Seriously.
Nothing.
Nothing but relaxing, swimming, reading magazines, eating,
watching movies, walking, snapping pictures, laughing, sleeping and just
loafing about.
And, unless you are a golfer, Hecla is the perfect place to
do nothing.
DAY 1
We started our trip on Wednesday morning with some errands
and brunch, and then pointed the car north on Highway 8. Less than two hours
later, we arrived safe and sound (despite a bizarre killer bee near-incident)
at Hecla Island. $12 bucks (cash only!) for a park pass and we were in!
Our first impression of The Lakeshore Hecla Resort was
“Oooh…ahhh…oh!” The Mascot is fairly easily impressed, but the lobby and then,
finally, the room pretty much blew him away. We had already called dibs on the
beds (I always like the one furthest from the door), so we quickly settled in
and made ourselves at home. Once I was unpacked, I almost started to wish that
I had brought more things; there was SO much storage space in the room and in
the bathroom!
Once we had a little decompression time, we headed down to
the pool area. J had his goggles, I had my fancy bicycle magazine, and we had
nothing but sunshine and time. I read while he swam and, really, it was just
about the nicest, quietest 90 minutes of the past decade. We were less than
200km from home and felt like we were a million miles away.
Of course, all that relaxing works up quite an
appetite. And a thirst. We changed into our third outfits of the day (the
best thing about of traveling has to be the arbitrary clothing changes) and
went out to the patio for dinner. The kid had chicken fingers and fries
(because he’s a kid) and I had fish tacos and a pail of wine (because I am a
lush). Everything was fresh and delish, but it was the scenery that stole the
show. Absolutely perfect.
After dinner, we went for an epic walk on something called
“Lighthouse Trail” and, guess what… we found not one, but TWO freaking
lighthouses. I was in heaven. As soon as my pockets couldn’t hold any more
pebbles and I had taken enough photos, we headed back to the hotel to watch a
movie and eat cake. Again, heaven.
Day 2
I woke up on Thursday morning with a slight shmoo torte-hangover
and decided to hit the fitness centre to work up a sweat and work off some
guilt. When I got there and saw the lone treadmill facing a tv, I changed my
plan and headed outside to tackle Lighthouse Trail again. It was a warm, sunny
morning, but there wasn’t a single person outside, so I made like I was the
Prancercise lady and shimmied my way through the woods. It was oddly enjoyable,
but I would’ve DIED if anyone had witnessed it. DIED
I had slowed to a
perfectly normal walk just in time to emerge from the trees and came face-to-face with a doe. As in, doe a deer. A really big, really beautiful
female deer. I had one of those rare, life-affirming moments where you stare
into the eyes of a majestic animal and feel yourself get stronger and braver.
No, really. I did. And you are not going to get *that* running on a treadmill.
It took me a very long time after she wandered off into the woods to turn
around and go back to the hotel. I did a little yoga (because no one was
watching and WHY NOT?) and then sat on the rocks by the older of the two
lighthouses, listening to my iPod and building teeny, tiny pebble inukshuks. Serenity now.
The rest of the morning was spent convincing the Mascot to
get up and go for breakfast, waiting for and then (eventually) eating breakfast
(clearly a different staff than at dinner), and then sitting by the pool and
reading yet another niche magazine (mid-century modern homes) while J swam. As
you can imagine, it was EXHAUSTING.
We decided to take a break from the hotel restaurant and
drive to Gull Harbour for lunch. It was a blazing hot day, but the screened
porch of the Lighthouse Inn (yes, another lighthouse!) was cool and breezy. I
was randomly craving tuna salad and fries, so that is exactly what I had. I
think the kid had a chicken burger, but it was gone so fast that I am not sure.
After lunch, we made the big 10 minute drive to the very
quiet and historic Hecla Village for ice cream, which we managed to find (in
sandwich form) at the General Store. We took some time to wander around the town’s
cemetery and take some cool pictures at a century-old log house before making
our way back to the hotel for a wee nap.
It was a beautiful evening, so we decided to eat dinner on
the patio again. We had heard that pizzas were pretty good, so we each ordered
one – veggie and feta for me and pulled pork for the Mascot. While we waited
(and I made my way to the bottom of a noggin-sized Caesar), we watched three
young siblings who had abandoned their dinners to try their luck at catching
frogs in the ponds beside the patio. Unfortunately, none of them fell in. So
much for dinner theatre!
Anyway, the pizza was fantastic; thin, crispy crust with a
good dusting of cornmeal and just the right amount of charring from the
wood-fired oven and, in the case of my “Veg Head”, lots of grilled, marinated
veggies and cheese. The Mascot, after plowing his way through most of his 15”
pie, said that it was the best hotel food that he had ever eaten. High praise,
I tell ya.
We spent the rest of the evening holed-up in our room
watching movies and YouTube videos. Good times.
Day 3
I shouldn’t have been bummed to wake up to rain, especially
after two days of perfect weather, but it did put the kibosh on my plans to walk to the lake. Instead, I rolled over and grabbed another hour of
sleep and then hauled the Mascot down to breakfast.
Again, it was a painful wait to get our food (which was
really surprising, considering how great dinner service was on both nights),
but once it came (French Toast for me, chocolate chip pancakes for J), it was
ok; nothing extraordinary, but we were just so happy to get it that we tucked
right in.
After breakfast, there wasn’t much left for us to do except
pack up and check out, so that’s exactly what we did. And there, I suppose, is
where our story ends. (Unless, of course, you’d like to hear about the ride
home and how it’s possible to hear “Blurred Lines” approximately eight times in
two hours…?)
