's. Not sure I would attempt a little hill either. It would surely end badly.

Might as well check out the views though, right?


And this ends the pictures I've acquired for day one.
Lack of a PC to PC cable to complete a transfer of files.
__________________________________________________________________________

Day two we ventured out to find the lighthouse...to no avail.
Then to find the beach that Joyce and Tom had suggested... no luck with that either..

But we passed a sign about another cave tour that I had seen, so we went to find it.
You think we did? No.

The thing about Canada...their roadsigns are horrible. Some due to language, others to being teeny tiny, some just kinda vanished as we traveled. Oh, and the speed was in km, rather than miles. I would have booked it at 100 on some of those roads. Pretty sure most the locals did.

Rather, without any knowledge of where we were heading, we followed a sign that said Walter's Falls.
Hey...it might be a waterfall!

After a long road uphill, we found a city, heart-breakingly named, Walter's Falls.

It's. Just. A. City.

Mr. I-Spy soon eyeballed a little blue sign with waves on it.
A waterfall, maybe?

BUT OF COURSE!
Right behind the hotel pictured two photos below.

You could walk out on this little gated area and overlook the rapid.



But where does that pipe go? Better yet, see that little bridge over there??
Let's cross it.

We found several interesting things.
No, it wouldn't start.
The 666 on the side there makes me think it should just be left alone, anyway.

It's a trail. Looks safe. What's the worst that could happen?
(It pretty much goes down where it appears to take a hard right)
Slow and steady.

Kinda muddy and slippery. But we made it down.




Back up top and near the "overlook walk" we found a map that showed trails leading to two other falls.
Our little adventure begins...

Next up,

Eugenia Falls
(more like a trickle)

But you see how high that is?!

A path and a huge stone/cement wall kept us from being able to look very well. Too many trees.

Decisions...

See the wall to the left?

This spot looks safe.

Mr. Safety daringly went much further.

No worries, the roots of those trees are completely going to hold fast in the rock. Lean away.

Point made that you can't see over the edge without standing on the edge.

But why didn't I ask to hold your keys?


Last but not least,

Hogg's Falls.

Pretty, isn't it?!

I'll just hang on to this tree while you step down on that upside-down one and balance on muddied roots.

You have to walk out to get a good view of the falls.

Otherwise all these limbs get in your line of vision.

Easy does it!

 When I get the rest of pictures, this post will most likely be modified. You know me and pictures.

Not sure what all he took. I didn't have a camera. These are all courtesy of Mr. Bower.

Thanks for a nice weekend!