# Carriage Hills booked with no snow expected



## CSB (Dec 12, 2015)

Just trying to think of things that I can do with my husband on our vacation at Carriage Hills in a week. Kids will not come up with us if there is no skiing/snowboarding. 

Can anyone suggest anything to do in the area. Please no shopping. We enjoy hiking and will likely hike down and then up the ski hill a couple of times. We might drive into Orillia. I noticed that there is a OPP museum there. If there is no snow perhaps we'll drive over to Wasaga and just walk along the beach.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.


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## silentg (Dec 12, 2015)

Go to the resorts website. See what activities they have planned. We stayed there in the summer a few years ago, found it to be a nice place!
Silentg


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## CSB (Dec 12, 2015)

We go every year to Carriage Hills so we know what kind of activities to expect. They will not keep us very busy.

Our timeshare sales presentation should take up about 90 minutes


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## moonstone (Dec 12, 2015)

Cindy if you are into gambling there's Casino Rama (check their entertainment schedule, maybe catch a show) on the far side of Orillia. If the weather isn't too bad you can walk around historic downtown Orillia or along the waterfront park & trail. Further up Hwy 11 downtown Gravenhurst is also interesting (but nicer in the summer).

Just outside of Barrie, in Midhurst, is the Simcoe County Museum. There is the Orillia Museum of Art & History in downtown Orillia or the Stephen Leacock Museum & home over by the Atherley bridge in Orillia.

If you enjoy walks in the woods then the Copeland Forrest is nearby (enter off Ingram Rd) or there's Scout Valley near Orillia.

If you would like a drive you can take Horseshoe Valley Rd west to Hwy 93 then head north to Midland & Penetanguishene (5 Kms north) then when you are done looking around take Hwy 12 back south to Horseshoe Valley Rd.


That's all I can think of at the moment. I live 10 mins north of the resort so if you have any other questions or need directions to anywhere let me know. 

~Diane


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## CSB (Jan 2, 2016)

Thanks for the suggestions for things to do on our snow-less vacation.

In the end, we mostly hiked. The first day was rainy. We had the timeshare presentation in the morning and amazingly we got out pretty fast. I had a good line which was partly true. My father and DH's parents are elderly and when we go away, they are pretty unhappy, so I told the salesman that our parents freak out and that we really can't go away much at this point in our lives. He didn't try much after that. He tried suggesting bringing them with us but they are not able to do that.

We drove into Orillia to see the OPP museum in the afternoon and then to the lakefront to walk a little bit. The OPP museum is small but it was ok. Might be a nice place to take small kids. They have a play area with OPP jackets that you can try on, puppets and some tables for lego or something like that. You have to have ID to enter because it's in the OPP headquarters.

My other ideas was to try geocaching. Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunt. Someone puts objects in a container and hides it somewhere. You use an app to find the general area where the treasure is hidden and then you try to find it. There are several in the Horseshoe Valley area. We found 4 of them. 

My niece came up for a couple of days and then our three kids drove up for one day and we did the big 9 km Family Trail hike in the cross country ski area. That was fun. A man named Peter was out on the trail using a segway and he started talking about the area and told us that the underground railroad ended right there. He showed us where one of the families of the freed slaves lived - the brick foundation is still there.

The vacation turned out pretty good under the circumstances.


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## moonstone (Jan 2, 2016)

I'm glad you were still able to enjoy your vacation Cindy. I was thinking about you & your DD's snowboarding instructors class. The lack of snow up our way is sure hurting the ski operators & their employees this year.

~Diane


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## CSB (Jan 2, 2016)

I think I feel worse for the ski operators and the people who rely on the industry that I did for us and our vacation. 

Before we realized that there would be no snow I had to tell my daughter that she couldn't sign up for the instructors course because I couldn't drive her up three days in a row and wait around for her to finish the course just before our vacation started. I was feeling guilty but it turned out that there was no instructions that weekend anyway.

She is so busy with school and working that I don't think she will get a chance to do the course at all now. She is also thinking that she will not be able to get an instructing job next year even if she gets her instructors because she will be away at university most of the time.


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## Nancy (Jan 3, 2016)

*Geocaching*

Cindy,
We have geocached for several years and find it's a great way to go places we wouldn't ordinarily go and meet different people.  

Another thing that we do is Munzee hunt.  Uses a smart phone to scan QRC codes.  This normally doesn't take you to as many bad places as geocaching.  

If you want more info on either one, please let me know.

Nancy


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## CSB (Jan 3, 2016)

Nancy, I am wondering why you said that geocaching takes you to many bad places. In what sense are they bad?

Thanks for telling me about Manzee hunting. Never heard of it. Interesting idea although it sounds as if you would be credited with finding the code just by being close to it but not necessarily finding it.

How did you meet different people by geocaching?


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## Nancy (Jan 3, 2016)

Sometimes geocaching takes you in woods or areas that aren't so great for a couple of senior citizens.  We've met other people geocaching plus going to geocaching events.  There are also munzee events.  We have geocached in about 40 states.  With munzee mostly you have to scan the tag (stickers mostly) to get credit for it.  Many geocachers are now munzee hunters.  

Nancy


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## Ironwood (Jan 6, 2016)

Does anyone know if Carriage Hills is still selling weeks/points?  No, I'm not interested in buying.


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## Maple_Leaf (Jan 7, 2016)

*It appears they still are selling there...*



Ironwood said:


> Does anyone know if Carriage Hills is still selling weeks/points?  No, I'm not interested in buying.



CSB upthread said:


> We had the timeshare presentation in the morning and amazingly we got out pretty fast.


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## karibkeith (Jan 12, 2016)

moonstone said:


> Cindy if you are into gambling there's Casino Rama (check their entertainment schedule, maybe catch a show) on the far side of Orillia. If the weather isn't too bad you can walk around historic downtown Orillia or along the waterfront park & trail. Further up Hwy 11 downtown Gravenhurst is also interesting (but nicer in the summer).
> 
> Just outside of Barrie, in Midhurst, is the Simcoe County Museum. There is the Orillia Museum of Art & History in downtown Orillia or the Stephen Leacock Museum & home over by the Atherley bridge in Orillia.
> 
> ...



The Barrie waterfront is also a nice place to stroll and there is swimming in Lake Simcoe in the summer. In the Midland Penetanguishene area are the Martyrs' Shrine (tribute to the Canadian Martyrs - Jesuit priests massacred by the Iroquois), Wye Marsh, and Sainte-Marie among the Hurons (reconstructed Huron indian village).  All three require admission fee but I think there is a joint ticket.
Also paid admission is the full Discovery Harbour adventure although the walk around the harbour is open to all.


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## karibkeith (Jan 12, 2016)

CSB said:


> Just trying to think of things that I can do with my husband on our vacation at Carriage Hills in a week. Kids will not come up with us if there is no skiing/snowboarding.
> 
> Can anyone suggest anything to do in the area. Please no shopping. We enjoy hiking and will likely hike down and then up the ski hill a couple of times. We might drive into Orillia. I noticed that there is a OPP museum there. If there is no snow perhaps we'll drive over to Wasaga and just walk along the beach.
> 
> Any suggestions would be appreciated.



After a foot or so snow back in November, it all melted and we had relatively balmy weather.
Then two nights ago we had a snowstorm and high winds. the accumulation for several days is about half a foot.  Snowmobiles are out in droves. And I imagine the ski hill operators have been dancing for hours.


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