Baptiste Lake and Toronto

Baptiste Lake in Bancroft, Ontario
It was quite a long journey from Ottawa to Baptiste Lake. We were driving for hours on a long and lonesome road. It seemed never ending and there wasn’t any civilization for what seemed an eternity. We really experienced the wide open space of Canada. It was beautiful though. Finally we could stop at a gas station, since we almost ran out of gas and there wasn’t a possibility to fill up the tank for hours. It’s safe to say we were relieved.

As we arrived at the next bigger town, close to our destination, we sat down and had some lunch at a diner and felt as we were thrown back to the seventies. It wasn’t too nice and the food was rather awful, but it was pretty much the only place to eat, beside a Chinese restaurant that looked even less promising. Well let’s say, we couldn’t look at fries and burgers again let alone eat some for months upon till now. The plates weren’t filled and we didn’t even eat all of it, but that still was enough to cause an upset stomach for both of us pretty much immediately. We managed to drive to our lodge where we stayed for two nights, we arrived, exhausted and feeling unwell.

After some resting we pulled ourselves together, got out to get some fresh air and walked down to the lake. We felt how our spirits revived again. We went back to our cabin and after a few minutes, I peeked out the window I couldn’t believe my eyes. Excitedly I said to Salome, to look at the sky. The settling sun immersed the whole sky in perfectly beautiful dramatic colors. We hurried to go out again and witnessed the most gorgeous sunset. We stood there in quiet and in awe, with goosebumps and even forgot about our discomfort for a moment. We couldn’t find words to describe the beauty that nature offered us. WOW. How amazing. Everything around us was so peaceful and quiet. We were the only visitors these days, so we had the whole lodge pretty much to ourselves, kinda cool…

Birch Cliff Lodge at Baptiste Lake in Bancroft, Ontario.

No editing, no kidding, this was for real.

That's what I saw out of the window.

I mean, it looks so perfect and so surreal, right?

With our hearts filled with gratitude and up lifted spirits we returned to our cabin, relaxed and enjoyed a cozy evening at the cabin.

Well rested we woke up the next day, feeling already better. We drove to Whitney and from there about half an hour to our next stop, were we went on a little and easy hike that lead us to a look out.

Well rested we woke up the next day, feeling already better. We drove to Whitney and from there about half an hour to our next stop, were we went on a little and easy hike that lead us to a look out.

We got back in time for another sunset, not as spectacular as the previous one, but still impressively beautiful. We even had enough time to do a little photoshoot on the jetty.

Salome catching me what I love to do most while travelling.

We got ready for the sunset and installed our cameras to picture another stunning and peaceful end of yet another day.

Waiting patiently for the sun to lower.

My favorite time of day to take pictures. The golden hour.

Later that evening, as it was dark already, we went down to the lake again and did a little nighttime photoshoot. It really was fun to do.

The other morning we got up quite early to go horseback riding. I we had so much fun, even though it was pouring down and it was freezing cold.

Luckily they provided us with coats and helmets.

We didn’t see much of it until the very last day, but more on that later… We arrived as it was evening already and we were exhausted, so we went to bed early. The next day we wanted to see the Niagara Falls, about an hour drive away from Toronto. At least that’s what Google Maps tells you. BUT, there’s a whole lot of traffic so it took us at least double the estimated time. Never mind, we made it to the impressive falls and watched them from the Canadian side. As we arrived back in Toronto it was dark again, so not much to see anymore. Also I had to be at the airport at 6 am the next day, to catch my flight to San Francisco. I was a bit sad, that we wasted so much time on our way to and at the touristy Niagara falls, little did I know, that I would get the unexpected possibility to stroll the streets of Toronto the next day…

The view out our hotel room

 My flight was scheduled for 8 am the next day. I was at the car rental return right in time. But I clearly underestimated the complexity of the airport, it was huge and it was complicated to get to my gate and I lost a lot of time and by the time I arrived at my check-in an hour had past and the queue  was already horrifying long and when I wondered, why no one has called out my flight and last chance to check in, I asked a staff and he yelled at me, that he walked up and down the row and said loudly, that passengers for my flight had to step forward. He told me very unfriendly and taunting, that I was too late already and that I should have heard it. Well that’s pretty difficult, when he’s using just his voice without a speaker in a hall filled with hundreds of people, I responded frustrated. Long story short, I missed my flight and had to book a new one on the same day in the evening. I was so mad and frustrated and tired.
But my mood lighted up as I saw, that I could spend a whole day at Toronto and actually explore it and meet up with Salome again, since her flight home to Switzerland was leaving also in the evening. That’s what we did. I called her and apparently woke her up and she was pretty surprised, but pleased that we could spend the day together sightseeing the city. And it didn't disappoint, Toronto is such a cool city.

Toronto as seen from the CN Tower.

I arrived at 1 p.m. in San Francisco, completely exhausted from being up 24 hours and the stress of the passed day. I was thankful for another amazing, fun and adventurous trip I had with Salome and all the memories we made and that all turned out well in the end.