Happy Holidays Toque & Canoe’rs!

Wishing you peace, joy and lots of adventures in 2015

O-Canada Shinny / A painting by Timothy Wilson Hoey

As a thanks to you, and a shout out to one of our favourite Canadian artists—Timothy Wilson Hoey—we bring you “O-Canada Shinny” as this year’s featured holiday art.

Looking back on 2014, we can see all of our hard work is paying off. Highlights of the year are too many to mention, but we’ll name a few, anyway.

—”Toque” and “Canoe” launched our 2014 series of stories with Lords of the Arctic—a trip we might describe as the “amuse-bouche” of arctic travel.

—Our writer Lisa Kadane visited a powder hound’s paradise in Romancing the Snow, bringing home an invigorating and inspiring read about one girl’s love of skiing and the “snowmance” that followed.

—We also produced a couple of snow-inspired family trips to Fernie, B.C. and to Emerald Lake Lodge in Yoho National Park, both amazing destinations for active folks looking for child-friendly places to visit.

—Two stories popped up from Prince Edward Island—one a rollicking read from East Coast writer Sandra Phinney on Trolling for the perfect lobster roll and the other, a Q&A about life on The Gentle Island with Chef Michael Smith, the world’s tallest freestanding chef.

—We published Nova Scotia – A Love Story by Don Enright, who, lucky for him, got to meet world-champion lumberjack Darren Hudson. “You know how log-rolling looks really hard?” Don asked, on the heels of hanging out with Darren. “Well, it’s actually way harder than that!”

—And, lucky for us, a little later in the game, we featured a photo essay by The Globe and Mail’s John Lehmann. This original and beautiful piece on Fogo Island prompted massive engagement on the social media front, along with a handful of heartfelt comments that, like so many other comments from our readers, reassured us here at T&C that we are on the right path.

—We also went urban with talented Instagrammer Lori Andrews who did the lead art for writer Valerie Berenyi’s most excellent story The smart hipsters’s sexy new hang-out, featuring Calgary’s Hotel Arts and its art-rich re-design.

—Having Governor General award-winning poet Lorna Crozier return to her home province to write Exploring Light’s Birthplace—a piece about Grasslands National Park—was equally an honour. As with her previous stories for us, Lorna manages to rouse the most literate of reader responses.

We could go on. Our talent pool is growing from coast to coast which is beyond exciting. But it’s time to take a break for the holidays.

2015 is looking bright and for that, a heartfelt thanks to ALL of our partners in tourism who support our continued efforts to celebrate ‘real’ Canadian travel culture.

To our followers, who come from every corner of Canada and from around the world?

We feel deeply grateful to you—for sharing your stories and your photos, for giving us a glimpse into your lives and inspiring new ideas for us to chase, and for making it clear every single day that we’re not the only ones out there with a ridiculously huge crush on Canada.

Our warmest regards,

Toque & Canoe

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  1. JACK H. commented:

    An enlightening and magnificent year end review. The depth, detail and links in each and every column reflects why T&C captured last year’s top magazine award and the previous year’s Canadian travel blog. The photographs under the face book section are wonderful. Kudos to Tim Hoey whose paintings will one day and soon be a “must” for collectors.

    Reply

  2. Sandra Phinney commented:

    Oooh … what a fabulous painting! Sets the tone for the New Year. Cheery, bright celebratory. It’s been inspiring to be part of this amazing site, and also humbling to be in the company of such wonderful writers/photographers/editors. Here’s to 2015 and a chance to explore further and learn more about this wonderful country of ours.

    Reply

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