Trickling Sand

 

Tobermory – July/August
I’ve always wanted to go to Tobermory.  For some reason, I’m really attracted to blue, turquoise water!  My parents, my brother Eric’s family along with us stayed a week there.  It has recently become an annual family tradition to go somewhere together for a week in the summer.  I really enjoy this time because I get to spend time with Eric and my dad, whom I don’t see as often.  You kids out there reading this now…someday, you will grow up and will start your own lives, and you will find that you miss seeing everyday the annoying sibling(s) that you have.  So, treasure the time you have now!

During our trip, we took a ferry to Flowerpot Island that is famous for its flowerpot-like rock formations.  They’re pretty cool to look at.  Eric, his sons Nick and Ben, myself, Adele and Athan camped on the island for one night.  There are only a handful of sites on the island so it was quite an experience.

Our campsite was close to a dock and we spent some time jumping into the cold water.  Check out the video of my nephew Ben below!

We also visited the Grotto near Tobermory.  It’s one of the more popular attractions there.  The grotto is actually quite treacherous to get to.  To get there, one would need to climb down a rocky cliff.  Aside from a few signs telling you not to do stupid things since people have died here before, there are no stairs, railings, or any other safety measures.  After scoping out the path down, we decided that the grandparents and the younger kids should not go down.

Renee, Joanne (Eric’s wife), and the older kids decided to do the climb down, while Eric and I helped get the younger kids settled down.  We brought them with the grandparents to a rocky beach on the other side of the grotto.  Once they were happily settled, Eric and I headed off to the grotto.  Instead of walking back to the cliff and climbing down, we thought it would be easier to swim there.

I wouldn’t say it was the worst of ideas, but it definitely was a less than ideal exercise.  We walked along the rocks as far as we could before we had to jump into the water.  Once we jumped in, we realized the water was very cold!  A quick google tells me that the average water temperature in the summer at Tobermory is between 15 and 20°C.  It doesn’t sound that cold, but at 25°C, one’s breathing starts to be affected by the cold water temperature.  At 20°C, it’s considered “dangerously cold” to swim in.  It took us about 3 to 5 minutes to get to the other side, where the grotto was.  By the time we got there, both of our arms and legs started getting numb and it began to be difficult to swim.  Given another 5 minutes in the water, we probably would have drowned.  Once we got there, we were happy to see the wives and kids already in the grotto.  We took some jumps from inside the grotto into the cold water before heading back to the beach.

Aside from these exciting adventures, we also enjoyed movies, whiskey and cigars (the latter two by the men only!).  Overall, this was a great trip and many good memories were made!

Cherry Beach Resort – August/September

Finger Lakes, New York – November
For Renee’s birthday, I surprised her with a trip to the Finger Lakes in upstate New York.  It was only the two of us who went, thanks to the grandparents who took care of all 5 kids!  I don’t remember when our previous “us only” trip was; so this was quite a treat!

Our trip started with a stay at Harbour House in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  Harbour House is one of our favourite hotels in Ontario.  It’s super cozy and nice and never disappoints!  They had a packaged deal with a discount on dinner and spa, which was both very enjoyable.  Dinner was at HobNob and our couple’s massage the next morning was at Secret Garden Spa, also in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

After our massage, we left for Aurora, NY and arrived at dusk.  We stayed at Wallcourt Hall, which is one of several hotels in the small town, that is owned by Pleasant Rowland, the founder of American Girl.  The town has been revived and has got a nice, small American town feel to it.  There’s not much to do there, but it’s very scenic and is a perfect getaway for Torontonians who have gotten bored of Muskoka.  The drive from Toronto is around 4 to 5 hours.

I thought that every Hong Kong immigrant to Toronto has been to the Corning Museum of Glass, since it’s one of the stops between Toronto and New York City on the 美東四日遊 (4-day Eastern US bus tour).  To my surprise, Renee has never been there, and since it’s been 30 years since I’ve been there, we spent a day there.  It’s a small but very neat museum, and one could easily spend a day there looking at the exhibits and watching the entertaining glass blowing demos.

After the museum, we swung by Watkins Glen State Park, hoping to walk on the trails to see the waterfalls there.  Unfortunately, the trails were closed for the season.  We did snap a few pictures at the trailhead.  Maybe we’ll be back with the kids in the future!

That sums up our travel in 2019.  Although we didn’t do any big trips, these small trips were all very enjoyable and they made quite a few memorable moments for us to reminisce on  for years to come!

Stay tuned for my final post on an update on each of our 5 rascals!