Mountains, snow, trees and moose ... we all know what to expect from Canada, despite its vastness. But beaches? And yet, here we are. The temperature is in the high 20s, we've just come out of the water and we're building castles out of the fine, powdery sand.
This is Wasaga Beach, less than two hours' drive north of Toronto but a million miles from our preconceptions.
We've taken the easy 120-kilometre freeway drive with two children to escape stifling heat in the city for a couple of days. Yes, heat. Temperatures in Toronto regularly reach 32 degrees.
But driving up Highway 400, past the city of Barrie, the roads get smaller, the malls disappear and we start to detect the lake breeze.
In 1934, a tiny single-engine biplane took off from here, making the first flight from Canada to England. The vast stretch, framed by the blue mountains in the far distance, would make a good runway: 14 kilometres of sand, hugging the shores of Georgian Bay, part of Lake Huron, the second-largest of the Great Lakes, so vast we can't see the other side or the end of the sand.
This is the world's longest freshwater beach and tipped by some of the more enterprising locals to become to Toronto what the Hamptons are to New York.
Wasaga Beach may be the fastest-growing town in Ontario but that only seems evident at the top end, where Nancy Island stands guard at the mouth of the Nottawasaga River.
Beach One, as it is known, has shops, a giant Wal-Mart and a famous boardwalk dating back to the 1920s, although many of the beachfront stuctures were destroyed in a fire in 2007.
We're staying in the middle of more relaxed Beach Three at Adrian's, a small family resort of clapboard cottages only a minute from the beach and dunes, the silence punctuated by the sounds of birds and the waves lapping against the shore.
The water is shallow a long way from the edge of the beach and there is no tide. The firm, fine sand is perfect for building sandcastles.
A few years ago, Wasaga was dominated by teens on spring break and summer holidays. But the local council is now encouraging family tourism and it has quietened down recently. Beach One is the place to go for teens and students while Beaches Three to Six are more laid back, almost deserted in parts.
At the smaller Beach Three, there are fewer dining choices but there's a good Italian, the Little Marina, three minutes from the cabins. Nearby, at Mr Norm's Nephew, locals queue for delicious homemade ice-cream and frozen yoghurt.
After feeding the giraffes at the wildlife park at Elmvale, 20 minutes down the road, we take the tiny lakeside drive heading up towards Tiny (which is, well, tiny), past abandoned beaches and wooden shore homes. Keep going and you soon reach Georgian Bay proper, with its 30,000 islands and 2000 kilometres of shoreline.
It's home to the world's largest freshwater island, Manitoulin Island, where an artistic community resides, continuing a tradition that started with the region's famous "Group of Seven" 1920s impressionists.
We head further east into the Wasaga Beach provincial park and stroll along part of the 50 kilometres of hiking trails, accessed from the Wasaga Nordic Centre. It's one of the rarest ecosystems in Canada - the pine-oak savannah, an open forest of oak, pine and prairie plants such as butterfly weed, New Jersey tea, hoary puccoon and big and little bluestem.
The whole area is immaculate. Wasaga Beach is raked every day by wardens from the nearby national park who patrol to keep its blue flag status. Back on the beach, as the sun goes down over the bay, it is the perfect holiday scene. Only the mountains in the distance remind us where we are. See wasagabeach.com.
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