From See Two See: July 05, 06, 2019

July 05, 2016

Yeah we are leaving Milton Heights. The camp ground was right next to the 401 so there was a constant hum of traffic. To be fair it really didn’t disturb our sleep or activity. Just some rigidity and little flexibility on part of the owners (the owner was so inflexible that Greg thought he was dealing with the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld). We debated whether we would take the 401 to Kingsville or a more scenic and longer route. The 401 won and we headed out. Once we got past the greater Toronto area the traffic wasn’t bad. We discovered later that the area that  was down to one lane because of construction had some sort of incident/collision and traffic was backed up for hours. This apparently happened shortly after we had passed the area.  Phew. 

We got all settled in and touched base with our friends Marjorie and John Rogers.  Marjorie and I did our Master’s together at Western and have been friends ever since, though we haven’t seen each other in ages. Marjorie had a cookie ready for me when we got there (it was even oatmeal- my favourite). What more could one ask. We had such a wonderful evening; talking, laughing, getting caught up and learning about each others trials and tribulations. The dinner they served was delicious as was the raspberry pie and ice-cream for dessert. They have such a lovely home.

We learned all sorts of things about the area. It is  the southern most part of Canada and is at the same longitude as northern California and Rome. It definitely is the vegetable capital of Canada. We have never seen anything like the number of greenhouses. Many are filled with tomatoes. If I remember correctly John said it cost about $1 million an acre and the cost was recovered in around 3 years. There are many migrant workers (from Costa Rica, Mexico, Philippines etc) to manage and harvest the crops. They are here for about 10 months of the year and are provided with a bicycle to get around and room and board (though there may be some payment involved here).  I should add that there is some speculation that some of the new greenhouses we saw under construction or just constructed may well be for growing “pot”.

July 06, 2019

Marjorie and John picked us up early for a packed full day of touring.  We started by going for a great breakfast at a “unique” place.; Jim’s Subshop (though we didn’t see subs on the menu).  I had  peameal bacon. It was like a thick ham steak that is coated with cornmeal. It was so good but more  than even I could eat.  Thank heavens for doggie bags.  Following breakfast we headed out to visit a couple of the local wineries.

A couple of bottles managed to find  there way into our possession. Thank heavens we were too early for the tasting or we might be still there.  While I may have the order of events mixed up (we did so much) we then headed to Amherstberg.

This is the site of the war of 1812. There are many plaques and sculptures to commemorate this event.  Fascinating. This area too was part of the underground railway bringing black slaves to freedom. John talked about their role in helping immigrants learn how to farm and  grow crops. 

After a visit to the ice-cream parlour we went to Point Pelee. This is the southern most tip of mainland Canada (further south than the northern border of California  or 1287.6 km south of Edmonton).  The museum was helpful in showing how this National Park came into being.

Because of the beaches this was a popular place for people to come and play on week-ends. At one time there were parking places for 6000 vehicles and this still wasn’t enough (I think this was in the 60s).  It took many, many years from the time that there was a call for conservation of the area to the establishment of this as a park to the time that they could control the entrance to the park and re-establish the natural flora and fauna. This was also where the battle for Pelee Island took place in 1838 (to read more click here)

The day ended with another lovely dinner with Marjorie and John. We hated to think about leaving as this has been a wonderful two days.

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