Muskoka has a way of stopping you in your tracks. It's not always for the obvious reasons, like postcard sunsets or the beauty of the lakes (although those things are amazing, too!)

Sometimes it's the small moments. Things that you could easily miss if you weren't paying attention...but you're in Muskoka...so more often than not, you're paying attention.

Catching up on the dock during summer break.

I've been keeping a list of the ordinary things that somehow, in this place, feel like magic.

This is that list. I suspect you will recognize most of them:

• Early morning mist on the lake
• The way the sun feels on bare skin after a long winter
• The crack of a screen door in the Muskoka room
• Morning coffee on the dock
• The sound of spring peepers
• Waking up to the sounds of songbirds
• Warming up on sun-baked granite after the shock of an early-season swim
• When a dragonfly lands on you out of the blue

Dragonfly's are so cool.

• A quiet paddle through the lily pads
• The smell of the forest after it rains
• The whirring sound of a casting reel
• Shore lunches
• Earning your summer feet
• Foraging for wild mushrooms after it rains
• A glass of ice cold lemonade on a hot summer day
• Wind in your hair on a boat ride
• Finding a pretty feather while on a hike
• Fireflies
• Dragging your hand through the water and feeling the lake rush between your fingers
• The smell of a two-stroke motor (offensive and nostalgic in equal measure)

There's something about the smell and sound of the old motors.

• The way complete strangers wave as they pass by in a boat
• Homemade meals eaten outside with family and friends
• Crackling campfires and toasted marshmallows
• Skinny dipping at midnight
• The haunting call of a loon echoing in the distance
• Looking up on a dark night and seeing the Milky Way
• The sound of crickets in late summer
• The sound of water lapping against the shore
• Quality time

Problem solved.

What are your favourite Muskoka moments? The ones that stop you and remind you why you love this place? Share them in the comments. We'd love to add to the list.