Rockwood Conservation Area

My hubby and I went to the Rockwood Conservation area because of an Instagram photo I saw of how amazing this place was.  I wasn't really disappointed, although the sky wasn't what I would call ideal.  It had rained a few times but I managed to take some photos.


The park charges $7/each person.  They are friendly and had pointed us in the right direction to the waterfall I thought would be the main feature, but wasn't.  The real feature here are the caves.

There are over 194-acres of great hiking trails, boardwalks and idyllic sandy beaches.  It also houses an interesting array of castle-like ruins which are the remains of a woolen mill that once existed here.

Rockwood is just an hour outside Toronto. Its accessibility and proximity to major highways like the 401 make it an easy city escape.  What makes Rockwood Conservation Area unique from most parks is the sheer amount of activities it boasts and its rich geological aspects.   A few environmental features it’s known for are the glacier bluffs, extensive cave systems (12 in total) and some of the oldest dated trees in Ontario. 


Even with Rockwood being a nature lovers paradise, it seems over the years the biggest tourist draw has been the stunning Harris Woolen Mill ruins, the remnants of an ancient textile mill.

Built in the mid 1880s, the mill was forced to shut down during the Depression and has remained vacant since.

Over the past decade, the mill had gone through almost a million-dollar renovation to preserve its history and make it safe for visitors to walk through and appreciate.The site is part of the Grand River Conservation Authority, and is an extremely popular spot for picnics, hikes, photography shoots and weddings.

If you want to spend more than a day inside the park, there are over 120 campsites on four main campgrounds.

Fill your entire weekend up with swimming, fishing, canoeing, hiking, and even paddle boarding — which you can rent in the summer.  The conservation area is open year-round and camping is available from May to October.

I loved it here so much that at the end of the day I almost wished I brought a tent.

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!