Amherstburg Naval Yard

When I was in Amherstburg last weekend, I decided to check out the historic site of the Navy Yard.

Used by the British in the War of 1812, the area saw heavy use ending in the Battle of Lake Erie - that the US navy won.

And of course there are Cannons

And Carronades, guns that while being shorter and shorter-ranged than cannons, packed a heavier wallop at close range:

 

There's also the flags of Ontario, the United Kingdom, Canada, The United States, and France on display:

Ok, just kidding about the white flag on the right being the French flag, mostly.

There's some nice monuments to the Battle of Lake Erie even if it looks like the gun carriage has gone missing, hopefully temporarily.

 and its a nice walk along the shoreline with Michigan across the water.

They did a very nice job with a series of connecting parks along the shoreline, and have nicely preserved quite a bit of history and it's well worth visiting, being such a short hop from the Detroit area.

Stubb's Falls 2018

Last week I was away up north to spend time with the family near Huntsville, Ontario.

Think 18 people in one cottage.

I survived.

I even survived some flaming anti-gun liberal family memebrs (Canada - what do you expect?) and amazingly held my tongue even as the Toronto shooting by the ISIS supporter whose motivation will be forever unknown was in the headlines and barbs were sent my way about it. Instead, I indicated I wasn't going to get into a political argument on vacation, and was rather proud of myself for holding back.

As usual we went to Arrowhead Provincial Park which was a decent drive from the cottage and afer paying the entrance fee and parking trekked into Stubbs Falls.

I decided to get some nice scenic shots.

Unfortunately, all around the falls the park rangers had deployed some very prominent sawhorses.

The sign at the entrance to the falls that states "Danger Not A Swimming Area" was not deemed warning enough. Now, every few feet, and just about everywhere you take a picture was a sawhorses with a notice that it was a dangerous and no swimming area.

This certainly cut down on the quality of the views.

I managed to find a spot at the end of the chute sans sawhorses and it came out nicely with a nice, slow shutter speed:

It turns out a swimmer died this June in a mishap at the falls. It appears she was swimming above the falls, but then slipped and then was caught in the rushing water and then pinned beneath a rock. Probably that's why the sudden urge to plaster all of the scenery with the sawhorses stating it is not a swimming area.

Apart from the sawhorses it was yet again a very nice hike and a good time had by all. This week I've been buried in work as a result but catching up and blogging may just get back to usual.

Beer Came Across The Border Just The Other Day

Tash had a quick trip back and forth to Canada this weekend.

She, being the wonderful person she is, stopped by a local LCBO shop at my request (Liquor Control Board of Ontario - no beer in corner stores there, it's a government controlled operation and selections vary from store to store) and picked me up some beer before she returned to the USA.

Not just any beer either.

She got me some beer that's rare even in Canada, scarce even in Ontario.

She got me The Official Beer of Letterkenny:

Puppers Beer.

So last night pitter-patter I got at 'er and cracked a cold one open.

A darn good beer it is indeed. It's a nice, crisp, refreshing lager. A perfect beer for a hot summers day. It exceeded my expectations, which were pretty high.

An Ontario Tradition - The Beer Store

Ontario, unlike more libertarian leaning polities, keeps its alcohol sales under tight government regulation and control.

This does not stop minors from getting beer mind you, but it keeps the tax money rolling in.

To purchase beer, you need go to the imaginatively named Beer Store.

Then after entering you look at the displays on the walls and pick the beer you want and tell the clerk how much you want of it, you pay for it, and then they'll get it from the back for you, with it coming out after being pushed on a track covered in rollers to make it zip on out.

Here's two of the wall displays:

As you can see, it's certainly not cheap ($35.95 for a two-four of Labatt's Blue is highway flippin' robbery) and the selection, while much improved from the days of my youth (I remember taking trips to the Martimes with a highlight of the trip being the "smuggling" back of Moosehead beer that was unavailable in Ontario), is still rather small compared to say a Meijer's or Hiller's grocery store.

For wine, liquor and other beers, you have to go to a geographically separate government store, the LCBO, where you can actually pick the bottles you want and take them to the cashier to pay.

On the upside, there were some fine Canadian beers available at the Beer Store that you don't see much anywhere else.

We bought some Granville Island English Bay Pale Ale, having never tried any before and found it quite tasty indeed. Not as hoppy as a full IPA but clean, crisp and perfect for a hot day with some freshly grilled steaks. I'd have it again without hesitation.

Having gotten used to both Michigan selection and relative ease of purchase of beer, not to mention the prices, going back to the Beer Store was a bit of a culture shock.

A Huntsville Car For Keads

I was up in Toronto and Huntsville Ontario last week for some family things.

While walking along main street in Huntsville I passed by a Ford Mustang and remembering Keads' affection for the beasts, I took a couple pictures.

The owner saw me admiring the car and snapping some pictures and offered to pop the hood so I could snap one of the engine.

The car was in darn nice shape and looks like a nice example of Equus Caballus Fordae.

Visiting The Ontario Science Center

This weekend we were in Toronto for my Mother-In-Law's Birthday celebration.

On the way there we drove through a rainstorm so heavy that the road markings on the highway disappeared. Unfortunately, the rain and solid cloud cover continued through the next day and killed our plans for having the birthday celebration at the top of the CN Tower as there wouldn't be anything to see but clouds. As an alternative we went to a fine Teppanyaki dinner with the family to celebrate.

That left time during the day for Tash to take her mom out shopping and for me to take the kids to the Ontario Science Center.

After passing the admission booths, you enter a hall that lays out geologic time from the beginning of the earth forward with large dated rock samples along the way, and the kids learned that way back in the day, 3 billion years ago, Ontario had active volcanoes:

Moving forward in time, note the lovely large chunk of silver in this one, dating to 2.2 billion years ago:

Then it was on to the Space exhibit. Sadly, the space planetarium show was closed for renovation. However, in addition to scale models of the solar system and a model of the space shuttle, some impressive pictures from the Hubble telescope could be seen, along with very useful descriptions of what exactly you were viewing on the photo.

In this case, the Andromeda Galaxy, our closest galactic neighbor at only 2.5 million light-years away is featured:

You'll note the description states the Andromeda galaxy is on a collision course with our own and will crash the party in about 3 billion years. This was good as I was highly worried it was going to collide resulting in a disaster in 3 million years, so there's still time.

Moving on to the next level, we saw a presentation on King Richard III.

It turns out that in addition to being vilified by Shakespeare, and suffering the indignity of being buried under a parking lot, he also was afflicted with roundworms.

As a result, he truly was entitled to use the royal "We".

The presentation also discussed how worms and bacteria are transmitted and what kids can do to prevent getting sick, with the simplest measure being to just properly wash your hands every time before you eat or touch your mouth.

There was tons of hands-on science experiments and things for the kids to do at the OSC and they joyfully tried as many of them as they could from playing working glockenspiels made from tools:

To making and flight-testing paper airplanes in the flight exhibit:

The paper airplane test center had a scale model of the Avro Arrow close by for inspiration:

There was also a wingspan calculator that figured out how big a wingspan you'd need to fly like a bird. In Leah's case it was a 15.91 foot wingspan to get her off the ground.

Of course, No visit to the OSC is complete without attending the electricity demonstration featuring their Van De Graaf Generator:

The kids had a great time and saw and did just about everything the OSC had to offer. From a mini-rainforest to a paper-making exhibit and tons of hands-on physics experiments, the OSC is a great place to take your kids if you're visiting Toronto.

Hiking Around Arrowhead Park

Continuing our Ontario travels we've been hanging around with the relatives in Huntsville Ontario, enjoying the cottage and the company. Six kids, 4 adults and a nice cottage. Internet connectivity is sporadic at best.

So today we're off with the Canadian relatives and we decided to go on a hike at Arrowhead Provincial Park in Ontario.

The kids wanted to climb on rocks and see the falls.

So after a short drive there we paid our park admission and headed onto the Stubb's Falls trail.

The scenery is absolutely breathtaking and very relaxing. First we crossed a bridge over the river:

Then we got to the top of the falls and the kids, all 6 of them, rocked out climbing on the huge boulders:

Then on down the boulders to Stubb's falls themselves:

The falls themselves are nice to look at and the water is refreshingly cool. But, there's an advisory against drinking any of it due to some outbreak of nasty parasites that are in the water.

So, after stopping to climb every boulder, view every angle, splash in the water and have an obligatory snack along with bottled water I had carried in, it was time to head back.

While the trail is marked easy, it is markedly more difficult carrying a worn-out 5 and 11/12 year-old on your shoulders on the way out, but I managed handily, even with a sprained finger.

Certainly a beautiful spot, a great hike, and well worth the excursion. They also have some decent campgrounds and given the size and beauty of the park, it would be worth a few days camping out and exploring it thoroughly one day.