About a two hour drive north of Toronto is Muskoka (also known as cottage country); a conglomeration of lakes set in masses of precambrian shield (aka granite – lots of it), surrounded by dense forest, and populated with thousands of cottages.
I’ve just had the good fortune to spend the last couple of weeks with family at a friend’s cottage, during one of my visits back to Canada; a sojourn of sorts from my full-time travels.
This post was originally published in 2014. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content.
I have a lifetime of memories in Muskoka.
Visiting cottages owned by family friends since I was a child, Muskoka is responsible for planting a lot of seeds of discovery:
- It’s where, as a child, I first learned to appreciate a beautiful sunset.
- I had my first canoe ride (and later, motorboat ride).
- I learned to waterski.
- I developed a fierce love of water lilies and lily pads.
- I discovered that perception of distance is skewed on water, after nearly drowning trying to swim across a bay.
- I fed chipmunks peanuts until their cheeks were stuffed so disproportionately full that they couldn’t walk straight.
- I learned to sail, and had fun with my teenage girlfriends overturning our little sunfish and pretending to have trouble righting it so we could meet cute boys in passing boats.
- I fell in love with hummingbirds and frogs, and learned to hate mosquitos.
Later, in my 20s, I discovered how much fun the roads in Muskoka are to ride on a motorcycle, and I attended the annual Sportbike Rally in Parry Sound (pictured above – that’s me, circa 2004).
Muskoka is Unique
A childhood friend of mine who lived in London (England) for a while and worked at a travel agency laughed when they sat all the employees down one day and said “today we’re going to learn about ‘Cottage Country’ – a world famous place in Ontario, which is in Canada”. Growing up in Toronto as we did, Muskoka was just next door; I guess sometimes we have to travel around the world to find out what we’ve got on our own doorstep.
After traveling around the world – a few times over – here are some pictures of what I discovered in Muskoka:
Dude. Those sunsets. INSANE.
Also, man, what a badass 😉
Hey Anna – Thanks! (Badass….LOL!)
Gorgeous pics! Glad you had a good visit 🙂
Thanks, Desiree! 🙂
You brought up memories of lazy summer days in Ontario. I lived for about a decade just a bit north of Muskoka chunky dunking all summer long 🙂 Oh, and you look dashing in that biker outfit 🙂
Hi Fida,
Growing up visiting Muskoka fostered my love of swimming in lakes – which apparently freaks some people out (maybe similarly to how I’m freaked out by swimming in oceans). And glad you like my leathers! 😉
Speaking of freaking out: I got quite a scare when I met my first snapping turtle 😉
Hi Fida,
Indeed! There’s always a tale lurking around about snapping turtles having bitten off the toes of swimmers, but I don’t know anybody who this has actually happened to – I think it may be a myth, but it always makes you think twice about swimming in deep water!