Zander

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

Late spring is the ideal time for a driving tour, so yesterday my co-workers Vanessa, Khurram and I tripped to see the countryside around Toronto. Neither among my co-explorers has lived in Canada for lengthy, so they havent really had to be able to find places beyond your Big Smoke. So this was their first possibility to venture forth into our big city that is surrounded by the hinterland.

After making the 16-lane frenzy of Highway 401 and a short journey on the 410 we drove in to Ontarios country north of Brampton. The landscape started to open up - forest, fields and farms started to seem. The serene rolling hills north of Ontarios capital have a subtle beauty in their mind and I began hearing remarks like this is like a book, this would be a good place for spending a weekend etc. The landscape around Hockley Valley and the hilly moraines further north provide really breath-taking views over Ontario farm country. next

Our first stop was in the village of Creemore, just a little village tucked away in the Mad River Valley, surrounded by the Purple Hills. The communities history goes back higher than a century, initially supplying Toronto with essential wood and later supplying hogs. One of many major attractions today is the Creemore Springs Brewery, an extremely common Ontario micro-brewery. After a regional breakfast with tea and scones we crossed the street to see the brewery, and despite the fact that two of us are not beer-drinkers, we still had fun researching the brewing process, incorporating hops, barley and some other elements. We admired the big brewing kettles, two made of stainless and one made of copper. Creemore Springs makes reduced beer and during the winter season the produce masters also come up with an UrBock edition for the festive season.

With our understanding of beer accordingly augmented we continued on with our nation travel, slowly approaching the Niagara Escarpment area, Southern Ontarios best geological feature. We stopped in the tiny hamlet of Glen Huron (population 51) where we admired the ancient feed routine of the Hamilton Brothers, going back all the way to 1874. Just a couple of steps away was a beautiful water wheel (cheekily provided by way of a water hose in place of a genuine river...).

On a hilly region just south of Collingwood we stopped to take pleasure from the sweeping view that extended all the method to Georgian Bay and then we continued into the Town of Collingwood, a spot that has really recognition over the last couple of years. Collingwood, its adjacent Blue Mountains Ski Hill, Ontarios biggest ski resort, and its place on Georgian Bay make it a four-season recreational destination. In recent years, the ski facilities have already been enhanced and a whole European-style village awaits at the base of the ski mountain. Downtown Collingwood it self features over 300 stores and restaurants, waiting to offer discerning people.

So we continued our travel eastwards towards Wasaga Beach, with a length of 14 km the worlds greatest freshwater beach our time was small. Surrounding this white sandy beach are several kilometers of walking, biking, cross-country and snowmobiling paths. In addition, Wasaga Beach can be your favourite spot of beach volleyball players. We got from the car, and (it may not need been over 12 degrees Celsius) you definitely needed a warm wind-proof hat with this breezy blustery time. I admired the para-sailers, daredevils who braved the cool waves of Georgian Bay.

The highlight of our time was yet to come: following a veritable traffic jam in the town of Barrie, we squeaked into the Town of Orillia just in time to make it onto the Island Princess, Orillias famous double-decked river-style cruise boat, effective at keeping 230 passengers. On this cold and increasingly rainy-looking day there were no more than several people, but the narrated tour was enjoyed by us around Lake Couchiching. Lake-front living is common, and we discovered that many of the houses around the lake now sell for C$750,000 and up.

After our hour-long exploration by boat we disembarked and went on a relaxing stroll through the parklands right next to the shores of Lake Couchiching. The waterfront parks are graced by an imposing monument to Samuel de Champlain. A few young kids were really swimming in the cold lake waters, proving again that Canadians do indeed have anti-freeze flowing through their veins.

Our short waterfront walk was followed closely by a stop for ice-cream in just one of the lakefront revenue trailers. Nearby and right across from the Island Princess pier is yet another Orillia attraction: the Ossawippi Express, a seafood restaurant featuring many fully-restored, turn-of-the-century railway cars going back to 1896 with an outdoor patio overlooking Orillia's Lake Couchiching. We'd a sneak peek at this unique eating idea and all agreed that the Ossawippi Express is the perfect restaurant for a special event.

Down we were back in the automobile, driving back towards Toronto on the east side of Lake Simcoe. South of the lake we stopped briefly at a nearby country store and we were in the moraines called Hy-Hope Farms to grab some gooseberry and rhubarb-strawberry pies, a sweat treat to remember our country drive..