18 February, 2018 5 comments Leave a comment

My husband John and I had another amazing adventure for Valentine's Day, which is also our wedding anniversary. We got to hand feed a herd of elk!

How did this come about, you ask? Well, we drove about 8 hours north of where we live, to stay at Cedar Meadows Resort and Spa in Timmins, Ontario for 3 nights. Here is a photo of John with our truck, trailer, and snowmobile, with the resort in the background.

Our resort package included breakfasts and dinners in the dining room and use of the  Nordic Baths in the Spa. The resort has an excellent chef, so the food was beautifully prepared and presented. I had a tour of the Spa, which was very high end. The Nordic Baths were two outdoor pools - one hot and one cool, in the Finnish tradition. I never imagined I would be swimming outdoors in a Canadian winter, but enjoyed the pools, as well as the steam room and sauna. Very rejuvenating.

On Valentine's Day, we went for a morning snowmobile ride on the local trails, which were well groomed, wide and flat. Then at 3 pm, we joined the daily wagon tour through Cedar Meadows Wildlife Park, which is adjacent to the resort.

We had an amazing time, hand feeding the elk herd. We also met Brutus, their 2,500-lb bison, and heard about Felix, their resident bull moose, but Felix was taking the day off in the back of the property and we didn't get to meet him.

I made this 3-minute video of the highlights of our elk-feeding experience:

We enjoyed a four-course Valentine's dinner that evening, and the next day traveled by snowmobile to Iroquois Falls and back. The terrain is surprisingly flat in that region and the weather was cloudy and dull, so I didn't get many interesting scenery photos. But I did get this quick shot of the Frederick House River as we traversed the bridge.

On the fourth day of our trip, we headed back home to Lindsay under sunny skies. We passed through the beautiful Temagami region during our drive, and I took some decent photos of the white pines along the highway. These majestic trees find their way into many of my northern landscape paintings.

If you would like more information about the resort, here is their website https://cedarmeadows.com/

Did you do something memorable to celebrate Valentine's Day? Please share your comments by clicking on the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

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