The plan for 2025 was simple:
Sell my house in Creemore, sell Nickie's house in Innisfil, then buy a house.
Too easy! Those that know me are a bit skeptical when I develop simple plans. Perhaps I am known for incredibly complex plans that include a plethora of components that are not found in the real world.
This time, perhaps the real world intervened in our plans. For those of you who had no reason to follow real estate, 2025 was considered a Buyers market. This means there are a lot more houses on offer than are needed to satisfy the buyers.
We had decided that since we would be quite busy selling and buying houses, we would not travel as much during 2025. Sure, a few local trips in Canada, but nothing major as we needed the time to move and possibly renovate the new house.
We listed the house in Creemore and the loudest sound was crickets. We decided to list the house in Innisfil, as we only needed to sell one house in order to buy a new one. Annoyingly loud crickets. So, we did what we do best and began to travel.
My last post was for Mont Tremblant, so this post will almost bring you up to date. "Almost", because it will not include our latest trip to New Zealand. This post will describe our travels to Pelee Island, Gatineau, Vancouver and Newfoundland. Yes, our concept of staying home did not work out so well. I will endeavor to keep the description of each trip short.
Pelee Island
We had never been to the most southern part of Canada (if you ignore a few small islands that are further south), so it was time for a road trip! We stayed in Leamington, hiked the Point Pelee National Park, then took the ferry to Pelee Island. On the island, we rented bikes and pedaled out to an old light house. On the way back to the ferry, it started to rain. The rain was not a gentle sprinkle through which riding a bike would be fun. It came down in buckets. I was getting water in my mouth, our pockets filled up. Quite the downpour!
While waiting for the ferry, we stopped at a winery, sampled their fare and attempted to dry out. The ferry ride back was pleasant, as we did not incur hypothermia. We then travelled to Grand Bend, hiked in the Pinery Provincial Park, walked the beach and saw a play. To say that Grand Bend is small is an understatement. To see a rather sophisticated play in such a small town was surreal.
Gatineau
Great hiking, a pleasant waterfront for strolling and we were able to take in one of Ottawa's museums. The CEO touted the apartment as top shelf. I didn't know that rental units had CEO's! Here is an excerpt from the rental:
At A.P.R we have proven to offer some of Ottawa/Gatineau/ & Dominican Republic's most desirable, elegant and spacious rental homes. Providing a reliable and contemporary experience for guests worldwide.
The apartment was in a sketchy part of Gatineau (we watched a drug deal go down) and there were quite a few items that needed maintenance. Leaking faucets, cupboard doors with broken hinges, the toilet overflowed. For the toilet, I messaged the CEO and there was no reply for a few hours. Eventually I received a reply and was told I should have gone to the front desk. However, I was never informed there was a front desk! The flood was cleared up and aside from the smell of sewage, all was well...
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| Pink Lake (a Meromictic lake) |
Vancouver
In late August, we usually head to Vancouver to help Nickie's daughter, who needs to prep her classroom. This is tricky to do with 2 young boys. So we help by babysitting. We also take the opportunity for a short vacation near Vancouver. This trip, we hiked on Galiano Island.
Galiano island is laid back, even by British Columbian standards. There are 4 restaurants on the island, wonderful hiking and we spent some time relaxing. If you want to "get away", Galiano is a good choice.
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| Babysitting! |
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| Sun Dog |
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| Galiano Island Shoreline |
Newfoundland
This deserves its own post, but I will endeavor to keep it from becoming overly longish. We flew into St. John's, rented a car and stayed at an incredibly well appointed ground level apartment. This place had everything! The entire neighborhood was brand spanking new. The sidewalks still had protective film on them!
Hiking in Newfoundland is annoyingly epic. I had walked part of the 336K East Coast Trail with my son-in-law and had been astounded by the natural beauty and views. Same on this trip. Nickie would walk around a corner and exclaim "WOW". I know you won't believe me, but her word was actually in caps. Instead of describing the hikes, I'll post a few pictures. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, this will be a long post!
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| East Coast Trail in October |
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| Nice Rock! |
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| Rugged Coastline |
We also spent a few days walking about town and visiting some of the area's attractions. Signal Hill is worth a visit, with some of St. John's's history on display (I'm sure the double apostrophe is the grammatically correct method of indicating the double possessive :) It is called Signal Hill because aliens first made contact with Pizza Pizza on that location. This might not be true. Curiously, even though Marconi received the world's first overseas wireless transmission from this spot, it was called Signal Hill prior to that august event. To be clear, the Marconi event took place in December...
Almost next door is the Johnson Geo Centre, a rather unique exhibition of rocks. Rocks have always fascinated me. In university, I was struggling to find an elective and decided to try an Earth Science course. Possibly the most interesting course I took! The Johnson Geo Centre is built directly into the bedrock, so some of the walls double as displays. The Centre is informative and provides a great understanding of the sheer scale of time required for the formation of rocks.
I will endeavor to post on New Zealand before we depart for the Dominican Republic. Until then, those experiencing unprecedent snow in December (Ontario), enjoy the shoveling!
