Friday, January 27, 2006

Welcome to Buffalo !

Day 1 of our Adventure to Orlando began with a not so short drive to Buffalo to hang our hat at the Homewood Suites en route to flying BUF to MCO tomorrow. (Of course we stayed at a Hilton property...points&stays are everything!).

Anyway...the route to BUF actually added at least 30min of travel time versus the route I normally would have taken...so I'll update on the return trip how it compares. Needless to say that 4 hours in van to BUF instead of 2 to YYZ is still worth it to save well over C$1000 on flights.

After a quick swim in the pool, the lads settled in for some spongebob squarepants by the fireplace...

...and the muchachos still really, really, really have no idea what they are in store for tomorrow !

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Snowy morning...

Winter returned last night ! A nice dusting of white stuff to make the farm look as perfect as a Christmas card...






Here's another shot about an hour later going out the laneway...




Alas, at the end of the lane a Cedar had fallen blocking our path forcing the resident stockbroker to do manual labour...



This makes three trees I've had to 'muscle' out of the way this winter and darling wife has informed me that I'm on "chainsaw duty" this weekend to get things straightened up....
Cheers !

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Intrawest Blue Mountain & Westin Trillium House



For our 10th Anniversary, Nicole and I decided (okay, Nicole convinced me) to take two days out of our not-as-busy-as-we-think lifestyle and unwind at the Westin Trillium House at Blue Mountain for two nights.
Within 3 hours of our arrival we were so blown away that we are now talking crazy about coming back here every winter !
It's January here which means it's below freezing and snowy...but perfect for enjoying the Westin's two outdoor pools and two outdoor hottubs. With steam rising from them all the pools are heated to 92F and the hottub to 104F.
Absolutely perfect for tired muscles after a day on the slopes or to make Winter infinitely more tolerable.
Before booking at a Westin, make sure you are a memberof starwood preferred guest points program www.preferredguest.com and also check out www.flyertalk.com to get as much points bang for your buck as possible.
We used our autoclub discount and are rooms are in the $205/night range before tax. I tried to get an upgrade because it's our anniversary 'n all but no luck. Anyway, rooms are nice and have all amenities...wireless internet, dvd player, gas fireplace, wee kitchenette with toaster, microvwave, sink and a surprisingly broad range of dishes/cutlery including wine glasses.
Later gators!