Every day is a winding road...

--Sheryl Crow

We normally go find a lakeshore.

This time, that wasn't really feasible. Between the tires on the side chick approaching their end of life and the weather forecast -- north yesterday meant heavy rain or even snow -- we were a bit constricted. 

Caledon and Halton Hills beckoned.

We've been through here at least once, but hadn't really toured, and we've never been here in the autumn.

The traditional disappointments manifested early. We had hoped to get into Belfountain Conservation Area. Silly Ken didn't imagine reservations might be required. Ditto at the Cheltenham Badlands, a geological feature we really want to check out.We'll be back here next year with reservations in hand. We both want  to see this up close.

Today's tour was short on destinations. We were truly exploring. This area is just over an hour from the heart of downtown Toronto...you'd never know it. 

We wandered through Terra Cotta, a tiny village that has gone by four names in its 170 year history. Then nature called, and of course the nearest washroom was in Georgetown, 15 minutes and a detour away. 

The detour took us down a winding, hilly road and we found the Silver Creek Conservation area and this pretty little (single lane) bridge: 

Sport Mode was needed around here. So was Scoot Mode: we had to zoom into Georgetown, fifteen minutes away from this idyllic spot, to find a bathroom. (Georgetown: Population 42,000 or so, on the edge of Brampton, population 603,000, on the edge of Toronto, population yikes. It really is kind of amazing how isolated this feels considering where it is.) We backtracked and eventually found (thanks to Kathy's remarkable memory and sense of direction) the bridge again, and then cast about for other places to see.

When I was a kid, for preteen and early teen values of "kid", we used to do Sunday drives all over Southern Ontario, and at least one of them came through here. I distinctly remembered Lime House, but why I remembered it was a good deal more vague. It's likely I was just recalling the pretty area.

But it's a good thing we found Lime House, because the conservation area here conceals wonders.

Maybe that's an overstatement to you. I certainly didn't expect to find these within five hundred feet of the trailhead:

Powder Magazine, 1850

Ruin of an old mill 

Just beyond this is a pretty bridge. We sat here for a while, glad to have found running water. 

From here we wandered back to Waterloo in search of a restaurant open on Thanksgiving Monday. Montana's fit the bill.

I find most restaurant chains have deteriorated since B.C. (before covid). Some of them were busy going off a cliff, no virus required (Tim Hortons and East Side Mario's, I'm looking at you); most of them have both reduced their serving size and jacked the prices. I am almost positive that every McDonald's burger has shrunk, along with its bun. 

Montana's is resisting the trend, sort of. The prices are higher than they were, but still decent value; the food tastes as good as it ever did. I only really noticed shrinkflation in my sop. It was a pot roast soup served in a bowl the size of a Swiss Chalet finger-cleaning bowl, maybe five mouthfuls total. For seven bucks, a bit of a kick in the teeth. (Kathy wouldn't let me pay for her dinner. I wanted to.)

So that's another season and another year of road tripping done. We're still not sure what's on tap for next year. We're debating having our longer trek right around now, and heading up towards Algonquin. I think Sault Ste. Marie and its Agawa Canyon train trip are at least a couple years off: that trip's gonna COST. 

Thanks for reading.