It’s finally starting to feel like spring here in southern Ontario with warmer weather and a lot of sunshine. But it’s only a matter of time before the mosquitoes become active. So for the Easter long weekend we decided to head up the cabin to enjoy the bug-free outdoors for the time being. We also hit up a few provincial parks in the area to take advantage of the nice weather.

We planned to visit the cabin at the beginning of January to celebrate the New Year, but due to a series of mishaps, including a fierce winter storm over the holidays and us forgetting our snowshoes, we had to make alternative plans. And so with a free weekend in February, we decided a return trip to the cabin was in order. For real this time.

We’ve been battling a wicked cold over the past two weeks and were finally on the road to recovery. So we decided to head up to the cabin for the weekend to get a change of scenery and some fresh air. I’m a strong believer that spending time in nature can be healing and is good for your well-being.

In some ways it feels like we were right back where we were a year ago with this pandemic. While Ontario wasn’t back in full lockdown, new restrictions were put in place just before Christmas, including reducing capacity limits for indoor gatherings. Similar to last year, we decided to ring in the New Year at the cabin to get a change of scenery and momentarily escape from the world around us.

It’s been awhile since we’ve been to the cabin. Between moving, unpacking, yard work, hosting family and friends at our new house, and taking a few road trips this summer, we just haven’t had much time for anything else. So when we finally had a free weekend in November, we decided to visit the cabin.

There’s a good reason we typically don’t visit the cabin in the late spring or early summer. That’s when the mosquitos are living their best lives. But we somehow always think it’s going to be fine. And it never is.

Spring is in full force here in Ontario. It’s usually a fine line between when new growth starts to appear and the mosquitoes come out to play. We decided to risk it anyway and visit the cabin in mid-May as this very well might be our last visit for the next couple of months.

As of April 3, 2021, Ontario went back into a province-wide shutdown. This doesn’t impact us too much since Toronto has been in some combination of lockdown or shutdown for the past five to six months. Provincial parks are still open for day-use, overnight camping, including backcountry camping however is closed. We had a few camping trips planned for April, largely because reserving a campsite during the summer has become next to impossible and we didn’t want to get eaten alive by the mosquitoes and black flies later in the spring. So for the Easter long weekend we decided to head up to the cabin to get away from everything and figure out our game plan for the next few weeks (which let’s be real, is likely going to involve visiting the cabin again).

Ontario has been under a strict lockdown with a stay-at-home order in effect since December 26, 2020. While some restrictions have begun to ease across different regions of the province, the stay-at-home order was extended in Toronto until March 8, 2021. While the rules around the stay-at-home order are a bit confusing and unclear, the goal is to encourage people to remain at home unless it’s absolutely necessary to go out. The pandemic fatigue has really caught up with us over the past couple of months. With the Family Day long weekend coming up, we decided to break the rules and spend some quality time up at the cabin for a change of scenery.