Steve and I were supposed to leave together on Wednesday, July 31st – a road trip to Sioux Lookout to visit with our daughter, Yelena, for a week.  Unfortunately, events at work prevented me from taking all that time off, so Steve headed out on his own.

I did end up with a 5-day weekend, starting yesterday, and I’m busy keeping myself busy.

This morning, I took myself off to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, a place we’ve known about since we moved here 30 years ago! but had not “found the time” to check out.

RBG, as it’s known, is a Canadian National Historic Site and has properties spread out over 6 locations, 3 sanctuaries, and 1 tract – all over 2,400 acres.  Along its combined 27km hiking trails, there are more than 50 at-risk species and many stop-over points for thousands of migratory birds.  It’s open year round and there are many events throughout the year.

I started at the beginning, the RBG Centre, quite a large “green” building with interesting architectural features, that houses function rooms, a full service restaurant, a shop, the admin offices and a lovely Mediterranean garden.  I didn’t stay in that garden too long because it’s a huge hot house and the sun was baking me.  I think that would be more ideal for a cooler day.

   

The access to Hendrie Park, where most of the gardens and public events are, is accessed through the main centre by way of a tunnel underneath Plains Road, a main thoroughfare in Burlington.  On my way to the tunnel, I stopped to watch some staff prepare the atrium for an event later that night.

The eye candy started immediately upon exiting the tunnel and I didn’t know which way to go, where to look, and what to take pictures of.  Of course, I figured it out (I had a map and, if you know me well, not only do I love maps but I’m pretty adept with them, too) and spent the next couple of hours wandering, admiring, and capturing.

    

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  

 

    

       

I even made a couple of new friends…

   

By noon I was hot, sweaty, and tired.  It’s difficult for me to resist a Tea House, so I didn’t!  The terrace is in the shade, so that’s where I had lunch.

   

The closest of the next property, Laking Garden, was an hour walk.  I chose to drive over so I’d have enough time to visit all of the properties, if only to get a sense of what was where (at least, that was the plan).

I did end up spending about an hour strolling around Laking Gardens, where there is a most impressive formal hedge and tree sculptured area.  There is also lots of ornamental grasses, which I am attracted to.

   

    

   

   

   

   

On my way to Laking Gardens, I passed a lake area that looked interesting but, on my way back, there was no room left in the parking lot so I’ll have to bring Steve back another time.

The next property is the Rock Garden, considered by many to be the heart and soul of RBG (according to their literature).  I’ll have to wait 2 years to find out for myself.  After 80 years, it’s undergoing a major facelift and is closed to the public.

At this point, I had a decision to make.  I could drive 3km to the Arboretum, where there is an interpretive centre, or drive 7km in the opposite direction to the Fishway, an integral part of a nature sanctuary.  As I was getting tired, I chose the Arboretum, which was also on my way home.  I stayed in the Interpretive Centre long enough to use the washroom, as that turned out to be the home of the kids’ day camp program.  Let’s just say there were lots of little, happy campers there today.

    

But, of particular interest is the return of the Bald Eagles to this preserve.  As a result of the use of DDT, these eagles became extinct in most of North America in the mid-20th century.  Following the ban of DDT in Canada in 1989, their return has been slow but, after 4 years of failed attempts, a nesting pair finally hatched chicks this spring – the first babies along the shores of Lake Ontario in over 50 years!  One of the Arboretum hiking trails takes you past a viewing spot, but it would have taken me close to an hour to get there, so I chose to do that another day, with Steve.  I did walk 15 minutes down to a marsh though, where I was rewarded with more photo ops.

       

   

I was done.  It was a really hot day and I had been outdoors, walking, for 5 hours (broken up by a half hour break for lunch).  I deserved to climb into my air conditioned car and head home.

I took a wrong turn going up Old Guelph Road and ended up driving through Dundas.  I knew where I was then, so took our normal motorcycle route, up the escarpment. Ironically, as I cruised along the back country roads, I came across the Rock Chapel Sanctuary, so now know exactly where to bring Steve for a hike there.

Even though it would have been so much better to have shared today with Steve, I had an excellent day getting some exercise, getting some sun, and getting some excellent photos.