Cottage Country

9:33 a.m.: Wake up naturally with the sun beaming through the panes of your window. The sounds of cicadas and motorboats hum quietly in the background. You lie awake for several minutes, well rested. There’s no rush to get up quite yet….you have nothing but time.

10:16 a.m. : Eat breakfast outside on the deck. A large bowl of fresh fruit from the local market sits in the middle of the table. Wave to boaters as skiers as they pass by. Still lounging in your pajamas, you are reminded by your dad that the lake will be getting choppy if you don’t get out on the water soon.

10:50 a.m.: First run of the day. Took a spill on your first attempt getting up, but your second run was perfect. Not a cloud in the sky, the water just warm enough, you look up at the driver and yell “hit it” for your third run.

12:27 p.m.: After a quick dip, you run out of the water to dry off because burgers and watermelon are ready. After eating what may be your 8^th piece of water melon, you get up from the Muskoka chair you’ve been sitting in, look out to the water and think, “can it really get any better than this?”

1:03 p.m.: Feeling a little sleepy from the lunch, you reapply your sunscreen, grab that book you’ve been meaning to read for ages and sit back down on the Muskoka chairs on the dock.  The book rests closed on the armchair—you’ll get to it eventually. Instead you rest your head back, breathe, and relax

3:00 p.m.: Eager to try out the new tube your parents just bought, your little brother wakes you up abruptly from your afternoon siesta. The next forty minutes are filled with loops, figure 8’s, jumps…sheer madness, how does your brother always convince you to go?

3:40 p.m.: Stop at a nearby cliff on the other side of the lake. It’s about 30 feet…but you’ve seen higher. You climb on up, realizing it’s a lot higher than initially thought. You look down, close your eyes and jump out into the sheer, navy water.

4:30 p.m.: Back at the house and dried off, you look at your watch and think to yourself, “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere…”, so you reach into the cooler, (that was just recently replenished), and crack open an ice cold can of…. lemonade.

Sound too good to be true?

            What I just described to you is (in a nutshell) what a typical day in Ontario’s cottage country consists of. During the summer, herds of people migrate to Ontario’s North, leaving the Greater Toronto Area a relatively barren and uneventful place—inhabited only by those who have to work or were unable to make the drive up that weekend.

            It is really hard to explain what the cottage (not lake house) life is to someone who’s never experienced it first hand. People unfamiliar with Lake Joe, Lake Muskoka and Lake Rousseau and the likes probably won’t understand the point of driving two plus hours twice a weekend, every weekend, for an entire summer—but man, is that drive worth it.

            Sure it’s quite the headache getting out of the city, but once you’re on highway 400, listening to country music with the windows open and the smell of Weber’s wafting in the distance—you know it’s going to be a sweet weekend.

            I personally don’t have a cottage, but I am a frequent visitor of many of my friends’ cottages. Also, being a camp counselor, I am “up north” for the majority of the summer soaking up the cottage aroma. I love the outdoors and I would consider myself quite the outdoorsman…outdoorswoman?

Anyways, being up north and on the lake creates an environment that no pool in a backyard can replace. I mean, what other place has a chair—a chair that embodies relaxation and not having a single care in the world—dedicated to it?

So if you’re someone who really wants to get the true Canadian experience this summer, skip the boardwalks, get out your canoe, grab a drink and lie back in a Muskoka chair in Ontario’s cottage country.