Category Archives: Winter

Hi friends!

As mentioned in my last post, a bunch of us spent the weekend doing winter stuff in the middle of nowhere Ontario, at Emily’s Dad Al’s hunting camp, the famous Deer Run Inn.

Tripod for the group photo win. From left: Corey, Emily, Evan, myself, Dawn, Mark, and Dawn and Mark’s dogs Miyou and Bolt. You should recognize them all if you have been following my blog for a while since most of those beautiful faces tend to make an almost weekly appearance around here.

It was awesome to spend the weekend outside of the city with them all, and I had a really fun time.

The camp isn’t on an official road, so getting into it is a bit tricky in the winter because there is typically a LOT of snow and the “road” is unplowed and hilly. So we met Em’s Dad Al on the drive up in his 4×4 truck and he drove us in. I was grateful, as we had a lot of stuff.

Dawn and Mark came up a bit later though, so we made the trek back out so we could walk them in and help them carry everything.

Dawn with her backpack and her brown blanket killed me. She reminded me of a movie character. I think the hunchback from 300.

The walk is about 10 minutes, but it wasn’t bad as we had beer to get us through.

We liked to call Evan the Mechanic, or Coveralls, or Dan Ackroyd (because of Ghostbusters) because he was wearing an attractive one piece coverall set as snow pants.

He said the coveralls were nice and toasty.

So a little about the camp. It’s gorgeous. Though the term “inn” is probably used a bit loosely…

It has a lot of deer paraphernalia kicking around, and a lot of gun racks.

There are two rooms. In modern open-concept fashion, the main room is the kitchen and the living room together, and then there is the bunk room, which has five bunk beds with double mattresses on both the top and bottom bunks. Very functional.

The camp has no electricity (though there is a generator), and no running water. It is heated by a wood stove and a cook stove, and there is also a propane stove if needed (we used it for breakfast). There’s an old fridge on the porch that isn’t plugged in, and it kind of acts like a cooler. But in the winter keeping everything cold isn’t a problem, because you can just leave it outside.

We didn’t need a fridge for our snacks anyway.

Epitome of health right there. We do not mess around when it comes to snacks. I had a lot of everything.

There is also no bathroom. Just this fancy outhouse.

We were trying to figure out why anyone would put a window on an outhouse door, and we think it is because when all the men are up there actually hunting deer, they probably keep their gun nearby when they are using that in the morning. In case any deer wander by, you know.  It’s important to keep an eye out for your enemy at all times.

Anyway, the seat was frigid, but as far as outhouses go it wasn’t too bad. And besides the cold seat I have decided I much prefer outhouses in the winter to the summer, because there isn’t really a smell and there are no bugs. I have a feeling that thing gets pretty spider infested in the summer. And spiders, as you may know, are the one thing that make me panic inside.

The snow was up to our knees, so Evan shovelled a path over to the outhouse so we could easily get to it from the cabin.

Very nice of him. Also, to the right of the cabin in that picture is the shower. We didn’t use it though. We just stayed dirty.

After we unpacked our stuff and got all settled, we got right into the winter activities. Like building snowmen!

It was perfect snowman-building packing snow. We built two awesome ones, and then we trashed them.

We had a pellet gun up there so we shot some cans off of that snowman before Mark tackled it. I actually have a pretty good shot!

And I have been wanting to make a snow angel for at least two years, so I got that dream out of the way.

We also took the dogs on a big walk through the snow around the camp, and Corey showed us the tree stand he uses when he is there actually hunting deer with Emily’s Dad.

I didn’t get a picture of it, but I wanted to post this one because in the top left of the photo is the “skinning shack.” We did not go in there, because I have a feeling it is just as horrifying as it sounds.

After dinner (lasagne), we played a round of Apples to Apples which I have never played before. It’s a really good family game and it was pretty funny.

Coincidentally Evan brought the game Cards Against Humanity, which is exactly like Apples to Apples, only a million times more inappropriate.

And I really do mean a million times more inappropriate. No exaggeration there. So we played that next, and let me tell you, it was the funniest game I have ever played. Ever. I was dying. Like laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. A couple people had to actually take a Tylenol because their heads hurt so much from laughing. Emily eventually had to lie down, as she just couldn’t take the laughter anymore.

And I really appreciated that they tailored the game for Canadians.

I don’t think Evan stole his copy of Cards Against Humanity, just for the record. But there were a few American cards we didn’t understand, so we appreciated the Canadian effort.

We played the entire game, while wearing hats.

We went through every card. It took us about five hours, but we did take a break to squeeze in some nighttime tobogganing.

The hill wasn’t the greatest, but it was still a good time. We lit it with flares so we could see where we were going.

It was pretty.

The next morning we woke up and made the best breakfast ever.

So good. The hash browns almost reminded me of the amazing hash browns we had in Jamaica. Almost.

We also had toast, which Evan brought cinnamon spread for. Cinnamon spread!

It took me back to my childhood! I took the leftover tub home with me and have been stirring it into my oatmeal in the mornings. It is goooood.

Corey, Evan and I also all had very attractive onesies that came in handy for the morning chilliness. Corey missed the onesie picture, sadly.

Bolt and Miyou enjoyed them. My onesie was super comfortable. I think I might start wearing it all the time.

Fun times at the hunting camp!

I am already excited to go back.