Wasaga Beach and Kids

 

On the 12th of August, Leigh, Brooks, and grandson Everett came up to see us in Canada. They really enjoyed the freshwater beach at Wasaga the last time they were here. Actually Wasaga Beach calls itself "The longest freshwater beach in the world." The beach is really nice and you used to be able to drive your car along it, but now it's just for your body and the water.

 



We wanted them to be able to walk to the beach with Ev and really enjoy what it's like to live right on the beach. So we got them a cabin at the Georgian Inn right on the beach. Kinda looks cute from the outside but pretty basic and reminiscent of the 1950's on the inside ... but hey, turn around from the front door below and the scene above is right there.

Ninety percent of the time was spent just as you see it below and that was the idea ... let Ev enjoy building sand castles with his parents in the nice fresh water sand along Georgian Bay. The tongue in the pic below shows the concentration involved in major water and sand construction projects.

And the pure happy stuff to be found in the gentle waters just 100 yards from your front door. You could walk out 200 yards from the beach and still not get much more than waist deep so it was great for the young one.

We broke up the beach time for some timeless moments with great grandfather Bill Martin who is now 94 and living at the Waterford retirement residence in Barrie. It was great to get the four generations together with great-grandpa Bill, Jo-Anne, Leigh, and now Ev.

And we did spend a lot of time with Grandpa as he looked at old photos and described the people and places to Leigh and Jo-Anne. You cannot have enough time like this with the senior people in your life as their memories of those earlier times is so personal and will be lost in so few years.

If you look at the very first photo in this blog of Wasaga Beach, the Collingwood ski area is directly across the bay. One day we went up to the Alpine ski village there for lunch and some rides. I couldn't resist the work of art below which was a half-pound burger with bacon, onion rings, cheese, tomato, and a hundred other ingredients ... looks like enough for the whole table. eh.

As the younger ones elected to go on the downhill roller ride the oldsters took the ski lift up to the top of the hill to look at the view. Straight across the Georgian Bay from this view is Wasaga Beach where the kids were staying. The day was a coolish 65 but the view was spectacular of Collingwood below and ski village just below us.

And Jo-Anne celebrating the moment as we went down the ski lift ... enough said!!

The kids were here in Canada for the week, leaving on the 19th; wow it sure went fast but younger Ev had to be back for his first day in the first grade starting on the 21st ... growing up way too fast.

Mosaiculture 2

 

The growing displays in Gatineau were so stunning that I have to devote another blog to them .... culling from the 1000's of pictures we took that day.

 

But first here's a nice shot of our friends Lawrence and Sandy as we gathered outside the Lord Elgin for another day of hiking the fun streets of Ottawa and Gatineau.

 

Back in the Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau we savored more of the carved and manicured shrubbery. The polar bear representing the northern territories of Canada is walking along the tundra.

And a couple of goofy puffins; one with a load of fish for his friend.

 

What display in Canada would ignore the national sport. In all of these displays there were speakers with the sounds relating to each particular display; this one had the roar of the crowd as team Canada scores a goal.

Because of the large Chinese population on the west coast their heritage was reflected in this display.

Then the huge grand piano with the accompanying music and living piano chair was awesome.

 

The finale being Mother Earth holding many animals in her grasp with all of the representative forces of nature and the animal kingdom ... wow! You can grasp the size of these displays by the size of the fascinated tourists.

After the stroll through the gardens we settled into a nice wine bar on the Rideau Canal at the National Art Center. As we chatted, I decided to get the "wine toast of the day" as I have done in the past.

And then every photographer's worst nightmare. I concentrated hard on getting the yacht across the canal in focus and in having the wine at just the right angle. Perfect shot ... oooops. I didn't notice the streaker until I got home later and started to enlarge the pictures to see what might be blog material. No one at the table saw the guy either, but we all had a laugh later!

This city and the area around it will remain at the top of our worldly most favorite places.

Mosaiculture

 

This was a new term for us but ended up being one of the most fascinating living displays we have ever seen. On Friday we went with Sandy and Lawrence over to Gatineau the sister city with Ottawa to walk around this awesome landscaping event. There were 33 displays of larger than life things that represented each of the provinces for this special 150th anniversary year here in Canada.

 

We started with the train ... again this thing is covered with living material that is watered daily and the surrounding landscape represents the prairie provinces.

 

Then a 15 foot high floral sculpture of Anne of Green Gables from Prince Edward Island sitting on the trunk waiting for the train.

 

Jo-Anne and I in front of a larger than life floral Mounty.

 

The detail of each living item was mind boggling and these foxes were the cutest. Again, everything is alive and must be groomed and watered daily. 

 

Then a lobsterman from the east coast braving the heaving waves with whitecaps.

 

Then a poppy the symbol of Canada's loss of fighting men in WWI in Flanders Fields Belgium.

There was so much to absorb and look at throughout this display that the next post will show some more of the awesome sculptures.

But finally for today Lawrence shot the three goofball tourists ... more in a bit ... but time for wine!

Ottawa Bound

 

On the 2nd of August we hopped in the car and headed east on the Trans Canada Highway or Highway 7 toward Ottawa the capitol of Canada. We went to meet old friends Sandy and Lawrence who had never been to Ottawa before.

 

We booked into the Lord Elgin Hotel below which is just a block or so from Parliament Hill.



Our friends came in to the airport that night and talked about this neat city a bit over cheese and crackers. The next morning we headed off hiking and paused for the changing of the guard in front of the old and regal looking Parliament building. The weather was very grey and threatening and so some of the pics remained pretty dark.

We then booked the thing below. This is the Lady Dive and is an amphibious bus or in their lingo an amphibus. It holds about 50 people and we started the tour right near our hotel. The city part of the tour was neat but it wasn't until we went across the river into Gatineau in Quebec that it got really fun.

We just roared into the Ottawa River as seen in one of their ad pictures.

The water part of the trip let us see the entirety of Parliament Hill from the back side, something we had never been able to do easily.

After that we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral and it was spectacular having just undergone a recent total renovation. The neo-Gothic interior was breathtaking and the hundreds of statues, stained glass, marble pillars, and awesome ceiling were a real treat.

Walking back to the hotel from the Cathedral this huge electro-mechanical spider named Mama was at the National Gallery.

But then the real thing visited us on our seventh story window and I got to see how the camera would focus. Fortunately she was outside. There was a small note typed by the window saying "please don't open the windows as the mosquitoes might come in the room" ... Hah, no bugs would get by this thing, eh.

And finally on the street this one caught our attention and of course we had to divert this way rather than that way!

And that was just the first day of showing our friends around this really neat city ... more later ...