Cottage Trip!

The Labor Day weekend was another first for us in Canada. This was a cottage trip to the Bay View Resort located in Lakefield, Ontario in the lake region of Peterborough. The drive is about 185 km (115 miles) away and it takes about two and half hours to get there. However, since it was the holiday weekend, the traffic congestion took us about an extra hour to get there. It was worth the wait because when we got there it was an absolutely breathtaking sight. All the cottages were on the banks of the lake and the weather was just right for a pleasurable holiday away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Deer Bay is well known for its consistent Muskie, Pickerel, Panfish and Bass Fishing. You can explore the lake by hiring a speed boat, canoe, paddle boat or a pedal boat. We visited the cottage with a group of families and we were about 200 people in total including kids and infants. It was a planned weekend with all sorts of fun games and events planned over the next couple of days interspersed with time out for relaxation, recreation, drinking or just making a pig out yourself. It was weekend filled with indulgence and never before from what I can remember have I been cut off from all means of communication.

As I said before, the lake view was extremely picturesque and the weather was just perfect. A lot of bass was caught over the weekend and there was a lot of activity in the lake for kids and adults. I went into the water too although I don't know to swim and in the first few minutes, I lost all feeling below the waist. Now, that is scary :-) I was fine after that as I got accustomed to the cold water.

During the weekend, we made a lot of new friends and spent some quality time playing some fun games. I even got to play some cricket after many months and I was extremely excited about it. I was also very pleased that I could contribute to my team's victory in the Cricket Cup. It was soft ball cricket, however, it was full off fun, fighting and arguing about petty things just like we did back home in the gullies of Mumbai.

The weekend was well planned out, with four teams created out of all the participants with funny Indian names. We were divided into groups called the Bombils (Bombay Duck), Pamplet (Pomfrets), Gadhas (Donkeys) and the Popats (Parrots) as we contested various games and events during the weekend. The highlight of the weekend was the Amazing Race that required each of the groups to run all around the cottages in a chase for clues that would win them the big przie. The best part about this event was that it involved everybody from kids to the oldest members on thr trip. I was in the Bombil group and we were the winners of the Weekend Trophy.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience and it gave us the opportunity to witness some of the beauty this country has to offer. The lake was just one of the several thousand in Canada and there are several more that are far more beautiful than this one. Till our next cottage trip this will be the most beautiful place that I have visited thus far and I will continue to write about the other ones as I go along.