7 Year Anniversary - Quebec/Ottawa 25-27/01/19 (Engagement)
- Kaylin M
- Feb 1, 2019
- 10 min read
This past Christmas, Blake gave me the gift of a promised trip to the Nordik Spa in Chelsea, Quebec. One of our favourite memories was the road trip that we took to Quebec a couple of years ago, so Blake wanted to remake that memory for us, but also spoil me in the process. Since our anniversary is in January, we thought that the best time for this getaway would be our 7 year anniversary. Originally, I took charge with the planning, but quickly decided that, since it was supposed to be Blake’s gift to me, that he should plan the whole thing. I had no idea where we were staying or what we would be doing over the weekend (except for the spa). I have always planned our getaways, so I was excited and nervous to see what Blake had planned for us.
On Friday, January 25 (one day after our anniversary), we headed off to Ottawa...or so I thought. The plan was to stay in Ottawa and explore the area, then maybe explore a bit of the bordering Quebec. However, on Friday, Blake told me that we would be driving a whopping 4 ½ hours. I was only prepared for a 3 hour trip, so needless to say, there was a little bit of initial complaining on my part. On our drive, we had the best conversations that we have had in a long while. We shared stories, asked each other questions, and laughed more than we ever had. During the drive, Blake was desperately craving a burger, so we eventually made a quick pit stop at Harvey's before finishing our journey to Wakefield, Quebec.
We arrived at 7:30 pm Friday night. The room we had rented was at a lodge called Le Bellevue (https://lebellevue.ca/). It was a charming lodge with a breathtaking view. Blake had booked us in the largest suite the included a king bed. (Below: our view from our bed)
Once we were settled in, we headed to Wakefield for dinner. We ate at a restaurant called The Village House. Blake had the steak tartar and I had the scallops. Both dishes were from the appetizer menu, but were enough to satisfy our bellies for the evening. I always forget that "tartar" means raw, so whenever I see “steak” I always want to get it … I’m always disappointed. The steak tartar was good, but just wasn't what I was expecting. I really enjoyed my scallops and gnocchi; however, I wasn’t a fan of the bed of mango citrus salad that was accompanying the dish. After dinner, we headed back to our room and went to bed. We were exhausted and, apparently, we had to get up early the next morning for a pre-booked activity.
The next morning we were up and ready to go by 8am. Our continental breakfast was served at 8:30am, so we had to wait for that before we could leave. Blake and I were ecstatic when we went downstairs to a spread of warm croissants and fresh fruit. Nothing beats a delicious croissant. We inhaled our breakfast then headed to Ottawa. For a while, I’ve been wanting to experience a float tank. Float tanks are large egg-shaped tanks that are shallowly filled with very very salty water. Due to the density of the water, you are able to float. While in the tank you are completely naked (although you can choose to wear a swimsuit) and there are no lights (although you can choose to keep the lights on if you wish). The whole experience is meant to eliminate your senses and allow your body to experience a deep state of relaxation/meditation.
Anyways, Blake booked us in for Saturday morning for a 1 hour float at ISO Spa. I was really looking forward to it. We ended up arriving way too early for our 10am float so we sat in a Starbucks and shared a hot chocolate (which we later discovered was a mistake). At about 9:45am we went over and checked in. The gentleman that worked there was very nice and made us both feel comfortable. He explained what was going to happen and then allowed us our privacy. Blake and I had a room each, so we weren’t together during the float. I showered then stripped down and got into the tank. I was surprised by how tepid the water was. I think I was expecting bath-like water, but the water was set to be body temperature so it wasn’t too cold nor too hot. Although the water felt cold to me. I closed the lid and laid down on my back. For the first 15 minutes, there was soothing music playing to help us relax and the lights shut off after about 5 minutes unless you choose to keep the tank lights on. I tried to relax, but I couldn’t. Firstly, since I was floating on my back, my chest (breasts) were completely out of the water, which was not expected. Also, no matter how I laid my head back, I felt an incredible amount of pressure on my jaw. Eventually, I put the available small pool noodle behind my neck and that was much more relaxing, but this was about 40 minutes into the float … I think (there’s no clock in there). Furthermore, I made the mistake of scratching my nose and salt water dripped down into my eye. We were warned that it might happen and burn like a son-of-a-gun. There was a spray bottle of fresh water in the tank, but it didn’t help too much. As well, remember that hot chocolate? ... Well, it had finally reached my bladder and now I definitely couldn’t relax. All in all, I’m glad that I had the chance to experience a float since I’ve been interested in it for quite some time, but I don’t think I’ll do it again. However, Blake did say that he was able to relax and the other people there that were first time floaters, seemed to enjoy themselves as well. So, I think the problem was me.
After the floats, we went around the corner to a bakery called 3 Tarts and bought a whole bunch of bite-sized desserts. These desserts were beautiful; I wish I could have tried them all. The assortment that Blake and I got was also delicious. 5 Star Rating from me! If you’re ever in Ottawa, definitely check this bake shop out! (The picture doesn’t do these treats justice)
Now that we were semi-relaxed and our sweet tooths were satisfied, we headed over to the Rideau Canal. We didn’t really have an intention on skating on the canal, but we were determined to share a Beavertail while shuffling across the icy river. And that we did! Such a Canadian bucket list item, but it’s one that we can check off! Maybe next time we go to Ottawa, we’ll actually skate on the canal. You would think that after all of those sweets that we wouldn’t be hungry, but we were ready for lunch! We decided to go for ramen since it was something that I’ve never tried and it was only a couple of blocks away from the canal. When we arrived, there was a line out the door. I took that as a good sign of delicious food, so we decided to wait. The people in front of us were pretty annoying to listen to, but we persevered. Once seated we both got large bowls of ramen, which we shared. Blake ate all of his, but I only ate half of mine … it was a lot of soup! I asked for the ramen to-go and on our walk back to our car, we walked past a homeless man. It was so cold, I couldn’t imagine being stuck on the streets during this weather, so I gave him my soup. It was still warm and a little spicy, so I hoped that it would help warm his insides on this particularly chilly day. He was very grateful and sweet. Blake said how generous it was that I did that, but, honestly, Blake would have done the exact same thing and HAS done it on multiple occasions. He makes me want to be a better person and I love him for that. We didn’t have any more plans for Ottawa, so we headed back to our AirBnb.
Once back, we intended on resting for an hour and then going into the small town of Wakefield to explore. We were both enjoying looking out of the window at the beautiful view. I wanted to go outside huddled in a blanket, but Blake said it was too cold, so we stayed inside and stood in the window in the warm sunshine. We had a bird feeder outside of our room and a ton of small birds were enjoying an afternoon snack. We even had a woodpecker visit the feeder. Blake had his arms around me and it was a perfect moment.
I could make up a magical, romantic story about what happened next, but that wouldn’t be me and Blake. So, here is what truly happened next.
While in that perfect moment, I said to Blake, “You’ve spent so much money and planned such an amazing trip that it would be silly if you didn’t propose this weekend. You don’t have to, but you put so much work into this trip.” (whoops) Then, I went to the bathroom; still shouting that I know that a proposal was expected by his family (Blake overhead his family discussing it prior to our trip), but that I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen. While in there, I heard him rooting around in the room and thought … maybe?? Anyways, when I came out of the bathroom moments later, he was in the same spot, so I resumed our position in the sunlight. On my way back over to Blake, I overshot and smacked my face into the window. We laughed at my clumsiness. Then, we stood there for a few moments before Blake said, “Okay we’re going to do this” and turned me towards him. I’m a very awkward person and although I figured out what was about to happen, my awkwardness kicked in and I pulled away from him. He grabbed my hand and I couldn’t even look at him! Then Blake said, “Kaylin, would you be the happiest man…” Wait, what?! I don't think that's how this is supposed to go.
Kaylin: “Would I be the happiest man? Do you want to try that again Blake?”
Blake: “Kaylin, would you make ME the happiest man in the world and marry me.”
I, obviously, said of course! And we embraced for a long time, which is my way of defusing my awkwardness, but I was also so happy.
(You can't really tell in the picture, but it was snowing)
So it happened! Blake and I are (finally) engaged and we both couldn’t be happier. We ended up not going into town until dinner because we had to call everyone. Turns out that on the Friday that we left, while I was at work, Blake drove down to Whitby to get my father’s blessing which is so traditional and I love. Blake has been a part of our family for so long that my father said it wasn’t necessary, but Blake thought it was important and I’m glad he did it. The ring is beautiful. I designed it almost a year ago, but Blake customized it to perfection. Shoutout to Graziella’s in Whitby for helping to create my beautiful engagement ring.
(close up will be in the gallery at the end of the post)
(We took this picture a couple of minutes before Blake proposed - we took our engagement photo the next day.)
That night, we went into Wakefield for dinner and on our way we saw a literal herd of deer. I was so excited! I had never seen so many deer in one place before. They were beautiful! In Wakefield, we had dinner at a restaurant called Le Hibou. I chose it because I thought it was going to be a Mexican restaurant and Blake LOVES Mexican food. Alas, it was merely a standard restaurant with Mexican style decor. I had delicious fish and chips with a wine-soaked pear salad; and Blake had the veggie burger. Once we returned to our room, we both crashed at 8:30pm. It had been a busy and exciting day. We were exhausted!
The next morning, we got up early again and checked out. Before leaving, we had our warm croissants and fresh fruit, then hurried off to Chelsea, Quebec for our spa appointments. The weather wasn't great, so we had left early to give ourselves a lot of time. Unfortunately, the snow plow on the highway had a different idea. We were stuck for about 15 minutes. Eventually, we followed along with the ideas of some other cars and got off and back on the highway to get in front of the plows. After that, I was definitely stressed out and in desperate need of a massage. We were barely on time, but they pulled us out of the line up and took us in right away. Blake had a Swedish massage and I had a tonic massage. Afterwards, we had access to the baths and pools on the spa grounds. We started in the Eucalyptus steam room, then went into one of the hot baths. It was definitely chilly walking to and from the different locations in the middle of winter in nothing but a swimsuit, robe, flip flops, and a warm hat. After the hot bath, we went to the hot stone beds...which were disappointing because they weren't hot; then we hopped from sauna to sauna. Starting in a dry sauna, then walking uphill to the Earth sauna. We were getting pretty hot and sweaty, so we dived into the cold plunge pool before rapidly scurrying back into the saunas. It was so cold outside that you could see the steam coming off of our bodies whenever we exited the saunas. At noon, we both had body treatments booked, so we changed out of our wet swimsuits and checked in for our body treatments. It wasn't the best body treatment I've ever had (my spa experience in Mexico takes that one; hands down!), but it was still relaxing. Afterwards, we just wanted to get home, so we changed and embarked on our 4 hour drive home.
The drive home seemed to go by pretty fast. We were excited to get home and see Lily. It was a whirlwind of a weekend that we will both never forget!
Blake, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you and be your wife. It feels so weird to say that. I'm so lucky that you chose to love me. You make me so happy and I love you so much!
Side note: When we got home, my best friend Paula had stopped by to check in on Lily and left us beautiful flowers and sparkling wine to congratulate us! She's awesome!
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