The Front Seat: It Depends

Everyone remembers the milestones when a baby starts becoming a toddler: first tooth, first birthday, baptism, first word, or even first cold. Those are the kinds of things that retail chains like Hallmark create albums and scrapbooks for that they can sell by the dozen to new parents.

But what about those middle-of-the-pack childhood years? They are important too!

I thought Margot's first day of grade three was pretty important. But I saw that event coming. More recently, something happened that I wasn't prepared for though. Ever so casually, Margot just started asking if she could sit in the front seat of the car. And guess what? I let her!

Unlike booster seat requirements, there is no law that requires children to sit in the backseat but in my mind I was thinking "Whhha... but kids go in the back...". I know, I know there are lots of good safety reasons why kids should stay in the backseat until they are older (depending on their size and weight). But whereas before I was certain Margot should always be in the backseat, now I'm entering a whole new era of grey where...it depends. Maybe on a clear sunny days where I'm just taking her over to her ballet class she can sit in the front seat  whereas during a snowstorm where the roads are more slippery, the back seat seat is better. That might shock some parents who may always lean towards safety over everything. But that's not me. I'm more of a life-is-for-living-and-bending-the-rules-here-and-there kindof guy.

So here I go, entering into a brave new world of "it depends". I think that sums up my parenting style right now. Who knows, before I know it she may be walking home from school BY HERSELF! Ahhhh!

Haha what a sly smile

Something Old becomes Something New

I popped into Trove a couple of days ago to drop off some clothes. Trove is a consignment store, which originally focused on women's clothes but has recently started accepting men's clothes as well.

Although I occasionally shopped at second hand stores in the past, actually dropping off my old clothes for resale isn't something I've ever tried before. The main reason is that I thought it was more generous to drop off my old clothes in one of the numerous charity clothes bins that are all over this neighbourhood (the ones that say on the side of the bin that the funds from the clothes go to good causes like the Big Brothers or Big Sisters of Ottawa).

There's been a lot of negative press about those clothes bins recently.  Contrary to what a lot of people think, a lot of the clothes that go into those bins go into landfills or get exported to third world countries where first world second hand clothing has contributed to wiping out local textile business.

That's no good.

However, as much as I'd like to stop using those bins, I don't just want to dump my clothes in the garbage. And that's where Trove comes in. It's not a charity (I'll actually make some money if my clothes sell) but at least I'm helping a local business and giving a second life to something that I don't want anymore. So if anyone out there on the Interweb is interested in a blue stripped sweater - check out Trove on Wellington Street while supplies last!

The Flambée des Couleurs - Misty Edition

Tough Cookies: Hintonburg Style isn't intended to be a travel blog.

I like to write about what happens in my neighbourhood, the restaurants I visit and life with Margot and Glosette Girl. But sometimes that life involves visiting new places and trying new experiences. And this just happens to be one of those times. So hot on the heels of last week's fall camping post, I'm going to write about another mini adventure: a visit to Quebec's Eastern Townships.

The Eastern Townships are Canada's New England.  It is a place of hills and lakes, agri-tourism, monasteries, small mountains, and cute little villages and towns. Glosette Girl went to University in this area so the area will always be special to her. To me it's just a really pretty region that's just close enough to Ottawa (a hard 3 hours or more realistic 3-and-a-half hour drive) for a long weekend visit.

Normally I like planning an itinerary for even mini trips like this but with the fall camping trip and life in general being generally busy I wasn't able to do much more than check out a few websites and get a rough idea of what I wanted to do.

Still, we were able to cram a few cool things into the weekend.

We started out with a trail run (Margot's training for the cross country team if you can believe it) on a forest trail. Then it was on to our B&B where we relaxed in a hot tub (I'll spare you the photos even though you know you want to see them!)

Then we were off to experience Foresta Lumina, a night time multi-media walk through a forested valley. I'm only going to say one thing: holograms are awesome.

The weather didn't quite cooperate this weekend - it was more grey than anything. But sometimes them's the breaks folks. And at least it didn't rain. Actually, even though the fog and clouds obscured most of the fall foliage views we were hoping to get (the big attraction in this area at this time of year) the grey weather made for an eerily beautiful atmosphere.

I'll have a ghost on the side please

Those snaps are from Mont Orford, in case you were wondering. In the end we hiked and walked a lot, saw a cool nighttime show, and visited the nice little town of Magog, sortof the hub of the region and which legend says sits on the shores of a lake with a monster hidden in its depths.

Monsters? Mist? Night time walking? Either I'm developing an interest in the occult or Halloween is just around the corner.... bwah ha ha!

Ontario Provincial Parks: Ranked

This past weekend I packed Glosette Girl and Margot into the ol' roadster, threw on some tunes and drove up to Silent Lake Provincial Park for our first ever autumn camping experience. Although we were probably a week early for fall colours it turned out to be a great experience; no bugs, no hot tents (especially in the morning - ugh) and a lot less people!

Unsurprisingly, the park has a big lake in the middle of it!

That got me thinking, I've been camping for almost 20 years. Just how would I rank the parks I've visited? Are there any shining stars or obvious disappointments? One would think that from the glowing reviews travel writers give all these parks they would all be amazing. Unfortunately, they would be wrong.

Trekking the Silent Lake woods with my sis and her family

Hmmm here's my 100% objective-no-bias-at-all-list-of-Ontario parks that you can take to the bank. Full disclosure: I've only included parks where I've slept overnight. OK, let's go:

The Best of the Best

• Awenda: quiet beaches, nostalgia from visiting during my childhood days and beautiful Georgian Bay. Perfect!
• Charleston Lake: classic Canadian shield park with awesome hikes.
• Silent Lake: maybe my weekend visit is too fresh in my mind but this small park really impressed me.
• Murphy's Point: for a park that's barely over an hour from Ottawa this park hits the right notes. It has a mine that you can visit, nice geology and geography, and pretty vistas.
• Pinery: the only "beach" park on my "best of the best" list. Although it's a bit busy and not a nature park, the  Oak Savannah and long beaches on Lake Huron are too nice not to like.

The Middle-of-the-Road-sters

• Algonquin: whaa..? Alonquin is only average? Yup, for me, that's what it is.While I appreciate it's a quarter the size of Belgium, meaning it's great for the environment, in terms of scenery and facilities for me, your standard car camper, I just find it...OK.
• Silver Lake: the lake is nice but the park is small and a bit too close to the highway for my liking.
• Sharbot Lake: it's been awhile since I went to Sharbot Lake so my memory is hazy. The words "distinctly average" keep coming to mind though.
• Killbear: I debated whether I preferred Killbear or Murphy's Point and in the end I settled on Murphy's point. Maybe I just had too high expectations for Killbear seeing how it's supposed to be one of the highlights of Ontario's cottage country.
• Bon Echo*: has cool ancient petroglyphs so it's a potential "best of the best" but I was sick the last time I went and that's coloured my opinion...for now.

The Dregs

• Rideau River: OK, to be fair, I had a great late summer experience at Rideau River recently. And Margot had fun. But because it's only 30 minutes from Ottawa it's a bit too urban for my tastes. The heavy boat traffic in the summer on the river doesn't help.
• Fitzroy Harbour: a decent park but again, being so close to Ottawa it seems a bit overpopulated and not outdoorsy enough. The big dam within eyesight doesn't help.
• Sibbald Point: a park near to my hometown of Newmarket, Ontario, on the Shores of Lake Simcoe. Has some interesting local history but otherwise kindof "eh". A fun place to party when you're a teenager though!
• Six Mile Lake: I used to love going here when I was a kid but the Government ruined it unfortunately. First, they crammed a gazillion campsites into it. Second, a major highway now runs right by the park. I visited the park last year and was heartbroken!
• Voyageur: I made the mistake of visiting Voyageur, a somewhat dirty, uninspiring park on the shores of the Ottawa river, after visiting Maui so perhaps my perspective was a bit skewed at the time...but too bad! Other than Six Mile this is probably my least favourite Ontario provincial park. Sorry Voyageur!

Wow that's a lot of parks! Lots of great memories too - even in the "dregs" :)

Hopefully Margot will always have a connection with nature

* Oops in an earlier version of this blog post I forgot about Bon Echo.