A Thanksgiving to be thankful for

We were fortunate to spend another Thanksgiving with our friends Marnie, Andrew, Amy and Isabelle and while the weatherman predicted gloomy weather for the long weekend, Mother Nature came through with a couple of crisp and clear days for much of time. Carolyn and I got to stay a few extra days and were treated to a morning of snow later in the week.

Thanksgiving hike

This Thanksgiving was definitely colder than last year and so swimming was out and hiking was in. We started off with a walk to Head Lake and back.

Not so mellow yellows

While some of the reds from last weekend had begun to disappear, the yellows were out in full force.

Head Lake

At the end of the trail we were rewarded with a "colorful view" of Head Lake.

A moose is loose!

Only seconds after Amy told us she wanted to see an animal, Andrew spotted this moose (and her calf which didn't want to pose) just off the trail, giving us all time to size each other up and snap a photo or two.

Bedtime Stories

After a full day of activities the girls are ready for a bedtime story with Mom before nodding off to sleep.

Cache Lake Trail

While the Cache Lake trail is significantly shorter than Head Lake, the girls found lots to explore on this mini hike on Sunday.

Nature Girl

Amy's collection of "flora" added to her hat gave her a decidedly elfin appeal.

A warm and cozy evening

As the temperature began to follow into the minus zone, we settled in for a cozy evening of reading by the fire.

Snow Globe

Wouldn't this be a wonderful scene in one of those snow globes that you shake for a winter scene. I love how the snow and the boat and the loon all magically came together and if you look carefully you can also see Pigeon's cottage in the background with just a slight accumulation of snow on the roof.

A fitting end

Snow in the trees, mist on the water - a fitting close to one season and beginning of the next.

Fall colors '09

The colors were definitely at peak this weekend and although they weren't quite as spectacular as last year's, they were absolutely beautiful.

A splash of red

Tanamakoon Colors

The sun came out for a short while on Saturday afternoon, so I took a few pictures in Tanamakoon lake.

Early morning along the highway

Early morning colors

This is my personal favorite, taken this morning at 8:00 before the mist had cleared.

A different kind of fall color

The change in colors is not just in the trees. These reeds display a beautiful red and green as the water levels fall. I think the lower part was red because it was not exposed to the sun and unable to photosynthesize

A touch of color

There is a fair consensus that the colors are a little late this year, so these pictures, taken the weekend after Labour Day show only the beginnings of the color to come.

Ripe berries in fall

This bush is just slightly to the side of Ted Morris’s dock and was heavy with red ripe berries soaking in the last rays of sun.

A wedding on Cache Lake

On Labour Day Weekend John Glynn-Morris married his lovely Sue on the point of their island on a perfectly beautiful day.
The Rigby’s float boat was transformed into “the Love Boat” ferrying passengers back and forth from mainland every half hour.

Cache Lake party

The night before the wedding Cache Lake friends and well wishers were invited to join in the fun with burgers for everyone.

A very handsome groom

ladies Dressing Room

The bride’s party had all the comforts in the boat house/dressing room - Rob Durnan’s generator even making hair driers and irons possible.

Here comes the groom

Tourists and a pair of loons look on as John is paddled to the Point by his groomsmen

Sisters

The sister of the bride and sister of the groom were the first to appear from the other side of the point.

Here comes the bride

As music wafted over the water the bride was paddled around the point by the groom's youngest sister.

Better than walking down the aisle!

Ever the gentleman, John helps his bride ashore.

They do!

While family and friends looked on, John and Sue repeated their vows.

Dancing the Night Away

Congratulations and wishes for a life of discovery and happiness to John and Sue Glynn-Morris!

Vacation Pictures are up

I have finally loaded all our vacation pics and placed them in the right order. The first few may seem familiar but if you scroll down you will find new ones. Enjoy!

Moonlight arrival for a summer vacation

We arrived on the lake a little after 10 p.m. to start this year's two week vacation. We were greeted by clear skies, a full moon and mist rising from still waters. A beautiful beginning!

Float Night - Thriller

Our first "vacation activity" was attendance at Float Night. Thriller - a tribute to Michael Jackson was the most elaborate of the four entries this year.

Cache Flash Delivery Service

Still Life

Pirates of Cache Lake

Loading Up

Right after the Bartlett Brunch, Barb, Rick, Heather, Carolyn and I set off to explore a previously unvisited (by us anyway) territory in the Park. This year our trip took us to Kiosk up in the northern part of the Park. We decided to rent a cabin in Mattawa, not far from North Bay and then drive in for a day trip to Kiosk. We were resigned to roughing it and had to make do with the bare minimum when it came to food and supplies - lasagna, pea meal bacon, smoked salmon, sirloin strip steaks, lobster. wine, candelabras, silver platters, and of course a floral centrepiece.

L'auberge des pionniers

This was the entrance to "L'auberge des pionnier", the once camp and now guest cabins where we were staying for the next two nights. The site was spectacular, right on the high banks of the Mattawa River and surrounded by nature conservancy and crown land so that you really felt you were on your own. The cabins were well appointed and comfortable and would have been complete perfection except for the rather large mouse/bat population that kept everyone alert at night. I wasn't particularly bothered by them - just more than irritated when we discovered they had eaten a large portion of our delicious gorp on the first night!

View from the Top

We quickly settled into our cabin which came with three bedrooms, sleeping loft, living room, dining area and kitchen capped off by a verandah with this great view of the Mattawa River.

Verandah Karma

Not only did the verandah afford us a spectacular view but it's large expanse was a great place for drinks, breakfasts and watching lightning after dark on our first night.

River Views

Soon after arriving and unpacking we hopped in the boat and set off to explore the Mattawa River. The banks were high on either side and the views spectacular. The owner of the Auberge told us the water was up to 170 feet deep.

Secret Falls

As we boated along the Mattawa river, we explored a fork on the right and discovered these beautiful falls tucked between the rocks and the trees

Face in the Rock

I just happened to snap a shot of this rock because I thought it was interesting. It wasn't until we returned from our river ride that I realized that I had captured a face that the locals refer to as Manatee. In fact it turned out that when we checked our cameras, Barb and Carolyn had inadvertently shot similar images.

Lake Kioshkowki or Kiosk

The next morning we got up bright and early, ate delicious breakfast sandwiches of grilled peameal bacon, eggs, tomatoes and cheese on English muffins, and then properly fed, we set off for the northern boundary of the Park. Soon we arrived at our destination of Kioshkokwi Lake. Since none of us had ever been on this lake before we were eager to unload the boat and see what awaited us. There is a boat launch, campground, ranger cabin and Park Office all accessible from this parking lot.

Exploring Kiosk

With a tank full of gas and our cameras at the ready, we set off to discover the sights on Kiosk

How many ducks?

Either this was a very large family or a quacking big town hall meeting. We counted 21.