Stay-cation

I can't complain. It's been an easy winter, a great year to not be going away. But I can't say it wouldn't be nice to splash about in a warm, sunny locale right about now. Easy winter or not, the fact remains that it's -14 outside tonight.

I really only have one vacation requirement - good swimming. It's pretty easy to plan a holiday in Canada that meets this requirement in the summer, but winter is a whole different kettle of fish. My kids are still too small to skate, ski, dogsled, snowshoe, go tubing or any other such activity that we use to convince ourselves that freezing is fun. When you can't do these things during your winter vacation, really, what's left? This year we were thinking about going to Florida or maybe Mexico, but didn't want to go for a whole week, didn't really want to fly. In the end we opted for what we hope is a good compromise. A stay-cation with a big dollop of something that seems alot like Disney. Great Wolf Lodge - it's a resort chain. Mostly in the States. Isn't somewhere I'd have dreamed I'd ever be looking forward to going, but I am. It's close. There's waterslides, hot tubs, splash parks. Inside, heated. Not quite the real thing. Not exactly a natural experience, but hey, that's compromise, right?

I want to thank Nicole for her heads up about the Malivoire winery in Beamsville (further research also yielded Frogpond organic winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake). I think we can make it a slightly eco-experience with a stop or two the way to stock up on "almost organic" wine in case the going gets rough at the waterpark!