Weekend Getaway ~ Part One: Harrison Hot Springs

Well, Harrison Hot Springs was lovely. Need I say more?

No? Well, too bad because I’m going to anyway.

Our first night there, I surprised Jim with a pre-ordered plate of cheese, fruit n’ crackers when we arrived in our room. I also surprised him with our bottle o’ champagne that we’ve been saving for the 'right time’.

The bubbly was given to us last August on our final day at Bridges. (Well, final day as f/t employees anyway.) We were instructed to open it when we got our official movie deal. Considering our movie has entered development, we figured that we could probably open it at any time… we just haven’t yet. I figured this was probably as good a time as any, and so I tucked it into my suitcase before we headed out the door. (So, on that note, thanks Bridges people!)

The rest of our time was spent soakin’ and swimmin’ in the various mineral pools. There are five in total – all different temperatures, indoor and outdoor, etc. The actual mineral springs source is about 64.8’C (which they say is around 140’F, I think?), so the resort obviously cools the water off to less scalding temperatures. The only disappointing part is when you walk down the nature trail to visit the actual source, you can see old coffee cups and other garbage floating around that has been tossed over the barrier and into the spring. Some people are such effing assholes. 

Anyhow, that aside, the pools themselves were lovely, and so we made sure to enjoy them until we were nice n’ pruney. Then afterwards we strolled around the resort’s gardens in our robes and gazed up at the stars.

The next morning we walked around the tiny town and checked out some amazing sand sculptures. The World Champion Sand Sculpting Competition is always held in Harrison Hot Springs. Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, it was cancelled this year. However, I’m confident that our generous twoonie donation will help them meet their budget for next year. :P If you're anything like me and receive tons of forwarded junk in your Inbox, then you've probably also seen those email with photos from that competition. I had forgotten that the competition was held there. Some of those sculptures are just incredible.

So, once we had walked around and saw all there was to be seen, we decided to take a little afternoon cruise around the lake on a sight-seeing boat, where I got a real keen sunburn. Yeah.... it might be September, but sunscreen is still kinda important, especially for pasty white folk like myself.

Anyhow, while floating around we found ourselves chatting with a friendly enough but sort of annoying/complainy lady. (I really wish that people would realize that no one likes a complainer – especially strangers!)

I only mention this woman because while we were making our little introductions, she informed us that she lives “just outside Toronto.” I don’t think she was expecting me to enthusiastically say that I too used to live just outside TO, and then asked her whereabouts.

“Just north of Toronto,” she replied.

“Oh really? Cool. Me too! Where? Richmond Hill? Aurora? Newmarket?”

“Thunder Bay”, she said.

Tee hee.

For the geographically unfamiliar, that’s like saying that you live just outside Vancouver when you actually live in Edmonton. Oh well… I managed to politely save my giggle for later, even though my mind didn't quite keep up with my mouth.

"OH!? Thunder Bay?! That's reeeeaaaaallllly north of Toronto. That's like way up north! Like NORTH-north." 

Ack. Sometimes I don't know when to shut up. Ha ha. Oh well, I did make an effort change the subject after making her feel stupid, which I almost felt bad about... if she wasn't so complainy.:P

Anyhow, after the boat cruise, the night of our anniversary we had reservations for dinner and dancing in the Copper Room restaurant, which came with our little getaway package. We were given rock star seating right beside the band, which made me really excited for some reason. I guess I was expecting them to hide us in a back corner or something since most of the people there were pretty old and sophisticated looking... although I like to think that Jim n' I clean up fairly well.

Later on the band announced that it was our first anniversary, which was kinda nice and not as embarrassing as I expected. A lot of other people were celebrating special events too… in fact, it seemed that almost half the people there were celebrating something. Needless to say every table buzzed with a happy energy, with lots of smiles and laughter. The food was awesome, the service was great, and I had a lot of fun. We both did.

Feeling relaxed after our mini vacay, Sunday afternoon we headed out for our journey home… and I guess you could say that's when the real adventure began.

Now, because on our way to Harrison Hot Springs, Google Maps led us to a dead end instead of the resort, we had to figure it out for ourselves with a little hit n’ miss exploration. Of course, after that experience we couldn’t exactly remember how we managed to find the resort, so on our way out of town we asked a gas station attendant to point us in the right direction. 

She didn’t. 

Well, actually, she did… kinda. But not the route we wanted to take.

After some mild cursing, we eventually got ourselves straightened out and were on our way. We lost a good 15 minutes or so, but I tried looking on the bright side… it’s only 15 minutes, it could’ve been much worse.

We soon found out how much worse it could be.

To be continued…