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Posts from the road

Road Trip to Trenton

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(Trenton, Ontario, Canada)

I recently had a day-long curling bonspiel in Belleville. I accidentally left some of my curling equipment behind, and made arrangements to pick it up the following weekend. It was on this skimpy premise that a spontaneous yet long-planned road trip took place.

Murray Canal at Carrying Place, Ontario

In the darkest days of the pandemic, the only real “travel” options were for essentials. This included food. We repeatedly made plans for a trip to Trenton, a town about 100km of Kingston. The purpose was to stock up on my favourite Dutch food products from the Trenton Delicatessen. But like many things during the pandemic, our trip was repeatedly postponed. And once travel started to happen again, I somehow was never in Trenton during their business hours. Or if I was nearby, I didn’t have the time to stop in.

Old-school tattoo parlour in Trenton

Finally, this weekend, I found myself in Belleville (18km from Trenton) with a full day ahead of me and no deadlines to meet!

Sam the Record Man, in Belleville’s Quinte Mall

We started off with a visit to the only remaining “Sam the Record Man” store in Canada. The flagship “Sam’s” location was on Yonge Street in Toronto, but the chain was everywhere…even Kingston had multiple locations. It now consists of just the one store in Belleville’s Quinte Mall. Nothing replaces my favourite record shop in Kingston, but it was still fun to check out this throwback from the past.

Thai Sushi in downtown Trenton

After picking up some (non-perishable) groceries, we made our way to Trenton for lunch. Sadly, our first choice (Korean) was closed for lunch on Saturdays. As were many of our other choices. We then saw a sign for the “Thai Sushi” restaurant, and figured we might as well give it a try. Ordinarily, I am wary of restaurants that “specialize” in completely different cuisines. And I am even more wary of restaurants that have an “all you can eat” focus. But it had been many hours since breakfast, and I ignored the yellow flags.

Part of our lunch at “Thai Sushi” in Trenton

I focused on trying some new dishes, and ended up enjoying the experience. It’s always good to try salads and soups on such occasions, as they sometimes get overlooked (especially with take-out). And it was clear that many of our selections from the more obscure parts of the menu were being made to order.

Trenton Deli (Trenton, Ontario)

Anyway, we *finally* made it to the Trenton Delicatessen with absolutely no residual hunger. We could focus on what we needed for the long haul. I had fun assembling my own mixed bag of Dutch licorice (“drop“), with a nice range of sweet and/or salty selections. I even picked up a few “Hopjes“: coffee candies from Den Haag (The Hague). I don’t drink coffee but I have a soft spot for these treats that were often in the kitchen cupboard at my parents’ house. I also bought a bag of honing drop (honey licorice).

Murray Canal (Carrying Place, Ontario)

Then it was time for the kaas (cheese)! They had some fun varieties of gouda (pronounced gow-da with a gutteral “g”…NOT goo-da!), such as black lemon. Yes, it’s jet black, and tastes like lemon! But in the end, I went for a couple of cheeses that I haven’t had in a very long time: maasdam and cantenaar. The maasdam is quite mild, but the cantenaar is like a very old gouda (albeit healthier) and wins the prize as my favourite for the day. Sadly, the cheese is now gone. I’ll have to make another return trip soon.

Lots of warnings at Northport, Ontario

We decided to drive home via the northern part of Prince Edward County. There aren’t too many communities here, but it was a nice change from the busy highway between Trenton and Belleville. After brief stops at Carrying Place and Northport (see photo at the very top of this post), we took the Bay of Quinte Skyway Bridge back to the mainland near Deseronto.

Harrowing construction work on the Bay of Quinte Skyway Bridge (as seen from Deseronto, Ontario)

What I had forgotten was that this very steep bridge was being “rehabilitated”. Maybe even worse: half of it was down to one lane. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t enjoy being parked near the top of a steep bridge waiting for the traffic from the other side to cross. And when the one open lane appears to be the only intact portion of the bridge…let’s just say that I was very glad to be done with the bridge part of our journey.

Market Simeon (Napanee, Ontario)

Our last stop of the day was in Napanee. I’ve featured pictures from Napanee on this blog before: here’s a post from 2015, and here’s one from 2020. As we had fresh cheese in the cooler, we couldn’t stay long this time. But we did stop in at “Market Simeon” on Napanee’s historic main street. And what did I find there? Snert!

Snert (also known as Erwtensoep) is another name for Dutch split pea soup. And I have to say that this version tasted just right. It had some very tasty sausage and correctly omitted garlic (which doesn’t belong in Dutch cooking). It was a nice finish to a mostly Dutch early spring day. All we were missing were the tulips!

Posts from Base Camp

Local “Travel”

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

The past couple of months have certainly made me think a lot about the future of a travel blog.

The County Court House in Napanee, Ontario

Since returning from Europe in early March of this year, everything has changed. Typically, I wouldn’t even be back from a trip before I had given some serious thought to the next destination. This time was different. Entirely unrelated to the gradually unfolding pandemic, I had very unpleasant experiences with the airline on each leg of my trip. These experiences fully fit into the category of a “first world problem”, but it still made me think about taking a break from very long distance travel.

The County Registry Office in Napanee, Ontario

Although I didn’t quite connect the dots at the time, I now view the unpleasant air experiences as blessings in disguise. It made me think a lot about what kinds of experiences I wanted to have in the future. I had always preferred “experiential travel” to “passive tourism”. Perhaps it was time to focus even more on the experience, regardless of where it took place geographically.

The old post office in Napanee, Ontario

In essence, the most rewarding thing about travel is going outside your comfort zone to experience new things. With a little effort, and within the limits posed by the pandemic, it’s time to make that happen on a more local scale.

The intersection of Centre and Dundas Streets: the core of downtown Napanee, Ontario

All of the pictures here are from a small road trip we took last fall to Napanee and Deseronto, two small towns just west of Kingston. Like just about anywhere, there are all kinds of experiences waiting to be discovered in my area. Have you ever tasted black lemon gouda cheese, imported from Holland by a local deli? Ordered a rare record from a local independent shop? Lawn bowled on a peaceful green overlooking the Trent Canal?

The New York Restaurant in downtown Napanee, Ontario

Last fall, we invented our own adventure. For years, we have driven to Napanee (and beyond) and passed the sign saying “Switzerville Road”, but it was never convenient to check it out. Being Swiss-Canadian, I vowed to someday investigate this mythical place. Perhaps it would be a little slice of Switzerland in a forgotten corner of Eastern Ontario?

Very old fire engine (from Batawa, Ontario, but actually in Deseronto, Ontario)

Well, we finally made it to Switzerville. You can see the “village” in the photo at the very top of this post. It consisted of two (or maybe three?) houses, and a very old cemetery. So…not really a slice of the Alps. But it was fun to check it out, imagining what it might be like and what it once must have been.

Christ Church, Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal of the Mohawk (Deseronto, Ontario)

Stay tuned – I’ll continue to report on local adventures and experiences, with the occasional “flashback”!

Posts from the road

The PARHAM FAIR

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(Parham, Ontario)

With a tournament cancelled this past weekend, we decided to go for a small local road trip. After a rescheduled birthday lunch in Napanee, our route took us through a number of small Lennox & Addington County communities to the slightly larger village of Tamworth.

This is where we had lunch in Napanee

Tamworth was in the local news recently because its last remaining bank branch had just closed. However, it is still well served by cafes and second-hand shops, so I enjoyed an unexpectedly large ice cream cone at the snack bar in the Black Cat Cafe. We saw somebody kitted up in authentic cowboy gear…but thought nothing of it at the time. As it turned out, this was a clever bit of foreshadowing.

The Tamworth Hotel (and Black Cat Cafe)

We then took the mysterious Mountain Road from Tamworth to the small village of Parham. Some maps don’t even show this road, while others show it as “unsurfaced”. Fortunately, it does exist and is now completely paved. The road goes through rocky and swampy country that is unsuitable for farming, and there were very few homes along the road. Little remained from the original settlements of the late 19th century. We felt much farther away from the city than we actually were.

Somewhere between Tamworth and Parham

Eventually, however, we arrived in Parham.  I often passed through Parham on the way to childhood cottage vacations, but never spent any time here. Much to our surprise, the 127th annual Parham Fair was being held. We spontaneously decided to attend, having no idea what was on offer. While there weren’t any rides like at some larger fairs, the Parham Fair seemed to have largely retained its focus on agriculture.

The band at the Parham Fair

In the exhibit “Palace”, we saw many fine examples of crafts, cooking, and produce. There were prizes in categories such as the best pickling cucumbers. But there was another category that caught my eye: the “Freaky Vegetables” category. This was where people could submit “unusually formed” vegetables. The winner was a tomato that appear to be a fusion of two tomatoes (one green and one red) at totally different stages of development…and possibly were not even the same kind of tomato.

Entries in the “Freaky Vegetables” category at the Parham Fair (winner at bottom left)

We then settled in to watch the horse pull. Our verdict: horses are very big and very strong. Even though there were only two horses per entrant, and the combined weight limit for the horses was just over 3000 pounds, they had little trouble pulling loads well in excess of that.  Just to be safe, I didn’t get too close…although I also didn’t want to trigger my horse allergy!

Feeding time before the big competition at the Parham Fair

The fair food was reasonably priced, and most of it was locally made.  We heard part of the band’s set (appropriately, it was straight out country music), but unfortunately missed out on other events such as the demolition derby and the cattle show.  

Horses in action at the Parham Fair

Before the unexpected visit to the fair, I had planned to write a lengthy post about some of the travel planning I’d been doing over the past few weeks. I’ll defer the details (and some of the photos from today’s trip) until my next post, but I can say that I will be having a “bucket list” international experience in November…and I am very excited about the European ski destination I have now chosen for the end of February.  

Posts from the road

A day in Napanee!

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(Napanee, Ontario, Canada)

As some of you know, we will soon be departing on a road trip…the arrangements have all been made but I’ll keep the actual destinations a secret. As a warm-up, we decided to spend a day in the nearby town of Napanee and visit its annual agricultural fair.

Prize-winning poultry at the Napanee Fair
Prize-winning poultry at the Napanee Fair

Somehow, I don’t think I’ve ever been to any of the local fairs. I visited the provincial Ploughing Match in Joyceville as part of a Grade 4 field trip and might have stopped by the Kingston Exhibition once…but that’s about it.  Being seriously allergic to horses (which was confirmed by accidentally encountering horses at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto about 25 years ago), as well as a lingering minor allergies to cats and feathers, has made me reluctant to spend much time around farm animals.

Vegetable competition at the Napanee Fair
Vegetable competition at the Napanee Fair

Anyway, I thought it was time to see a local fair…and to see whether my horse allergies had abated in the intervening years.

We started with the exhibition barns.  I felt kind of scratchy in the poultry barn and in the “rare animal barn” (which contained some ponies) but was fine around the cattle and in the goat/sheep arena.  Quite apart from the allergies, I was reminded of how far removed suburban living can be from rural living and how little we think about where our food comes from.   It was strange to see the cute young alpacas…and remember how much I enjoyed alpaca steak in Peru.

A young alpaca playing hide and seek at the Napanee Fair
A young alpaca playing hide and seek at the Napanee Fair

After looking at the craft and food exhibits, we moved on to the midway (see photo at the top of this post).  We weren’t interested in any of the rides but we did wonder about the demanding lifestyle of those who work on “the fair circuit”.   While it is largely limited to the summer months and early autumn, the days are very long and the workers are always living in cramped portable accommodations in between moves from one fair to the next.

Cows at the Napanee Fair
Cows at the Napanee Fair

After the fair, we thought that we’d visit downtown Napanee and see how much it had changed.  We haven’t been in Napanee much recently, but recalled how its downtown was reeling from the arrival of big box stores (including a Walmart) near the 401 highway.   The last time we were there, it seemed like the downtown consisted mainly of “dollar stores” and empty storefronts.

The County Memorial Building in Napanee - I spent quite a few hours here as a law student
The County Memorial Building in Napanee – I spent quite a few hours here as a law student

I am pleased to report that the Napanee downtown appears to have turned the corner. While some areas are still somewhat patchy, there are plenty of new and unique businesses that offer an alternative to the more generic retailers near the highway.    Many of them were closed for the day by the time we arrived but we both found stores that we want to check out on a future visit.  There were even some interesting new (and independent) dining options downtown.

Dundas Street in downtown Napanee
Dundas Street in downtown Napanee

This is what we’re hoping to see more of on our upcoming road trip.  We’re staying in some historic and characterful places and will try to choose shops and restaurants that aren’t found in every other Ontario town.  This sometimes takes a little more work but the research has been enjoyable.

Stay tuned to see where we end up!