Sunday, July 15, 2007
Saturday was a day filled with sight-seeing and shopping in downtown T.O., mainly at the Eaton Centre and the grocery store. Sbarro's was a big hit with Fe who hasn't had any since moving out of Illinois. Sunday is the day we're looking forward to...our drive 90 minutes northeast to Gore's Landing/Rice Lake...the Victoria Inn B&B....
We've just had dinner (warm rolls,filet mignon, baby potatoes, fresh market vegetables...after dinner, we had the traditional hot tea, but also raspberry mousse cake). We're sitting here in the gazebo facing the lake...Rice Lake which was once crossed by the people of the Mississauga nation by canoe or by foot...island to island. It's beautiful here. It's dusk. The sun is about to go down making it a little cool. The drive up was very scenic - green and gold fields...sparkling lakes. the staff is sooo friendly - like the Pantages, but quaint like a next door neighbor, family friend or family. The price is the only thing that reminds you of the gourmet nature of the cuisine. I have no idea what time it is or what's going on in the world (no phones, no tvs, no clocks) and although I almost fell asleep out her before we got our jackets and when I went for a swim, I'm still out here in nature. Felicia loves the scenery but Tetley Tea Bags, the cat, is the apple of her eye right now! There are people being pulled across the lake on inner tubes. some are fishing. I am trying to wait on the stars, but daybreak seems to be holding on...I'm exhausted from the drive and probably last night...we'll definitely sleep good here. Ugh...I just remembered we didn't pack any snacks..oh well...we'll grab something before the 2-hour boat cruise tomorrow.
Monday, July 16, 2007
It's been a long time since I've had such a great Monday! We had a good breakfast and hopped in the car for a drive around Gore's Landing and then pastthe 401 into Cobourg to look around the mall. Heading back, we got to the Inn just in time to hop the boat cruise up Ricer Lake and the Otonabee River. There were cabins and houses laong the river and we briefly saw turtles and blue herring. The cruise was nice and peaceful. We learned of how the 1st Nations once cultivated rice plants and walked/swam/canoed from island to island -back when the river was 1ft to 3ft. Now,it's doubled due to man's engineering feats. The adventure however began once the cruise was over around 4pm..when we hopped back in the car to find the 1st Nations burial ground...Serpent Mounds. They said it was simple...county road 9 to highway 28 to country road 2...but county road 2 had no signage...at least not from the direction we were driving. When we hit highway 115 we knew we'd gone too far! Turning around, the sign was there and we were up County Road, but uncertainty came when we drove for 30 minutes and saw no signs for the park...long story short we arrive and with the help of some pre-teens, we walked up and around the mounds and then, to the beach. It was incredible. You could understand why 1st Nations peoples chose to bury their ancestors here. It turns out that this band of the Anishnabeg-Mississauga (connected also to the Chippewa) are related to the natives of Ohio who built the Cahokia Mounds. I wished we could've stayed longer but our dinner reservations and darkness beckoned, so we were off again but had to stop to take a few pictures roadside. A Canadian even stopped to see if we were okay! We were. So after taking the shots at various places along the highway, we turned Toni Braxton back on and headed in for dinner on our last night in the country. Tetley lingered as I enjoyed fresh grilled chicken, red potatoes, veggies and dinner rolls.
With our last cup of evening tea we roamed the halls and rooms of the inn taking photos and feelign as if we'd stepped into a time machine.
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