![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Totally not caught up on email and LJ but I am back. Well, we only went for the day, but we were so tired when we got back, I just had time to do a quick update on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
secretary_rpg and then fell into bed.
OK, I shall cut as it's a family day trip with pictures so I'll spare you all ;-)
It's pronounced 'Peel-ee' not 'Pell-ay' but we can't ever remember that as it doesn't seem to make sense so we got several odd looks throughout the day. We left at nine; three hour drive there, all along the 401, then we left it early to drive along the coast. First view of Lake Erie had us going 'ooh!' and I realised, yes, I am English, from a sea faring nation, and all this wetness, however freshwater, plus finally watching 'Master and Commander' on Monday has made me crave the ocean. But it might as well be the sea. Hard to imagine, as in England lakes aren't all that big, but you can't see land; the water stretches to the horizon and there are big waves.
And pollution.
We were greeted at the park entrance by a sign telling us bathing is forbidden at the point because of currents; fair enough, and that the water isn't safe anyway because of bacteria. In quavering voices we asked if that meantwe the kids couldn't paddle and were told that people canoed so that was probably all right. After much debate we did eventually paddle for a few minutes in a safe spot later on.
We went straight to 'the tip' after a picnic lunch. You get shuttled there in an electric tram and walk for about five minutes through a wood with huge butterflies, monarch and, I think, swallowtail, fluttering around and refusing to stay still long enough to be snapped. Divas.
You're also told not to take away anything; feathers, driftwood, pebbles...so the first thing one woman did was carefully pick up two feathers. People. They were seagull feathers for heaven's sake; why bother? Why bother when you've just been told not to? ::rolls eyes:;
The point/tip is the most southerly spot in mainland Canada, level with Rome. There are a few islands off shore but we didn't go out to them; one has the Pelee Island vineyard on it.
It's like a tropical atoll; it narrows to a strip of sand/shingle wide enough for one person to stand, waves lapping at their feet. Here; this is an aerial view
and this is David standing on that tiny tip
After that we did some of the trails; one in particular was very interesting; through a wetland, carpeted with cattails (bulrushes). The boardwalk swayed which made me feel as if I was seeing things as the water kept moving. It could've been heatstroke though as we were getting tired by then, heh... We saw a turtle, many frogs, and some birds, black with a frill of white around their wings that hovered like hummingbirds.
Sadly, the incredibly handy bird book we got David's dad which was divided into sections; 'yellow birds', 'red birds' etc, got lost and we now have the official Audubon one which pretty much requires you to know what the bird is before you even try and look it up. Umm. They weren't ducks. Nor hawks. Well, that's two sections eliminated.
Going home got tiring. E started to feel sick from continual snacking and we were only saved by MY foresight in bringing along two frozen bottle of water and some frozen Kool Aid jammers which meant even at 8.00 pm we still had icy drinks ::preens self for being forward thinking::
Lovely day.
And today, on her second attempt, E rode her big new bike without training wheels and managed an entire circuit of the race track without anyone holding onto her ::feels proud::
David's off into Toronto now with some friends to see Judas Priest. I plan to write tonight in peace.
secretary_rpg and then fell into bed.OK, I shall cut as it's a family day trip with pictures so I'll spare you all ;-)
It's pronounced 'Peel-ee' not 'Pell-ay' but we can't ever remember that as it doesn't seem to make sense so we got several odd looks throughout the day. We left at nine; three hour drive there, all along the 401, then we left it early to drive along the coast. First view of Lake Erie had us going 'ooh!' and I realised, yes, I am English, from a sea faring nation, and all this wetness, however freshwater, plus finally watching 'Master and Commander' on Monday has made me crave the ocean. But it might as well be the sea. Hard to imagine, as in England lakes aren't all that big, but you can't see land; the water stretches to the horizon and there are big waves.
And pollution.
We were greeted at the park entrance by a sign telling us bathing is forbidden at the point because of currents; fair enough, and that the water isn't safe anyway because of bacteria. In quavering voices we asked if that meant
We went straight to 'the tip' after a picnic lunch. You get shuttled there in an electric tram and walk for about five minutes through a wood with huge butterflies, monarch and, I think, swallowtail, fluttering around and refusing to stay still long enough to be snapped. Divas.
You're also told not to take away anything; feathers, driftwood, pebbles...so the first thing one woman did was carefully pick up two feathers. People. They were seagull feathers for heaven's sake; why bother? Why bother when you've just been told not to? ::rolls eyes:;
The point/tip is the most southerly spot in mainland Canada, level with Rome. There are a few islands off shore but we didn't go out to them; one has the Pelee Island vineyard on it.
It's like a tropical atoll; it narrows to a strip of sand/shingle wide enough for one person to stand, waves lapping at their feet. Here; this is an aerial view
and this is David standing on that tiny tip
After that we did some of the trails; one in particular was very interesting; through a wetland, carpeted with cattails (bulrushes). The boardwalk swayed which made me feel as if I was seeing things as the water kept moving. It could've been heatstroke though as we were getting tired by then, heh... We saw a turtle, many frogs, and some birds, black with a frill of white around their wings that hovered like hummingbirds.
Sadly, the incredibly handy bird book we got David's dad which was divided into sections; 'yellow birds', 'red birds' etc, got lost and we now have the official Audubon one which pretty much requires you to know what the bird is before you even try and look it up. Umm. They weren't ducks. Nor hawks. Well, that's two sections eliminated.
Going home got tiring. E started to feel sick from continual snacking and we were only saved by MY foresight in bringing along two frozen bottle of water and some frozen Kool Aid jammers which meant even at 8.00 pm we still had icy drinks ::preens self for being forward thinking::
Lovely day.
And today, on her second attempt, E rode her big new bike without training wheels and managed an entire circuit of the race track without anyone holding onto her ::feels proud::
David's off into Toronto now with some friends to see Judas Priest. I plan to write tonight in peace.