Kennisis Lake Lodge Haliburton

First port of call - Visit Elsa and Ken who are about to become first-time parents at the end of December. We're very excited to meet our new grandchild, probably by Skype the first time, in late December. Our travels will take us to Florida, Texas, Arizona and Utah, with a possible trip to India in May to celebrate Eugenie's 50th. birthday.

The bump is very big!

... was just trying to hide his emotions. I've had a few nights out in downtown Toronto, which is always fun and hangover inducing, and am now on the countdown to my flight to Sydney, via LA, where I expect that my love/hate relationship with customs will spark to life again.

So, America is done for this trip and I thought I'd finish this leg with something that was on a major news show while I was there which I think sums up the place quite well...
Aurora, Ontario, Canada holliday

... strapped to every limb curled up on the sofa or laid on top of the woodstove because i can't feel any part of my body. Dave promises me it won't be as cold as what it is here in Ontario, but somehow i have my doubts. I am sure drywalling, mudding, sanding floors and figuring out how we are going to get enough money to live out there will keep me warm and busy. Daves idea of how much money we need to live on and ...

... Disney World too…three down, and only two to go (California and Japan). Dad, are you sure you should have left your job at that Japanese owned company??”;

Laura – Australia… “It was amazing to swim with all the colourful fish at the Great Barrier Reef and to see the koalas and kangaroos…although having “sausage on the barbie” every night for dinner got a little old!”;

Sarah – Las Vegas ...

... a provincial park b)
something like ayubia except with things around that u can do
with other families that are renting cabins too. c) it was organized by
my dads hospital

so it was a place for relaxation away from the city rather then
extreme hikes. the trail took us about 10 mintues but it had really
nice views. me and my
mom werent satisfied so we made our way to the town of dorset and
went to the highest point i.e. the firemans tower. lol ...

170194kms
Well.. J*ck’s cott*ge w*sn’t *s “rel*xing” *s Brett *nd Sheryl’s. Prob*bly h*d something to do with the m*ssive *mounts of *lcohol th*t w*s consumed from d*wn until well….d*wn. We h*d * re*lly *wesome time *nd lucked out with the we*ther. It could h*ve been * little w*rmer but *t le*st it w*sn’t r*ining.
Believe it or not I *ctu*lly went in the l*ke. I w*s ...

... and figuring out how to work the new camera.
We’re spending one more night here before we head over to Haliburton to party with Jack and some friends and then the real trek begins. Rob has insisted and bringing his golf clubs because he’s a boy and he’s stubborn. Who brings golf clubs on a trek across the continent? We could fit way more useful things or we could just be able to see out the back window. Either way ...

Drive up was great. Get there. Wait for the switch over to afternoon ski time at 1230. Tighten the boots. Click into the skis. Push off towards the chairlift... the binding broke off one ski!! Bummer! A long summer must have been tiring on those poor old skis ...

We arrived and as I entered the cottage, the Porretta's dog, Mia, was so excited she urinated right at my feet. The beginning of a long and friendly relationship? We quickly put our belongings away and changed to our cottage clothes and swimsuits. During the next few days we swam and ate, played a new game called UpWords, like scrabble, drank and ate and played. Betty's Uncle and Aunt arrived to spend the two days ...

... and Lucy and I have just been to a local cafe called Granny's for a full fry up. Now we are in the library which has free internet, so we thought we had better start our travel log so you can all keep up to date with our trip. Hopefully now we have started we will keep it up and put thing on regularly. We shall also try and get some of our photos posted. Onto Toronto tomorrow, so we'll try and update after that!