Family Trip: Day 4

We logged 208.8 kilometres and one giant park for today. Basically the itinerary for the day was to go into Algonquin Park and return, simple as that. We left at around 10am (kind of late, but oh well) with some grocery shopping for lunch and stuff...and we're off! The drive was just so relaxing, I don't know why. First stop, the West Gate. Well, we kind of have to stop there to get a permit and some postcards... Hardwood Lookout trail is next, a supposedly 0.8 kilometre trail. The lookout to Smoke Lake was kind of disappointing, actually... Algonquin Art Centre is next, where they had some food, and I just walked around, thinking how in the world can I look at God's wonderful creation, and find it to be so ordinary and dull...prayed a bit, and then we were off again. The small beach at the Lake of Two Rivers was next, which had a good view. Then, Lookout trail...it's a 1.9-kilometre trail that is rated as "difficult," but since it has "lookout" in its name, we went for it... It really was a bit difficult with all the hard climb up, but at the top of it, the cliff overlooking a large expanse of the park below was just spectacular. Amazing view. It's like a reward for all the hard climb. We just absolutely loved this place, taking a ton of photos. After this high point, we were all kind of tired...went to the Visitor Centre to buy some stuffs, completed the travel at the East Gate, and then returned on the same route. On the way back, visited Deerhurst Resort, which was kind of interesting, but I guess I was too tired to make myself interested... Dinner at King's Buffet, and it was yet another huge dinner. By the time we got back to the hotel, I just almost dropped dead...heh. And that completes the day.

Random notes...

• I found a tiny speck on the camera sensor thingie, and we bought some q-tip to get rid of it. Now the photos are speck free! Nice...
• I guess I kind of feel awkward when my dad mixes business with family travel, but if it's not for my dad's business, the traveling might not have happened...oh the dilemma...
• Note to self, next time (if there is one) when I visit Lookout trail, make sure I go early in the morning to get good lighting for photographs.
• Lots of bugs in the first trail, so much so that mesister's legs were almost all red by the end of it...yikes.
• To climb up a rock in the middle of the Lookout trail, my dad injured his lips...oops.
• I do find myself to be quite depressing and unresponsive whenever I'm tired or hungry, or both. Maybe I should watch myself a bit to make sure that I don't do stupid stuffs when that happens...
• Good thing I brought the computer along so I can store the pictures taken...and we took lots of them: 53 for day 1, 64 for day 2, 137 for day 3, and 117 for day 4. And this is just for my camera!

I'm grateful to God for...

• the wonderful day He has provided us with, especially with the fantastic views and the very good weather;
• helping us pick the good trails to walk on;
• a lot of quality time spent together as a family, which is just such a rare opportunity;
• once again giving me enough physical energy to complete the driving and the trail walking; and
• turning my mind and eyes around from finding things ordinary to finding things extraordinary.