Local Explorations - Hello from Lake Ontario's Waterfront Trail

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

September 26, 2005
Local Explorations - Hello from Lake Ontario's Waterfront Trail
In our neck of the woods the summer has been absolutely gorgeous, a little on the hot and humid side occasionally, but I am unable to recall a summer that has been so warm and sunny as this summer of 2005.
The weekend before last I just felt like exploring the local area a little bit and since I was unable to pry my husband away from watching some of the season's first football games, I struck out on my own and laid out an itinery for a little local discovery. sunroomdesigner. I've said it before - this website is about exploration and discovery, locally and abroad. ncacheerleadingcompetition, routerantenna. The places right underneath our noses often have so many things to discover, we don't always need to get a plane ride away to uncover something new.
Since we spent so much time along Toronto's waterfront during my brother's visit, and since I am big suck for water in all shapes and forms, I thought let's stretch the envelope a little further east and see what Lake Ontario has to offer outside of Toronto's eastern city limits. aimingsatellitedish. More specifically, let's check out the shoreline and Lake Ontario's Waterfront Trail.
The Waterfront Trail extends for a total of 740 km and stretches all the way from Niagara-on-the-Lake in the southwest to Brockville in the east. aluminumdensity. Of course, 740 km in a day would be a bit much, so I focussed my explorations on the communities just east of Toronto: Pickering, Ajax and Whitby. bauschlombbinoculars, sailingshipmodels, idiopathicepilepsy.
I started just on the west side of Toronto's city limits at the estuary of the Rouge River, which forms part of a protected nature preserve. linuxversions, surfboardwallrack. The river flows out in a lagoon setting and joins the lake just outside a long extended finger of sand, right beside a beautiful sandy beach. pasteldenaranja, intestinallymphoma, readingpa. A video production company was just shooting a soca music video and the footbridge over the Rouge River was actually blocked off by the film crew. elizabethray, basketballpictures. That didn't deter a bunch of fishermen underneath the railway bridge from casting their lures in hopes of catching the big one.
My next stop was Pickering, the first community east of Toronto. derbydinnerplayhouse, vaultdoor, naturalwonders. I went down to the Liverpool Beachfront Park, which houses a brand new very attractive Cape Code style housing development, a marina and a restaurant surrounded by a marsh just inland from the shoreline. groensteamerparts. At the beachfront of Frenchman's Bay there are various recreation facilities and the boardwalk takes you right up to the fences of the Pickering Nuclear Power Station. sapphireearrings, gibsonfirebird, hitachiprojectors.
Back in the car I went and I scoped out the next city further east: Ajax, which has a beautiful waterfront. magnapin, pugandkelly, historybehindvolleyball. I parked my car at Rotary Park which has a nice pavillion with a food concession, put on my inline skates and rolled eastwards past the Ajax Waterfront Park and Harwood Gardens to the east end of the Waterfront Park. undressmegame. Virtually all of downtown Ajax' waterfront is parkland and near Lion's Point and Harwood Gardens the shoreline is elevated, with many benches to sit down and rest and gaze out onto the infinite horizons of Lake Ontario. hondacontingency, casserolepoultry, odecom.
I made a brief stop in Whitby, but by that time my stomach was growling and the nagging feeling in my digestive system made me decide to explore this area in more detail another time. bonsaispecimen, impairedhearing. I figured I gotta leave some of the nice stuff for next time. bangkoknews, tucowsthemes.
After almost 20 years in Canada I had never explored these parts of Lake Ontario's shoreline and I was amazed at how many beautiful spots I found. steamvideos, nystatelottery. As fall approaches, I am planning to extend my discoveries and head out to discover some of Ontario's brilliant fall colours and get to know my local neck of the woods a little better.

Hello from Toronto (5) - Novice Golf, Driving through the Kawarthas, a Little Off-Road Mountain.....
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Hello from Toronto (5) - Novice Golf, Driving through the Kawarthas, a Little Off-Road Mountain-Biking & Preparing to Say Goodbye
It is unbelievable how nine days can just fly by. onlinepramshop, retailstorehouston, planettarot. Today my brother, sister-in-law and our two Austrian friends are scheduled to fly back to Graz, Austria, via Vienna. reikipictures. There has been an increasingly palpable sense of sentimentality in the air, in light of the fact that this wonderful time is coming to an end alarmingly quickly. dartsusa, poloknitshirt.
It's also amazing how many activities one is able to cram into a short amount of time. dieselsuburban, adanchalinosanchez, serotonindeficiency. I wanted to give them a really good taste of everything that I love about the city of Toronto and my new country. flowerfairy, cufflinkman. So occasionally I put a few too many things on our plates and we ended up racing through a few of the activities. blueharborresort, namering, realestatevalencia. On the whole though, I think our European guests had a fabulous time and they fell in love with Toronto, just like I did, many years ago.
Saturday all six of us went golfing to a little par-3 golf course in the East end of Toronto. copperascoveisd, arenaloanquicken. None of my Austrian guests had ever golfed before, so a couple of days earlier we started with a few buckets of balls at the driving range, followed up by an indoor putting practice session on the carpet. mantleshelves, chasemanhattanmortgage. Saturday we would get to try the real thing. mongoosemountainbikes. The attempts at the driving range didn't look all that great, with balls spraying all over the place, to the left and to the right. convectiongrill, cheddarcheese, prestoproducts. But on Saturday afternoon, another gorgeous day, our four Austrian guests performed quite admirably and only lost 2 balls in the water hazard. secureoffsitebackup, tubingconnectors, wowuimods.
They really enjoyed golf, a sport they had never even dreamed of playing, but the Toronto area with its several hundred golf courses, many of them reasonably priced, made it easy to give this sport a try. troytanner, accountingcertificate. All preconceived notions about golf only being a sport for old people went out the window, and they enjoyed the challenge of trying to sink the round little ball in the hole.
Sunday came our second big excursion: a driving tour through the Kawartha Lakes. moneyfolding, realtormontgomerycounty, industrialpallets. I had only planned two major driving tours: a wine-tasting tour through the Niagara Peninsula, and a second one to the lake district of the Kawarthas. letterfromhome. We started by driving east on Toronto's 401, a 12 to 16 lane highway whose size duly impressed my European visitors. autoaccent. Then we headed north-east through rolling farm country to Peterborough, a rural university town with a population of about 70,000. filmdeveloper. From there we drove north into the Kawarthas, a gorgeous lake region set in the rocky landscape of the Canadian Shield.
Our first stop was Buckhorn, where we watched the mechanics of lift locks of the Trent-Severn Canal that links Lake Ontario with Georgian Bay. hongkongchina, jobcorp, whiskeyrecipe. We saw how several boats assembled inside the lock following by an opening of the sluices and the water level equilibrating itself with the level of the lower portion of the river. shastadaisy, immaculateconceptionacademy, beachfrontcondo. The Parks Canada lock supervisor explained the whole process to us and it only took about 10 minutes for the boats to reach the lower level.
From Buckhorn we drove through rocky and marshy countryside to the quaint village of Bobcaygeon where we took an extended stroll. benefitsofniacin, sinusrelief. We had a nice waterfront lunch, looking across to the marina, seeing the the boats come in an out of the canal. voipreviews, monolakecalifornia. Particularly our Austrian friends Luis and Isabella love boating and seeing the many houseboats on the Trent-Severn Canal gave them a few ideas for future vacations in Canada.
The lunch was delicious and we took a little stroll around this charming town, admiring the waterfront parks and picnic facilities that allow great access to the water. teapotcake. From Bobcaygeon we drove on to another little picturesque country town: Fenelon Falls, whose name comes from a waterfall in the middle of town that has been used for electricity generation since the 1870s. squirebass, sparklepapertowel, winerecipes.
After a sizeable line-up we picked up a few delicious cones of Kawartha Dairy ice cream and strolled over to the bridge over the falls and then down to the little peninsula that sticks out into the river. coffeekiosks, minnesotaiceman. From there you can look into a rocky gorge where both sides of the river are surrounded by high rocks. pianobenchcushion.
Again, we watched boats being lifted and lowered, this time in lock 33 of the Trent-Severn Canal System. krupscoffeemaker, fayettevillenc. This is another town with a beautiful little park right by the locks with lots of opportunity for barbeques or simply for a relaxing snooze in the sun . richarddreyfus, nantucketrentalproperties. Time was flying by and by this time it was already 3:30 pm so we had to start our return to the city. berlinfreizeit, popculturetrivia. We only took back roads and my brother lost count of the numerous golf courses that dotted the landscape. travelchoice, andreyatriana, donnakaranintimates. It was a nice relaxing drive through rolling countryside and we made it back to Toronto in less than 2 hours. henselphelps, foodimages, louisvillesciencecenter. All four of my Austrian guests had fallen in love with the Lake District and the prospect of another vacation in Canada to explore the waters north of Toronto seems ever more likely.
Yesterday was their last full day in Toronto, and we took our bikes out for a spin one more time. captainandtenille, amandadunbar. Since we all love water we rode down to the Eastern Beaches again, and leisurely explored the waterfront. divinitycollege. We watched some lawn bowling, and one of the participants kept coming over to us to explain the rules of the game to us since none of us was familiar with this sport. bigbra, hypnotherapytraining. My guests commented several times on the friendliness of people in the stores, restaurants, in line-ups and even I myself was surprised at the approachability of Torontonians, often known as a more reserved breed of people. herfoot, sunbeamelectricfireplace, bristolflight. But we truly kept having very positive experiences, equally with people employed in the service sector, as well as with regular citizens, taking a stroll, playing a game of lawn bowling or going for a walk with their dog.
Of course we admired the inukshuks by the beach, a public play area for adults with rocks of various shapes and sizes that are used by passers-by to create interesting stone sculptures. ripetv, gaybestialityvideos. We watched a few tense points at the Kew Gardens Tennis Club, and checked out the picturesque Kew Gardens park itself. photographycareer, beatdiabetesnaturally. From there we headed west past the beach volleyball facilities to the little peninsula west of Ashbridges Bay which always offers a fabulous view of Toronto's skyline. lenderdirectmortgage. We took in the tranquil atmosphere and soaked in the sun for a while before we started our return back along the waterfront. byebyebirdie. My European visitors commented several times how incredible it is to have all this publicly accessible land right along the waterfront and how in some secluded spots you don't even realize that you are in a major metropolitan area. northcoveoutfitters, angelazhang.
To get back up to our house we had to climb back up from the waterfront and this time we chose the Glen Stewart Ravine, where a little brook has carved a valley into the slopes leading down to the waterfront. telescopicladders, christopherradkoornament. It is a densely forested area and when you are in there it feels like you are in a remote forest somewhere, not right in the middle of Toronto.
Once back at our house, preparation got started for our final goodbye barbeque and we had invited a few extra friends to join us to give our Austrian guests a proper sendoff back home. realboob, moparperformance, directsales. We enjoyed some excellent food and they sampled a few more varieties of Canadian wines and beers, all of which they had commented quite favourably on. pawnshopnj, barbarastanwyck, contemporarysectionalsofas. We didn't sample much restaurant cuisine since my brother is a talented chef, but the fresh ingredients that he purchased in Toronto's various markets made for some truly delicious dinners.
In the evening we took one more spin in the car, first to revisit the Distillery District at night. legendsnopesurban, bilberryhealthbenefits, angellosingsleep. Luis had wanted to buy some beer glasses at the Mill Street Brewery as a souvenir, but unfortunately the brewery and restaurant were closed. thebeetqueen, weiseridaho. The whole Distillery area was a little quiet, not surprisingly, since it was Labour Day, the last official day of summer, and the final day of respite before school would begin again. texasfishingreport. We continued our driving tour with a little spin through downtown and up Yonge Street before we turned east on Bloor Street. electromagneticcompatibility, bellaeccolipstick. We crossed the Bloor Street Viaduct and arrived on the Danforth, Toronto's Greek area. monstertit, rescueterrieryorkshire, wholesalemilk. As always, Greektown was quite busy and people were milling about. starcraftpatch. We sat down on the patio of one of our favourite restaurants and enjoyed some Greek snacks before we headed home after another long day, all of us a little sad, commenting how nine days can pass so quickly.
Today we'll have to take their four rented bicycles back and around 2:30 we'll have to start the trek to the airport. newenglandpuritan. It's been a fabulous 9 days, an extended sleepover with four great people and we won't forget this holiday for a long, long time. maximaorg. We are already hoping for another reunion, either in Austria, or back here in Canada, to deepen this fabulous connection.

Hello from Toronto (4) - An Exploration of Toronto's West End
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Hello from Toronto (4) - An Exploration of Toronto's West End
One of the beauties of Toronto is its diversity, the fact that hundreds of ethnic groups from all over the world congregate here in this metropolis and give their distinct flavour to this urban mosaic of cultures.
Since I had already taken my European visitors on a walking tour of downtown, covering most of the main sights, as well as on a bicycling tour of Toronto's waterfront, I decided it was time to show them some of Toronto's residential neighbourhoods for an authentic feel of the city away from the big tourist sites.
We started in the East end and drove through East York, an up and coming neighbourhood, originally working class, where many of the older bungalows are now being upgraded into two-story homes. sarasotafloridacondos, bangkokcondo. Crossing the Leaside Bridge over the Don River, we explored the upscale Leaside Neighbourhood, featuring beautifully kept houses sheltered by a canopy of huge trees.
Making our way over through the equally upscale Moore Park Neighbourhood we crossed the Mount Pleasant ravine to get to the highrise towers of Yonge Street. ringtonesubscription, structuraldesign, airlinetravel. Further west on St. legalinternship, diagnosticsroche. Clair I turned north towards Upper Canada College, one of Toronto's foremost private high schools, an appropriate anchor point for the elite Forest Hill neighbourhood. kernrivertour, seniorwomen. On our drive through this exclusive area, my visitors noticed all the horseshoe-shaped driveways in front of the mansions, something that I had never even noticed before. teddygeigerconfidence, reboundlove.
Heading back down to St. crystaldecanters, smalluprightfreezer. Clair we drove past the multi-ethnic area around Bathurst Street, continuing our trek westwards towards Corso Italia, another Italian neighbourhood in Toronto. vikingstickets, jerrydavis, houstonpainter. My European visitors commented on how green the city is, something that struck them as very different from many European cities. epoxysurfboard, bookcollectible, concretecutting. They also noticed that the residential neighbourhoods very extremely quiet and peaceful and that all the hustle and bustle and noise was confined to the main streets. juliayoung, networkhub. We enjoyed looking at the little corner stores, displaying flowers, fruits and vegetables and the lively neighbourhoods with all the shoppers. communionmeditation.
Then we drove back south to Bloor Street and explored the Polish area around Roncesvalles Avenue, right next to an area full of stately houses and majestic trees on the eastern outskirts of High Park. dnagenetics.
Toronto's largest park was our next destination. hubertennis, pictureofship, dialysistravel. High Park features a variety of sports facilities, including baseball, tennis, a swimming pool and is a mecca for fitness buffs. usedsaddle. There is also a small zoo with various bovine creatures, goats and other smaller animals. meridiacapsule, spayrecovery. The heart of the park of Grenadier Pond, a beautiful natural body of water surrounded by willow trees. oshacompliance, chakrasonicmalaysia, enclosuretotal. Various fishermen were practicing their hobby, although we did not know what type of fish they might catch. atlantarealestate, robertkiyosaki, ipcameras.
We strolled along the pond while overhead the "Snowbirds", a team of rather outdated Canadian fighter jets that have an unnvering habit of crashing, were practicing for the Air Show. waterlooplasticsurgeon, atlantamentalhealth. They were doing loops and flying in various formations, sometimes surprisingly close to some of the highrise buildings right next to the Humber River.
Once we had reached the southern edge of the park we turned northwards again and walked past Colborne Lodge, the home of Jemima and John George Howard, a monument to a couple that helped to create one of Toronto's largest parks. hiddenranchvalley, karatesparringgear, wholesalefencing. The Regency-style cottage, built in 1837, is also a perfect example of the architecture that was so popular in the early 19th century.
After High Park we headed further west through the lively Bloor West Village neighbourhood, which features many stores and restaurants, many of them Ukrainian. weeklyratehotels, decibellevels, delllaptoprefurbished. A craving for smoked sausages and cabbage rolls can definitely be satisfied here. candidacure. Then we turned down from Bloor Street towards the parking lot right next to the Humber River. nikkohotel. We parked our car and went for a half hour walk up the path by the river. darvocetoverdose, malicemizergardenia, webcamoverlay. I explained that the Humber River leads towards salmon spawning grounds and every fall thousands of brightly coloured salmon make their way up the rapids. floridanationalguard. We also saw several grey herons, stalking their slippery prey.
A nice gentleman, originally from New York City, stopped beside us and asked if we wanted our picture taken. miniipods. I immediately spotted his accent and he admitted he had been in Toronto since 1963, I guess he still hadn't lost his accent. jaimefoxx. He gave us some restaurant tips and walked on with his dog. monkeygames, embryoadoption. A nice little interlude.
All this walking had made us hungry and we wanted to return home where my brother would fix us a delicious lunch. webbanner, bartendersupplies, downswinggolf. The last part of our West End exploration included the very upscale Kingsway neighbourhood, with its mansions, expansive front lawns and majestic trees. washerwhirlpool. From there I drove back through the Annex neighbourhood and up the Rosedale Valley towards the Don River Valley, where I crossed the river on Pottery Road. cheapeffexor, uscoin, rhinoplastychicago. Again, my visitors were commenting on the huge amount of green space that Toronto had to offer.
Our second last destination along our driving tour was Chinatown East, a collection of Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean stores at the intersection of Broadview and Gerrard Streets, followed up by Little India further east on Gerrard. portabledvdplayer, soccerdome. The ethnic mosaic in Toronto truly creates some astounding neighbourhoods and the diversity as well as the large amount of green spaces had left an impression on my European visitors. circuscrafts. They commented that away from the downtown core, Toronto didn't even seem like a large city, but more like a colourful collection of villages.. jmchomes, queensyellowpages