Quick Trip to Winter
Sitting in the bustling dining room of a ship in Congo and Madagascar where the weather is usually over 90 degrees Farenheit, my friend and I shared about our winters. She invited me several times to come to Ottawa Canada. If you know me, you know I do not like to be cold at all. While it did sound fun, I was not particularly interested in accepting that opportunity. This same friend has taught me to always have something to look forward to doing. Well, you guessed it. I went to visit her this past weekend. The joke was it was the coldest days all winter (-27 to -40 degrees F). I am happy to report that with the correct layering, I was only truly cold a few times.
We had quite the list of Canadian things to do/eat that was m
ade on the ship in Africa. I had a layover in Toronto. I knew I was in Canada as I spotted a Tim Horton's and Roots brand shirts immediately. After flying into Ottowa, we rotisserie chicken lunch at St Hubert's. We proceeded to layer up for snowshoeing. It was very peaceful walking on top of the snow in the woods and in the fields.
The next morning, we layered up with additional layers as the temperature had dropped. On top: long sleeve T-shirt, wool turtle neck sweater, cold weather running shirt, ski jacket. On bottom: fleece long jons, fleece lined pants, snow pants. On head: fleece lined wool hat and hood from ski jacket. On neck/face: fleece garter and turtleneck from wool sweater. On hands: glove liners, fleece lined wool gloves. On feet: Layer 3 wool socks and lined boots.
Winterlude includes ice sculptures, free buses, ice slides, dog sledding, ice skating on a 7 Km canal.
The ice slides were fast and fun. Most of them you slide down on your bottom. One used a tube. I enjoy working dogs. The sled dogs were very enjoyable to watch. They wanted to run and run. My friend convinced me to go for a quick ride. I am so glad I did. I have not ice skated in over 10 years. It is not my favorite sport due to the cold environment. My friend was very patient helping get balanced and slowly skate along the canal. I eventually made it 4km with about 3 on my own. It was an official skating trip as I did fall twice.
We also had more food to taste: Beaver tails and Poutine. Beaver tails are fried dough with cinnamon and sugar and lemon juice. Can't go wrong. Poutin traditionally is french fries covered with gravy and topped with cheese curd. My favorite part was the cheese curd.
The next day required less layers of clothing. We went to a Nordik style spa. This was the first spa I have ever been enjoyed. I would definitely return. We did the "Thermal Experience." When it is not -27 F, one spend 15 minutes in hot, 15 seconds in cold, then relaxation in temperate(body temperature). Repeat. This can be repeated as many times as you would like. Yes, we wore only our bathing suits. Due to the outside temperature, we did the "cold" when moving from one place to another. The hot options included wet aromatic saunas, dry saunas, hot rock beds, hot tub with jets. The temperate we did was an infinity pool with a beautiful view for sunset. There was also huts with fires, but they were a bit chilly. Spending the day in hot/warm places surrounded by beautiful wood, snow, trees was very relaxing.
It was a wonderful weekend visiting a friend and experiencing new things. I, however, am grateful 30 degrees F is the average cold I live in NC.
