J & A's Adventure

Immediately following work, we packed the car with lots of snacks, drinks, and meals and headed East towards Porters Lake to Nalu Retreat and Nordic Spa. Although it’s only about a 45 minute drive to this rustic destination, we quickly felt like we were far from the city life and close to nature.

We arrived around 5:30 in the evening and immediately hopped into our own, private outdoor hot tub located right beside the dome! The sun was setting and there was a cool breeze blowing, but the hot tub was primed and quickly warmed us up. There was also an gas fireplace beside the hot tub, which Justin turned on for us to give an even cozier vibe. We stayed out for a couple hours as the stars began to appear and just talked about life and how wildly lucky we are to be in a place like this.

This was our hot tub, fireplace and private view.

After we got our fill of the view and started feeling hungry, we headed inside to heat some supper. We pre-ordered our first meal from a local caterer that partners with the resort. They left a container of butternut squash soup in the fridge. I thought it was alright (not as good as my homemade version and a bit too peppery) but Justin was quite the fan!

After supper, we went up to the loft (that’s right… this dome has a LOFT) and gazed at the stars. It continued to feel like a dream to be there, especially when we sat in the complete silence with a clear view of the sky above us and a cozy fire below.

In the morning, we started with a cup of coffee and devotionals, which quickly led to us reflecting on our year. Justin and I have been writing in our own, daily journals and we decided to dig through and see what sorts of things we wrote down throughout the year. It was funny to hear what his perspective on a day was like compared to mine! Getting that special time to just sit and reflect while gazing out at the beautiful view of the lake and trees felt absolutely surreal. We finished our morning by exchanging gifts then digging into a yummy breakfast!

Our morning was spent on this couch, looking out at the lake. For our brunch, I brought some carrot muffins, egg bites, bacon and fruit. It was super yummy!

Ahead of our trip, we researched some trails that were nearby our dome to go explore. There was a system of trails connected less than half a kilometer away from us called Crowbar Lake Hiking Trails. We decided to do a 10km loop within that group that would bring us to granite lake.

We didn’t want to take the car down to the parking lot and thought maybe we could get to the trail head from our dome. We headed down through the bush and quickly regretted our decision as we got stuck and poked by the bush and moss. We finally pushed through and found ourselves on the trail, but were pretty embarrassed when looking behind us and seeing a couple coming up the way. They probably were questioning what in the world we were doing way deep in the bush!

The Spriggs Brook Trail to Granite Lake was full of rocks, roots, and hills, which kept our hike very entertaining! The full loop was just over 10km.

Our hike lasted about 4 hours. By the time we got back to the dome, we were excited to get into the hot tub and warm up our supper! Our evening was spent drinking wine, playing chess, reading and gazing at the stars. Justin had this fancy star app that showed which stars made up certain constellations. I realized how “creative” people were with naming the constellations. Did you know Aries is a ram but is only made up of 4 stars? Quite the imagination..

Overall, we were so grateful for our little getaway. A week after this trip, we’ll be back in Manitoba with our families enjoying all that the holidays bring.