algonquin provincial park...

early saturday morning, we grabbed a cup of coffee and headed out to algonquin to check out the fall colours. while i knew it would be busy since the colors were in 'peak', i was just not expecting it to be thaat busy. we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for nearly 2 hours in a lineup to get to the park's information station where everyone had to get parking permits. because of that, we got there much later than we were expecting and couldn't do the full trail we wanted to - the centennial ridges trail. it's classified as 'difficult' and is supposed to take 3 hours; however, because we were only starting our walk at 2:30, we knew we wouldn't finish it before it got dark, and i did not want to be stuck in a huge park in the dark.

we did what we could and managed to still see some great sprawling views. in my opinion, the trees are a lot nicer looking and much more vibrant driving through the park on highway 60 rather than once you're hiking the trails. regardless, it was still beautiful and just amazing to look out and see a never-ending sea of trees. i really had my hopes up that we would see a moose, but alas, we saw no wildlife, unless you count a chipmunk.

dylan really prepared us for the worst. yes, that's bear spray.

along the highway.

that's us!

oh canada.

i mean, really...

wine stop.

hello, is anybody out there?

chilling the wine in a creek.

i think we'll plan our next visit for the summer and maybe stay in a cabin. that way we have a lot more time to explore the park. it really is beautiful, though. it's approximately a 4 hour drive from downtown toronto and a definite recommendation. 

obligatory apple picking post...

we can now check one thing off our fall list! apple picking is something we have done nearly every year we've been together and this year was no different. for what was supposed to be a very rainy day, it turned out beautiful. other years we've gone a little crazy adding apples to the bucket, not really thinking about the weight, so this year we tried to be mindful. for example, in 2011 we picked 37 pounds.

let's pick some apples!

eating on the job.

9 pounds of crunchy, crisp deliciousness. 

//

my parents took a few apples, but even after that, i would say we still came home with a good 7 pounds. and sorry to say, there will be no apple pies; 1) they're not really cooking apples, and 2) they're almost all gone. yes, in less than a week. what can i say, apples are my favorite fruit.

until next time, apple orchards.

canadian, eh...

poutine; such a canadian staple. last thursday, i really, really felt like poutine for dinner, but i put aside my cravings, figuring it would pass, and i gave myself a high five! "yes, i'm saving my waistline and my health! i can do this", i thought to myself. i made myself some pancakes, but i put too many strawberry pieces, which made it too watery and then i ended up putting all the batter in the pan at once to make a giant one, and well, ya, it didn't work out. i ended up eating cheese and crackers.
friday i got home from school and since i was still craving it, proclaimed to dylan, "i need poutine for dinner! i'm clearly meant to have it!" never one to turn down the goodness that is cheese curds, fries, and gravy, we were on our way. i stuck to the regular size traditional poutine, but of course dylan couldn't. he's a big guy with a big appetite. he ordered the WOW size pulled pork poutine. of course he did. after we got our container of fat, it was approximately 1001 degrees in the restaurant, and a beautiful, cool fall day outside, we took our food and walked around the corner to a side street and sat on the curb and went to town.

i know some of you who have never heard of poutine are thinking this looks absolutely horrendous.

mine looks small in comparison (which it's not), but i guesstimate that dylan's is about 3x larger than mine. pulled pork poutine: 1, dylan: 0. he couldn't finish it, but he came pretty close.

we picked up some of our favourite doughnuts to bring to my parents when we went for indian on saturday. go ahead, laugh at the name lol

1 pb & j was already eaten pre-photo! but on the top, we have orange chocolate, and maple glaze. on the bottom, coffee cake, fluffer nutter, and a classic cinnamon sugar. i was so sad they were already out of the pumpkin cheesecake doughnuts by the time we got there! :(

we like food and we like the good stuff.

weekend ways...

what a day yesterday, i tell ya. the rest of the weekend was good; friday saw the movie prisoners, which is absolutely fantastic, and saturday we went a friends house for a small party. but sunday, man that threw us for a loop. we started out by going to a nearby park for an art festival. we had planned to leave around 2pm to head to my parents for dinner, leaving early because the main highway into the city was closed for the weekend and we knew it would take about about 2 hours to get there. we head down to our car and don't we see a flat back tire. just great. we call caa and wait over an hour for them to come and put a spare on it. by the time it was all fixed, it was about 4pm and dylan didn't want to drive that far on a spare and it had gotten to late. he's gone to get new tires today.

we went back up to our place and i decided that we might as well do a few groceries, so i put a little list together. back down we go to our car. we have a key that starts our key, plus an auto start fob that has all the automatic unlock, lock etc. buttons on it, too. weird as it is, the car won't start with the key without clicking a button on the fob. of course, of course, the fob is dead. and as luck would have it, the fob on our second set of keys died a few months ago and for whatever reason, we never changed the battery on that one. we called around to find a place that sold that battery and then walked 40 minutes to go buy a pack. 

the only good thing to come of this is that we decided to do groceries because had we not, dylan wouldn't have gone down to the car until 9:30pm when leaving for work and then he would have been in trouble.

saw lots of these cute guys around the city this weekend.

on a happier note, it's officially time to welcome fall and i did so by buying a few candles. while yesterday was a crummy day, we enjoyed ourselves at the art fest and were bundled up in boots and big scarves because it was the perfect crisp, cool first day of fall.

fall's arrival...

a few photos that don't warrant their own post; the misfits, the randoms, the oddballs.

the drive home from ottawa; a cozy coffee shop.

my perfect homemade latte (a shot of espresso & warm milk in my milk frother), and poutine (canadian food in the country's capital-ottawa).

caught this while driving (in the passenger seat); thank you america!!

in the car; closeup after a hike.

fall leaf; canadian monopoly on a friday night.

yesterday's thanksgiving day hike.

making dinner and drinking wine; his 'gentleman attire'-housecoat, wine, cigar, and book. (note: he does not smoke cigarettes or cigars, but felt like buying a cigar on the weekend for some reason)

lately...

a few things lately...

leaf bigger than my face.

chocolate chip pancakes for dinner; a-ok in my book.

 after this was taken (at night, hence the devil eyes), we found out that chloe doesn't like going down slides. duh. she can thank her father for sliding her down.

 and just because. i was rubbing her stomach. she was loving it. the side eye means 'keep going, this is great.'

the weather people are saying we may get a few falling snowflakes tomorrow, but no accumulation. but i'm not holding my breath. they're basically liars and you are never to believe a word that comes out of a weatherman's mouth; it's never correct. so, fingers crossed, because i love the snow. feel free to send the hate for me saying that.

i'm at my parents now for the weekend. i've got a hair appointment later (just a rinse to make it darker and rich again), we're going out for my girl friends birthday Saturday, and mostly, i just want to relax & read. happy friday!