On their way to Ottawa, Grandma Joyce and Aunt Pam saw a brochure or sign – maybe both – for the Lake on the Mountain and decided it would be an interesting place to visit. When we were discussing what to do over the weekend, we first tried for a cabin in Morrisburg so that we could go to Upper Canada Village but we were too late for that. We decided that Prince Edward County had a lot to offer, in addition to the Lake on the Mountain Provincial Park, but the hotels in Belleville were much more reasonably priced.
Mother Nature seemed to think our trip was ill-advised, sending us rain off-and-on Friday night and Saturday morning. We’d planned to do some shopping at the Quinte Mall anyway and took Saturday morning to do it. Grandma Joyce, ever-commited to corrupting Reid, insisted that I put a loonie in one of those ride on toys in the mall hallway. She claimed that it was a grandmother’s privilege but had only $0.75 in change. Reid saw the money come from me – for the first time ever. I suspect that this might be one of those habits that take only one happening to be created. To that point, Reid had always played in the toys while they were stationary. Indeed, half way through the ride, Reid wanted to change from the train to the horse but I insisted she stay in the train. She asked for money for the horse and I told her “no”. That’s the mother’s privilege, I guess ;+)
The rain had pretty much stopped by the time we were finished lunch and we headed to Reid’s Dairy where there was supposed to be a petting zoo. It turned out that the petting zoo had closed but we did arrive in the midst of a grand re-opening of the store featuring a 7-foot tall cow mascot, free balloons, face-painting and samples of pizza and ice cream cake. It’s too bad we had bought our lunch. Reid had her face painted black and white to resemble a cow with a little pink nose. I got a daisy on my cheek because it made Reid happy. Aunt Pam and I indulged in the ice cream cake but Reid and Grandma Joyce resisted the temptation. We got a t-shirt for Reid with a cow on it for $5 that will be a nightgown for her and a bag that has “Reid’s Dairy” printed on it along with a picture of that same cow.
We dropped our purchases back at the room – Bentley’s is having a sale if you need backpacks for school still – and then asked our friendly GPS lady for directions to Bergeron’s Exotic Animal Sanctuary. Grandma Joyce elected to stay in the car while the rest of us looked around. There were lions, tigers, lynx, jaguars and that sort of big cat as well as many Patagonian cavys, some goats and geese. There was a grey parrot that spoke to us quite a lot though, of course, not when Reid was actively listening. She decided nonetheless that he liked speaking to her and we returned to his cage quite a few times. Admission to the sanctuary cost $10 per adult and $5 per child and seemed a bit steep to me for the 45 minutes or so that we spent walking about but when I turned my “cheap metre” down a bit, I could see that the money contributed to the rescue of the animals.
We next headed off in search of Lake on the Mountain Provincial Park, although my GPS insisted “mountain” was spelled “mtn” we found our way there quite easily. We almost missed the park, however, since it is much, much smaller than we expected – more of a lookout with a big parking lot than a park. Also, the “mountain” was more an raised area of land with steep sides, I’d say. Here is was Reid had to say as we walked toward the lake:
Reid: Mountains are tall. (Walking a few more steps)
Reid: Mountains are very tall. (With authority)
Reid: (To Aunt Pam and me)Race ya, guys.
Reid: (After running a few steps) What about Grandma?
Me: She won’t win. (Grandma was using her cane and following behind at her own pace)
Reid: Mountains are *so* very tall.
Reid is not one to be distracted from her opinion. The fact that the lake is on the mountain is not particularly evident when you’re standing at the water’s edge but the difference in elevation is quite impressive when you see the it depicted in a cross-section and read that there are still competing theories about how the lake ended up so much higher than other nearby bodies of water.
We went downtown Picton for supper. We were too late to shop in any of the many shops on the main street but did find a nice restaurant that had room for us, after finding one that did not. The food at Currah’s was good but a bit more expensive than everyone had anticipated. I was willing to pay extra for quality and speed and, thankfully, my expectations were met. With her belly full and energy used up, Reid fell asleep at 6:45 as we drove back to Belleville. The drive through Prince Edward County was beautiful. The leaves on the trees are already changing but I’m sure it is even more beautiful once most of the leaves have changed. Grandma Joyce and Aunt Pam had a couple of things they needed to pick up which gave me a chance to get Reid into the room and back to sleep.
We spent much more time outside on Saturday than I would have predicted when I first looked at the sky in the morning. I try and always carry a jacket for Reid but wasn’t so organized for my own part. Luckily for me, Grandma Joyce had an extra sweater. It would seem that fall is here, regardless of what the calendar says.