Winter Nudes

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It is that time of year again and lets be honest, for many naturists winter is a difficult time of year. We don't all live in sunny Florida or a Caribbean island so there are going to have to be some sacrifices. We have had to turn the heat on in our home, and the fireplace has been lit a few times already this autumn. Sadly no more trips to Port Burwell, or Hanlans Point until spring. Worst of all, my wonderful all over tan that reached a healthy glow over the summer thanks to frequent doses of natural vitamin D, has already started to fade. We are entering into the "dire straits" of naturism. I have blogged about the perils of being a northern nudie in winter before but rather than just repost those I thought I would have another look at what we do to get through the sub-zero season and look at options others might find useful, a sort of Winter Naturist Survival Guide if you will.

Surviving At Home

Staying home is likely the easiest and therefore best option for naturists in winter, even if it means a little less nature. We spend a fair majority of our time naked at home already so it makes a good place to start. One of the best decisions you can make is to invest in a smart thermostat. It was not something I considered previously, Tara has had

one for a year or two and now that I have moved in I don't know how I lived without one. Even a basic model lets you control the current settings, or schedule changes right from an app on your phone. This means we turn the heat off almost completely during the day when we are at work, and it is scheduled to be nice and warm when we arrive home. Should you somehow mange to be going home early, you just make the change from your phone and in the time it takes to make the journey, I am always clothes free within minutes of arriving home. We also keep the temperature very low after we go to bed. A heavy blanket and each other more than does the job of keeping us comfortable while we sleep. We have the heat kick back up about an hour before our alarm goes off. It's our hope that by turning the thermostat low during the times we don't need it, it will recoup some of the added cost of keeping the house at a slightly warmer temperature when we are actually there and wanting to be as clothes free as possible. Ours is an Ecobee and we love it, it came with added remote sensors and connection to Alexa (Amazon) but there are plenty of options out there, and I have done no other research other than using the one we have, so I wont make any recommendations.

Turning up the heat, even with an expensive smart thermostat, is not the most cost effective or environmentally friendly option. So we try and make simple changes that when added up can have a big impact while keeping the thermostat as low as we can

comfortably accept. When naked at home the two things I always have are my slippers and a warm toque (for non-Canadians reading this that's a knitted hat and one of the greatest inventions of all time. Last winter Tara would often add a scarf to her "outfit" and even has one she calls her "nude scarf" that never leaves the home. On those especially cold days I will often sacrifice a little and put a shirt or sweater on and just keep it naked from the waist down. This is usually a last resort after a few days of indulging in having the heat turned a little higher.
Our evenings in are almost always spent in our family room where our TV is and more importantly our fireplace. A fireplace is not exactly efficient or environmentally friendly, even a gas or electric one,

they use more energy and only heat the one room. On the other hand it lets us turn the temperature settings down for the rest of the house on those nights in where we are not really leaving the one room anyway. Besides, what couple wouldn't want to cuddle up in front of a fire while binge watching Netflix? A few extra hot drinks don't hurt either when spending a naked night in. Decaf coffee with a shot of Irish Cream or Kahlua is always a good thing. Tara likes Apple cider, both the alcohol and non-alcoholic versions are a nice warm up drink.

We have also picked up a few tricks from non-nudies that are good ideas for everyone to be more efficient. As an example, do not heat rooms you barely use. Our home has three bedrooms, one we obviously use, and another is used as Tara's "office". The third is used only as a guest room so unless we have guests, we keep the door closed, and fully close the air register so no heat is being directed there. This is repeated for the spare washroom and so on.
One final tip for at home, I like to leave the oven door open once we have finished using it and turned it off, rather than let the residual heat drift up and out to the exhaust. It may not have a huge overall impact, but for a short time the whole house feels a little more cozy. This is especially a treat when baking aromatic treats. I would NOT recommend this to someone with children.

Getting out of your clothes, and out there!

Staying home and cozy is never a bad idea in winter, but many naturists, myself included, like to get out in the world. While not as common or frequent, there are options for naturists of the Great White North. My experience is very Toronto centric so

that's where my focus will be here, but there are options pretty much nation wide. The easiest options near Toronto, and likely for most of us is your local landed naturist club/resort. Every club will have different levels of amenities and activities at your disposal to keep things interesting during the Canadian winter. In Toronto we have the two I have happily been to man times now, even in the colder months.

Ponderosa Nature Resort - Definitely a great option for a winter nude experience, and it does not hurt that they offer discounted rates off season. I have spent a few days there reading in the lounge, relaxing in the sauna or hot tub, and my personal favourite, swimming in the indoor pool. Going for a naked swim in a heated pool when outside there is foot of snow, where do I sign up? Ponderosa has a restaurant on site if you want a naked dining experience year round. They often have dances and other events so they are sure to have something happening for a naturist who wants to get out there, their website is frequently updated so have a look

Bare Oaks - Your bare naked needs are also covered year round at Bare Oaks. Sadly there is no indoor pool at Bare Oaks but they make up for it in other ways. Two saunas, one dry and one steam, and a large hot tub are an excellent start. They have a lounge with TV, darts, billiards and a fireplace. The Bare Bistro at Bare Oaks is a significant highlight for me. Open year round (which I believe is a recent enough addition) they have good food, draught beer and an espresso bar. I am also seeing an increase of winter activities offered by Bare Oaks and the Bare Bistro, and if their photos are to be believed that includes nude ice skating on their pond. That is something my Canadian pride insists I get out and try at least once....for a short time at least.

GTA Skinnydippers are a great option for planed events. They have monthly private swims at a variety of public pools they rotate through in and around Toronto. Twice a year they also hold a bowling event which I have been to and blogged about, you can check that out here. They have been featured in a number of Naked Club Videos:

• Naked Club: GTA Skinneydippers Nude Bowling
• Naked Club: GTA Skinneydippers Swimming / Winter Indoor Beach Volleyball

If you watched the Naked Club videos above you saw the clip about winter volleyball. The Toronto Area Naturist Sports group hosts this annual winter indoor beach volleyball in January at Spikes volleyball centre in London Ontario. I have played a few games of volleyball at Bare Oaks but I have yet to attend this event so I am not an expert, get info on their meetup page here

Obviously if you are not from or visiting the Toronto area, most of this is not going to be very helpful. But there are clubs out there coast to coast so check out either the Nude in Canada Map that I maintain, or the Federation of Canadian Naturists which maintains a list and map as well, or those in Quebec there is also la Fédération québécoise de naturisme . For those looking to go further, maybe to warmer climates, there are some other resources at your disposal.

• Naturist BNB is basically Airbnb but for naturists. So far I only have found two listings in Canada but further south and in Europe there are far more options and once can hope this list will grow.
• Our neighbours to the south have plenty of options year round. There are plenty of resources out there but it is probably best to start with the American Association for Nude Recreation, they have a list of clubs and beaches to get you started, by far the majority of which are in Florida, must be something in the water.
• Another great resource for those looking to travel is the Naturist World Map. Which has the four corners of the earth covered. If someone from Naturist World sees this, thanks for mention my blog in your resource list, but please update you link!
• For the more "liberal" folks who have a bit more in their travel budget there is always Cap d'Agde in France. On the surface Cap d'Agde is a naturist paradise. Located on the French Mediterranean coast, it has shopping, dining, night clubs, and of course the beach, all fully nude friendly. It does have a bit of a reputation that would not appeal to some traditional naturists. I for one want to check this out one day even if Tara and I have no interest in the more risqué activities, but I suggest you do plenty of research before you make the trip.

The important part is that you get out there. Sadly in Canada we are a bit behind our more adventurous European cousins but it is getting better. I believe naturism will continue to grow as a movement and gain acceptance if we as naturists are out there taking advantage of what is readily available. If we do that, more people will be encouraged to plan even more activities. If you have a suggestion of something I missed, either in the Toronto area or across Canada, that will help our fellow naturists survive the Canadian winter, let me know in the comment section below, or via my Facebook or Twitter pages. I hope this was of some assistance to some of you. Winter is just another opportunity, not a road block

Hiking, Naked in Nature

This is my first blog post on the new wordpress page. Still playing around with it so the look and layout is likely to change a few times in the near future. I am also posting to my blogspot page as well until I decide which platform I like better. Any feedback on the old versus new page, or the blog in general please don't hesitate to contact me.

My naturist activities are primarily restricted to our home, with occasional visits to Bare Oaks, Ponderosa, and Port Burwell.  The reality today is that for the vast majority of naturists, we must eventually put clothes on to take part in most day to day activities.  Because of this I do my best to make the most of every opportunity I can however I don't tend to be one to push the envelope as it were, I am no rebel or activist. The only time I have really pushed any boundaries was recently driving home nude from Port Burwell and if you read my previous blog you would know I don't feel that had anything to do with naturism, it was just juvenile fun with my girlfriend.

One of the activities that both my girlfriend and I enjoy, as naturists or textiles, is hiking. In Ontario there are endless trails for hiking at every level, naturist hiking trails on the other hand, are virtually non existent . The two Naturist parks near Toronto both have hiking / nature trails but they are limited at best.  If you enjoy wandering in the forest for fresh air, panoramic views and just immersing yourself in nature, your only real option (legally) is to put some pants on. Recently the weather was warmer than typical for Canadian Autumn and we decided to take advantage of it even if it was a weekday. My work schedule means I sometimes have days off during the regular work week and the timing was perfect. Tara had to be a little devious and play hooky using a "sick" day but it was worth it just to get outdoors a little bit before we started our winter hibernation.

We planned for an afternoon hike, giving the sun time to warm up a little.  Sleeping in, taking our time with breakfast, it was almost noon when we got in the car and after one o'clock by the time we got to our destination. There are plenty of city trails where we live, however this time we wanted to see the full fall colours and headed inland to a conservation area we know to have amazing views and a variety of trails. When we arrived it appeared we were the only ones there. The parking lot was empty and the front gate was not even staffed. Happy to have the trails to ourselves, and not having to pay an entry fee, we grabbed our backpacks and off we went. To begin with it was just another day hiking. Mostly sunny with only a few clouds, it warmed up quickly and began to feel much warmer then the weather app on my phone suggested it actually was. At this point I decided to be a truly bold naturist for the first time. Knowing this was a remote park, arriving after lunch without another car in the lot, I was confident we were the only too humans around for many kilometres. The isolation combined with maybe a little too much sun put a thought in my head that I honestly had not considered previously, and I asked Tara if she would be comfortable with me taking my clothes off and hiking naked at this very much NOT a clothing optional park? Knowing her as well as I do, this was a silly question, she is never one to hold someone back form being adventurous. I did ask her to join me but she decided against it.  So we continued on, Tara still dressed, myself wearing only a hat, socks, boots and a backpack.  Swimming still ranks at the top of may favourite naked activities, but there is something to be said about hiking without the hindrance of clothes. That feeling of the sun and a breeze on your skin is just amazing. Then there is the absence of sweaty clothes sticking to you, its just so much more comfortable. We mainly stayed to the developed trails with only a short trip on a more advance hiking trail. One of the drawbacks of the more rugged trails while nude is I have a couple of scrapes and scratches in spots normally better protected in some manor. Nothing too serious or sensitive, and I have no regrets, but it turns out clothes can be functional even if not as much fun.

You will often hear naturists say that naturism is not just about being naked, it's about a connection with nature and that nudity is a medium of that connection. On the surface it sounds like something someone who never made it out of the 60's would say and I was never sure if I fully agreed or disagreed with that way of thinking.  When you get out there and experience nature like this though it can be hard to argue with that logic. It was a great afternoon and it only got better from here.

One of the reasons we chose this park it that there are multiple trails with several streams and even a couple small waterfalls. Its a very tranquil location in general. When we came across a waterfall that was tall enough to stand under, I took advantage and shedding my remaining textiles of my hat ,socks and boots, and I had a mini naturist shower to cool off. I could tell Tara was really jealous of my nudity at this moment more than any other during the day. I also know everyone has there own comfort levels in life and naturism is no different.  So I refrained from making any comments like "no one is around" or "you know you want to". Also not forgetting I was currently breaking the law and if a nice family with children were to stroll by at any time, I would have some explaining to do.  Instead I suggested she join me, clothes and all, we had plenty of time to dry off before we head for home. In a previous life, one before I was a naturist, this conversation would have been no different. I was never one to miss an opportunity and I have gone head first into a number of lakes, rivers and the like over the years, not worrying about getting my clothes a little wet. It was clear she was considering it so I left her to think about it while I enjoyed probably the greatest "shower" of my life, but also one of the coldest. I could only step in the falling water for short periods before I began to look a little blue toned. I alternated a few times between warming in the sun, and turning blue in the cold water of the falls, and in both cases I was in a state of bliss. As I lay on patch of grass in the sun, Tara finally made her choice and started towards the waterfall. I wish I could tell you she got fully undressed first but it was not to be. She did remove her shirt, bra, shoes and socks before taking the plunge still wearing her shorts. I could not resist, I had to ask at this point "why not just go the 'Full Monty'??". She was having none of my peer pressure though, quickly and rather smartly responded that if in the event we were interrupted, someone would have to remain "legal" and available to bail the other out of jail. For those not aware, it is fully legal for women in Ontario to go topless anywhere a man can so she was not breaking any of the body shaming laws that I was. Tara is not normally one to take advantage of our topless equality laws as the social stigma related to the female nipple still has a long way to go. On a rare occasions she has let herself "shed the oppression" and go topless but they are few and far between. That day, even though we were fairly confident we had the trails and this wonderful waterfall to ourselves, going legally topless was as far as she was willing to push her comfort zone.  When we returned to the hiking trail we both put our shoes back on, but I otherwise stayed fully naked, and happily Tara chose to remain topless.

We continued on until the trail loop we were hiking eventually returned us to the parking area. Our car was still the only one in the lot so we did not bother to cover up until we made it all the way back at the car. As usual, I am always a little sad when a day of naturism ends and you have to put your clothes back on, the laws are what they are for now. I am envious of my European friends, where it is not so unheard of for someone to go hiking in the country without the shackles of clothing.  I imagine even in more rural areas of Canada, not so close to a big City like Toronto, it would be much easier to go on a hike in the woods or the mountains and go hours without seeing another soul. Then the focus of my adventure would be more about the hike, and less about my lack of clothes and the persistent worry of being caught. Maybe one day an opportunity will present itself. The weather is not very naturist friendly outside today anyway, and I am happy to be indoors without a need for clothes, typing away knowing tonight I will have a bottle of wine, a warm fire, and a hockey  game to watch with Tara. 

You can follow me on Twitter here: @NudeInCanadaGet Updates via Facebook hereYou can find out where to be Naked in Canada here

Naked Staycation = Staynakation??? (Part 3)

I recently had a weeks vacation and not currently looking to spend a lot of money at the moment, I planned out a rather wonderful Staycation / Nakacation……or a StayNakakation for Tara and I. We visited my “greatest hits” of Naturism in the Toronto area and the only time we were clothed was for the brief travel time between destinations (and even then there was an exception). I originally planned this out at as a single blog post but decided I would split it up once I realized how long it was becoming. 

The conclusion is below and you can find Part 1 - here,  and Part 2 here

Part 3 (This is the conclusion I promise):

Thursday / Day 4:

It would not be a true naturist vacation without at least a day trip to Bare Oaks. We initially planned on camping there however it was not in the cards. We were invited to see a movie with textile friends that evening and were unable to think of an excuse to get out of it.  Textiles are people too, it would be wrong to shun them entirely.  We made the most of our naturism time as best we could. Making an early start to beat some of the traffic on the highway, we headed towards Bare Oaks. Unsure how early the Bare Bistro

My favourite swimming hole

served breakfast on a weekday we decided to play it safe and stopped at a Coras north of Toronto before heading to the park.  I have already blogged about visiting Bare Oaks and the Bare Bistro a couple times so I wont go over it in too much detail again. We spent most of the day swimming in the pond which I still find by far my favorite naturist activity. If all they had at Bare Oaks was that pond,it would be enough.  We did a fair amount of sunbathing, reading, and socializing. And of course we had lunch at the Bare Bistro which has yet to let us down. All good things must end they say, and we were back in clothes for dinner and a movie night out which I admit was a lot of fun even with the dress code.

Day 4 time without clothes: 16 hours, 30 minutes - 69%

Friday, Saturday & Sunday - Day 5/6/7:

When planning trips to Port Burwell from the Toronto area, you generally have to plan for an early start. Even from our home well west of the city it is almost a two hour drive. Not letting another late night get in the way we began with yet another early start at seven o'clock and made the typically Canadian decision to grab Tim Horton's Coffee and breakfast on the way. Another thing you have to plan for with Port Burwell Provincial Park as a naturist is the 15-20 minute walk from the parking lot to the park boundary where you can finally be free of those pesky clothes. You don't want to forget anything in the car (much less at home). Planning is therefore key and I feel like an old pro at this now. We packed a couple large water bottles, frozen the night before to keep them cold as long as you can and they double as ice in our cooler/backpack. In the cooler we had sandwiches for lunch, several beers and hotdogs in case we stay late and decide to have a fire. Food that does not necessarily need to be kept cool is always handy as well. Wanting to stay at least until night fall, we packed plenty of carrots, sliced peppers, and some granola bars to ensure we were not tempted to put clothes on before we had our fill. We have also been investing in ultra lightweight and compact or collapsible beach umbrella, chairs and so on. Sadly these things are way more expensive but we totally feel its been worth the expense with at least two trips to Port Burwell each month during the summer.

It was past 10:30AM before we were actually setup and relaxing at the beach. It was another scorcher with the afternoon high hitting 29C and that is not factoring in the humidity which made it feel almost 40C. We were fortunate enough that Lake Erie was very calm that day as we had every intention of being fish for most of the day.  We spent the day swimming, tanning, reading, walking along the shore and even wandered inland to the forest a little bit.  I am not actually sure if you are allowed to hike inland, and if you are, how far it is safe to go, so we didn't venture too far. Overall another typical day at the beach.  Soon after sunset and the stars began to come out, it was still hot enough that it felt great going for a moonlight swim in the lake. It is hard to find a down side to swimming at night. The lake was still calm so you could easily hear the crickets or an occasional owl over the gentle waves hitting the shore. It was so wonderful we completely lost track of time.  We had been in the lake so long we were clearly now the only ones still on the beach. It was actually almost 11PM by the time we thought to look at a clock. The Provincial park was already very much closed, we were unsure if my car had been ticketed or worse towed. And even if not ticketed or towed, we were unsure if the gate would still be open to let us out. Our original intention was to stay late and do some stargazing but our poor time keeping had very much gone beyond that plan forcing us to make a decision. Do we pack up, hope our car had not been towed, and hope we could still exit the parking lot? Or did we make the best of it, spend the night, and hope the car was still there when the park reopened the next morning? Originally I thought bringing blankets to keep warm while stargazing was excessive given all the other baggage we had for a full day and evening at the beach, however Tara had insisted and I was now very thankful for it. It was this that really helped us decide we could survive the night and hope for the best in the morning. 

At first we were a little distressed with the situation. We had been enjoying ourselves so much that we had lost track of time, putting a wet blanket on an otherwise perfect day. Once we decided to stay the night however the stress was lifted and we were back to just enjoying ourselves. As naturism goes, this was about as wonderful a predicament as one could ask for. We spent an entire day at the beach with nothing touching our skin but sun, sand, water and some SPF 35 lotion. Followed by an equally blissful moonlight swim, only to find ourselves completely alone on a beach, naked as the day we were born.  We collected some wood and built a small fire, cuddled together between the blankets and spent the night together under the stars. I will admit that sleeping on a blanket in the sand is not the most comfortable bed I have had in my life, and we both woke up with a few noticeable bug bites.  But it was worth the price of admission when we woke up to the sun rising over Lake Erie and the Port Burwell Lighthouse. We were so relaxed even our granola bar breakfast felt like a 5 star experience.  It was right about then we made another decision. We would not pack up our things and head home. Instead we put some thought into what we needed to do to spend another day.  First we had to put our clothes on for the first time in almost 24 hours, walk back to the parking lot with the hope we still had a car. I am happy to report that not only was my car not towed, it was not ticketed either! I did sadly lose a game of rock paper scissors, which meant while Tara walked back to the nude beach and carried on with our naturist weekend, I remained clothed and drove into town to retrieve supplies for another full day at the beach. 

Our second day was more of the same as the first only this time we were by far the first people on the beach. Another hot day with a brief but welcome sun shower around lunch time. Not risking the same mistake from the night before, when we saw the sun was low, we packed up our things before enjoying another sunset. Only then did we make our way back to the car. Normally we get dressed before heading back towards the park boundary, but after spending the majority of the last two days without clothes, we decided to delay that as long as we could and began our walk with our clothes being carried, not worn. We made it almost the entire way back to the parking lot before we saw in the distance some people at the textile beach who had stayed for the sunset as well. We both put our shorts on to avoid getting in trouble but being as warm and humid as it still was, we were more than a bit sweaty from the hike with all our beach gear, neither I nor Tara put our tops on. This was the second time this week she had gone topless in public though I was less 

I "borrowed" this photo from Google

surprised this time. It was very dark at this point, and we never got close enough to other people that they could possibly notice. We even discussed if we should remain nude right until we got to the car but decided against it for fear a park ranger may be on patrol. As we drove past the park gate I was once again surprised by Tara's boldness.  She had decided she was already uncomfortable even wearing only a pair of shorts, and before I could sputter out the words "you must be joking" off they came.  Not one to be outdone, I pulled the car over and removed mine as well.  I would like to say before going forward that this is not something I recommend, nor can I speak with any authority of its legality in Ontario. I will also say that this had nothing to do with trying to be naturists, or promote naturism, or be any kind of activists if we were to be pulled over by the police. Any naturist will tell you one of the least comfortable times to be clothed is soon after you have been naked for a prolonged period so that definitely factored into our rash decision. To be fully honest though it was for the fun of it more than anything else. A little bit of thirty-something rebelliousness. My car does have tinted windows, and I pretty much drove under the speed limit the entire way home so there was not a lot of risk of being caught.  It was close to midnight when we got back to the house. We waited for the garage door to close fully behind us before we made our way inside, still only wearing our footwear. We shared a well deserved and much needed shower before finally calling it a night.

Sunday was nothing to blog home about. I stayed home until I was due at work that evening. The first day of any work week is never really something people look forward to. Less so for a naturist who not only has to go to work, but has to become a textile again too. Its borderline depressing.  I am ever an optimist though and the memories or our "staynakation", are more than enough to get me through the necessary evil of a textile work world for now. All told we had been without need for clothes privately or publicly, from about 1030AM on the Friday, with a brief intermission for a supply run and the last 5 minutes walk to the car, until I left for work Sunday evening.  Most of it fully in nature. Tara was even more fortunate and was able to continue all the way until Monday morning. An excellent finish to a wonderful Staynakation

Day 5 time without clothes: 18 hours, 35 minutes - 77%

Day 6 time without clothes: 22 hours - 92%

Day 7 time without clothes: 16 hours - 67%

That about wraps up everything I can think of to share from the week. I know there are people who spend days, weeks, and months without even thinking about clothes, that being said, I think as a couple of part time naturists or primarily home nudists, we managed an excellent week of nakedness in nature and new experiences. Next summer I think we will try to take it up level and actually spend a few days at a naturism resort but that stays on the to do list for now.

As always feedback and conversation is welcome, either in the comments below or on Twitter and Facebook.

You can follow me on Twitter here: @NudeInCanada
Get Updates via Facebook here
You can find out where to be Naked in Canada here

Naked Staycation = Staynakation??? (Part 2)

I recently had a weeks vacation and not currently looking to spend a lot of money at the moment, I planned out a rather wonderful Staycation / Nakacation……or a StayNakakation for Tara and I. We visited my “greatest hits” of Naturism in the Toronto area and the only time we were clothed was for the brief travel time between destinations (and even then there was an exception). I originally planned this out at as a single blog post but decided I would split it up once I realized how long it was becoming. You can find Part 1 - Here, or part 2 below

Part 2:

Wednesday / Day 3:

As we dragged ourselves from bed at 7 AM, it is just over 36 hours since our staynakation began Monday evening. Days 3 was all Tara's idea and after some initial hesitation I agreed to go along with the plan. Tara never had any previous interest in visiting Hanlans Point. This is mostly my fault to be honest, I have not been kind in my reviews.  She decided though that if we were going to truly have a naturist staycation that even a short visit should be on the “to do” list.  Keeping an open mind and having a backup list of things to do in Toronto (clothed) just in case, we went for it. Being a weekday the trains are frequent and we joined the morning commute of the unfortunate folks who had to work making our way into the city. The ferry terminal is a short walk from the train station so it was not even 10 o’clock before we had our feet in the sand. The rest went very close to what I expected. 

On arrival, most people at the clothing optional beach were taking the option and perfecting their all over tans.  As soon as we picked a spot, Tara and I joined them. A typical morning at the beach, we lay out on our towels, enjoyed the heat of the sun while reading

our books and spent a significant time in the water as the temperature reached 28C. I was happily surprised to see a large mix of people and most of those around us were taking the naturist / nudist option. There was plenty of men on their own of course (that was me not too long ago), but there was a large mix from all walks of life as well, gay couples, straight couples, a few groups of men and/or women. Right next to us was a pair of women sunbathing topless. I am always a little surprised when I see women come to a nude or clothing optional beach and go topless. I am not judging them, but more so our society as it is legal for women to be topless in Ontario anywhere a man can be, and yet (I assume) they felt more comfortable and anticipated less chance of harassment going topless at a clothing optional beach than a textile one. It actually seems logical but sadly they were mistaken. It didn’t take long for a group of four young men to choose to setup their cooler and towels between the two ladies and where Tara and I were. The beach was busy but hardly crowded enough for their chosen location to be so close to three women, two topless and one nude. To no ones surprise the young men did

not go nude. At first they were not bothering anyone, drinking beer, talking loud like you would expect at a beach. However as I was cooling off in the water, which was suspicious timing, one of the young men approached the two ladies and had the audacity to ask for a selfie. At first his friends pulled him away, apologized "he is just drunk and stupid". Their intervention did not last long, he persisted and by the time I arrived on the scene I could overhear them encouraging the situation. "Just take the selfie and we promise to delete from his phone before he can do anything with it".  Then one pointed at Tara and said "She's nude, I bet she will join us if it makes you feel better".  All three ladies were letting their disapproval very well known and the four young men were now getting attention that had not intended. By the time I, and a very large, very intimidating, also very naked man (he looked like her could be a linebacker in the NFL), could step in, they had already seen the error of there ways, and packing up for the day.

Determined not to let that ruin the day. We moved further south on the beach where the ratio of textiles was far lower. The two ladies joined us for some time. It was nice to get to know them and tell them about what real naturism can be. It turns out that prior to the drunken idiots arrival, they had been debating going fully nude. Not blaming them for being discouraged by the events, we did our best to share with them how happy we were being naturists, just not at Hanlans Point.  I would love to tell you we sold them on it. I think it is probably unlikely though they did continue to be topless until they departed. I made sure to direct them to my blog (shameless self promotion), Bare Oaks and Ponderosa's websites.  Maybe they are reading about themselves here. (As promised, not even a fake name used).  Another hour later though they did move on.  Tara and I were not far behind them as the atmosphere became less peaceful and increasingly club like with competing groups with louder music. I think I may be getting to0 old for that scene?  As we made our way back to the ferry, Tara remained topless and only put her bikini top on once we got close to the terminal where it was more crowded.  Along the way she did get a couple stares, a few smiles, and one noticeable frown from a disapproving women. This was well outside her comfort zone and not something I expect her to repeat often, but she felt like making a point after our experience with the drunken idiots.

View from the ferry, it was great weather

Sadly the rest of our day was very textile.  A few hours at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and in a a very ironic twist, went clothes shopping at the Eaton Centre. We had dinner at a trendy place in Toronto, and back home for another naked night watching movies. In the end it was not a terrible day. I did focus on the drunken idiots but who has not been to the beach and had similar issues.  Tara has suggested she may even like to go back and give Hanlans another try. Winter is on the way so I hope she changes her mind before the spring, I much prefer Port Burwell for my naturist beach experiences.

Day 3 time without clothes: 14 hours - 58%

Note to self: I tend to type out my blog posts, leave it for a day or two, read it again to make sure I am happy with it and then publish. Lets me find grammar mistakes, of which I am sure I still miss plenty, and ensures I captured everything as best as I can. This time however in the few days between finishing my first draft and publishing I discovered something else.  Everything above is an accurate portrayal of the events. I always change or omit a few things here or there for privacy, both personally and those I may mention, but otherwise I lay out my experiences as I saw them. I would like to make a minor amendment, but not in the usual way.  I came across a post by one of my favourite Naturist bloggers (Naked Wanderings - check them out here) and after reading this I wished I could amend my actions slightly, or my reaction actually. Our issues with the drunken idiots motivated us to move further down the beach to be in an area with a better naturist to textile ratio. Even though the idiots had left, and we were well within the boundaries of the clothing optional area, we moved as it seemed less of a hassle than the potential to be bothered further by other still undeclared idiots.  I wish we had just stayed. No one else was bothering us. There is no reason naturists and textiles cannot share a clothing optional beach, its the whole point of the "optional".  Naturism will always been seen as taboo by those who don't understand it and it wont help if naturists are huddled away in corners, at least that is how I see it.

Will take this opportunity to pause again. I want to let the day at Hanlans Point be a post of its own. Being a first visit there for Tara, and the events that transpired I felt it deserved it. I will mash the keyboard some more this weekend and wrap this up finally, we spent a day at Bare Oaks and then the remainder of our "staynakation"TM was spent at Port Burwell which was just amazing.

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Naked Staycation = Staynakation??? (Part 1)

I recently had a week of vacation and not currently looking to spend a lot of money, I planned out a rather wonderful Staycation / Nakation……or a Staynakation for Tara and I. We visited my “greatest hits” of Naturism in the Toronto area and the only time we were clothed was for the brief travel time between destinations (and even then there was an exception). I originally planned this out at as a single blog post but decided I would split it up once I realized how long it was becoming.

Part 1:

Monday / Day 1: Naked night in

Our plan was simple, no clothes except when absolutely necessary until Sunday evening when I had to be back at work. My work often keeps me on fluctuating hours/days so my vacation began at 5pm Monday night and there was still the subway and commuter train ride home meaning my nakation did not begin until 6:45pm.  When I arrived home Tara was well ahead of me, having picked up pizza on her way home, and the TV was primed for a mini-movie marathon. Add in a few cold beers, microwave popcorn, and you had the perfect night in to kick off our staycation. This is not really blog-worthy on its own really. Nights spent like this became a common hang out (pun intended) for us as friends who happen to be naturists, be it a movie, hockey game or what even was on TV that night, we would try and do this once a month or so. Since we became a couple and even more so since I moved in with her, it has became a regular thing most nights at home. No different than any couple who have been together for some time only with fewer loads of laundry required. A "normal" couple may slip into their comfortable sleep clothes for a night in, our comfortable sleep clothes just so happen to be no clothes at all.

Day 1 time without clothes (Since 6:45PM): 5 hours, 15 minutes - 100%

  

Tuesday / Day 2: Ponderosa Picnic

The forecast was mainly sunny with periods of rain. Being outside in the rain is actually refreshing and fun for a naturist in my opinion, however does not complement a day at the beach if it rains more than forecast. It made sense to pick a place where there is indoor and outdoor options and we decide to make our way to Ponderosa Nature Resort. “The Pond” has everything you need for a day of without clothes. This is not a sales pitch but they do have a huge outdoor pool, hot tub, lounge pool with “swim up” bar, a restaurant, indoor pool, indoor hot tub, sauna, a fair amount of hiking trails, and the added bonus of being only 25 minutes from where we live. We spent almost the whole day there making use of everything they

Not ours, no photos at the Pond!

had to offer other than the guest rooms really. Normally the large outdoor pool is the highlight of every visit, however this time we decided to pack an elaborate picnic lunch and it just made the whole day something special. Yes I have made use of the Ponds restaurant before and never had a complaint, and we usually pack a lunch when visiting Port Burwell but it’s a bit of a hike so we bring very little with us.  At Ponderosa its just a short walk from the parking lot to many ideal picnic spots so you can pack a full lunch with sandwiches, salads, and other difficult to carry in a backpack items and even make more than one trip if needed without being an inconvenience. I believe it is against the rules (sorry but not really sorry) we did sneak in a bottle of wine to round things out nicely. Picking a spot off on our own so as not to bother anyone, we really enjoyed our naked picnic, drinking our wine in coffee cups so as not to concern anyone who did walk by. We then just lay in the sun for at least another hour while reading. A phenomenal way to decompress, de-stress, and just be happy. When it did start to rain a little we just put our books away and enjoyed that feeling too. This was about as close to a perfect day as we could have asked for.  We didn't want it to end but had to tear ourselves away for more social nude activities planned for the evening. 

Tuesday / Evening 2: Naked Dinner

“Sam and Diane” who we celebrated Nude Years Eve with are not exactly naturists in the traditional sense.  We will socialize with them here and there as they share our distaste for clothes but they are unashamed to admit they are often on the lookout for something, more, as it were.  When the four of us get together, which has been more frequent since Tara and I began dating, they make very effort to keep things in line with our interpretation of naturism and nudism with no mention of the more “liberal” lifestyle they, as consenting adults, choose to live.  To help us get the most out of our staynakation they invited us to their home for dinner and drinks. We had a lovely steak dinner with all the fixings, and a few more bottles of wine. We played cards until midnight before a "late for a weeknight" Uber ride home brought the evening to a close. Not unlike a stay in movie night the evening before, this was very much a typical dinner with friends like any other. The only exception being the absence of clothes. We could not have asked for a more perfect evening to close out a perfect day.

Day 2 time without clothes: 22 hours 15 minutes - 93%

I am going to pause here and I will post more about or "Staynakation" as soon as I can find some time to type it out.  As a bit of a teaser I will say that on Day 3 we made Tara's first trip to Hanlans Point Clothing Optional beach on Toronto island and this could be a blog entry of its own.  I will try and post this within a week or so if I can find some time. As always comments and feedback is welcome and may encourage me to blog more frequently.
For now, Keep Calm and StayNakation!

Click here for Where to be naked in nature in Canada

Strange Things Happen When Naturists Put Their Clothes On

I know, it has been a while.  In my defense I don’t actually consider myself a “blogger” and the fact I have not posted since January would stand to support that position. That’s not to say I have not thought about updating recently, I have plenty of new naturist experiences to share, and many more opinions on Naturism to share. Time however has not been my friend. Between work, life, and enjoying Naturism, actually blogging about it was low on the to do list.

This past weekend a fellow naturist (thanks David), shared my blog saying “a blog to inspire” and what do you know, I got inspired. Today also happens to be the first day of a staycation that I plan on using as a full nakation. Aside from driving to/from my standard naturist go to locations (Bare Oaks, Ponderosa, Port Burwell) I don’t intend to wear clothes until I return to work on Sunday. So why not spend some naked time blogging.

Originally this blog was about my life as a single, 30 something guy, who suddenly realized clothes were overrated.  I focused mainly on the experience side of things as a single man in the naturist world as this was the kind of information I was looking for as a type of guidance when I was a newbie nudie but had a hard time finding. Hopefully those who have read my previous posts found them of use. Even if you were not a single 30 something newbie nudie.  While I was not always single during the last few years, however as a naturist I may as well have been. I dated one woman who I successfully introduced to naturism but sadly we were not “compatible” as it were. And then there is my long time platonic friend Tara whom I have mentioned many times however her personal life meant she was……lets say an occasional naturist. So on I went and there I blogged, as a single naturist 90 percent of the time.

Life has a funny way of surprising you though, and this post is more about life than naturism but it all ties together, please bear with me, or should it be bare with me????  Having known Tara since high school and been strictly platonic friends and happy in that status for the better part of two decades, it may shock some, that being a naturist and introducing someone of the opposite sex to naturism and nudism, didn’t have an impact on our friendship. It was never awkward, it never led to any lines crossed, not even at an alcohol fueled “Nude Years Eve”.  I believe it made us even better, closer friends, if that was even possible. I will admit our relationship did take a turn in a new direction this winter but Naturism was not a direct factor other than strengthening the bond we already shared. And while its taken a few paragraphs to get here, this is the main topic for this post.

Tara and I were both guests at destination wedding in the Caribbean this past winter. It was a typical wedding, a close nit group both in terms of the family and friends invited. So

you can imagine when people see the two close friends who both attend single, there are always lots of questions….

Have you ever?

Would you ever?

Why not?

We had been through this a couple of times over the years and it is no big deal. Some were genuinely curious how a man and a woman could be best friends and not a couple (usually the older people), some had their minds in the gutter (usually the younger people). One person asked “Seriously? You’ve never seen each other naked?” and I had to lie to avoid even more complicated questions.  I think we both handled ourselves well, and went on with our lives.

About a week later and back in Canada, we were having dinner with a group of friends for a birthday. Tara and I arrived earlier than anyone else and got talking about the wedding, and the silly questions we were asked. Somewhere along the way before others arrived, we came to the conclusion we needed to have a “talk”. I’d like to tell you where in this conversation the light came on, or what it was that steered us to our enlightenment, but I can't. Somewhere in the short conversation we had decided that maybe we were more than friends and were just to dumb to notice.

Later that night we had a brief “talk” and before we knew it, the next evening we went on our first “date”, dinner and a movie, just us. It was hardly a first date in the typical sense as we spent dinner plotting the baby steps we planned to take. It may seem strange to be so methodical but with so many ways this could have gone wrong, and we had a long established friendship on the line, we didn’t want to risk destroying that.  We took intimacy off the table for the first month at least, and we put our naturist activities together on hold until after that, just in case somehow that was confusing the issue (it was not). Being Canadian winter at the time, this was actually fairly easy. 

Fast forward and here we are, many months later, almost September now. I officially moved into Tara’s home recently, still being methodically cautious we agreed in advance to wait for a short time before renting out my house and will wait at least a year before we decide to put it up for sale. It is at this point I will address what I assume is a question anyone reading this may have. Why am I posting this, it has nothing to do with being a Naturist???? The strange thing about relationships is they should be easy, but they never are, and in a textile world so it is with naturism. Add those together and it can get muddy very fast. We have been friends for so long and never saw it as anything more.  For us, naturism was no different than sharing an interest in movies or sports. We are naturists but naturism alone does not define us. And even though I take credit for introducing Naturism to Tara, when we took the relationship plunge we wanted to keep it as uncomplicated as possible. So yes, we stopped being naturists (together) for a time just as we agreed to delay telling friends or family. I won’t tell you it was the right or wrong decision, it is just what made sense for us at the time. Thankfully it all seems to be working out, we had a great naturist summer together with more to come this week.

It may be that Naturism played some part in us eventually deciding to become a couple, but not directly. It was just another activity we found we both enjoyed. If this was not the case I would have thought we would have figured this out a few years ago as there have been plenty of opportunities rather than while reminiscing about a textile destination wedding to push us in this direction. 

When it comes to naturism, I’ll be honest I am not sure where to go with this blog. As mentioned a few times this started as the experiences from the perspective of a 30 something, single, male, who was new to naturism.  Aside from still being in my 30’s (just barely) none of that is true of me anymore.  There are plenty of blogs, Facebook pages, websites, Twitter feeds, and Instagramers covering naturism from a couples perspective, young and old.  “Naked Wanderings”,Felicity's Blog, and Naturist Living Show are great resources. Another blog may not add much to the conversation but I will try and keep at it for now and I will try not to go another 8 months between posts. As I type this I remember how therapeutic I find sharing here. Hopefully there are some out there that get something from reading this, and if not I am OK with it anyway.

Will O’Canada

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