Welcome to March in Canada
[scroll to the end for all the news and views]
WEATHER:
Brutal! Abnormal! Just the same as in February. Cold. Snowing. For the first month of Spring, it didn't bode well for the next few months. Everyone is sick of it. People say to us "please don't hate Canada - it's not normally like this!" We didn't get above zero for all of March.
SCHOOL NEWS:
Getting to know the kids better and we are enjoying each other's company. The best thing about March is "March break". A week off school. And I got the Friday before due to some mix up across the province. Yay..... I'm sure I'll miss school.... not! It's been a long time since a break. And the first two months here were HARD slog. Being back in the classroom after 10 years, a new country, 29 students in a combined grade, a special needs student. And little curriculum materials or resources compared to home. It was character building :-).
ROAD TRIPS:
ALBERTA: Canadian Rockies.
What an amazing week. We stayed in Canmore, about 15 minutes from Banff. In our opinion, a much better town. Smaller, prettier, and without the groups of schoolies and tourist buses. Lovely. Our first days were spent driving around snowy roads and views, including the amazing Lake Louise. I had been there in summer, so it was AWESOME to be there in the very snowy weather. The weather then cleared, roads opened and the bluest of skies. The chinook winds came in and brought glorious warm days - PLUS 5. We even sat outside to have a cuppa one day. We traversed the mountain roads and went into British Columbia to visit Radium Hot Springs. Dog Sledding was the best. We found back roads we probably shouldn't have been on. Icefields Parkway, Bow Valley Trail, Spray River....An awesome week and well deserved. Just what we needed.
DAY TRIPS
Norval:
Went to the Upper Canada College Maple Syrup Festival. A sunny day with about minus 10... freezing, however, blue skies. Saw a dead coyote, maple syrup being made, and went for a great walk. Found a great bakery "Crawfords" on the way home that made Aussie style meat pies.
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Collingwood and Blue Mountain Ski Resort:
A big day driving to Collingwood, a town on Georgian Bay. It was a lovely area and the Blue Mountain resort is the public ski resort. We found a lovely, historic town of Schomberg for afternoon tea on the way back... not far from school, so will be checking it out again.
Lake Simcoe again:
This is becoming a favourite place. Notice the difference from January to March [Winter to Spring]... not much :-)
CONDO LIVING:
Nothing much to report. We have changed it around a bit to reflect US! Additions have included a printer, a few pots and cups... we are attempting to make 'the cube' more liveable. More families are moving in - all Chinese. The second building is almost finished. Our lifts are almost completed. No word on the gym or party room being finished.
HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS: [you can guess which is which]
- Rockies
- Dog sledding
- Stomping Tom Collins tribute concert at Newmarket Folk Club
- weather
- condo
- being sick
- finding Aussie style meat pies
- getting lost and finding great little towns
- Finding the ACWW plaque at Collingwood
- Maple Syrup taffy tasting