Appreciating the Artwork of Local Artists & Brewery in Creemore, Ontario

Quaint, artistic and unhurried, Creemore is one our favourite small towns in southern Ontario.

It is a small town of around 1200 people ( census 2016), about a twenty minute drive from Collingwood.

>Creemore used to be a small village but urbanites started coming in, buying houses and starting business and shops in the village's main street.

Now, the Creemore business area is vibrant with nice cafes, pastry shops, funky furniture and clothing stores lining both sides of the downtown street area.

For a small town, there are quite a few galleries displaying art work pieces created by their own local artisits. In one of the galleries, we met the artist in residence and was able to ask questions about his artowrk.

I loved the colourful little shops doting the main business street.

Everywhere we turned, we saw nice cute displays of various things. For instance, a book shelf with displays cleverly hung from a book store window. Teddy bears sliding down on a corner shelf in another shop.

We saw paintings in a convenient store, a book store and the displays in clothing stores were displayed with artisitic flavour

Besides the many interesting shops, Creemore has another famous interesting attraction - the Creemore Springs Brewery which produces it very own brews.

Creemore Springs Brewery used to offer tours of its plant and samples of their brewery.

Due to COVID, there was no tour but visitors to the brewery could order samples of drinks and refreshments and enjoy them on the patio.

That was what we did. Enjoying the nice fall weather, with friends and loved one. We raised our glasses to thank God, grateful for good health and peaceful days.

R.T. Creemore Ontario

Enjoying Hiking and Some Downtime in Collingwood, Ontario

After F. and her kids spent a weekend with us, they left the resort and drove home late Sunday afternoon. We spend a quiet evening just the two of us, enjoying some peace and quiet after a busy time spent with two energetic kids.

The following day we drove back to Toronto for S.'s medical appointment and also picked up our next guest - Rev. S.at round 6pm. It was a pleasant drive back to our resort; we were back and finished our dinner by 9 p.m.

The next day, after breakfast we spent some time walking the trails leading us all the way from our resort to downtown Collingwood. It was an enjoyable walk on a beautiful fall day!

However, we had a hard time finding a restaurant in downtown Collingwood where we could enjoy an indoor lunch. Eventually, we odered some burgers and sweet potates fries and enjoyed them on the patio of A and W under the watchful eyes of a few seagulls eagerly waiting for our crumbs.

On our way back, we dropped by a couple of reuse stores and discovered some good buys! We were happy that we got a few items at some bargain prices!

Rev. S. served in our church for many years and has recently retired. A giving and dedicated minister, she has been busy helping and looking after other people. We hope she would enjoy some down time and can relax a bit in the next few days!

After dinner, we visited the Sunset Point Park trying to catch the famous sunset scene in this lovely park. Capturing the exceptional background of this park, Rev. S. snapped a beautiful picture of me and my hubby!

R.T. Collingwood Ontario

Fun on Wasaga Beach - the World's Longest Freshwater Beach in late Summer of 2021

When F. and her kids were with us for the weekend during our week long vacation we tried to do as many things as possible with them. The kids were very active so they made use of the trails, complimentary bikes provided by the reosrt as well as free mini golf and swimming in the indoor and outdoor pool.

On the last day of their visit, we took them to visit Wasaga Beach, about 20 minutes drive from Blue Mountains, Ontario.

Wasaga Beach is a favourite summer destination for tourists in southern Ontario.

A very popular destination especially for young people.

Located on Georgian Bay, Wasaga Beach is the world's longest freshwater sandy beach at 14 km in length. It is ( Area ! and 2) is a Blue Flag Beach for the 2021 season.

The warm, shallow water makes it the ideal place for swimmers of all ages. Sand castle building is a favourite family activity and for our little ones.

Other watersports are also available for those who are more adventurous!

We found a spot in the shade.

We spread out our table cloth, enjoyed some snack and watched the kids catching fish on the shallow part of the beach.

We have been coming here for many years. Always have a great time here at Wasaga Beach, Ontario! R.T., Wasaga Beach, Ontario

Enjoying Friends and Gatherings in Blue Mountains, Canada - A Return to a Semi Normal Life on Our Vacation in Ontario

After more than eighteen months being isolated from our friends and having more than 75% of our population vaccinated, Canadians are beginning to gather with friends again. We took advantage of our vacation this year and invited a few guests to our resort in Blue Mountains, Ontario.

Since we had a spacious two bedroom condo, we invited F. and her kids to spend a weekend with us.

We drove up on Friday afternoon, while F. and her kids came after school. I had dinner prepared for them and got ready for the next day.

Though a lot of our stores and business are open, COVID19 still has its impact in Canada. Most Ontarians are good at following the health guidelines such as masking and keepng social distance. We were happy to find that many of the resort facilites were open. While we slept in, F. and the kids went biking on one of the many trails.

After lunch, we took them to tour part of Collingwood and visited the Blue Mountains, a popular skiing destination in southern Ontario. When we first came here to ski with our young children, Blue Mountain was mainly a winter holiday spot. Over the years, it has been developed and now is a four season playground for many out of towners.

At the Blue Mountains, besides many eateries offering food and drinks to visitors, chairlifts were operating taking patrons to the top of the ski hills for a birds' eyeview of the region. Other activities that were open included: rock climbing, mini golf, other entertainments for mostly younger crowds.

However, B. was a little too young for some of these activites.

Fortunately, there was a children's park and a couple of free activites for kids. As long as children could run, climb and jump freely, they were happy entertaining themselves and making new friends!

They also went swimming afterwards. It was a fun day for them!

R.T. Blue Mountains Ontario

A Fishway in Thornbury, Ontario - Helping Chinook Salmon & Rainbow Trout to Spawn

We were vacationing in Blue Mountains.

we invited a few friends to come along with us.

One of the places we took our friends to visit was Thornbury, a small town about a 20 minute drive from our resort.

One of our favourite seafood food in Canada is salmon which is found in abundance along the Canadian coast and many lakes in Ontario. There is an unique phenomenon about salmon which choose to return to their birthplaces to lay their eggs.

After the eggs are hatched and grow to a certain size, the salmon will leave their spawning site and swim to bigger rivers and evenutally end up along the coasts.

Strangely enough, no matter how far the salmon have left their orignal birth places, they have been geneticlly imprinted and will try their ulmost to return there to spawn. The fall season is the time when the salmon's mass migration and spawning occur. Along certain rivers, we can often see schools of mature salmon swimming upstream or even flying to incredible height in order to get to their birthplaces.

However, in some towns or cities, dams have been built which have made swimming upstream quite difficult for fish or even impossible for them to reach their intended locations.

Here comes the resuce of a fishway. Managed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, a fishway is designed to assist local fish swiming upstream to spawn. A fishway differs from a fish ladder as a fishway is designed to mimic the natural landscape and environment. Thornbury is one of these towns where we can watch the salmon swimming upstream to the fishway ( known as a fish ladder to the locals) this time of the year. On the day of our visit, we did see many salmon doing just that that.

For our friends who have never seen this natural awesome phenonmenon, it was quite an eye opening event for them! Rev. Sue just loved the experience!

R.T. Thornbury, Ontario

Wiarton, Ontario - Home of the Wiarton Willie Who Foretells the Arrival of Spring

We spent the last few dyas in beautiful Tobermory, revisiting the famous Flower Pot Island and explored the Grotto which we had missed thirty five years ago while visiting the Bruce Peninsula for the first time.

We were glad that we saw it this time!

After our visit to the Grotto, we started our drive home to Toronto. We never drive straight from one destination to the next when we are on a car trip. We always take detours and stop by to see the samll towns and hamlets in between.

This time we stoppedd in Wiarton. A small town of about 2,300 inhabitants, located on the Bruace Peninsula between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. We hear about Wiarton every year on the news at the beginning of February. After having been holed up in our homes for the entire winter, Canadians are dying to know when spring will arrive so that we can get out of our caves and come out of habination to play.

Spring arrives sometimes early and sometimes later. How do we know when the warmer days will arrive? Canadians all turn to Wiarton Willie eagerly anticipating what this little guy will tell us each year on February 2.

People from far and wide will travel to Wiarton and a big crowd will gather to watch and celebrate the announcement of spring arrival in Canada on February 2 by none other than - Wiarton Willie! In fact, a famous Hollywood movie, Groundhog Day, featured Bill Murray, was made based on Wiarton Willie!

Wiraton Willie is an albino groundhog.Since 1957, he has been coming out of his underground cave on GroundHog Day - February 2, each year to give us his predictions for the arrival of spring in the forthcoming year. For the past seven decades, this has been how Wiraton Willie shares his prediction:

If he comes out and sees his shadow - spring will be here very very soon! Everyone will celebrate! If he comes out and doesn't see his shadow, it will be a delayed spring, which means Canadians will have to wait for another six to eight weeks or so.

Not only is Wiarton Willie's spring arrival prediction a national news item in Canada and we all sit up straight and pay attention to him; this prediction is also broadcasted globally for all to know!

We were glad that we paid tribute to Wiarton Willie, stopped and visited his home town - Wiarton on this trip!

Another thing we have discovered about Wiarton is that it is a welcoming little town for kids with special needs, particularly kids with autism.

This has been made evident by the huge sign posted in austism friendly language in its beautiful waterfront park.

The Bluewater Park, Wiarton Willie's year round home in Ontario, Canada! R.T. Wiarton, Ontario, Canada