Durham Region in Ontario is big (about 2500 sq km) and diverse as it covers truly rural areas as well as the cities of Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa and Bowmanville. I can see why this region merits its own police force. I had the opportunity, for sad reasons, to drive the countryside between Ajax and Keswick. I could have taken the big highways (401, 404, etc.) but I wasn’t exactly in a big rush to head to a memorial service and Google Maps suggested that the highway route was the almost the same duration as the rural roads. If you […]

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If you are a Shakespeare or play fan in general who is visiting Ontario there is one place you must visit to fulfill your theatrical need. I’m referring to Stratford! Stratford puts on a series of plays shown in theaters close to one another in the town. This year my aunts took my brother and I to see a play version of the book, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. The play itself was incredible. The aspect that impressed me the most were the sets, due to the fact that the main characters travel from […]

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This summer my family took our yearly summer visit to Toronto to see family. My uncle and aunt decided that due to the fact that my brother and I had never been, they would take us to see Niagara Falls. It was the perfect type of day, not too stuffy but nice and sunny. The parking lot was rather full, and expensive, but on a sunny day and at such a touristy place it’s understandable. Once on the boardwalk walking closer and closer to The Falls you could start to feel the mist emitting from the falls. The rapids racing […]

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If you are planning on driving in Southern Ontario, I have three tips for improved driving pleasure. If you are travelling from almost anywhere else in Canada (except maybe Montreal) the massive series of “400” highways in Southern Ontario, particularly around Toronto, will make you wonder if you should have taken fighter pilot training. Seriously, the way some folks weave through traffic at high speeds without signalling makes me think they are folks who never recovered from watching Top Gun. So, quick, memorize these. 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 409, 410, 412, 416, 417, 420, 427. The […]

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In the lull between Christmas and New Year’s you can still shop until you drop at many increasingly illogically named Boxing Week/month/year sales or you can do something better. In my case, meet with friends you have not seen in years at Joey’s on Dundas West right near Yonge Street. If you grew up in Toronto and then moved away, Yonge and Dundas is an alien place. The streets curve in ways they used not to and the whole faux New York Times Square attempt seems forced. Joey’s as a chain I associate with the west coast as it is […]

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The Bowmanville Zoo has the claim to being the oldest private zoo in North America, starting in 1919 with the unscientific name of “Cream of Barley Park”. The last time I was there was when I was a child and thus my ability to compare visits is non-existent. However, one should be prepared for a difference between zoos of this sort and ones like the Calgary or Toronto Zoos. This zoo is in the business of education but also of providing animals for use in television and film. This makes some people uneasy but for others provides an opportunity to […]

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When we drove into Parry Sound we wanted to try a restaurant not branded so as to just feel like we didn’t do the same old same old. We drove into the main section of town and at dinner time, it was closing up being the business area. I headed down James Street, which turns into Bay Street. We parked in the marked 2-hour free street parking spots and checked out a couple of places. We are constrained on choices by the children in our company. The menu looked pretty extensive and not anti-vegetarian. We dined inside as their wrap-around […]

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Think Parry Sound you might think of Bobby Orr, famous hockey player, or wonderful cottage country. But you may not realize that with its access to Georgian Bay it has a storied maritime history. Georgian Bay is a bit of a misnomer. It covers 15,000 sq. km (5,800 sq. mi.) and is part of the Great Lakes even though it’s technically a bay of Lake Huron. So, to find an example of the diverse experiences, I picked up a free tourist magazine called Sideroads of Parry Sound & Area. The July 2015 edition was surprisingly full of information about the […]

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When someone wants to change the subject, especially in the work place, some people will say “what about those [insert major league team name here]?” I don’t live in Toronto, nor in a major league baseball market. To make the banal statement more comic in a meeting in Calgary or Vancouver, and to break some tension, I’ll say “what about those Jays?” When I had the chance to see a real Blue Jays baseball game, it was all a bit surreal. The group of us heading to the Skydome, which I learned has been renamed to the Rogers Centre, were […]

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Of course, by “fossils”, I mean ancient organisms preserved in stone. On a trip to Prince Edward County, we were given a tip for finding fossils at a beach in Wellington Ontario. This quiet lakeside town is on Highway 33 and it worth the visit even if you aren’t a rock hound. At the end of Beach Street, there’s a small park and beach called Wellington Rotary Beach. You can park for free and enjoy the wind off the lake and start turning over stones. Some have faint markings and other are more clear. On the day we went, the […]

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