3 Lakes Trip - Dog Lake - Part 1

Our last summer road trip took us to Dog Lake in Ontario, Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks and Maidstone Lake in Vermont.

How come these three lakes you ask?

We visited Dog Lake and Saranac Lake last year. Saranac Lake was especially amazing as we kayak camped on an island (yes we kayaked all of our gear and ourselves to an island and spent a few nights there). Friends of ours asked us if we wanted to come this year with them to Saranac Lake as they loved our pictures so much. So we started planning our trip.

Dog Lake we went last year too but we were so upset because it was only one night and we loved it so much. During our stay at the cottage at Dog Lake last year I took some pictures and the owner asked me if she could use them for her website. In return she gave me a major discount for any future stays. With only a few hours away from Saranac Lake we knew we would have to take advantage of that.

And the third lake… Maidstone Lake. We have never been but heard about this amazing place from a dear friend who has had a cabin on the lake for decades. In fact, even her grandparents have had a cabin at Maidstone Lake. I have always wanted to visit Maidstone Lake and realized it was “only” five hours from Saranac Lake.

This is how our big road trip of the year came to life. Three Lakes, three totally different reasons on why to be there.

I am going to blog this trip in 3 blog posts, one post for each lake.

Dog Lake in Ontario.

Our boys spent two weeks with my mom in Ontario and when we picked them up we stayed another 2 days with my mom and then headed north to the cabin at Dog Lake near Battersea. I found this cabin via AirBnB last year you can read about our last stay HERE and HERE is the listing on AirBnB.

There are three different cabins, hence the name, Three Little Cottages, and we stayed in a different one than last year. Just like last year, the cabin is the perfect size for us and has everything we need. We love the screened in porch, the adjoining farm where we purchased fresh greens for a salad, and a dock to swim, fish and kayak from.

Just like last year, the boys made quickly friends with the kids in the cabin next door. This time three girls (two of them the same age as Finn & Jake) and the first time I ever saw the kids brush their hair and teeth without being asked! Haha

We did a whole lot of nothing at Dog Lake. A lot of fishing, a lot of kayaking, swimming, bird watching, playing soccer with the girls next door, bonfires and marshmallows, walks on the farm, coffee in the morning on the porch… it.was.perfect. Just what we needed!

A couple of fun memories include:

On an evening walk we noticed a few of the chickens got out and with the owners not being around we tried to catch them and put them back. While running around, Scot was making fun on how much these chickens are worth (he was making up a rare breed) and if we don’t catch them we would have to pay for them and our trip would be ruined… “So catch these chickens!” I couldn’t stop laughing, the whole thing was just to hilarious.

Taking out the kayak on my own and coming across some strong headwind and then also being stuck in a blanket of seaweed that would totally stop my kayak in its track. I fought hard to get back to the dock that day but it was so awesome to be all on my own out on the water.

Seeing a beaver swim by. (No Photo <cry>)

Seeing a full double rainbow! My camera battery died after I took a few pictures and before the second rainbow became visible BUT it was there and I will never forget it.

Having smores with the family next door and just being so happy for their friendship even though we have never met before!

Eating Buttertarts at a small grocery story and washing them down with a small carton of milk.

Dog Lake we will be back! Next time even longer! 

Scot's favorite part: Meeting family next door who were Chinese who immigrated to Ottawa.

Jake's favorite part: kayaking and fishing

Finn's favorite part: playing soccer with the girls next door.

My favorite part: sitting early morning on the porch with Scot. It was so cold and we were bundled up in a blanket, sipping our coffee and watching the sunrise.

You can click here to read about PART 2,  PART 3 and PART 4 of our trip!

Day 7 McGill's Go Up North - Tadoussac, St Lawrence, Mer et Monde

On Day 7 we woke up to perfect weather at our campsite over looking the St. Lawrence. Scot got up and drove into town for coffee and a fresh baguette. I sat outside for a long time alone and just taking it all in.

The kids slept for a long time and I couldn't believe my luck.

But then....

... this little kid came hoping over the rocks for his morning snuggles!

I was somehow able to convince him to sit really quiet with me, while Jakey was still sleeping and Daddy gone. It only worked for a little bit and Jake was up soon and the two played Narnia.

We have been listening to the first two books (at this point only the first) in the car on our road trip. Jake is always Peter and Finn is whoever Jake says he is... haha I know here they are re enacting Peter's First Battle in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

While the kids were playing Scot and I started packing up a little. Today is our last day at Mer et Monde.

In between we remembered that we forgot about our daily sign. I can't remember what was so funny but this one might be my favorite!

After we packed up a little we went over to the other side to explore the bay. We had a few hours before our kayak tour would start.

As soon as we go to the bay, the boys played Narnia again. Actually for most of the trip this is what they played. Hey, fighting with sticks sounds like a lot of fun!

After they were tired of battling each other we decided to make a dam with rocks at this little creek leading into the bay.

We didn't know what time it was and decided to leave. Remember how I only have flip flops and Toms with me.... there is a reason your Mom tells you to bring better shoes! I again fell and this time skinned the top of my toe. I also fell again on my tailbone. Oh man, this place did not like me. I will spare you the before picture, but I needed to wrap it up water proof for our kayaking tour.

Good old Duct Tape to the rescue. It actually worked pretty good!

After getting all bandaged up, we went over to our kayking tour only to find out it was cancelled again... bummer we are leaving and no more time to reschedule. Here is the amazing part though... even though we already went on the water for a while and that both times the tour was rescheduled because of weather, the company refunded me 100% of my money without me even asking! I was highly impressed!

We all said good bye to our favorite tour guide ever, but not before we got his info to meet up with him again one day!

Thank you Sammy for everything and for your patience to answer the bazillion questions. We hope your summer is going great and you will enjoy Japan!!! Tschuess!

We finished packing up the campsite, and organized the car and one last family picture! Finn is mad about something again... it's hard to be 6!

One last story at the campsite! I love how animated he tells his stories!

One last thing though... we came to Mer et Monde to show Finn and Jake the Beluga whales. At this point we still haven't seen any and we had a very sad little boy with us. Our last chance was to see one on the ferry back. We looked and looked and nothing... I could see the tears already setting in and just before we had to get back to the car, we spotted one!!! It was pretty amazing and it really made our day.

Long drive to our next stop - The Adirondacks! 8 hour drive but we decided to stop in the middle and get a hotel room. We found one just a little bit south of Quebec City. Got to the room, finally able to take showers and watch TV (the boys!) and off to bed we went!

Day 3 McGill's Go Up North - Battersea, Montreal & Quebec City

Woke up early to enjoy the cabin as long as possible. Unfortunately we only booked it for a night. It was only meant to be a stop over on our way to Quebec and never did we imagine loving it that much. Next time (and there will be a next time) we are staying much longer. So, got up early, made us coffee and waited for the boys to wake up.

As soon as Finn woke up, he got dressed and back outside to fish some more!

Like I said we had to leave early.... today's driving time was 8 hours with a stop in Montreal for a few hours. We had a long day ahead of us with a lot of driving and lots and lots of rain! I bought the first two books of Narnia on CD's for the boys (well and us) and we listened to it most of our way to Montreal and then Quebec.

We arrived in Montreal around noon. It was still raining and we quickly began the search for a restaurant with poutine. Which is hilarious because I think it would have been harder to find a restaurant that does not serve poutine. haha So, this was our first poutine experience and we all loved it. But how can you go wrong with French Fries, Gravy and Cheese?

A few years ago Scot and I have been to Montreal and I had an amazing Pistachio (if there is Pistachio on the menu, I will always order Pistachio!), I couldn't wait to have another one. Found a cute little Gelato place and we all had Gelato in the rain!

We walked around Montreal for a few hours and took in some of the sights of the city but we really were all eager to get to Quebec City. We spent most of our time at the fountain in front of the Notre Dame Basilica, did some people watching and let Finn get his energy out chasing pigeons.

It's just amazing how different these boys are. Jake was happily content sitting around with me and Finn was non stop in action.

We left Montreal, drove by McGill University to show the boys and stop by at the bookstore but the traffic around the university was so bad we decided to keep going. Stopped at McDonald's for some drinks and continued driving to Quebec City.

Quebec City is one of my favorite North American cities, mainly because it reminds me so much of home! We rented a sweet little Airbnb in the heart of the city. We were told that the Airbnb has parking in the courtyard but it is really tight for a small car but there is street parking available. Too bad that the day we arrive there was a large festival going on and there was NO street parking available. Dum dum dum... so we had to park in the courtyard with our SUV. Things went downhill when the older French neighbor later started yelling at us not to park in there, she didn't realize we had rented the space from her neighbor and our French is basically non existence to get that point across and then.... the side of my car got all scratched up because it is a parking space for a small car. So yeah no photos from that minor nightmare.

But we did make it to Quebec City. Just in time to enjoy a few hours in the evening walking around and taking everything in.

Jake and I went back to the Airbnb and Scot and Finn went to a concert at the festival nearby. We went to bad very, very exhausted but excited for the coming days!

Mom's Highlight of the Day: Pistachio Gelato

Jake's Highlight of the Day: arriving in Old Quebec.

Finn's Highlight of the Day: Quebec

Dad's Highlight of the Day: going to the festival at night with Finn

Day 2 McGill's Go Up North - London, Battersea Ontario

Day two, we woke up to some yummy pancakes from Oma and a cooler full of food for our trip! It was so nice not to have to worry about the food for the first few days of this road trip.

We didn't waste much time at Oma's and left soon after breakfast for our first adventure on this trip. I booked a little cabin, situated on a farm by a lake near Kingston Ontario.

We arrived at the Dog Lake Cabin early afternoon and loved everything about it immediately! The setting was perfect. The cabin was small and simple but super cute and had everything we needed!

We were greeted with a cute little sign on the door and Scot had to laugh when I said "Don't let the boys in yet, I want to take pictures of it while it's still clean". I want these twin beds for the boys room.

The cabin had it's own little dock and canoes. The boys immediately went out to fish. Unfortunately Jake's fishing pole was broken beyond repair, even though I reminded him to get his fishing stuff in order before we left. Oh well, he had a fishing net with him and actually managed to catch a few fish with it.

Again, this was a great little cabin. I love the décor, even though simple it was all well done. I am a huge fan of maps and was pretty excited to see a map of the lake on the wall. My favorite part was the view though. Just sitting on the porch and watching the kids play on the dock was pretty special.

The farm itself was pretty cool and we took a small walk around. Lot's of animals to pet and a sweet dog named, Ditch. The owner of the farm at this point walked over, welcomed us and handed us two bags of fresh greens and sprouts for a salad (good thing that salad is one of Jake and Finn's favorite food) and a basket full of firewood.

We decided to take a little canoe trip. Across the lake from the cabin, about a 15 minute paddle, is a little beach with a swimming dock and the kids really wanted to go there. We left with perfect sunshine. Once there the kids jumped out of the canoe and swam a bit and that's when I noticed the black clouds. Aaaaand about 5 minutes later it began to rain. It rained HARD. Kids climbed back into the canoe and Scot and I paddled hard, because now it's also lightning and lightning + water + canoe don't mix. We paddled hard and we all go from being scared to OMG can you believe this is happening to laughing hysterically because now Scot and I are drenched. And I kid you not, we step on the dock and the sun is shining again. Hahaha

After getting all dried up and changed, Jake made Mac 'n Cheese for Finn and him and Scot started building outside a fire with wet logs and newspaper. It took him a little longer than usual but we soon all enjoyed a big campfire.

Being at the lake house was absolutely relaxing and I just loved sitting on the dock with my new camping chair . It really was MY highlight of the day... probably not the boys highlight but mine!

After a while of sitting on the dock, I noticed a family coming back to the cabin... and after a few more minutes I realized that this was a German family with two boys Jake and Finn's age. I took the boys over, introduced ourselves and within a minute all 4 boys were playing Hide and Seek or "Verstecke" in German. This occupied them until late into the night. All 4 of them went fishing, turtle catching and just had a great time exploring the farm together.

I spent the evening untangling Finn's fishing pole, which will seem later in the trip like a daily ritual, and Scot and I sat on the porch for a while. The kids took late night showers and we all went to bed happy and relaxed! Day two was perfect!

Day 1 McGill's Go Up North - Cincinnati to London, Ontario

The start of our 12 day Road Trip up North taking us to London, Ontario, Battersea, Quebec, Les Bergeronnes, Saranac Lakes, Lake Placid & Bufallo.

Day one! We packed up the car, ran a few last minute errands, said good-bye to Penny our dog and left around noon to head to Oma's house near London Ontario.

On the way we stopped in Lima, Ohio at the Kewpee Hamburger Place. It was so so good! The best hamburgers I had since In-Out-Burgers. I have to say though the doll is a little creepy haha

Fun Fact: on the way we saw Colonel Sanders driving in the car next to us. I didn't have my camera ready and he was driving soooo slow. It was pretty awesome though and probably the highlight of our first day!

Instead of crossing into Canada in Port Huron of the Bluewater Bridge we have been taking lately the ferry in Marine City. It shaves about 15 minutes off our trip and we never have to wait at the border. Plus it's so much more fun riding the ferry. I can never get over how BLUE the Bluewater River is!

Arrived at Oma's house and she had this beautiful cake for me. A little belated birthday surprise! It was even more delicious than it looks! We ate so much cake that we only had a very small dinner much later! 

Scot and the boys played a few hours in the backyard and then we all went to watch the storm roll in. The lightening was perfect and so I had to snap a few pictures of Scot too.

Unfortunately the storm also knocked the power out and so we spend the rest of the evening playing board games from my childhood by candle light. We had a very mean round of Mensch-Aergere-Dich-Nicht going!

Went to bed with the power still out and excited for the next day!