Apparently, Wasaga Beach has a reputation for attracting thousands of
visitors from Toronto any given summer day as it’s the closest beach to the city as well as the longest fresh water beach on earth (14 km!). We walked there alone today and loved every minute.
Next we followed the triple steeple skyline to the Martyr’s Shrine in Midland where history recounts the massacre of 6 Jesuit missionaries at the hands of the Huron natives. Thankfully the details were left out of the telling and the focus seemed more about Pope John Paul’s visit to the site in 1984. Still, reverence was the appropriate response and the serenity put us in a welcome calm and contemplative state before we hit the infamous 401.
I hope you will indulge me as I break into a little narrative: Once upon a time there was a wee child living in the northern reaches of Alberta, her little family of four made the long trek to Stratford, Ontario to try to make a home there. The city (as the tale is told) suffered from severe weather conditions such as unbearable humidity and severe winter storms. Unfriendly conditions prevailed and the family moved back to the warmer climes of BC’s Okanagan Valley after a brief stay of 12 months. 47 years later the wee child, now a woman of half a century, made the long trek back to that little community to connect with her roots in some form. Sadly, she found she could not remember a thing about her childhood experience but sure thinks the current state of things is singularly romantic!
After a funky dinner of lamb and curry-something, we attempted a walk along the Avon River but the heat proved too much for us. We caved on several levels: eating dinner out, staying in a hotel room with our very own bathroom (and it’s SO clean!), blasting the air conditioner into a state of feverishness, and watching Lost.
To quote my husband, “It just doesn’t get much better than that!”
