Damaris

After leaving the 16-lane madness of Highway 401 and a short ride on the 410 w...

Late spring may be the great time for a driving tour, so yesterday my co-workers Vanessa, Khurram and I trigger to check out the countryside around Toronto. Neither one of my co-explorers has lived in Canada for extended, so that they havent actually had to be able to discover places beyond your Big Smoke. Which means this was their first opportunity to venture forth into our big city that is surrounded by the hinterland.

After leaving the 16-lane frenzy of Highway 401 and a quick ride on the 410 we went in to Ontarios country north of Brampton. The landscape started to start - facilities, fields and forest started to seem. The serene rolling hills north of Ontarios capital have a subtle beauty to them and I began hearing comments like this is like a book, this could be a great spot for spending a weekend etc. The landscape around Hockley Valley and the hilly moraines further north offer quite breath-taking views over Ontario farm country.

Our first halt was in the village of Creemore, just a little village saved in the Mad River Valley, surrounded by the Purple Hills. The villages history goes back more than a century, actually supplying Toronto with necessary timber and later supplying hogs. One of many main attractions today is the Creemore Springs Brewery, an extremely popular Ontario micro-brewery. After having a regional breakfast with tea and scones the street was crossed by us to see the brewery, and we still had fun studying the brewing process, combining trips, barley and various other ingredients, despite the fact that two of us aren't beer-drinkers. We admired the big brewing pots, two made of metal and one made of copper. Creemore Springs makes reasonably limited lager and during the cold weather season the brew pros also produce an UrBock model for the festive season.

With our knowledge of beer accordingly enhanced we continued on with our state travel, gradually approaching the Niagara Escarpment place, Southern Ontarios best geological feature. We stopped in the small hamlet of Glen Huron (populace 51) where we admired the ancient feed routine of the Hamilton Brothers, dating back all the way to 1874. Just a few steps away was an attractive water wheel (cheekily fed by a water hose in the place of a genuine river...).

On a hilly region just south of Collingwood we stopped to enjoy the sweeping view that stretched all the way to Georgian Bay and then we continued into the Town of Collingwood, a location that's really gain popularity over the last few years. Collingwood, its nearby Blue Mountains Ski Hill, Ontarios largest ski resort, and its location on Georgian Bay make it a four-season recreational destination. Recently, the facilities have now been enhanced and a complete European-style village awaits at the base of the ski slope. Downtown Collingwood itself features more than 300 stores and restaurants, waiting to offer discerning travelers.

Our day was small with an amount of 14 km the worlds best freshwater beach, so we continued our travel eastwards towards Wasaga Beach. Bordering this white sandy beach are many kilometers of snowmobiling, biking, cross-country and hiking trails. Furthermore, Wasaga Beach can also be a favourite destination of beach volleyball players. We got out from the car, and (it could not have been over 12 degrees Celsius) a warm wind-proof jacket was definitely needed by you on this breezy blustery day. I admired the para-sailers, daredevils who braved the cool waves of Georgian Bay.

The highlight of our day was yet to come: after having a veritable traffic jam in the town of Barrie, we squeaked to the Town of Orillia just with time to produce it onto the Island Princess, Orillias famous double-decked river-style cruise vessel, effective at keeping 230 passengers. On this cool and increasingly rainy-looking time there were only about a dozen of us, but we liked the narrated trip around Lake Couchiching. Lake-front living is common, and we found out that many of the houses across the lake now sell for C$750,000 and up.

After our hour-long exploration by boat we disembarked and continued a soothing walk through the parklands right next to the shores of Lake Couchiching. An imposing monument to Samuel de Champlain graces the waterfront parks. A few small children were actually swimming in the cold lake waters, indicating again that Canadians do indeed have anti-freeze going through their veins.

Our brief waterfront walk was followed closely by a stop for ice-cream in just one of the lakefront sales trailers. Close by and right across from the Island Princess pier is still another Orillia attraction: the Ossawippi Express, a fish restaurant offering several fully-restored, turn-of-the-century railway cars dating back to to 1896 having an outdoor patio overlooking Orillia's Lake Couchiching. We had a sneak peek as of this special dining strategy and all agreed that the Ossawippi Express would be the ideal restaurant for a special function.

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Off we were back in the car, driving back towards Toronto on the east side of Lake Simcoe. South of the river we were back in the hilly moraines and we stopped briefly at a local country store called Hy-Hope Farms to get some gooseberry and rhubarb-strawberry pies, a sweat treat to keep in mind our country drive..