And so, we set off to explore the new terrain, wandering the grounds. We headed down the hill to the water, and unknowingly entered the terrain of a duck, who started heading towards us. Assuming we'd come too close to her nest, we switched the direction of our ambling. She followed. Oops, we must have guessed the wrong direction, so started walking away from the water. Duck followed. And so it continued, with us wandering a rather serpentine path, and the duck (whom Don later named Wonk) trailing along in a lazy "heel" position. Even when we walked out onto the dock, Wonk stumbled along behind, tripping a little on the gaps between platforms, but still doggedly determined to be our chaperone. So canine she appeared, we finally bent down to see if she wanted to be pet... but no, she tended more towards the feline with that concept. Finally, we bade her adieu, certain that we'd see her again the next time we went for a wonder -- although, disappointingly, we never caught sight of her again.
So began our evening of blissful ignorance. :-)
It was the cocktail hour, so we walked back into the house and up to the bar to grab a couple o' pints of the local draught. Asking if it was alright to take our tasty beverages onto the patio, we were informed that we could take them anywhere we liked, other than onto the boats or down the street. (Ooh, how civilized -- you sure we're still in Ontario?) So we grabbed our books and notebooks (which went unused, as we were chatting and watching the whole time) and took our Muskoka dark ales out onto the patio.
We must have been having a Dr. Doolittle day, because a little after we had sat down, a little red squirrel scampered through the deck and hung out with us for quite some time, until it resigned itself to the fact that we had no snacks to share. Unfortunately for him, the bartender came out to check on us a few minutes later, bringing us a little bowl of snacks! We opted for a second brew to help wash them down, and chatted and stared at scenery a little longer.
And then the descent into the wine cellar - a fairly small-ish room (you probably wouldn't want to be in there with one who hadn't recently bathed), filled floor to ceiling with 80-ish bins of reds and whites. Like kids in a candy store! What to choose, what to choose? We opted for our usual favourite, a Rioja, and clambered back up the stairs. We were informed by our waiter Katie that, if we didn't finish the wine at dinner, they could re-cork it and save it for the next day, or we could take the bottle up to our room -- again, how civilized! (Although I don't think we've ever not been able to finish a bottle of wine, so the option wasn't terribly beneficial to us.)
The dinner menu at Sir Sam's varies each night. You can choose one from about three appetizers or salad (if you opt to skip dessert, you can have two appetizers instead -- but who wants to skip dessert?), one of usually four entrees (although the chef seemed quite happy to prepare special off-menu vegetarian stuff for me too, as long as he knew in advance), and one of three desserts. Throughout the week, the food at every meal was just fabulous -- there was nothing either of us didn't enjoy whole-heartedly, and Don was forever teasing me about all the coo-ing sounds I'd make with each mouthful.
I'm afraid I didn't write down what my darling husband (!) ordered, but I started with a delicious salad of greens and strawberries, followed by an exquisite catfish dish and finished with chocolate mousse -- with strawberries, of course! We took a tiny wander to help digest, and then headed back to our room to make sure the champagne was still cold. :-)
And here comes the grand finale of blissful ignorance: definitely blissful that evening, not-so-blissful the following morning. (Can't say we were even ignorant, just choosing to forget, I guess...)
Bottle of champagne in the room. Jacuzzi in the room. Tasty treats in the fridge. Either of these three options would have been lovely. But we're not terribly good at making decisions, so opted for all three. Not our most brilliant choice, I'm afraid, as our fuzzy heads the next morning would attest.
But, still in blissful ignorance mode, we filled the tub with nice and hot-hot-hot water, grabbed the champagne, cheese tray and chocolate-covered strawberries, turned on the jets and enjoyed a night of complete decadence, calories and brain cells be damned!
Sometimes, you just have to forget about consequences, throw caution to the wind, and jump right in...
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