Lily got to pet the baby chickens and we watched a sheep being sheared by hand.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Stratford Fall Fair
On the weekend we visited the Stratford Fall Fair. There were lots of animals and we were too late to see all the prize winning vegetables and pies.
Lily got to pet the baby chickens and we watched a sheep being sheared by hand.
Lily got to pet the baby chickens and we watched a sheep being sheared by hand.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Plowing Match
On a beautiful fall day - although it doesn't seem like summer has really ended yet - we went to the plowing match near Palmerston. It is a celebration of rural life and has lots of equipment and stuff on display as well as shows and music. And a plowing competition which I wanted to see but we were so busy all day we didn't get to it.
The big thing I wanted to check out was the RCMP musical ride - a horse riding demonstration of formations done to music by mounted police of Canada. We had a long wait to ensure we had good seats and Lily was a big squirmer. Lucky for us there was a lovely family behind us with a big man with a big beard who was happy to hold Lily and she was happy to sit still and look.
After the musical ride we checked out the booths, the quilts, and the old tractors and by the time we had walked around the day was over! I don't even think we saw half of the plowing match!
The big thing I wanted to check out was the RCMP musical ride - a horse riding demonstration of formations done to music by mounted police of Canada. We had a long wait to ensure we had good seats and Lily was a big squirmer. Lucky for us there was a lovely family behind us with a big man with a big beard who was happy to hold Lily and she was happy to sit still and look.
Wellesley Applebutter Festival
A beautiful fall day and we went with my friend Max to the Wellesley Applebutter festival. The town is famous for having a factory that makes applebutter and apple cider.
We toured the factory and checked out the food vendors and the arts and crafts sections. It was a beautiful day!
We toured the factory and checked out the food vendors and the arts and crafts sections. It was a beautiful day!
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Algonquin Eastern Pines Trail
After our trip to Ottawa we went back packing on the Eastern Pines Trail in Algonquin Provincial Park. This is a series of loop trails which reach as far as High Falls (unless you take the 1 hour High Falls Cheater trail which is unmarked on any official maps). We entered the park at the east gate and parked at Achray. With one person carrying the baby and some gear and the other person all the rest of the gear it was a heavy load. Good thing it was mostly flat because we were loaded down!
We had fantastic weather the entire trip. We walked by a few lakes and camped on the shore of Stratton Lake. It was a good thing we were on the lake because the mosquitoes weren't that bad. In the forest they were annoying and sometimes you were always swatting away (although I got out with on a few bites). Apparently this is outside of mosquito season and I would hate to see it in July! Out campsite was lovely, right on the lake and a wire was strung for us to hang our food pack from to keep it away from any bears.
We headed back into the forest to check out High Falls, dodging mosquitoes the entire way. The falls were lovely, there were pools of water to swim in (jumping in from the high rocks surrounding the pool).
And there were also rock waterslides to slide down from one pool to the other.
In the evening we cooked on my little Trangia stove (nice and quiet but not very fuel efficient) and ate really old Sidekicks dinner that I never should have packed. No more kitchen and bottles of wine with dinner like hiking in Switzerland! We carried diapers in and carried full diapers out, good thing we were only hiking for two days and one night.
During the night we listened to the loons as we crammed into my tiny two person backpacking tent. It's a nice light tent that's fine for two people but definitely too small for two adults and a baby. We survived the night though and it is time for me to consider another tent.... hopefully the next trips will be by canoe where we can carry heavier gear without much trouble.
The next day we hiked out and were out of the woods pretty quickly. We didn't see much wildlife on the entire trip but paused to take a photo at the beaver dam and lodge at the start of the trail.
After we finished the trail we weren't done hiking yet. Next up was a short 1.6km loop to look down over the Barron Canyon.
And what a look it was! When the glaciers were still covering the continent the water would flow south to the Mississppi. As the ice receded lower exit points were revealed and the water instead flowed out to the Atlantic. At one point the Barron Canyon was an exit and at the high point would have carried the water of 100 Niagara Falls', which dug out the canyon that we could see today.
We had fantastic weather the entire trip. We walked by a few lakes and camped on the shore of Stratton Lake. It was a good thing we were on the lake because the mosquitoes weren't that bad. In the forest they were annoying and sometimes you were always swatting away (although I got out with on a few bites). Apparently this is outside of mosquito season and I would hate to see it in July! Out campsite was lovely, right on the lake and a wire was strung for us to hang our food pack from to keep it away from any bears.
We headed back into the forest to check out High Falls, dodging mosquitoes the entire way. The falls were lovely, there were pools of water to swim in (jumping in from the high rocks surrounding the pool).
And there were also rock waterslides to slide down from one pool to the other.
During the night we listened to the loons as we crammed into my tiny two person backpacking tent. It's a nice light tent that's fine for two people but definitely too small for two adults and a baby. We survived the night though and it is time for me to consider another tent.... hopefully the next trips will be by canoe where we can carry heavier gear without much trouble.
The next day we hiked out and were out of the woods pretty quickly. We didn't see much wildlife on the entire trip but paused to take a photo at the beaver dam and lodge at the start of the trail.
After we finished the trail we weren't done hiking yet. Next up was a short 1.6km loop to look down over the Barron Canyon.
And what a look it was! When the glaciers were still covering the continent the water would flow south to the Mississppi. As the ice receded lower exit points were revealed and the water instead flowed out to the Atlantic. At one point the Barron Canyon was an exit and at the high point would have carried the water of 100 Niagara Falls', which dug out the canyon that we could see today.
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