[Saurabh M]

They say : 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'. For me, 'Enjoy the winters when you are in Canada!!'



Its been almost 2.5 years that I have moved to Canada. While I have been visiting places all these days, I was not finding enough time to put together a travelogue. Also, had been a passive member of the forum.

So, on the first day of 2017, I decided that I will start bringing to you, some of the sights from this beautiful country, through 'Canadascapes'. In these travelogues, will share with you some of the pictures that I took from the places I visited. Will keep the narrative to a minimum.

Algonquin Provincial Park is a famous Provincial Park in Ontario, which is world famous, for its Sugar Maple trees, that puts up a fabulous display of colors in the Fall season. I have visited this park in all the seasons, and every time, it presented itself in a totally different form.



This time, we decided to spend Christmas at a lovely secluded Viceroy cottage, overlooking Eagle Lake, in the Algonquin area. Ourselves and 2 other families drove up in 2 cars.



I took my trusted Nissan Altima and my friend took his Chrysler 300. The Altima has already done 155K+ Kms and still drives like a dream. It has already been to the US with me, on 3 different road trips.

Our vacation spot was about 400 kms from where I stay. Left home at 10 am and then stopped at an Indian restaurant for brunch, with yummy Chole Bhatura. The drive took almost 6 hrs with 3 breaks in between.



The final destination being quite remote, with the nearest town being 60 kms away, we carried our ration with us. The trunks of both the cars were choc-a-bloc with food items and other essentials.







As we left the highway and turned towards the forest, the tarred roads made way to gravel roads. Overnight, there had been a lot of snow in the area. While the highways have been cleared, there had been hardly any snow removal on the forest roads.





The days being quite short these days, the sun was about to set when we reached the cottage.

Inside the cottage was very cozy and we had a fabulous time for the next 4 days.







The cottage overlooked Eagle Lake, which had already frozen by this time.







The day before we were supposed to leave, the temperature rose close to 0 deg that resulted in some of the snow on the road to melt. This spelt doom as the overnight freezing temperatures turned the roads into thick sheets of ice. The day that we were to leave, it was as if we were driving on sheets of glass with a thin layer of snow on it. The cars drifted and spun in all directions for close to 30 kms, as we made our way out of the forests, before we hit the highway again. The rest of the drive was smooth and fast.









On our way back, found this snow mobile fueling up at a gas station.



Hope you enjoyed the pics.

[hellmet]

Well hello fellow Canadian! Very happy to know a tbhpian lives closeby (Kitchener, eh?).

Canada is a beautiful country, summer or snow. Canada's provincial parks are all FREE this year as the country celebrates 150 years of confederation. We got ourselves a free pass and plan to explore a few parks this year.

We should get in touch!

Btw, what were your activities once you reached the cottage?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Saurabh M

This time, we decided to spend Christmas at a lovely secluded Viceroy cottage, overlooking Eagle Lake, in the Algonquin area. Ourselves and 2 other families drove up in 2 cars.

Thanks for sharing! Man, that cottage looks AWESOME! Perfect secluded getaway to spend quality time with your lover / family / close friends.

How much to rent a cottage like this?

The cars drifted and spun in all directions for close to 30 kms, as we made our way out of the forests

Must have been fun due to the lack of traffic . Any notes on how the RWD performed compared to the FWD?

[Saurabh M]

Originally Posted by hellmet

Well hello fellow Canadian! Very happy to know a tbhpian lives closeby (Kitchener, eh?).

Canada is a beautiful country, summer or snow. Canada's provincial parks are all FREE this year as the country celebrates 150 years of confederation. We got ourselves a free pass and plan to explore a few parks this year.

We should get in touch!

Btw, what were your activities once you reached the cottage?

Sure hellmet. Will plan and meet up some time. I also got myself a free pass, but I guess the pass is free for National Parks and National Historic Sites only. The Provincial Parks are probably not free. The sites are mentioned in the list of parks that came with the Pass.

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks for sharing! Man, that cottage looks AWESOME! Perfect secluded getaway to spend quality time with your lover / family / close friends.

How much to rent a cottage like this?



Must have been fun due to the lack of traffic . Any notes on how the RWD performed compared to the FWD?

Yes, the cottage was awesome. This was a 3 bedroom cottage. We were 6 adults and 2 kids in total. All of us enjoyed a lot, including the youngest one, who is only 2.5 yrs.

The cottage costed us CA$304 per night. We were there for 3 nights/4 days.

Well...the 300 struggled a lot to keep itself straight on the road and at one point, landed itself in a very tricky situation and drifted into a shallow ditch off the road. It had to be extracted with a lot of effort. The Altima did pretty good. There was zero traffic in that desolate land. It was fun doing 60-65 kph on the icy roads with the rear stepping out on the wide curves. To keep it mildly, I was reliving my rally days

[rav11stars]

Originally Posted by Saurabh M

They say : 'When in Rome, so as the Romans do'. For me, 'Enjoy the winters when you are in Canada!!'

Attachment 1591026

Hope you enjoyed the pics.

I loved the first pic; so much that I couldn't stop myself from just quoting it Keep 'em coming. The style of keeping narrative to a minimum with more pics is good.
How is the Chrysler 300 to maintain as a car? Can you get some inputs from your friend; I know I'm forgetting that this is a travelogue :P

[amitw79]

hello from another Indo Canadian from around GTA

Awesome clicks and quick log.
I am also planning to visit Algonquin and many other parks this coming summers.

[Rubbertramps]

WOW. The moment i read Altima, i rolled the page to look at the name and i guessed it right. Excellent pics ! Keep the travelogues coming !

[gabrielthomas]

Wow any other TBHPians out here? We could perhaps have a TBHP meet in some of these parks during summer...what say folks?!

[amitw79]

Originally Posted by gabrielthomas

Wow any other TBHPians out here? We could perhaps have a TBHP meet in some of these parks during summer...what say folks?!

Count me in

[Saurabh M]

Originally Posted by rav11stars

I loved the first pic; so much that I couldn't stop myself from just quoting it Keep 'em coming. The style of keeping narrative to a minimum with more pics is good.
How is the Chrysler 300 to maintain as a car? Can you get some inputs from your friend; I know I'm forgetting that this is a travelogue :P

Thanks for your comments. As far as I am aware, this is a 2012 model and my friend bought it used, with about 60K on the odo. He says that he does typical scheduled maintenance with regular oil changes only. So far the car has not let him down.

Originally Posted by amitw79

hello from another Indo Canadian from around GTA

Awesome clicks and quick log.
I am also planning to visit Algonquin and many other parks this coming summers.

Sure. Everyone goes to Algonquin during Fall, but the other seasons at the park are equally beautiful.

Originally Posted by Rubbertramps

WOW. The moment i read Altima, i rolled the page to look at the name and i guessed it right. Excellent pics ! Keep the travelogues coming !

Welcome

[deepzkonnected]

Originally Posted by amitw79

Count me in

Are Detroiters welcome?

[Saurabh M]

Originally Posted by gabrielthomas

Wow any other TBHPians out here? We could perhaps have a TBHP meet in some of these parks during summer...what say folks?!

Originally Posted by amitw79

Count me in

Sure thing. Lets plan for a summer meet.

Originally Posted by deepzkonnected

Are Detroiters welcome?

Ofcourse. Just cross over the border

[amitoj]

Nice and crisp travelogue! Loved the pictures.
Your friend drives his RWD 300 all year round? It was quite adventurous of him though, I must say!
You have given me the inspiration to start putting together my travelogues too. Every year at the beginning of summer, we drive down to Cape Cod and every fall, we drive up to Vermont. In between there are numerous trips as well. Need to start putting them together from now on.

[Saurabh M]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Nice and crisp travelogue! Loved the pictures.
Your friend drives his RWD 300 all year round? It was quite adventurous of him though, I must say!
You have given me the inspiration to start putting together my travelogues too. Every year at the beginning of summer, we drive down to Cape Cod and every fall, we drive up to Vermont. In between there are numerous trips as well. Need to start putting them together from now on.

Yes, thats what he does and you bet, its quite an adventure for him

Looking forward to your travelogues, bring them on!!