Chefprefers BLOG

Back in 2019, My wife and I went on a canoe trip through Algonquin Park. (See 2019 journal) We ended up going with 7 others and as you know everybody loves a campout. Just before you enter the Park on Highway 60 is the town of Whitney. The only real claim to fame there is the Algonquin Lunch Bar.

It’s the Corner Gas of Ontario, a small little town with a service station as a general store, and a hardware farming shop and every male’s name is either Gored, Wyatt or Hunter. The pickup trucks with moose antlers on the back window can often be seen nearby.

We often stop here for lunch, ordering a burger with fries or a Western sandwich. A Western sandwich, also known as a Western omelette sandwich, consists of an omelette with diced ham, capsicum, and onions.

Today, we are travelling by car from Ottawa to Bracebridge along Highway 60. It will take us about 5 hours. My wife and her sister grew up in Huntsville, so we always stop there on the way. This Muskoka region consisting of the towns of Huntsville and Bracebridge, has lots of lakes and cottages in which most people come from Toronto for the summer season.

We are visiting my wife’s stepmother in the southernmost town. The oak and maple leaves were changing in colour from the cool autumn air and our journey was quite picturesque. I’ve been here a few times and nothing changes here. Apart from the odd road being rerouted or a shop being renamed. We have 4 days to suck in the fresh forest air and recoup from our travelling rush. On day 3 we drove to Port Carling, an authentic cottage town consisting of a canal lock between the Rosseau and Muskoka lakes, dockside shopping and 4 real estate shops. As you do, look at the prices of the properties and dream, well my dream needed all of my superannuation, my house and some major borrowing to consider. The house prices here have risen as well as everywhere else. Crazy! No wonder they have so many real estate agents here.

Although, Port Carling is a pretty cool name for an inland town. We found two geocaches there and also showed the stepmother how to find them.

We drove back to Kanata just in time to see the Ottawa Senators win their opener and afterwards, our family group went to a Canadian pub (Cheshire Cat). The place had beer taps hanging from the walls noting that they are from different generations, quite unique and to top it off, the waiter was a little ambiguous about holding a tray full of drinks and then laying them on the table. All it took was one long tilt and they all fell over onto my sister inlaw. She was a good sport and said that it was quite refreshing.

After travelling through Europe with sunny and warm temperatures, our time in the Hockey country was cool and cloudy. We didn’t see the sun until we got to Nashville. Next up Smashville.