Preview of Coming Attraction

Still more than three months to go, and the anticipation's already racheting up.
But I'm weird that way. I mean, I'm scouting replacements for Harold, our Toyota Echo...by the time it comes time to replace Harold, half the models I'm looking at now won't frigging exist. I'm already plotting out retirement plans (move somewhere cheap and on water--either out east or somewhere way the hell north and gone in Ontario). Retirement's thirty years away, by the way.
I used to be obsessed with the past. Now it seems I spend a good chunk of time in the future. It's not borne of some mad rush to escape my present, believe me: I love my life, its boring stretches included. But thinking about future escapades lends a little frisson to even the most dreary of days.
Eva and I are of like mind this way, as we are in so many other ways. She's the planner: I shit you not, I've seen her make a list of the lists she needs to make. We'll talk over the plans, but both of us know that's largely a formality: I have a devil-may-care attitude towards most of what life throws at me. I'd be perfectly content--have been perfectly content--sitting in a hotel reading a book, so long as she's with me.
Our October sixth anniversary trip has undergone a number of transformations since we started planning it at the beginning of this year. First it was Costa Rica. One of Eva's colleagues went and made the mistake of showing her pictures of monkeys. Monkeys visible from the hotel window. I'm not sure there's something that would act on me the way that did on her: maybe the prospect of a day riding roller-coasters comes close.
Unfortunately, Eva is becoming increasingly sun-sensitive. She can burn to the point of blistering in minutes, while people around her don't even tan. And Costa Rica is, to put it mildly, kind of sunny.
So we scuttled those plans and considered Manitoulin Island. This is the world's largest freshwater island, it's not too far away by car and ferry, and it satisfies our urge--it's a very strong urge--to lock ourselves away from the world.
We found several nice places to potentially stay, but none of them had everything we were looking for. We wanted a nice cabin/chalet-type-thing with fireplace, jacuzzi...and a kitchen, or at least a kitchenette.
I know what you're thinking. Who goes on vacation to cook all their own meals?
That would be us. Not all our own meals, but quite a few of them. It saves money, for one thing, and it's the perfect answer to those evenings when you get a serious jones on for Kraft Dinner or Hamburger Helper. Last I looked, resort restaurants don't cater to that sort of whim. Hey, I'll eat gourmet food and like it, but I'm pretty simple to please.
Nothing like that on Manitoulin. Besides, our trip got delayed a week because of constraints imposed on me at work, and we'd been counting on the last ferry run of the season.
Widening our search, we found the Blue Spruce Resort near Huntsville. I've searched exhaustively, and this is almost certainly the only resort in Ontario whose owners think like us. Jacuzzi, fireplace, lake view...and kitchen. Perfect. So we called.
Pefectly booked. Six months ahead of time, this was.
Shit.
That left Ottawa, which has beckoned us before. For one reason or another, we'd never made it. Eva's never been there, and I was there in Grade 8 (a blog entry in itself, let me tell you) and always wanted to go back. We went so far as to book a room at the Doral Inn...and then we read some so-so and no-no reviews, realized the place was a three-storey walk-up, and wondered if we couldn't do better. I suggested we try the Quebec side of the river. Lo and behold, the Ramada Plaza Manoir du Casino fairly leaped off the screen at me. For just a bit more money than the Doral, we'd get a jet tub, electric fireplace, free grand breakfast buffet, and the rather exotic (to us, at least) feeling of being in a whole different province. We're still convenient to all the places we want to visit: the Parliament Buildings, the Museum of Civization, Byward Market, the National Gallery, and the Casino du Lac Leamy.
So that's booked.
And I can't wait.
Just a little more than three months to go...