View from my canoe

Last night I was rumaging through some photos that I've backed up on CD and DVD. I was looking for some pics for yet another one of my daughter's school projects. As I was click click clicking away I couldn't help but notice that a number of these photos were taken from the back seat of my Old Town Tripper canoe. Here are just a few...

Lake Clear



Depot Lake







Hoggs Bay





Charleston Lake



Lac la Peche



Barron River / Barron Canyon





Well I hope this helps give you the urge to get out there and launch a canoe. I know if I was staying in town this weekend I would be paddling down the Clyde River for the annual spring trip. Guess it'll have to wait until the end of May now (that is if the water's still up).

Ciao and happy tripping,
BvT

Luskville Falls, QC

I was going to blog about my Friday afternoon hike up Luskville Falls in Quebec but after reading my buddy Zart's blog I think I'll save myself the time and just post a link to his page. Here it is.

I will, however, add some photos...

Heading up the trail...


Admiring the falls... (a little dry for April)


A well deserved break...


Heading back down the trail...

BvT rolls the van

Yep you read that right. We rolled the van during our drive home from Peterborough yesterday afternoon. It's ok, we're alright (see pic below).

Easter weekend

Easter weekend we headed to Peterboro for our annual "Easter weekend" visit. This consisted mostly of chocolate, hiking, chocolate, Easter diner, visiting with family and friends, more chocolate, geocaching, and of course lots of driving.











PS: We did see a cow being born this time. That was neat. Sorry no pics of that miracle, I was feeling a little under the weather.

Pre-Easter stuff

Our time up until Easter was mostly divided between work (my survey on business use of electronic commence and technology is about to release) and enjoying the outdoors with the kids. Some pics...

Another quick update...

March 15-18: Participated in the Ottawa Bonspiel with my fellow Kingston Bonspiel curlers. Great time. A total of 8 games in 4 days. Lost in the semi-finals to a team that was stone deaf. They lost the next day in the finals.



Last Saturday: Hit the sack around 1:30am. Then 5 minutes later we heard a strange sound in the backyard. Something like a growl. Before my wife could open the window and get a look at what all the ruckus was about, a wall of skunk stank hit us. Luckily she couldn't figure out the window's locks but regardless the smell managed to infiltrate the house. The basement (my home base) was hit the worst. Three days later and the frickin' house still smells slightly of skunk.


Sunday: Hiking with the kids. Spring is on its way folks. The weather was great. As you can imagine the trails were still covered in ice and snow but there were definite signs of mud shining through.

March Break

Well this year somebody scooped our usual March break chalet up near Bancroft, Ontario so we decided to meet our friends in a central location for a couple of nights in a hotel. "Central" between Ottawa and west-side Toronto would be Kingston/Gananoque so I booked the hotel back in December in anticipation.

Well the day had finally come. Last Sunday morning we packed up and headed down to Gananoque (with our friends in tow - see blog below) via the Smith Falls Hershey factory. As you can imagine it turned out to be a hit with both the kids and the adults. The smell of warm chocolate wafting through the building is reason alone for making this trip.


From there we carried on to our hotel in Gananoque, or more specifically the indoor pool. The kids were pumped and ended up swimming and hot-tubbing for a couple of hours.

Then for supper we headed to downtown Gananoque and discovered this awesome Greek restaurant. The meal was delicious and I topped mine off with a refreshing Greek lager. Very good.



Monday morning was pouring rain so we decided to make a road trip into Kingston. Or more specifically the Kingston Brewing Company. It came recommended from a friend and it certainly turned out to be a hit all around. The adults loved the in-house brewed beer (Dragon's Breath Ale) and the kids loved the free dessert that the owner offered us as the spring break special.









Finally we wrapped up the Monday with a tour of one of the Kingston museums. This one was the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes. The ship itself was closed but normally you are able to take a tour and it also doubles as a bed & breakfast too. There is room for 47 scallywags and for only $1250 the entire ship may be rented for the night. Note that there is a midnight curfew though.



Spotted this strange figurine in the museum gift shop. What child out there is adding this awesome toy to their Christmas list I wonder?



Finally we closed of the March break madness with a hike along the Gananoque River after which we both headed off towards our respective homes. All in all it was another McMullan/vanTol success.

St. Patty hits Ottawa

Today was the St. Patrick's Day parade here in Ottawa. We headed down with our Irish friends' the McMullan's and checked it out. It was awesome. The beauty of it all was that I got to watch the entire parade from the window of Irene's Pub while having a pint or two of Guinness (complete with shamrock etched into the foam). Enough to make any Irishman proud.

Some pics...





Guinness with shamrock


To top it all off my buddy found 20 bucks in front of his van as we were leaving. Luck'o'the Irish!

Zee update...

This should bring everybody up to speed...

1. Caught sneaky little mouse in garage. Click here or here for pics (viewer discretion advised). Thanks to a fresh snow fall I could see that this little guy had been coming and going for about a week now. He somehow managed to lick all the peanut butter off my first trap without springing it. Hat's off to squeaky on that one. But due to my competitive nature I could not let him get the better of me. Trap number two was a snapping success.
2. Bought DVD player from Futureshop online on Tuesday. Cancelled order 2 hours later (too expensive) and bought another from BestBuy online. Sweet.
3. Received DVD player 2 days later. Sucked. Bought another one from Futureshop using their in-store pick up option. Picked it up the next day when I returned BestBuy player. Works like a charm (note: I bought it for its ability to play DiVX/avi's as this is the format that I've been downloaded and watching from the Internet).
4. Finally, since my last update I've gone x-c skiing 4-5 more times (twice with the kids). Trying to get it all in before the snow melts, eh. Here are some pics from our adventures...