Day tripping : Smiths Falls

by Lara We were invited to a house warming party in Smiths Falls this weekend and I decided we'd make a bit of a trip of it and see some of the sights.  I'd heard about the Railway museum there and I figured we could make a stop on our way into town.

The museum is small...  one room with a little playroom to the side, and another small room with some artifacts. I definitely would have to say that the inside of the museum isn't a big highlight for kids (although Kiernan LOVED these wooden animal cutouts which were found all over the museum and in the trains!)

BUT

Getting to explore the trains they have on site was a lot of fun (not to mention great photographic material!)

And the biggest highlight... the hand car!  For $1 a person you get to pump the hand car up and down the track. Kiernan loved it, and I admit, so did I!

The museum itself cost $4.50 per adult, $2.50 for kids under 12 and free for kids under 3.  For under $15 we all got in and all got to ride the hand car - pretty affordable.  They also had a multi museum pass for $32.50 for (I believe) a trio of Smiths Falls museums.

Smiths Falls is on the Rideau Canal and there are other museums to visit, not to mention parks and the Rideau Canal locks.  I only wish we'd had time to explore some more as we drove by on a gorgeous day! Only an hour out of town, it makes the perfect day trip!

Lara is the mom to 3.5 year old Kiernan and 1 year old twins Quinn and Juliette. You can find her at her blog Gliding Through Motherhood.

Ferry tales

by Lara We were heading to my parents' cottage up in Vals des Monts this past weekend.  We generally drive into town, cross at King Edward and then drive back up HWY 50 to get there.  This time, I thought maybe we'd do something special for Kiernan and take the Cumberland ferry!

With summer in full swing a lot of us are taking all kinds of trips - day trips, vacations, etc... and a lot of those trips, I would guess, are into Quebec. A trip across the river on a ferry makes the trip a little more special than it would have been otherwise.

For $8, it definitely cost more than driving, but not substantially more since we saved over 20 KMs in distance.  And Kiernan was THRILLED.  He was excited before, he was excited during, and he hasn't stopped talking about it since!

There are two ferry systems that I know of, one in Cumberland and one in Quyon, and those ferry businesses have been around a LONG time.  In Cumberland since 1939 and in Quyon for over a 100 years! They are both family run businesses which I think is kind of cool.

In Cumberland the ride across the river takes 5 minutes and there were 3 ferries running when we crossed at around 10 on a Saturday morning, but it looks like they have even more - likely for rush hour.

So when you're planning your next trip into Quebec, you may want to consider making it a bit more entertaining for the kids and finding a route that crosses the river on one of the ferries!

Lara is the mom to 3.5 year old Kiernan and 1 year old twins Quinn and Juliette. You can find her at her blog Gliding Through Motherhood.

Daytripping – camping without the camping!

by Shawna Did you love to go camping as a kid? The day at the lake/swimming pool broken up by lunch at a brownish-red-painted picnic table under the trees, and treks along dusty, pine-scented paths to the local campground store for icy cold bottles of pop and dime freezies (that you could get by returning the bottles for the deposit)?

Now that you’re grown-up, and you know the adult hassles that come with camping – the packing of clothes for hot/cold/wet/sunny weather and water/non-water activities that may or may not involve hiking, the organizing of coolers to make sure everyone stays nourished and hydrated, the drive to and from potentially far-flung destinations, and the laundry that comes home with you, not to mention the difficulty of getting the kids (and yourself!) to sleep in an unfamiliar environment (often a tent that has to be put up and taken down at your campsite, then put up again to dry thoroughly once you’re home before being taken down again and packed away) – you may not relish the idea of camping as much, particularly when you only have a limited amount of days you can book off from work in a year. Camping can be doubly daunting when your kids are still in diapers, but are mobile and seem to lack any kind of self-preservation instinct that stops them from wandering off cliffs or straight into the lake.

If you are an intrepid soul that has no idea what I’m talking about because you think nothing of portaging your way into the middle of Algonquin park to take your triplet toddlers canoe-camping, you will likely want to skip this entry, but if you’re like me and the second paragraph sounds eerily familiar, this information may change your life: you can go to a campground for the day and not, you know, actually camp.

Just imagine it: no tents to erect, no camp dishes to haul out – you can get by with a cooler of drinks and sandwiches for one day – and you know what the weather will be like because you only need to hear the forecast for the day you go, so no packing of raingear. You tire out the kids and everyone sleeps in their own, welcoming bed at the end of the day.

A quick search of the internet has turned up a number of places with pools and/or freshwater beaches within an hour of Ottawa. Day admission fees seem to run about 10 to 12 bucks for a family of two adults and two kids, and swimming and use of casual recreation facilities are included.

For example (and these are just a few of many - check for yourself!), Sandy Mountain is only ½ hour from where I live in Barrhaven, and has both a large pool and wading pool, as well as a games room, a playground, and a place to buy ice cream. You can play horseshoes for free, or pay the extra fees to mini-putt or even full-on golf. (They don’t post prices for just the day because they don’t consider themselves to be a public pool, but they do have day rates if you ask.)

Wildwood is not much further, and I enjoyed many a weekend day in the pool there with my grandmother when I was a child (the pool there is better for older kids who can reach the bottom in the shallow end and/or swim well) though, alas, they now only allow non-campers during weekdays (Fridays only until noon) and only for 2 hour stints.  

On the July long weekend we’re meeting up with my in-laws a little further afield: Pleasure Park near Mallorytown, which has a water trampoline, a dock for swimming, and large playground.

I’m not saying you should never go on any overnight camping adventures – it’s a fantastic thing for kids to experience and worth the effort. But you don’t have to wait until that expedition to Kilimanjaro; while you’re doing all the planning for your Big Trip, you can sample the camping life with daytrips here and there. It’s cheap, it’s fun, it’s easy, and it’ll make memories that last. What could be better?

Shawna is mom to 4-year-old Sage and 2-year-old Harris.  She has  been writing online since 2003, and her latest project is a fledgling photography blog.  She never appreciated the work her parents had to do to take her camping until she had kids of her own.

Lions and Tigers and Bears : a visit to Parc Safari

by Angela Oh My! A road trip review...

I recently managed to visit a place that just oozes childhood memories for me...

Parc Safari in Hemmingford, Quebec.

A few people asked me about it after I mentioned we were going, and I am more than happy to share our experience!

Now, it was a last minute decision and being almost 2 hours away (closer to 3 hours from Ottawa),  we figured we would not get to experience the whole park ( as they are also on reduced opening hours till school ends ) but with the 10 year old and 20 month old in tow, we figured what the hell. So off we went. From Long Sault, going through Valleyfield, the trip took just under 2 hours each way. There is potentially slow moving traffic ( read: tractors and Sunday drivers and a drawbridge ) so be patient - the drive is just beautiful, touching on the luscious Montregie area again...apples, apples, apples.

Once at the park, the wait to get in was a little draggy. LOTS of people. So, as we are sitting in line, we decided NOT to take the drive through animal tour first, yes, the signature draw of the park, but rather park, eat, wander and then do the tour at the end of our day.

Good Idea #1 - Wait to take the tour till the end of the day. The drive through the animal reserve area with traffic ( and not just the giraffe and buffalo kind ) can take over 1.5 hours. Seriously. It was bumper to bumper through the drive when we arrived. At 2:45. there was just us in certain parts, allowing plenty of stress free time to feed the animals. The schedule will change as the hours are lengthened, but we went 15 minutes before they closed the park gate, giving us an hour and 15 minutes to get through the drive before closing, and it took us less than an hour, with lots of enjoyment time. The girffes and zebras were awesome. The rest of the animals were very Parc Omega like.

Note: They no longer have baboons running free, jumping on your car and peeing on your windshield, while scratching your paint. I wonder why? I have very vivid memories of my father losing his mind in french at the little cheeky buggers, as he threw food at them to get them off his car...

Good Idea #2 - Bring carrots and lettuce. The park food is cute and in little boxes and at 2$ not exhorbitant...but the animals prefer carrots and lettuce leaves - both the wild kind and the deers in the deer forest.

So, we entered the park and were surprised by a few things...bad first...

The water area - "swimming holes" as they refer to them - were closed. So no water fun - check on opening dates before you take the time to pack everything like we did. Sigh. Sad 10 year old. The mini golf? Needs to be retired. it sucked, lol. Sad 10 year old. Fun kid's climbing areas. Closed - looked like they were being dismantled. Sigh. Sad 10 year old.

Ride area? We ran out of time,lol. Guess what? Sad 10 year old.

Note on the ride area...for those of you from Montreal...this is where the rides from Belmont Park went after they closed that awesome park. But that was 25 years ago. The rides are still working...but even the Parc Safari spiel refers to them as "museum pieces". It is a great trip back to the amusement park of your childhood...but at the same time it is the same amusement park from your childhood. Rides are well maintained...but...old. Like me:).

Now, the good - and this is what makes it worth it... The walking paths are wide and sprinkled with water fountains. The elevated "jungle walkway" gives the kids a good chance to see huge black bears, chimpanzees, arctic wolves, hyenas, macaques and gorillas. Safely.

Good Idea #3 - Bring a video camera to capture the chimpanzees in action. They were a hoot and caused major giggles with their hammock antics. The "Lion's Tunnel" is what most amused the 10 year old though...these are glass tunnels that run around and through the lion and tiger habitats. The animals often lie right beside the glass or - GASP - walk on the top of the tunnels, allowing for a really neat experience. The kids loved this...

There is also a rest area above the glass tunnels allowing for shade and a vantage point to allow older kids to explore the tunnels safely while you easily watch them. There are drink machines and some park animation as well here. A nice rest spot. Which was nice since it was HOT. And there was no water fun open. Ooooops. Sad 10 year old again.

Good Idea #4 - Just a heads up - it is freaking hot in those tunnels on a sunny day. Seriously. The kids will need lots of water after this.

Right to the side of the tunnels is a cute little spot for photographs, where the kids can climb up elephant, hippo and giraffe statues and pose for dangerous animal shots;). BIG hit:). There is also another covered rest area, right near here and a path back to the water area ( cue sad 10 year old ).

Actually, that is the wonderful thing about this park...the pace is slow and there is a ton of room for the kids to run and just enjoy. Paths are everywhere, but clear, so you do not feel like you are losing anyone easily and if you are with little, little ones? Lots of benches for breaks and rests. There are over 700 picnic tables throughout the park and their use is encouraged ( just no charcoal bbq's allowed ). It is a very easy kid outing.

Good Idea #5 - Bring all you need...there are not a whole lot of stops after valleyfield to stock up on anything other than drinks. Trust me. We forgot diapers.

Okay. I forgot the diapers. There is also a big play structure that entertained both kids while hubby went to get drinks.

And there was more...there is a Bird Trail ( we saw none ) and Deer Trail( we saw tons ) that offer a perfect shady walk. The deer area is wonderful, with lots of deer and opportunities to feed them. This is where the lettuce came in handy ( we were given some by a lovely stranger to placate our hot, tired sad 10 year old). It is a gravel path, so parents of stone throwers beware. Or is that only us? The deers hungrily ate up the lettuce and scoffed at the paid for treats.

Oh! Hungry? Thirsty? Lots of stops for slushies (delicious ) and snocones and drinks. The food court area is big, with lots of casual seating and room to run, in front of a stage with regular animation put on by the park's mascots, "les Filouminous". Now, being the parent of a pretty allergic type kid, we ran into a bit of a communication problem trying to find out what would be safe for our little guy to eat ( no, we are not the uber prepared parents we should be - pack a lunch and you need not read this part ) but we finally got to the cook who was able to check everything for us, happily. They also offer fruit cups, a peanut/dairy/egg/soy safe bean salad, jello and other "healthy" ( read - non fried) options, all with clearly marked ingredients. There is a souvenir store, but it is not over commercialized at all...a refreshing change. the 10 year old totally missed the store, only asking about it on he way home. We told her it was closed like the water area. She bought it.

Phew. Like I said, we ran out of time and skipped the ride and game area. There are also pony and camel rides available but not the day we were there. There is enough here to keep everyone happy. And it is low key enough to not make you crazy while you are doing it. The charm that makes it feel so homey also makes the park feel like it needs a little more love...but if you tune into Parc Safari radio, all this is explained, including future development plans ( 91.1 on your FM dial;)).

Good Idea # 6 - Bring small change...you pay for all those fun extras like pony rides and mini golf and parts of the lazy river ( yes, I know. Sad 10 year old didn't get to find out).

Go, enjoy, have fun. I loved this place when i was a kid, with no swimming holes...and at the end of the day, so did my 10 year old;).

Old fashioned fun and all.

Angela is mom to a teen, tween and toddler, wife of an intrepid businessman, master of two big dogs and she loves her camera-baby very much. She is a displaced montrealer living in Long Sault, Ontario. She blogs at From the Dock.