On Sunday morning, we were up super early to hit the road to head to Chateau Montebello, a Fairmont resort about an hour from Ottawa. We went to celebrate our anniversary and I'd love to share a ton of photos, if you'd like to see...
Marco had a golf tournament and since it fell on our anniversary, he turned it into a night away for us to celebrate.
The grounds are absolutely beautiful, and outside of any major city. Essentially, it's a huge lodge on the water with tons of activities to do, such as horse-back riding, indoor and outdoor pools, ATV and bicycle rentals, mini putt, paddle-boarding and more. There is equally the same amount of activities in the winter--I'd love to go for a sled-dog ride!
The interior of the lodge is exactly as you'd imagine: rustic, country and like a massive chalet. It would be so romantic in the winter with that huge fire place in the lobby.
Above, looking down into the area where they serve their famous Sunday brunch buffet. We ended up having the breakfast buffet on Monday, which I believe was a parred down version, and it was okay--the rest of our experience was excellent.
We arrived just before 10am and of course were far too early to check in. Since he had an early tee time, and I had some time to kill, I hit the gym on the resort.
Just as I was finishing up, the hotel called and said our room was ready, which was great. They put us on a priority list to get our room early and actually did. I went to the room, showered and headed out to explore the grounds.
A small marina sits to the right of the property with plenty of beautiful boats docked, just glistening in the sun.
Gardens, gazebos and flowerbeds are spread across the huge property on the water front. It was a gorgeous weekend for us, super sunny and warm. The resort was busy but not over crowded--there was plenty of space to spread out, whether at one of the two pools, on the grassy spots by the water or on benches. I even saw a wedding happening in the late afternoon!
I spent a couple hours at the pool, under the shade of an umbrella. There was tons of kids so I just hung out, watching some YouTube and painted my nails.
Sometimes I find it hard to ease into vacation mode--especially when you have just one-ish day to do so. Do you find this too? I often feel like I need to be going and doing and getting things done--but times like these are meant for relaxing and I try to remind myself that. I find when I go away on vacation it always takes me a couple days to really settle into vacation mode. Any tips you have to truly relax immediately?
Once Marco was done golf, I had arranged massages for us as a surprise. This definitely helped me slip into relax mode and make the shift from being busy to just being. Love that.
After our time at the spa, we went back to the room to get ready for dinner. Marco made reservations for us at the main restaurant in the dining room and it did not disappoint.
F21 DRESS (SIMILAR) | IRO HEELS (IN BLUE) | EXPRESSIONS NECKLACE (SIMILAR) | LIPSTICK | CLUTCH / IPAD CASE
Dinner was unreal good. I had the lamb tenderloin and Marco had the prime rib--we ooh'ed and ahh'ed through the entire meal, sharing and just having an awesome experience. It's been a while since we've been totally wow'ed from start to finish with a meal (Viet doesn't count--it's always amazing, ha). Even the next day we were talking about how fantastic it was.
The best picture we could get: we had our server take a picture, and she covered the lens and when she came back to see if it was okay, she offered to take another and she did it again, but not as bad! I was too embarrassed to ask her to take another so we're working with what we got! For me, it's important we get a pic on our anniversary--it's such a special day and so special to look back on. Even though it's a little blurry, I'll always cherish it.
Breakfast the next morning! Like I mentioned above, the buffet wasn't really anything to write home about, and the coffee was kind of cold. Still nice to sit and enjoy our morning in such a beautiful place to round out our anniversary.
Thanks so much for reading! See you tomorrow!
2 comments
I have the same problem settling in. I feel like I need to be doing something every minute.
@IJS: Yes!! So glad you can relate :)
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