Dawn and Brad's Excellent Adventures

Prince Edward County

2008-01-27T16:46:00.000-08:00

Okay. New plan with the blog. Regular blogging is apparently a bit of a challenge. Maybe monthly is a little more realistic.

Missing our weekend and day trips in the UK, we are trying to discover more of Ontario. Our goal is to go away – at least a day trip – somewhere in Ontario (or nearby) - every month.

Fittingly though, I’m already behind.

In October, we went to stay in Wellington in Prince Edward County. We have friends who live there, so it was a good excuse to go and visit them, and to finally try some of the PEC wines.

We arrived Saturday early afternoon, dropped our things off at the B&B and spent the rest of the afternoon visiting wineries.

Here are some of the wineries we visited, where we tasted (and bought) some great wines.

Chadsey’s Cairns (loved their Gamay Noir)

Carmela Estates (nice blended red called "Conversation")

The Grange (found some great shortbread there!)

Huff EstatesWaupoos Estates

Sunday, we went for a walk on the beach and stopped in to visit our friends who live not far from the beach.

Curling and apples

2007-10-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this is basically for Philip who I think is the only person who still occasionally checks this to see if I've added anything new.

It's not quite as exciting as photos of weddings or honeymoons in Belize, but I'm being lazy about sorting through all of those photos.

So, here is this weekend...

On Saturday, we went into Toronto to attend a curling clinic with some friends from work. If you count the one time I tried curling as a girl guide, then this is my second time. For the amount of learning that stayed with me though from that first attempt, I'm really not sure it's worth counting.

It was harder - and more fun - than we'd both expected. There were a few falls (mostly me - that ice is slippery!) but by the end of three hours we were starting to get the hang of it thanks to our coaches. And afterwards (and during apparently), we sit around and drink beer in sweatpants!

On Sunday, we took advantage of fall weather and fall harvests and went apple picking with Amy. We came home with about 80 apples (and a pumpkin!) so lots of pies, crumbles, and well .. apples in our near future.

Whine and Cheese, and Wine and Cheese

2007-04-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

Here you go Phil - an update so you stop giving me a hard time.

I love Niagara Falls. Where else can you see an amazing natural wonder (in the snow in April .. hence the whine) and do Glow-in-the-Dark mini golf after eating at the Rainforest Cafe - a bit of cheesy good fun. We also went to the Niagara Imax - still the same one I saw on the Grade 7 trip to Niagara .. when the teacher puts her black cat in the barrel and it comes out white!

(And, I wonder how many people end up visiting the greenhouse just to get out the cold? It is always a good excuse for a visit -and always beautiful inside.)

Then, just 15 minutes down the road are wineries, more than 100 little B&Bs, huge houses and a pretty little town.

I really never get tired of seeing this sign - is it really that hard to notice the change in water level at Niagara Falls?

We stayed a nice B&B run by a Mennonite couple who fed us very well at breakfast!

We visited a few of the wineries (including some small ones we had not heard of before) and then went and did a wine tour at Jackson Triggs. By 1 p.m. Brad had tried about 16 different kinds of wine (including three ice wines!). The tour was pretty interesting and included more sampling.

After the tour, we had a wine and cheese plate (more sampling). They matched up three different kinds of cheeses with wine - including blue cheese with ice wine - I even ate the blue cheese. It was delicious!

OH - and surprised Dad with tickets to the Rocky Horror Show on Thursday night for an early birthday gift. Will have to post the pictures of him in the fishnets - sorry you missed it Phil (ha ha joking). It was great though - definitely worth seeing.

And more snow ...

2007-01-28T18:20:00.000-08:00

No jumping this weekend - had a hard enough time staying upright going down the hills (with turns at the bottom).

We went cross-country skiing just oustide Barrie with my parents. It was a little tiring, but great exercise and the weather was perfect. There was some wonderfully soft snow to break my fall when I didn't make the corner at the bottom of the hill .. luckily I missed the tree.

The Great White North (of Toronto)

2007-01-28T17:58:00.000-08:00

We finally have snow .. and to celebrate, Brad and I went for a wintery walk (and jump) in a nearby forest.

Brad is good at the jumping ... not so good at taking pictures of jumpers ...

There are a few more than this, but I won't bore you with all of the attempts.

No Home Depot, but I have a giraffe

2006-12-10T17:14:00.000-08:00

We thankfully have enough nosy friends at the moment who want to come and snoop around our new place that we didn't really have to go anywhere this weekend - and that includes Home Depot.

Dad, I hope you're not reading this, but a good weekend over the last few weeks has turned into one where we don't have to go to Home Depot or Home Hardware. Because I had a "good" weekend however, there is still a giraffe, two sheep and two bunnies painted on the wall of the "office".

J's new blog inspired me to write more without feeling the need to post pictures - although I only have a giraffe to talk about and not an extremely cute son.

Except I have promised to put some photos of our new house up here ..

And sadly, after all that going on about the giraffe, I don't have a photo of him. You can see the bunnies though.

We're moving ..

2006-11-13T11:11:00.000-08:00

I'm getting in trouble again for leaving such a long time between posts.

We are moving. Brad and I have bought a townhouse in Newmarket - 3 bedrooms, so as long as you can put up with the (temporary) Noah's ark motif on the walls, or a light blue/pale green combo, we will welcome guests.

It's very close to Brad's school and only a few minutes from the train station for me. We will post pictures as soon as we have them.

Playing VIP

2006-09-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

We went up to Ottawa again for a bit of a reunion for Brad with the lacrosse boys and a reunion with our old neighbours - "the men at ten".

It's always nice to go up to Ottawa and see the girls. I'm not sure I can say much that Courtney's blog doesn't already say - but the "chicks are six" are all like family to me.

We met up with our friend Pat on Friday - and went to the Honest Lawyer for drinks a little Buck Hunter for Brad.

Saturday, I went wedding dress shopping with the girls - so much fun!

We went and watched the alumni lacrosse game, listening to all those poor old men whining about their hips after the game - that was something new.

Jess, Courtney and I had a wonderful evening:
Dinner at Jessica's (always delicious), martinis at social, poutine, and then just when our energy was fading, we were invited over to The Drink. Brad insisted it would be worth it, and was it ever!

We were ushered through the VIP line, and into the VIP booth where a friend of Brad's had a personal wet bar with Grey Goose vodka waiting for us. But, that wasn't what we had to drink.

The girls were offered champagne, and Courtney was asked if we prefer Dom Perignon or Cristal!! No Cristal, so Dom Perignon it was.

Courtney and I are obviously inexperience and had some trouble opening the bottle!

And, we didn't just have one!

We had two.

Spent Sunday morning with Jessica and one of the cutest little boys I know!

Hanging out with the girls!

Sipping some Dom!

Vancouver Island

2006-08-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

We were very fortunate when we went to visit Vancouver Island. One of our friends, Andy (Brad's roommate from university), is from Victoria. His parents still live out there and invited us to stay with them, so we ended up with a great tour (and BBQ!). The ferry takes about a scenic hour and a half. We took it into Victoria (well, just outside) and then took it back from Nanaimo, just north of Victoria - basically so we could eat a Nanaimo bar in Nanaimo (yes, we're a bit cheese like that - and were genuinely surprise to find that no one else seemed to be doing the same).

Below: Vancouver Island from the ferry

Below: More totem poles - in Thunderbird Park in VictoriaBelow: The B.C. Parliament buildings (complete with statue of Queen Victoria)
Below: Another B.C. bear
Below: The inner harbour in Victoria - and some funny little boats. My favourite though had to be the "Prince of Whales" boat. Yikes!
Below: The sea planes coming into the harbour

Below: This is from a viewpoint somewhere in the city. Our friend's parents took us to this spot. You can also see the snow-capped Olympic Mountains in Washington state from here.

Below: Brad and I loved this! Apparently, this is what a Canadian castle looks like, built by a Scotsman. They even had Blackpool rock on sale in the gift shop! Below: More beautiful views. This was taken on the drive to Nanimo. Poor Brad and all the rest stops he has to pull into so I can take a picture. I bribed him with ice-cream on this one though!

Below: We stopped at a cultural centre run by the Cowachin peoples and watched a great dance ceremony, and had a walk around the art centre, garden, more totems and some of hte other buildings.

Outdoor fun in B.C.

2006-08-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

We definitely had a glimpse of B.C. life while we were out there - having almond milk on our organic cereal, eating organic rice chips, and some wild B.C. salmon, but Caroline also made sure we had a taste of B.C.'s outdoor life.

In one day, we managed to hike Grouse Grind (which is definitely not as easy as I'd anticipated), go canoeing, and then take the dog for a walk (hey, there's a lot of hills in their neighbourhood).

GROUSE GRIND

As Caroline put it before we started, it's like the stairmaster from hell - and it definitely felt like going an hour and a half on the stairmaster on hard! But, it was definitely worth it when we got to the top!

Below: I think we were maybe 3/4 of the way up at this point. They kindly let you know how far along you are. The first 1/4 is definitely a little depressing though.

Below: Enjoying a well-deserved beer! The nachos weren't long to follow!

Below: The view from the gondola on the way back down. Had to take this photo for Brad who was busy staring at the back of the gondola and trying NOT to look at the view poor guy (not a fan of heights).

And if that wasn't enough ...

DEEP COVE

Here we are canoeing in a place called Deep Cove in North Vancouver- another beautiful spot. While we were canoeing around an island called Jug Island, we saw a deer and spotted some wild seals. We also canoed along the coast to check out some of the beautiful homes along the lake ... just in case that lottery win ever comes in!

In Vancouver

2006-08-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

We spent a few days in Vancouver, walking around and being shown around by our friend Caroline (one of Dawn's roommates in university) who lives in Vancouver. I've tried not to overload, but here are a few of the photos from in and around Vancouver.

Below: Totem poles in Stanley Park

Below: Vancouver skyline

Below: Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Gardens in Vancouver's China TownBelow: Our sampler of Granville Island beers in the brewery in Granville Island Market (Great place! We also went to see an improv show here one night).

Below: With one of the B.C. Bears

Below: I won't inundate you with pictures from the Vancouver Aquarium, but this one is too cute to miss. The otters were floating and sleeping - while holding hands! The beluga whales were also one of my faves - all white and absolutely huge and blubbery.

Below: Brad at one of the beaches in the city

Whistler and the Sea to Sky Highway

2006-08-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

After hiking down the Chief in Squamish (post engagement), we headed to Whistler for lunch. I think it would be great to see in the winter full of skiiers, although it was packed with mountain bikers for a festival while we were there. We did manage to see a biking show though and a few stunts (no back flips though).

Unfortunately, it was a bit misty so we didn't get a great view of the mountains in Whistler, but managed some good ones later driving back to Vancouver along the Sea to Sky highway.

Above: A few of the ski hills in Whistler (underneath the mist)

Above: A river running through the Whistler Village

Above and Below: Views from along the Sea to Sky highway

3 flights, 4 boarding cards and 15 hours later

2006-08-06T16:43:00.000-07:00

4 a.m. (Toronto time) - we head to the airport to catch our 6:30 a.m. flight to Winnipeg

6 a.m. (Tor) - we find out that our 6:30 flight is now leaving at 7:10 from a gate down the other end of the airport, so we begin our trek.

7:30 a.m. (Tor) - flight to Winnipeg finally gets on its way

9:15 a.m. (Winnipeg time, 10:15 a.m. Toronto time) - we arrive in Winnipeg airport, having missed our 9:05 flight to Vancouver. We are handed 2 new boarding passes. We are now flying via Calgary.

9: 35 a.m. (Winnipeg) - begin boarding the flight to Calgary

11:15 a.m. (Calgary time, 12:15 a.m. Winnipeg), we arrive in Calgary to the news that an amber alert in the airport has delayed some flights so we are okay to catch our connection to Vancouver.

noon (Calgary) - we board the Vancouver flight, which surprise surprise is late to board.

1 p.m. (Vancouver time, 2 p.m. Calgary), we finally arrive in Vancouver, pick up the car and head out to Squamish.

4 p.m. - we finally arrive in Squamish after battling the VAncouver traffic. The drive was well worth it though. It was absolutely beautiful, and although Squamish is a bit of a small funny town, with a mix of hikers and drunks, it was aboslutely beautiful.

Above: A tired Brad collapses on the bed at the hostel, but we had a great view of the Chief.

Above: This is the hostel - the Inn on the Lake - in Squamish.

Above: Dawn in Squamish

Some unsurprising news ..

2006-08-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

I don't think we really surprised anyone with the news, but Brad and I got engaged while on holiday in British Columbia. He really made me work for it though. I wish we could say that the sweat and red face was due to nerves, and my week knees to emotion, but after an hour-long uphill hike, I think it was more exertion than anything else.

We had gone to bed early the night before after a VERY long day flying out to Vancouver (details on that later), and so were up really early to hike the Stawamus Chief (pictured below).

I wish we could tell you that we made it all the way to the top, but we didn't even make the first peak as we wanted to go back and phone everyone and had to check out of the hostel we stayed in, but even going just up to the first rest stop was absolutely beautiful and definitely a great hike.

Happy Canada Day!

2006-07-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

Our first Canada Day back in Canada in three years. We definitely missed the party in Covent Garden, and nostaligically looked back at the very chilly Canada Day we spent last year on the Orkney Islands with Phil and Megan, but ended up having a very "Canadian" Canada Day on Manitoulin Island with some friends.

Todd's family have a plot of land on Manitoulin Island, a few hours outside Sudbury. I think Brad was a little suspect when Todd turned off down a "driveway" that looked more like an overgrown field towards the site. We tried not to pay attention to the large wolf spiders wandering around in the long grass as we put up our tent, but it was otherwise a very nice, peaceful wooded site.

The whole weekend was great though - complete with all the criteria for a Canadian long weekend - barbecue, cold beer, smores by the campfire, hikes, sunburn, and swimming in the lake.

We visited some of the small towns on the islands including Kagawong, Mindemoya and Gore Bay. There is a large native population on the island, and lots of native arts and crafts stores.

Brad and I camped in "Batman's" campsite the first night waiting for Todd and Shannon to arrive and woke up in the morning to discover that the campsite was hosting a yard sale. It was definitely different to see yard sales outside trailers and tents instead of houses, but good fun!

Here's just a few photos of some spots around the island, and one of Todd determined to find a crayfish to frighten Shannon with it!

Todd hunting for crayfish in the river.

Shannon and Dawn crawling beneath the tree branch on a short hike.

The beach where we spent the afternoon swimming and suntanning.

It may be a little hard to pick out, but there is an Inukshuk in this picture. It is a stone structure built by the first nations people in the form of a person. They can be used to indicate direction, or as a symbol of leadership, friendship, and our dependence upon each other.

A few more photos from our sunset drive.

June - Boating weather!

2006-07-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

My great-great (yup, count 'em - two greats!) auntie Marjorie from Scotland has been over in Ottawa visiting her family. She and her daughter came down to stay with us for a few days - and timed it very well with the weather.

We spent a wonderfully hot day on mum and dad's boat up on Georgian Bay enjoying the sunshine.

We took the boat over to Beausoleil Island, a provincial park and spent the rest of the day picnicing, going for a short hike on the island and swimming in the lake.

We also found this very fascinating plant, apparently called Indian Pipe Weed (interesting name!). The plant has several short segments that slot back together again after being pulled apart. We decided that it must be a very useful plant, but didn't really come up with much other than using it as a breathing tube when swimming underwater - spy-style, or maybe building a very flimsy shelter. If anyone has any better ideas, we'd be happy to hear them!

May - Happy Birthday Brad

2006-07-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

For Brad's birthday, we spent the day in Toronto - sort of playing tourist ... in the rain. It's like we never left Scotland.

We went on a boat tour around Toronto Harbour and islands. It's amazing the little facts you learn. Apparently one of Babe Ruth's first homerun baseballs lies at the bottom of Lake Ontario (or did - probably not much left of it now) after he hit one from a baseball diamond on one of the islands.

We also went past:

- a lighthouse supposedly haunted by its former moonshine-brewing keeper

- and some very brave fishermen!

A nice (foggy) view of the city on the return trip. We did have to correct the tour guide though when he told us there were two national teams that played out of the Air Canada Centre - the Maple Leafs and the Raptors - poor Toronto Rock forgotten. Brad didn't let that one slide!

After the tour, I took Brad to see the Lord of the Rings musical - all 3 hours and a bit of it. It was well worth it though - very visual with fun costumes, great dancing, and lots of special effects.

We went for dinner at a place called Cafe Moroc for some amazing food - especially the Maftoul (cigar-shaped pastry stuffed with spicy beef - and a few other things), and a belly dancing show.

May

2006-07-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

We spent the long weekend in May in Ottawa - visiting friends and the Tulip Festival (in the rain!).

We discovered a very bizarre vodka in the Quebec liquor store - named Pulse for the flashing pulsing light the light on the bottom of the bottle made when you slam it on the table.

The Rideau Canal in Ottawa

And here we are beside it.

... before going to watch a VERY slow moving flotilla down the canal. We didn't even stick around for the firemen!

This was a definite fave though - the swerving G8 boat carrying 8 very entertaining stereotypes!

April

2006-06-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

We finally got around to getting a blog ... after months of procastinating, which means catching up a little bit.

We went to Boston for the Easter weekend, driving down in Brad's mom's Mustang, and staying in a place called Danvers, just outside Salem, not too far from Boston.

Our hotel had a beautiful view over the highway as you can see.

SALEM

We went into Salem the first afternoon, going around one of the tacky witch museums that talks a little bit about the history of the witch trials in Salem - started by a group of young girls who were either influenced by a voodoo preaching servant, bored, or eating some grain that had gone off (among the theories).

There is a nice little memorial garden for the men and women who were hung for witchcraft.

We also went to see the House of the Seven Gables, which surprisingly enough, has seven gables. It is the house that Nathaniel Hawthorne based his book upon.

And found the "Bunghole Liquor Store" .. that's what it was called!

BOSTON

We spent a full day in Boston, and walked the Freedom Trail, seeing Paul Revere's house, Old North Church, Boston harbour, Bunker Hill, Old Ironsides, Boston Common, Harvard ... lots to see!

Here's a few pics:

Old City Hall:

Paul Revere:

Boston Harbour:
Brad at Harvard:
Being a nice long weekend, we also had time to visit a few of the smaller fishing towns in the area, and to spend a day driving around Cape Cod.

GLOUCESTER

This is the town where the actual events that inspired the film The Perfect Storm occured. There is a small memorial along the ocean listing the names of thousands of fisherman from this town who have died while at sea.

PLYMOUTH

We stopped in Plymouth for Clam Chowder and a glimpse at the replica Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. I would put a picture of the rock in, but as our waitress put it, it is just a rock and it just sits there.

Just a few more photos from around Cape Cod and a little village called Manchester-by-the-Sea.

One of the beaches in Cape Cod (left)

Manchester-by-the-Sea (below)