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The Sweet Escape

Since moving to Ottawa, I've been made it a point to get away for Canada Day long weekend. I'm not great with crowds, especially after having been severely traumatized by the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. And with this year being Canada's 150, I was having terrifying visions of the hordes of tourists pushing and shoving their way to Parliament Hill.

I pretty much begged Nick if we could escape the anticipated madness, and him being the sweetheart that he is, humoured my well-founded fears. We tossed around some ideas (Chicago, New York) before I suggested that we spend our mini vacation in nature, specifically, Bruce Peninsula, since I recall it being incredibly peaceful and beautiful, and Nick had never been before. So being the photographers that we are, we packed our cameras and a few outfits and off we went.

Day 1, we visited Owen Sound and Ingles Falls before heading to Sauble Beach for dinner and sunset on the beach.




I had picked up a vintage style one-piece just before the trip and wanted to try a "vintage beach postcard" kind of shoot.


dreaming of more vacation days

I like long walks on the beach




Despite the sun, there was a surprisingly chilly wind, so I kept my skirt on and held on to my hat so it wouldn't fly away.

Weather forecast said rain in Tobermory Sunday, so we spent day 2 in Lion's Head instead and hiked that section of the Bruce Trail.  The view at the top was so relaxing and we sat there, enjoying the sunny rays and fresh air and the company of a black lab named Scruff.

Scruff! 
On our way down, we came across two butterflies in the middle of the road.


Although initially extremely excited, as we got closer for our shots, we quickly realized why they were hanging around.

yup, that's poop.

Who would associate such beautiful creatures with poop? Nevertheless, we held our breaths and took as many shots as we could.



Pictured above: commitment.
Day 3 the weather was absolutely perfect for Flowerpot Island. And while waiting for our ferry, we ran into more cute dogs!

Blackie & his owner
Canelle & her owner

"What did you do?"
Canelle: Nothing!
Blackie: I asked for a kiss and she turned me down :(

Blackie and Canelle's love story reminds me of the cute corgi couple the last time I was at Flowerpot Island, except now with Shiba Inus. If I could meet a different set of dog couples every time I visited Flowerpot, I might be inclined to drive up here every weekend!

We parted ways, sadly, as they boarded a different ferry, but hard to complain because whoo I love boats :)

Happy Birthday Canada! 
Finally made it onto the island, wasted no time in getting more pictures with boats.

banana boat?
With little convincing, got Nick to pose as well :P

boats boats boats
Funny story about this shot, Nick actually took his shirt off right away (his complaints about his tan lines are so real haha) but I made him put it back on for photos.

Nick: There's a random Filipino woman staring super hard at me.

Me: Okay, go ahead and take off your shirt again -- NO NO NO, like, sloowwwwly.

like this.
Eat your heart out, Random Filipino Woman ;)

sponsor us please Kenneth Cole
Emboldened by the gaze of many staring tourists (and one RFW), Nick eagerly climbed up the small Flowerpot for some more photos.

just chillin

like a villan
He soon spotted a cave just past the Flowerpot and got the idea for a "water goddess" type of concept and so I rolled up my skirt and tried my hardest to channel my inner water goddess.


Anyone else hearing the Venus razor commercial jingle in their heads? Just me?


After much sunbathing by the Flowerpots, we did the little hike around the island, and were pleased to find some local wildlife.

cute snek

another cute snek

fearless! 
This baby squirrel ran across Nick's foot and was not the least bit scared being around humans. He was absolutely adorable and Nick came very very close to taking him home with us.

omnomnom

Overall, it was just great to be able to get away from work and city life and relax in nature.

girls just want to have sun

Additionally, it was great to be transported away without having to go very far and appreciate more of Canada and Ontario. For folks in Toronto, it's totally doable as a regular weekend trip!

Hope you enjoyed these photos! Thanks for reading :)

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