Gatineau Hills Ride - 1. Visit to Laura

1. Visit to Laura

We signed up to travel with our BMW Motorcycle Club of Ontario, who had a very quick trip planed to Gatineau, Quebec, Canada.

Mike was leading the group and he is a quick rider, maybe a bit too quick for Carol and me, so we decided to combine a visit to the artist Laura Culic who lives in Maynooth, ON and meet our riding group for lunch, so meeting them half way, the next day. Laura is a friend of Carol’s.

Of course the weather report was not in our favor, rain was predicted. 

Nomi Resort Hotel

The lunch meeting place with the Club was set up for Thursday at 11.30 AM in Bancroft, ON.  It would have meant racing to Bancroft early in the morning, during rush hour, to just make this luncheon. With traffic in and around Toronto being unpredictable and rain in the forecast we, Carol and I left the day before, on Wednesday, and arranged a diner date with Laura at the Nomi Resort Hotel

Lobby of the Nomi Resort

This was a much better way to travel for us.

The Nomi Hotel is located on Elephant Lake Road, a strange name for a place in the middle of nowhere, especially in Canada. There are no elephants at this Lake, there never have been. 

The hotel itself is considered a resort; you spend your time at the hotel just

Spa Area and Bikes to Use

relaxing, eating and taking hikes in the woods. It’s set up like a health spa. They have yoga classes, you can rent a bicycle, you have spots to meditate but Nomi is not a beach hotel it is a woods hotel. In addition we heard that the food is great so we booked it on a whim. 

We now had all day to ride to the Nomi Resort and we made full use of it, never mind the rain predictions. Carol planned out an all-back-roads ride after we passed Oshawa on the infamous 401. Her knowledge of local roads in Canada is amazing, she knows twisty, curvy roads and we had a ball riding for hours. 

Lily and Her Mom, Laura

Laura asked us if she could bring her daughter Lily, so we had our dinner at the Nomi for 4. We had the whole dining room for ourselves; just another couple had dinner that night. In fact, we had to let the hotel know we wanted to eat dinner the day before we arrived, because the chef and the server had to be called in to cook for us. 

I never had this happen to me before…We had our own cook so to speak.

Excellent Dinner

Yes, the hotel has a menu; you can choose anything on this menu. The food was wonderful, but strangely there was no dessert. You could bring your own wine, too. 

Ah it did not matter to us, we like quirky experiences. The Nomi Resort near Maynooth, ON is a bit of a weird place, but nice enough, really.

Now a bit about Laura! Laura Culic is an artist. She is also a Motorcycle enthusiast and was a former instructor with the Halton/Peel Motorcycle Training Organization. She is a good friend of Carol’s and moved a few years ago to Maynooth, ON, an upcoming small town with lots of artists. Laura’s art is inspired, at least I think so, by the ‘famous’ Canadian Group of Seven.  

Foggy Morning Leaving the Resort

She just loves to use her hands to create, her inner eye sees the world in bright colors and Laura has a love affair with nature. I like her art.

Lily, Laura’s daughter, was a good compliment to our dinner table. She was like the decoration we needed for our meal. Being as young as she is, her world view is still very open, she just finished University. 

It was dark by the time Laura and Lily left us at the restaurant.

Black Spruce Art Gallery

The next morning, Thursday, we had made a date with Laura to visit her studio in Maynooth. Our ride on Thursday was not long, but it was a very foggy ride. Visibility was very poor. Our ride was only about 20 minutes away but it was eerie and kind of dangerous due to the fog. We had a good breakfast at the only café in Maynooth and then scooted over to see Laura’s newest additions to her collection. 

What a nice place… sure it’s a ‘work’ place, a studio, but it has character. We took these photos of her latest paintings.

Some of Laura's Art

Laura's Latest Creation

Checking Out Laura's Studio

Lily was enamored with our BMW’s; her mom Laura rides a Ducati. 

We are all different; some like this, some like that.

We could not stay to long at Laura’s studio; we had to make our lunch date in Bancroft so we left on a leisurely ride to meet the club for lunch.

Trying On a BMW For Fit - Mom's Not Too Sure About Lily's Footwear

Now we will chat about the Club and our rides with the group.