Who Knew?

Huntsville, Ontario - Deerhurst Resort Aug 15-17, 2020

Tree Top Trekking Wakeboarding on a zip line

Who knew that this would be the first out of city experience since January? Who knew what a hot mess our world would become? Who knew all of the horrible tragedies that would fall upon us, and who knew that it could possible last this long? Lockdown became the term of 2020 and for the most part the Mrs., the rugrats and I did our part and locked down. Like some, we had big summer plans (Tokyo Olympics will have to wait) and we had planned to enjoy the summer out and about. There’s an old saying that goes, Man plans and God laughs. Not sure anyone is laughing now, but we all had to deal with the reality of the severe situation we faced. Still managed to spruce up the back yard and enjoy some hangouts with friends, social distanced of course. “Going up north” is an affectionate term that Torontonians use when we visit family and friends in cottage country or when you plan a canoe trip, or hiking or boating or exploring the great wilderness we have been spoiled with here. There are also a great number of resorts that you can find all of these adventures in one place. Deerhurst is one of those. Some may recall a winter trip we had taken a few years back to the same destination, it has hosted a G7 summit and where lovely Shania Twain got her start as an entertainer. The mattress was horrible and the resort was still holding on to it’s 1980’s decor in the main main lodge. This time we opted for the newly built building which was near the waterfront. Big difference, some might say, HUGE difference. With my daughter’s birthday on the calendar we told our family that we were “going up north” despite the backlash from my parents and others. We were in a self contained unit and brought all our own food and it was one of the better family decisions we made. When we arrived, we felt “normal” again, and by normal I mean, seeing other people, and more importantly seeing people with HUGE smiles on their face. For 4 days we had a taste of non lockdown and freedom and a realization of how lucky we are to be living in a city, province and country where even when told to stay put and recommended not to leave your home, you can. With this though, comes a huge sense of responsibility and desire to act and do what is best for the most and to respect your fellow humans. Social distancing and mask wearing for now, has become that responsibility and respect and when this whole hot mess somehow gets under control, my hope is that the sense of responsibility not only increases but becomes a fabric of human behavior. In the meantime, we need sleep... and sleep we did!

SET UP

The adults had a room with a king in a room that really only should have had a queen. Can you say all bed! The kids in a separate room with 2 double beds and a nice in between sitting room and a kitchenette. Small balcony, but fine for our purposes. We were out most of the day anyways.

MATTRESS

Therapedic – a mini major. Not quite the quality of fabrics or foams that the big guys use, but still a comfy choice. This mattress has a eurotop that allows side sleepers that cushy conformability to hips and shoulders but still some good uplifting support. I am generally not a fan of tops, euros, pillows, comfort and the like as they tend to sag and create more of a sleep impression. For a hotel though, and when you only have a few nights, a good choice and the mattress was relatively new too, so that depression was not yet apparent.

SLEEP

Like a baby. When we glanced at the clock in the morning, we were dumbfounded as to how we could have gotten up on the other side of 10 am! Maybe it was the new environment, maybe something in the air, maybe just being out of the city, maybe even the mattress. I will chalk it up to all of the above, it was brilliant. The next few nights were the same, about 9 hours with no interruptions and not even a minor pain from the waterski the day before.

LINENS AND MORE

Opulence by Eden Textiles, a nice Canadian company from Edmonton, Alberta. They supply the hospitality industry and other institutions. While opulence may be a stretch for these linens, they weren’t as I was expecting, they were softer and had a nice stretch to them. Always nice to have a linen that moves a bit as we do as we sleep. Weaves are as important in a linen as much as thread count. Don’t be fooled by 1000 thread counts that are percale as they can still feel starchy.

OVERALL

Can’t complain that we escaped lockdown and had a great change of scenery. Kids had a blast and it was relaxing to say the least. To feel normal was paramount and to be anywhere besides home right now is a blessing. 🛶👙👓🌞👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

GREAT RELATED LINKS

Still have the dispensers in the shower.

http://tenrandomfacts.com/soap-dispenser/

https://treetoptrekking.com/

https://www.therapedic.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockdown

https://www.thespruce.com/guide-to-bedding-weaves-and-fabrics-350494