“When I was a boy, I wished I could fly” – Peter and the Starcatcher
The Shaw Festival is ready to take you on an exciting adventure, through battles and finally to the magical island that will become the famous, Neverland!
Peter and the Starcatcher is based on the 2004 novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and tells the story of what happened before JM Barrie’s novel Peter and Wendy. Before he becomes Peter Pan, Peter sails out from London on a ship with an undetermined destination. He is just one of three terrified and lonely orphans. When the ship’s precious cargo, a trunk of star-dust, causes a battle between the British Empire, the pirates, the ship’s captain and a girl named Molly lead the boy into adventure. The battle ends with everyone being stuck on Mollusk Island. With the help of Molly’s nanny and the other orphans, Molly and Peter fight to keep the star-dust safe.
The play was produced in 2012 and went on to win five Tony Awards delighting audiences old and new. The play is recommended for ages eight years and up and has a total running time of two hours and thirty minutes with one intermission.
The Shaw Festival wants to give one of you the chance to witness this magical journey live on the Royal George stage! My Canadian residents can now enter to win a pair of tickets to the live show using the Rafflecopter form below. Accommodation and transportation are not provided so please keep that in mind when entering, the date will be determined (the show runs from May until November). Good luck!
My family and I, were able to spend the last weekend in Ottawa and Quebec for the fabulous BConnected Conference! I couldn’t wait to share some of the photos I was able to take of the events. While in Ottawa, we headed out to Parliament Hill and participated in the Haunted Walk. Here are a few of the highlights from our weekend:
Now that I have shared with you how I have spent my week, make sure you link up below so that I can visit you!
Food has this magical way of bringing people together – to laugh, to talk and to catch up. The best part of vacation is getting to dine out with no worries about cooking but just being able to enjoy the meal and company.
With so many dining options to choose from at Blue Mountain, we chose to have dinner at Firehall Pizza Co and at Oliver and Bonacini. We chose to have breakfast at the all day breakfast restaurant, Sunset Grill.
The Sunset Grill serves up delicious all day breakfast with endless coffee (mmmm…coffee!). I loved the warm decor that brightened up the inside and made you feel right at home. Our meals were very well priced and came with huge portions which was perfect for filling us up for a day of skiing. Sunset Grill was the perfect breakfast dining option for us and it was located within a five-minute walk from our hotel.
My delicious meal:
The hubby got the protein meal! Check out all that goodness:
Hungry yet? I know I am!
We had dinner at Firehall Pizza Co on our first night and I fell in love with the food and decor (and from the large group of people gathering it was definitely a hot spot at Blue Mountain Village!). The music was pumping (but not overwhelming so), the staff were fantastic, service was quick and the food was delicious!
Oliver and Bonancini was the last place we dined at during our stay and it offered a good variety of cuisine to satisfy each one of us. The children’s meals came with an appetizer, main course and a dessert! Both of our boys devoured their food!
My husband ordered the lamb and in his words “That was the most incredible meal I have ever eaten!”. And it truly was.
The atmosphere and design of the restaurant was gorgeous. Later on in the night, in the picture below the top part of this middle area lights up with a fire casting a warm glow in the restaurant. The restaurant is perfectly located on the main floor of the Westin hotel just adjacent to the lobby.
I had to share a picture of my gorgeous Sangria!
Do you have a favourite place to dine out at when visiting Blue Mountain? Which one of these places would you want to visit first?
Nestled in the woods, roughly ten minutes away from Blue Mountain Village, the Scandinave Spa Blue Mountain offers an experience to remember.
One of the highlights of my Blue Mountain trip was heading over to Scandinave Spa on the morning before we left. When we had arrived at Blue Mountain two days prior, I had heard many of the visitors mention the spa and could not wait to experience for myself what every other visitor was talking about (two different groups in the lobby at check in were having a spa weekend!).
When you arrive at Scandinave Spa, the spa is located in an area that is heavily dense with trees and far back from the main road. You access the main building by a bridge and as you are passing over the bridge you have wonderful views of Blue Mountain. Light music greets you and welcomes you into the relaxation. Signs are posted welcoming quiet and peace which is the perfect reminder for all guests.
The lobby was warm, inviting and open. When I checked in I received my two towels and was able to head down into the change room areas. There was a separate coat and sitting area before walking into the change rooms. The change room area itself was large and clean with an abundance of lockers, washroom stalls, tables, private changing areas and even hair dryers. After quickly getting into my bathing suit and putting my robe on I was ready to head out to the baths.
Walking outside for the first time was an incredible experience in itself. Wearing a robe, sandals and carrying my water bottle with snow-covered trees and rocks I quickly headed over to the Steam Bath. The eucalyptus steam bath was incredible and almost felt like you were walking into a steam of Vicks! Sitting in the room (with my water bottle because of the heat) my skin was instantly sweating and my sinuses were clearing up fast. I had a sinus headache that had started that morning and the steam helped to quickly release the mucous buildup and tension in my head.
Each of the three hot baths offers a multi sensory experience that will relax and bring you peace. One of the hot baths allows you to smell the fire pits stronger, feel and hear the wind and hear the light music. The second bath allows you to hear the waterfall stronger and the sound of the music. The third bath nestled in the back and closer to the forestry brings to you the scent of eucalyptus from the Steam Bath and the sounds of the trees blowing in the wind. Each area is marked for silence and every patron was excellent at following those rules. I was so relaxed in the hot baths that I could close my eyes and almost drift off into sleep (if I wasn’t so excited!).
Massage treatments (Swedish massage, hot stone therapy and sports massage)
Bistro
Boutique
Private yoga classes and retreats
The tradition of hot baths, cold plunges and Finnish saunas remains popular today in Europe. There are many therapeutic and personal benefits to using these baths and spas including stress reduction, detoxification and cleansing. The three-part cyclical routine of the spa (heat,cold and relax) allows an individual to benefit the most from the baths. Each part works to rejuvenate, revitalize and relax the body.
One of the best features of the Scandinave Spa is their commitment to being green. They encourage patrons to bring their own water bottles and have several water refilling stations throughout the buildings.
The Scandinave Spa is definitely an experience to help you unwind and escape from the daily pressures of life. You leave feeling relaxed, renewed and ready to face the world with a positive outlook.
You can connect with Scandinave Spa on Twitter and Facebook.
After wrapping up three days at Blue Mountain (staying at the gorgeous Westin Blue Mountain) we were amazed at how much the village has to offer. Blue Mountain Village has something to offer for every member of the family, from the youngest to the eldest.
We started off our stay at Westin Blue Mountain by dropping off our bags early and hitting the Hike and Tube. It was a short walk (less than five minutes) to the location and easy to locate as it was right on the main road.
I haven’t had that much fun in a long time! The staff were fantastic and hilarious as they spun us down the hill. I honestly don’t know how they don’t go home sore from twirling people all day but it looked like they were having a fantastic time! Our youngest was terrifying me as he was laughing and telling them to spin him more. The ‘hike’ up the hill was short and easy to do for most individuals. Our youngest kept getting free rides up the hill by staying in his tube and getting us to drag him up (oh the joys of being young and lightweight!).
On our second day we were ready to hit the slopes (or in our case the novice course!). Blue Mountain has an incredible novice area with excellent and patient instructors. I would highly recommend if this is your first time trying out the sport to meet with an instructor and have them go over the basics with you – honestly this is so important both for your own enjoyment and for personal safety.
My eldest son took to snowboarding like it was nothing! He was doing his second turn across the open area while I was still navigating how to push the snowboard with one leg and pull my leg across without falling. I could not believe how much work it was – these guys make it look super easy.
It was truly amazing to see the amount of young children on the course. They took to the skiing and snowboarding like it was second nature to them. They were fearless in getting up the mini hills and gliding back down the hill. My son had tried snowboarding before in the past but I was so grateful for all the time and energy our instructor spent on teaching my son the basics. It truly made a big difference.
The Kids at Blue Mountain located out of South Base Lodge is the perfect opportunity for your youngest members (ages 3-5) to learn in a quieter environment with the focus solely on children. A short walk (roughly ten minutes) or you can take the shuttle from the Westin hotel lands you at South Base Lodge and the Kids at Blue Mountain area. The children were adorable as they stepped out on the skiis and up the ‘carpet’. The instructors were fabulous as they came down the hill behind the children holding on to the jacket and guiding them through each stage.
The Plunge Aquatic Centre is located just adjacent to the Westin Blue Mountain. It took us under five minutes to walk there from the hotel. The Plunge Aquatic Centre contains both an indoor and outdoor pool (with access through the pools), indoor water playground, hot tub, rope swings, slides and basketball nets. Swimming outdoors in the cold temperatures (-26C) was an experience to remember. Your face could barely feel the cold but your eyelashes would have frost on them! The steam from the pool would become thick at times and you could sometimes only see a couple of feet in front of you which was pretty awesome! There were plenty of lifejackets and the pool space was quite spacious. Each pool is kept quite warm so you never felt cold.
The Ridge Runner Coaster is an exciting single person (or you can go with your children) that runs through the mountain. The coaster takes you on a 1,085 metres down the mountain. It was fun, scary and exhilarating all at the same time! At times you felt like you were going to fly over the side of the mountain. While I screamed the whole way down the mountain both of my children laughed the whole way!
We also spent an afternoon at Crock A Doodle painting our own ceramic creations. There was a wide variety of ceramic options to choose from and which you can settle in right away. Your creations are left over night and can be picked up the next day after four or for a small fee can be mailed to your home. We just received our creations in the mail today!
Here is a collection of some of my favourite photos around Blue Mountain village:
What are your favourite winter activities? What activity would you love to do at Blue Mountain?
Come back again tomorrow for more Blue Mountain fun!
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
