Friday, August 29, 2014

Santa's Village - Bracebridge Ontario

Kim, Mike, Jolene and Robyn have been up for the week. They rented a nice waterfront place on Sunnyside Road, fronting on Long Lake. In addition to local activities, Mike wanted to take the kids to Santa's Village in Bracebridge, about 150 miles south of Sudbury.

Mike and Kim have a nice new Dodge Caravan with seven seats, so we decided that was the way to go. Sandy and I met them bright and early at the WalMart at the south side of town where we left the Kia for the day. Mike drove while I took the shotgun seat to navigate. Instead of the GPS recommended route across Highway 169 south of Parry Sound, we took Highway 141 through Rosseau, on of my favourite Ontario motorcycle roads. It was fun even in the van.

The parking lot was starting to fill up when we arrived at Santa's Village. We found a spot near the end of the main lot and walked over to the front gate, where we found a small line of smiling parents and kids waiting to buy admission tickets.

A rare sighting in the parking lot

The girls seemed to have a lot of fun during their visit. I don't have a play by play of all the things we did but took a few pictures to remember the experience.

The girls like roller coasters

The kids stayed close to us

Saying hello to Santa was a must

Mom and Grandma had fun too

My first train ride in quite a while

Half way to the North Pole

Swan rides take pedal power

Jolene waiting for her swan

Robyn is still smiling

This is better than a colouring book

Jolene climbing the nets

And riding a green creature

This was the smoking area

The Ferris wheel wasn't too big

But it's only August.....

One more run on the roller coaster

Jolene shows how it is done

Snow motorcycle?????

Everyone was pretty well worn out by the time we decided to leave. Mike drove back, this time taking Highway 169 through Bala to Highway 69. The return trip was as uneventful as the way down. All in all, it was a great day. I can't wait until we can take them to Canada's Wonderland.

Today's  Route (297 minivan miles):

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