Silver Creek Conservation Area (Scotsdale Farm)

Within the Silvercreek Conversation Area near the lovely and quaint town of Georgetown is a hidden treasure called Scotsdale Farm. It's a working farm, but there is so much more to this place.  For one thing, there is over 530 acres of gorgeous trails in and around the Niagara Escarpment.  

One of the most popular and largest trail here is the Bennett-heritage Trail.  Fall is the best time of the year.  For the simple abundance of colour, the crisp and cool air and the many photo opportunities you can capture if you are so inclined. 

             
We met up with a fellow photographer who had won a Canon contest while shooting here.  The sunsets here just rock through the trees.  Perfect setting - perfect lighting.  In fact this is a fave spot for many photographers and film producers.  Parking is free and ample as long as you are out of there by 8 p.m. at night when the park closes.

There are a few waterfall features here as well! 

Not in comparison to our friends out west in Hamilton or Niagara, but enough to keep your interest up.  Since it's part of the Bruce Trail network, you are bound to find plenty of rolling hills and woodlands and glacial rocky remnants to exercise your legs making it a great work out.

Halton Hills region has been a favourite for a few years now with so many conservation areas and things to do here all year long - set in a pastoral countryside.  

The main house of Scotsdale was built in 1836 by Christopher Cook. The farm was bequeathed to the Ontario Heritage Trust by Stewart and Violet Bennett in 1982.  Bennett had developed Scotsdale into an internationally renowned breeding farm for his Arabian horses and shorthorn beef cattle.

To learn more about the Bennetts and to the historical beginnings of this beautiful landscape which has  has been, click on the link below

Scotsdale Farm : A Hidden Treasure

Electric Radial Museum in Guelph

One of my favourite places to go is to visit historical sites.   I don't really have a particular interest in historical transportation - though you would know that considering the fact that this blog began a decade ago while traveling through Toronto on the TTC and blogging every station!  Still I do have a particular love for nostalgia and anything that reminds me of my childhood and in the advancement of modern civilization.

It's nice that there are museums like this that give new generations the opportunity to see how buses and rail trains once looked so that they too can have a glimpse into the past.

It was on a rainy Sunday early evening when we passed through the County of Halton when I first saw this working museum of electric streetcars, buses and trolleybuses.  It was too late in the day to make it a decent visit, so we didn’t buy tickets.  Though we did show up when one of the trolleys went by along the radial tracks that once provided the right of way in Guelph. 

The museum is open to the public – the focus is primarily on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), with rides on many of its now retired vehicles. It is located in the town of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.  If you happen to pass through it might be fun for you to step in to a little piece of history and take a trip yourself.

 

Ripley's Aquarium - Toronto Canada

Just down by the water of Lake Ontario at 288 Bremner Blvd which has become quite the hub of Toronto's tourism is the Ripleys Aquarium.

It situates itself somewhere between Toronto's iconic CN Tower and the Rogers Centre home of the NBA champions and has always been the least intriguing attraction to me since it's opening in  October of 2013.

Particularly because I have a strong belief like most of us that aquatic animals should not be held in captivity (or any animals for that matter, unless of course they are already domesticated).  This belief was about to change though -- well not for Marineland but for at least here.



You will love Ripley's - you will see everything from sharks to swimming green sea turtles and jelly fishes to eels and the most beautiful colourful tropical fishes and marine life you'll ever get a chance to see otherwise unless of course you have thousands to spend visiting the tropics.
 

I can't imagine a more beautiful home than here for these critters.  Designers and engineers have painstaking designed every aquatic aquarium tailored to the marine life here.  Either fresh water or ocean floors making sure the surrounding were like home to the animals right down to the temperature of the water as well as the water's content.

The aquariums are spotless clear and cleaned and are monitored by computers and high-compression drums and gauges by skilled employees in marine biology.  There is even a section where you are able to view this for yourself.

Here swims, floats and flutters any species of the underground world you can imagine and they all get along perfectly respecting one another space.  They clearly are all being fed well or you would see a much different picture in the water.

 

Some highlights are the blue lobster!  In fact they are so rare, a BBC news article, dated may 26, 2016 (cited: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36369687, BBC News: How rare are bright blue lobsters?) notes how rare they really are.

 

I also loved the touch and feel tanks where you can immerse your hand in shrimp tanks where little shrimps will crawl over to take little pieces of dead skin from your hand (you might not know they are there, but they do!) and I found it so cute and it tickles!  The other highlight was to put your hand in a very large tank of stingrays and they will sense your heart beat and swim by you so you can pet them.  As you might have thought they feel very slippery and smooth.  I also petted the top of a baby shark and a giant eel.  

I was so happy to see how well they are living and looked after, although it was very costly getting indoors, we went after 7:00 at night, which is called 'Sharks After Dark',  you can stay as long as you like up until 11:00.  It is $7 cheaper than the usual price but you can still see all the exhibits so it's worth it.

If you go, I would love to hear about your experiences too in a comment below!

Meadow Trail of the Forks of the Credit Provincial Park (Cataract Falls)

One of the prettiest areas near Toronto definitely has to be the Caledon region.  For cyclists it's an astronomical challenge with enormous hills and valleys. Caledon is in the region of the Oak Moraines and the Chedleton Badlands and has gorgeous vistas which makes it a paradise for day trippers.

The Forks of Credit Provincial Park is a part of the Bruce trail and streams the Credit River all the way through it.  It is home to an abundance of nature trails including the Meadow trail which leads you to an old historical mill and a cataract waterfall.

The mill was purchased by John Deagle back in 1820 and features a cascading waterfall.  John converted the mill into an electric generating station which dammed the credit river that created Cataract Lake.

The generating station was later sold and purchased by Ontario Hydro but was shut down in the mid 40s.

There is evidence today of the dam that was destroyed.  Today it is riddled with destruction and graffiti, although the ruins of the mill and the powerhouse are still in the park.  The stairs and bridge leading to the mill have been closed off due to erosion and construction this summer.

We as well as others found a way to venture closer to the waterfall.    It's a shame that people had destroyed the ruins of the Deagle mill with spray paint, as it's a reminder of the history there.  It's far to

o dangerous to try to clean it up now. 

The Meadow trail as a I mentioned earlier is a part of the Bruce trail and is about 4 km long.  There are several entry points, but I refused to pay $6.80 per head just to visit a trail, so we found a paid parking lot which only cost $2.00 by meter for 2 hours.

Provincial parks are becoming increasingly expensive, but in this case I really feel it's the principle of the matter.  For example if you drive your car into the park, you will be charged $6.80/per person in the vehicle, which I think is ridiculous.

We had a great time as I had before seen the Belfountain waterfall but never knew there was another waterfall located in the same park.  If you decide to come, I would suggest either pooling your money to go through the park from the main gates or entering from Meadow trail.  The trail is simple, and very steep at times but it's really good workout and to be honest it was a slow incline coming back out of the park so I never really noticed it.