Beat the Winter Blues by Yurting

Last week we spent three days in a yurt at The Pinery. Three days at -15C (5F) during the day and -20C (-4F) at night. That’s what happens when I leave Darren in charge of booking our winter vacation.

The view from our yurt was fantastic, nestled in the woods surrounded by trees.

And Darren made sure we weren’t too far away from the heated bathrooms with running water.

I really wasn’t sure about the whole thing, I mean, this time of year I’m cold sitting on the couch in our living room. So I wore lots of layers – an undershirt, a t-shirt, a long sleeve thermal shirt, and a wool sweater up top, and wool undies, long underwear, wool socks, and jeans down below. And those were my inside clothes. Outside I still layered on my pashmina scarf, wool hat, thrummed mittens, down parka, and winter boots.

I was worried about what we’d eat, especially for breakfast. All we had was a barbecue. We don’t really eat much meat and I figured it would be good to start with something warming but I’m not into oatmeal.

So I made breakfast burritos filled with egg, sausage, cheese, and red peppers. Not the healthiest thing I’ve ever started the day with but I figured the fats and protein would keep us warm.

Oh, and we made breakfast dessert. Wraps filled with nutella, bananas, strawberries, and peanuts, warmed on the barbecue. I mean hey, we were on holidays.

Two things you didn’t know about Darren:

1. He has an amazing laugh.
2. He’s a nature whisperer. Birds and insects land on him ALL THE TIME.

Look closely, see the bird on the back of his head?

We spent most of our daylight hours on nature walks and once we got going I was surprisingly warm.

And it was breathtakingly beautiful.

What are your favourite winter activities? Snowshoeing? Skiing? Have you ever been cold weather camping? Or do you snuggle up under a blanket with a book and wait for the whole thing to be over?