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Highlighting my adventures in Canada. I live in Ontario, so most sites will be within the province, but hoping to eventually travel to other provinces to grab up some cool pics and great memories.

My body and lifestyle aren't exactly built for adventuring. I'm the girl who wound up in a wheelchair with a broken knee I couldn't walk on for almost two years from falling in a city park. A move like that takes an expert level of clumsiness to achieve. Add to the mix some other health issues (see about me section), having to take my dog with me everywhere I go, and what we have here is a recipe for potential disaster. Regardless, Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained.

I would love to hear of your adventures as well! Please leave a comment about your travels, or suggestions of places we should check out.

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Our Adventure to Gardenhill (Ontario)



Our Day in Gardenhill Ontario

Gardenhill Ontario is an-almost-too-small-to-be-called-a-town sort of place.  On a Spring day, when the temperate everywhere else around Cobourg was in the double-digits, except Cobourg itself, it was time to venture out to a space with better heating, so we were Gardenhill-bound.

We loaded ourselves into the car, tunes at the ready and headed towards that lovely little place called Gardenhill. I lived in Gardenhill during my high school years, and my parents often referred to it as heaven on earth. 

Gardenhill doesn’t boast much.  It has a general store, and a fruit stand for commerce.  I remember getting the tastiest strawberries in the world from that stand, freshly picked and still tasting of sunshine. 

Attached to the firehall is a small library that I volunteered at in my youth.  Behind that dual building is one of the more popular baseball diamonds in Northumberland Region.  But that’s not why we go to Gardenhill.  We go to Gardenhill for the clean air, open spaces, the ponds and the lookout.

The weekend of March 12th was no different.  Tunes and car-singing and car-dancing abounded on our drive to the Gardenhill pond.  The gates were closed for vehicular entrance, so
Spring springing
we parked at the gates and walked to the back area lugging our gear.  On the way to our destined clearing we stopped to take pictures of the changing season, the ice almost melted, the greenery almost budding… we were engulfed in the perfect in-between; a bridge linking winter to spring.

Little did we know that this was just a temporary reprise from the
harshness of winter’s bite.  Within a week it was back to snow and ice and sub-zero temperatures.  But our ignorance was bliss on this day, we soaked in that spring air and sunshine believing wholeheartedly that this was the beginning of the adventures part of our year.

 


Back in our clearing we played with Dave’s drone til the battery died.  Trixie hated it. She barked at that poor little thing like it was a hell-sent demon come to slaughter us all. 
 
When the battery died, we brought out the Frisbee and the boys tossed it back and forth like champs.

On our way back out of the park area, the boys noticed a downed tree over “a lake”.  I didn’t have the heart to tell them it was just a puddle that was frozen.  Regardless, they saw it as an adventure and decided it was set there to re-enact their own Goonies adventure.  They climbed onto the limb and shimmied across convinced that certain death awaited them should they fall. 
Strike a pose




That’s the thing about road-trip adventures, you don’t actually need amusement parks or grand locations, just nature, a great imagination and an adventurous heart can make memories that will last a lifetime.

We couldn’t leave the pond without heading to Richie’s lookout.  We climbed up to the platform and took in the view as the sun set over the trees.

As I look out my window today, I see the sun shining and the road calling for new discoveries or to recapture old haunts in new ways.

Thanks Dave, Darien, Cameron, Miles and Trixie for making this day all it could be.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Spring has Sprung in Cobourg (maybe)



Spring has Sprung in Cobourg (maybe)

Woot Woot for double digits! (Celsius temperature that is). Hibernation appears to be coming to an end for this Canadian, as the much anticipated “Double Digits” has finally hit (for two days straight; not just a random warm day in the middle of an otherwise so-cold-your-nose-turns-blue week).  Birds are singing, buds are popping out on trees (will get to more detail on that later), and the sweet smell of spring is in the air.  Dave says it smells like mud, I smell the distinct scent of road trip in the air.

In my mind, the season has begun.  Searching for waterfalls, road trips, chip trucks, road trips, lazy days at the rivers, road trips, geocaching (which is just a good excuse for a road trip), roadside fruit stands and bakery booths, oh and… ROAD TRIPS! Now am I jumping in a little early? Maybe… Am I totally jinxing the good weather? Most likely… I simply can’t help but be completely stoked for the coming season.  Regardless, I plan on staying delusional about the good weather sticking around ‘til next winter.

To commemorate this shift in seasonal blossoming, we took our first nightly walk of the year.  Trixie was stoked. It was a little cool, and we had to bundle up, but the air was clean and… moist.  So moist, in fact, that Trixie poofed up to twice her size of fluffiness by the time we got home.

Dave and I have this tradition we’ve stumbled upon over the years to track the seasons while we walk.  (Winter is a no-go, so we only track three of the seasons).  We follow pretty much the same path most nights.  You see, there is this house… the front yard has no lawn, it’s all gardens and trees that have specific blooms for each season.  It delivers a variety of colors, scents and blossoms throughout the year.  Every time we pass by we absorb and relish in the changes.  Last night was no different, except we figured there wouldn’t be much to see.  We were mistaken.

As we approached the wrought iron fence I said, “Guess there won’t be much to see yet”.  He replied, “Not yet, but soon”.  I looked up at the first tree and longingly observed, “The buds will be the first to show”.  He gasped first, (he’s taller by a foot, therefore closer to the tree branches, and his sight is better than mine, so he got the first glimpse… not that I’m bitter or anything :P ).  My gasp was quick to follow I assure you. There on the first tree were big green buds! Ecstasy, loud squeally happy sounds (mostly coming from me) and bouncing and clapping ensued.  Spring has Sprung!

Trixie was not at all interested or concerned about our discovery; her attention was focused on the plastic bag that was floating around.  To each their own, I say.


Spring Road Trippin' (taken in Spring 2015)