What's up, Gander?

Gander got kind of awesome since we moved away a year ago. Luckily, it is only a short less-than-two-hour drive away, so we can visit all the time. 

(Cohen in the pond with Jon after a quick tri training session)

(swinging at the new and improved Cobb's Pond) 

(fancy new loungers at Cobb's) 

(family selfie) 

(the splash pad. He hated it. Then he loved it) 

(so fun)

We always thought Gander was cool, but it definitely got cooler. They fancied up the community park in a big way. We hung out at Cobb's pond A LOT (here, here, here), and I am so happy to see the facelift. We returned to the hotel we stayed at last time, which has gone downhill in a big way. Downhill as in huge piles of smelly garbage in the stairwell, actual huge clumps of dirt all over the hallway for the duration of our stay, an odd pile of leather jackets and lamps chilling by the main entrance, the most terrible cat food-like smell everywhere. Some pics, just for fun:

(sweet pattern on the couch)

(so old)

(the pool that may have been nice at some point, but is now full of black liquid)

(the dude, relaxing in the morning)

hotel review: sinbad's hotel, gander, NL

we stayed at sinbad's hotel in gander on the weekend. we have stayed at this hotel many, many times over the last 2.5 years. 

price: around $135 per night, which includes breakfast. this is standard for gander.
bathroom: pretty old-looking, nothing fancy. but the water pressure was off-the-charts, which i love
breakfast: complimentary breakfast buffet had hard-boiled eggs, hard old waffles, undercooked bacon, chewy oatmeal, melon from a can, cold cereal. not too good, but the effort was there. i would way rather order off their awesome breakfast menu.
wifi: yes, free, and fast
tv: our new thing is storage wars. so addictive.
pool: nope
location: the best in gander. we were able to bundle cohen up in the stroller in our room, and stroll to the mall across the street really easily.
parking: included, but tight. not easy to find a spot in the evenings.

notes:
- the restaurant in the hotel is really good. important to me. i always get the strawberry beef tenderloin
- there is a smoking section. even if you choose a room with no smoking, you do get the smell of smoke in the hallways. they try to disguise it with perfume-y air fresheners, which only makes it worst.
- the bedding was definitely new. very comfy beds.
- the artwork in the room was hilarious. both above-the-bed prints were women looking longingly out the window at teenaged boys. very weird. very '90's.

on the weekend

(lots of green juice these days)

(dude chilling in his exersaucer)

(playing with dad)

(coffee at jumping bean)

(coco entertaining the chef)

We look a little trip to Gander this weekend. We has some errands to run, and we wanted to see a few friends. Cohen is seriously such a good little traveler. He slept the whole drive to Gander while J and I listened to a hilarious This American Life podcast (this one). We stayed at Sinbad's (review to come), and we ate at Bistro.

I was wondering how Cohen would be at Bistro, which is for sure the fanciest restaurant in Gander. People go there for their anniversary and birthday suppers, and so I knew that if Cohen was feeling irritable, the other diners would not appreciate it. I rarely if ever see kids there. But in the end it worked out perfectly. The key: Eat early. We were seated at 5:30, which is way earlier than we usually eat. But it was so great, because we were practically the only ones there (no one to annoy if Cohen cried), and the staff were not busy at all. The owner ended up taking Cohen in back to see the chef, who was able to make Cohen laugh his head off with a little peek a boo. It was so nice. 

The next day we checked out the new coffee shop in Gander, the Jumping Bean. The brownies were amazing, the chocolate chip cookies were not the best, and the blueberry scones were perfect. I would recommend. J and I wish there was a coffee shop in Clarenville.

my complete list of cool things to do in Gander, NL

Now that we don't live in Gander anymore, I thought I would write a big list of the cool things to do in Gander. We really loved our two years there, and still visit regularly.
 

 here is a list of things we loved to do in Gander:

swim at jonathan's pond

walk around cobb's pond

skate around cobb's pond (and here)

 

walk a dog 

take pics at the photo booth

go sliding at the golf course

hike to gander lake beach 

check out the  library (here and here)

 

go bowling or play bingo

 

 go to hot yoga

snowshoeing. more snowshoeing. (and more)

go for a bike ride

have a beer at legends lounge

shoot some pool

sunday afternoon bike ride

we got my bike out of winter storage for the first time of the season yesterday. it felt so great to be back on the bike. i have read all kinds of different advice about biking while pregnant, but i have decided to listen to my body when it comes to physical activity. riding the bike felt great, though we went slow and stayed on the trails (hence the lack of helmets). we biked to get ice cream and magazines, then back to our house. such a perfect afternoon.

what i'm wearing: my amazing j brand mama j skinnies. also, i am finding toms to be the best shoes for pregnancy.

one last snowfall

we went snowshoeing on sunday afternoon. i love snowshoeing. but. i am ready for warm weather now. these pictures are so cool to me. it was the kind of snow that is light and fluffy. almost like what you thing fake snow from movies would feel like. but now, let's get ready for spring weather.

can't stop snowshoeing

the weather has been so absolutely beautiful here in gander. there is tons of snow, it is super sunny, and only minus 5 or so. j was away for part of the weekend, so i managed to get a few snowshoeing expeditions in. one with j when he got home, one with a friend from work. i think snowshoeing is basically the best winter activity. you don't need skills like with skiing, and there is basically no risk of falling, like with skating. anyway, i'd love to someday do a snowshoeing trek into a cabin in the woods and stay the night. i think that's a thing. sign me up.

things to do in gander: snowshoeing

(trails)

(jon)

(vintage snowsuit)

(winter wonderland) 

 we got snowshoes for christmas, and have been loving them. the snowshoe trails in gander are amazing. they are really tight, so you have to go single file, through really thick forest. there are bunny prints everywhere, and the snow is super heavy in the thickest areas. i would highly recommend this as a perfect winter sunday afternoon activity in gander