These days it seems the stores start playing Christmas music right after Halloween and in Canada as the days get longer in November and December we all start to feel the cabin fever that results from being buried under snow and ice with wind chills that constantly remind us that the only place worth on Earth would be on the dark side of Mars which is not even on Earth and besides it’s probably warmer than New Brunswick this time of year.
It’s not always possible to have a family Christmas what with our families spread all over the country so the next best thing is always going for a nice cozy stay in a cabin to celebrate the season. You know the kind of idyllic place we dream about: a wood cabin in the remote back woods where the closest town is miles away and only birds and creatures dare dwell in the ghostly snow scape.
We decided to take a visit, or should I say “re-visit”, to Cape Breton Island, because it is one of favorite places to be no matter what the season and we know that Big Hill Retreat is our favorite spot on the island. Cape Breton Island is the jewel that lies North of Nova Scotia and the cozy Log Cabin near Baddeck, Big Hill Retreat, is a place we love to be.
We booked for a week so we could celebrate Christmas and New Years at the cabin and when I say all of us that includes Jasper and Alaska our Burmese cats who were enjoying their 5th Christmas with us. I think they are really learning to love the cabin and we are so fortunate that it is pet friendly.
Although we had been planning our trip for months when it came down to leaving we were in for a bit of a surprise, but not really a surprise since it’s winter in Atlantic Canada: a major snow storm, ice storm, freezing rain mix was in the forecast on the days we were scheduled to be in Cape Breton Island and this what one of those events the Weather Network likes to call a “SnowPocalypse” or a “FreezleBomb” or a “PolarMolarParkaPounder”.
We packed our food, clothing and cats into the car and set out onto highway conditions that could be called trecherous but we were determined to make it to the cabin no matter what the conditions were. It took us 7 hours to drive from Moncton to Baddeck, the roads were icy, snow covered and downright horrible. My knuckles were white, the cats knuckles were white, and the odd time we saw another car daring to risk the ride I swear I saw every driver wearing the same white knuckles.
Because of the slow drive we were so relieved to arrive at Big Hill Road: ahhhh finally home sweet home. I turned to look at Jasper and Alaska in their cage and they seemed to understand that we had made an amazing and quite perilous journey for this Christmas Vacation, they both smiled at me I’m sure.
It’s so amazing to be able to go out on to the snowshoe trails around the property. There are animal tracks and bird tracks throughout the forest and when we visit in Winter it is great to see the difference of the trails compared to walking them during the summer!
Speaking of snow trails…make sure you have good snow tires or a 4 x 4 if you are planning to visit Big Hill Retreat during the Winter. We have winter tires but we still couldn’t make it up the hill. I wish we had studded tires or chains or a four wheel drive. Luckily we were able to call from the bottom of the hill where our car was stuck and arrange a ride with Linda in the four wheel drive and transferred all our supplies and Christmas gifts and cats to the four by four and were given a lift up to the cabin.
We brought our Turkey for our Christmas dinner and wouldn’t you know it the power was cut off because of the storms and we had preheated the oven but with no power what were we going to do? Luckily there was the barbecue outside and we lit it up and got the Christmas turkey outside on the barby! It was funny seeing the snow falling and the Cape Breton Highlands spread out in the distance while we barbecued a big fat turkey outside sending delicious smells across the lands!
The weather kept us close to the cabin but in fact it was a real pleasure to stay around the cabin every day. We woke up and fed the birds, had a hot beverage on the deck, had a leisurely breakfast, played a game of Ticket to Ride, went snow-shoeing, came back, played more games, played with the cats…it was totally relaxing! What a great Christmas!
