Doin' The Slopes

 

On the 19th we headed over to the Blue Mountains ski area above Collingwood; nice 75 degree sunny day for a drive. You can see the Alpine Village in the background, so after parking and walking through the village we hopped the gondola for a lift to the top. In the summer the slopes are a favorite for the mountain bike set as they get a lift to the top and then careen down the hills at 50 MPH!

 

The village is about 700 feet above sea level and 200 feet above Georgian Bay in the background and here's Jo and brother Rick at the top at about 1500 feet. Kind of a hazy day but still cool and nice.

At the top you can walk or ride down the slopes or first, enjoy a Segway tour along the ridge for several miles. There's also a little food stand. We spent about a half hour walking along the trails and looking out over the valley, bay, and village below.

Back in the gondola we headed down to the village area with its large lagoon and paddle boats.

Having worked up a hunger with all that activity we stopped into the Copper Blues Bar and Grill on the main plaza. All the windows were open and a country band was just warming up for their afternoon set. Here's Rick admiring his Copper Burger with bacon, cheese and an awesome onion ring on top. Jo and I had their Smoked Turkey and Brie on a croissant with pears and all with sweet potato fries.

After lunch the band started their set and sent us off to "Boot Scootin' Boogey" Rick looks like he is trying to pretend he doesn't know the female dancer behind him ... nutty sister, eh.

 

Nice little drive on a really pleasant Sunday afternoon with great views, food, and music.

Weber's

 

On Highway 11 that runs from Barrie up to the Muskoka region there is an iconic burger joint that has been there for many years. We've gone by many times and finally decided to take the plunge and see what the lines were all about. In this picture you can see the close proximity to the four lane highway to the right. The restaurant is on the east side of the highway and easily accessible as you head north. 

 



If you are heading south, you just park on the west side of the road and walk over the bridge shown here below ... and join several hundred other hungry folks. The walking bridge is the only privately owned bridge in Ontario that spans an Interstate sized highway ... pretty awesome. It was acquired from its original location servicing the CN Tower in Toronto.

Apparently, when the bridge needed repair and painting recently, the owner of Weber's had to pay the province about $250,000 divert the traffic for two days. We actually parked on the southbound side and walked over the bridge to get to the line. This is one of two equal lines that go into the food order and dispensing area.

After a half hour in line we ordered our burgers. This is a very basic place with cheap burgers, hot dogs and fries ... not much else ... but for $10 CDN you can have a good double cheeseburger, fries and a drink; as a result they churn out tens of thousands of burgers on the weekend.

They even have their own meat processing plant on the property. Once you get your meal you take it either to large outside eating areas with tables or to one of the several train cars. It was a hot day so we elected the air conditioned Pullman shown below.

You use the original car washrooms and eat in the dining cars ... even has an ATM machine in the place because all purchases are cash only.

This is really an Ontario thing you need to do once and see what true ingenious entrepreneurship involves. In spite of the line and the assembly line process it was actually a very good burger and fries meal!

B & J Moving Co.

(again)

 

On the 2nd of August a room became open for Jo's dad to move in the more assisted living section of the Waterford Retirement Residence in Barrie. We've been hoping for this for at least a year as Bill is requiring a bit more care all the time than he could get in the independent apartment he had.

 

The picture below is at about 2pm as we were awaiting the moving dudes to come help us ... no, not doing this one ourselves, except for the boxes you see here ... and we had our faithful Barney wagon that got so much use at our new place in Flower Mound.

 

True to their word the guys from Barrie Moving Company arrived and had Dad in place by about 4pm for about $200.

The shot above of Bill was from the next day in his new digs after we got the pictures up and the piano hooked up, upon which he played us a tune. The room is a bit smaller but with a larger porch; the real benefit is now he can eat on the same floor and there is 24/7 assistance available if he needs it.