Sandbanks

Hard to find the words to describe the last three days, which were spent at Sandbanks Provincial Park with my sons - humbling? Amazing? Inspiring? According to the website,
"Giant sand dunes and golden beaches form two of the largest freshwater baymouth sandbars in the world here, on the shores of Lake Ontario" - the beaches are staggeringly beautiful, and the dunes... oh, the dunes... for a sand head, hard core, dyed in the wool beach bum such as myself, they were beyond breathtaking, and I know my photos won't do justice to the views, but I'll try

This is one of those things where you keep taking pictures of what are amazing views at the time, and then when you get home you look at your photos and they all look the same, in this case, hills of sand.

We stayed in an excellent little hotel just minutes away from the park - our room had a screened in porch and stairs leading down to the beach - heavenly! But the main attraction was definitely the dunes - extending up and out, hills of white, powdery sand rolling away and toward and behind us - lots of work to climb to the top of a hill, but then so much fun to come barreling down at breakneck speed, knowing that you had a soft landing at the bottom...

This part of Ontario is absolutely cute, picturesque to the point of gagging, with lots of antique shops and craft stores and beautifully maintained century-type homes, so the drive was a lovely part of the whole trip. There are also several wineries along the way, but my children were less than supportive of my attempts to drag them through at least a couple, so I shall have to return unencumbered by smaller, opinionated people.

We did make one stop, one which I have wanted to make for years, and this one there was no talking me out of - the Big Apple. No, not NYC, the "World's Biggest Apple" outside of Coburg, Ontario.

Yup, it's a big one.

We went in and bought a pie and a 'dish' of ice cream for Tanner. Turns out their idea of a 'dish' is a full carton of ice cream! Took both the boys to get through it, and they both felt sick afterwards. Also bought a pie, and as we were paying I asked for a spoon (for the ice cream), and was informed that they no longer give out cutlery with the pies. I'm afraid this got me giggling, and I had to ask if a lot of people wanted spoons for their pies. The sales clerk assured me that it happens all the time, people would actually eat a whole pie at a sitting in the restaurant, and as if that's not bad enough, they will now do so WITH THEIR HANDS. Can you picture this?

This put me near the brink of hysteria, so I fought to calm myself as we sat and ate the ice cream. Then the boys started looking at the photos gracing the walls, which were all of other 'World's Biggest' things - world's biggest kiwi. World's biggest banana. World's largest chair. Biggest orange in the world.

I lost my thin veil of composure, put my head on the table and wept with laughter. Sure, people were looking at me. Sure, my sons were embarassed. Could I stop? I could not.

All of which helped with my mood when we hit dead-stopped traffic in Toronto - remind me never to drive the 401 in Toronto on a Friday at rush hour...

nice to be home now, the dogs are settling down and allowing me to go to the bathroom alone, finally - and our thoughts turn to school, and fall, and, ummmm... fall knitting...

I learned that the socks I made for my secret pal, Tanya, do NOT fit - through a typo, I thought her feet were 6.5" long when they are in fact 9.5" long - so I have asked her to send them back and I will hopefully be able to add to the length with the leftover yarn - or die trying...

my shawl is coming along quite nicely - once my camera starts to cooperate again I will post a pic - and I have moved to fall in my mind, and am thinking cozy sweaters and wool socks - so fickle, am I not? But I am looking out my window at a cold, rainy, windy day, cuddled into cozy pants and a sweatsuit - hard to believe that just yesterday we were basking in the sunshine at one of the nicest beaches in the province... it's in the air, I'm afraid...