Travelling Trio

Canada – beautiful Canada

• By Denise
• May 26, 2016
• No Comments

Our short time in Canada was between weeks 7 and 8 of our USA travels.

Entering Canada was a breeze – a drive across the bridge, just a few questions from the Customs Officer in Sarnia and we were welcomed into Canada. We stayed the night in Sarnia and had a good look around the town – for the first time we saw small black squirrels and they are sooooo cute!! It was interesting because we observed an instant change in the architecture and the evergreen trees were beginning to show their presence. A combination of deciduous and evergreen trees with small gardens outside the homes was a welcome view. Although like the USA there were no fences between houses which left the properties open and welcoming. A drive around the area also allowed us the privilege of seeing Lake Huron and seeing some large ice-blocks sitting on the side of the lake. We were told that Canada hadn’t really experienced winter this year as they had only had a few snowfalls.

I’m not sure why, but somehow the weather on our travels has been awesome. It is very cold in Canada because it’s winter however, we have not had any rain and it is just simply the fresh air that is cold. We made our way to Springvale to stay with an old family and school friend of Dave’s whom he hadn’t seen since they were kids. Brad’s home is north of Toronto and then north of a city called Barrie. Brad and Deidre (and their chocolate lab, Max) welcomed us into their home like long lost friends and we just had the best of times with them. Never short of conversation we certainly talked a ‘blue streak’ with loads of laughs and info. Their home is in an area just outside of the busy city and sits in a wonderland especially with the remnants of the big snow a few weeks ago. Deidre had cooked a roast on our first night and what a welcome this was – a long way different from our ‘on the go’ meals we have been having for some time now. Thanks Deidre!!! The temperature on our first night was -16 degrees at night and in the morning it was certainly fresh so it was a good reason to be wrapping up in our winter woollies.

At the Science Museum

We ventured to the local Simcoe Museum and thought we would be there for an hour but three hours later it was time to go. Carter was invited to join a Jeopardy Trivia Competition where you choose a category, choose the dollar value of that category and then answer the question your choice belongs to.

Of course you have to beat the other contestants with your buzzer to answer the questions too!! Dave and I watched on and we were certainly educated with the answers to these science questions – such has “How many senses does the human have?” (A) Five Senses; (B) More than five senses; (C) Less than five senses. Answer is more than five senses and in fact it appears we have more than 8!! Another question: True or False – the water empties out of a bath a different way in Australia than in Canada. Answer: False – they both go the same way and it is only very large volumes of water that just may move in a different direction. Question: True or False – a snapping turtle’s bite is stronger than a human’s bite. Answer: False! This was a very interesting and valuable learning experience for us all.

Carter battling it out with other contestants!

After thinking so hard on this quiz it was time to visit a Fifth Generation run Maple Syrup farm.

Carter with the fifth generation Shaw!

The Shaws have over 6000 maple bushes (with some of these trees over 300 years old) and they gather the sap from the trees in a very short season between February and April. Depending on the weather the sap could run for just one day in that season or it could be for a few weeks. In order to gather the sap you need weather that is up to -5 at night and then just 5 degrees in the day. They have a great history of photos of their ancestors all working on the farm and they also run a pancake business with fresh maple syrup on the premises. It would be rude not to try this so we parked ourselves in their beautifully warm restaurant and had pancakes, pork sausages and fresh maple syrup processed the day before.

Wonderfully fresh pancakes and maple syrup!

What a wonderfully filling and tasty treat. Oh, did you know it takes 40 gallons of fresh sap from the trees to make just one gallon of maple syrup without any additives. Golly that’s a heap of sap for just a taste of syrup – I will be more appreciative next time I am lucky enough to enjoy real maple syrup!

Next was a visit to the local lake and what a surprise here! It was iced over. Carter tried his hand at skimming the stones across the lake and wow, he’s got quite the throwing arm. He can out-throw both Dave and I by a long way!!!

After a walk with Max (the dog) through the local forest Brad and Deidre took us on a ‘tiki’ tour of the local area and it is just beautiful with vast numbers of trees surrounding the properties and beautiful rivers and lakes intertwined. That night it was time to put our cheering voices on as we all went to an ice hockey game between the Barrie Colts and the Sudbury Wolves.

At the game!

There are some very talented and skilled players which we can see are likely to be picked up by the NHL in time. I didn’t realise just how many hockey sticks get broken in a game too – or perhaps this game was just extra boisterous!!! We got outside the stadium around 10pm to find it was already -4 degrees!!! Ouch!! This meant we just HAD to stop at Tim Hortons for a hot chocolate and donuts! Tim Horton was a famous Canadian ice hockey player who started this franchise when he retired and now there are outlets everywhere! And I mean everywhere as we saw probably three to four outlets for every one McDonalds outlet.

Famous Tim Horton hot chocolate!!

It was time to leave Brad and Deidre (we didn’t want to leave) and make our way to Niagara Falls for the night. This was a destination I have been looking forward to and it didn’t disappoint. The sheer volume of water travelling down these Falls is amazing and the water is so cold that the spray was turning to snow and falling on the rocks. There were a number of trees surrounding the Falls and they all had icicles hanging off each branch which made an impressive scene.

Icicles hanging off the tree and its 2pm in the afternoon!

The area surrounding the Falls is very commercialised with just about every type of activity on offer. It was exciting for Carter as he found a pocket knife personalised with his name for the very first time in his life. Obviously his name is more popular in North America! Brad and Deidre had told us about a Canadian dish called Poutine so we tried this in Niagara Falls. It is made of hot chips, small lumps of cheese and hot gravy poured over top. Yumm – this is a dish I could easily get used to!

Niagara Falls

We have thoroughly enjoyed our short time in Canada and I must say are extremely reluctant to leave as a five day stay is simply not enough. However, we have vowed to return one day but perhaps sometime late Summer/early Autumn when we would experience a different looking Canada.

Next stop – Syracuse in USA on our way to Boston.