October Events 2012

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving long weekend!

Here's what happening in and out of town this month:


In Toront/Greater Toronto Area
- Grindhouse Ghoulies (October 12)
- Chinese Canadian for the Environment - Action Matters (October 13)
- Creativ Festival (October 12-14)
- Show & Sale of Fine Miniatures (October 13-14)
- Stouffville Studio Tour (October 13-14) 
- Richmond Hill Studio Tour & Art Sale (October 13-14) 
- Fall Into Nature (October 6, 7, 8, 13, 14)  
- Downey's Farm Pumpkinfest (October 1-31)
- Powerhouse of Terror (October 11-30) 
- Halloween Haunt (October 12-28)
- Screemers (October 12-31) 
- Camp Spooky (October 13-28)
- Toronto After Dark Film Festival (October 18-26)
- Toronto Zombie Walk (October 20)
- Mississauga Artisan Studio Tour (October 20-21) 
- Soupstock (October 21) 
- Fall Cottage Life Show (October 26-28)
- Art Toronto Focus Asia 2012 (October 26-29) 
- TEDx Toronto (October 26)
- Made By Hand Show (October 27)
- Street Closing Block Party (October 31)
- Corn Mazes in the GTA (October 1-31)
- Cirque du Soleil's Amaluna (October 9-November 4)
- Yonge Lawrence Village Artwalk (October 11-November 1)

- Toronto Chocolate Festival (October 13-November 4) 
- Casa Loma Events: Boo-Tastic Trick or Treat; Ghost Tracking; Dracula - A Love Story (various dates in October and November) 


 
Mid-distance to Toronto
- Guelph Studio Tour (October 12-14)
- Waterford Pumpkin Festival (October 12-14)
- Hamilton Fall Garden & Mom Show (October 19-28) 
- Birtch Farms Pumpkin Festival (October 20-21)
- Haunted Harbour (October 25-27) 
- Halloween Marsh Monster Mystery (October 27)
- Howells Pumpkin Farm (October 1-31) 


Far from Toronto
- Saunders Farm: Days of Fall-tastic Fun or Nights of Terror (October 1-31) 

Howells Farm Pumpkinfest

Fall Into Nature: Scavenger Hunt at Hilton Falls

Fall Into Nature: Cable Car Ride Up the Hill at Kelso Conservation Area

Pumpkin Patch at Birtch Farms

Corn Maze Fun

Halloween Street Block Party at Church Street

September Events 2012

Summer is over but the weather is still very nice for outdoor activities.

Check them out by clicking on each event!

In Toronto
- Toronto International Film Festival (September 6-16)
- Queen Street West Art Crawl (September 14-16)
- Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival (September 14-16)
- Thornhill Village Festival (September 15) 
- Vietnamese Lantern Festival (September 15)
- Fortune Cooking Food Festival (September 16)
- Korean Harvest Festival (September 15-16)
- Fall Home Show (September 20-23)
- The Word on the Street Festival (September 23)
- Ontario Science Center Free Community Day (September 23) 
- Canada's Baking and Sweets Show (September 28-30)
- Scotiabank Nuit Blanche (September 29-30)
- Pedestrian Sunday Festival in Kensington Market (September 30)
- Soupalicious (September 30)
- Toronto Underground Market 1st B-day (September 30)
 
 
Mid-distance to Toronto
-  James Street Hamilton Arts Supercrawl (September 14-15)
- Doors Open King Town (September 15)
- St. George Applefest (September 15-16)
- Uxbridge Studio Tour (September 15-16)
- Ocala Winery Harvest Festival (September 15-16)
- Doors Open Waterloo Region (September 15)
- Doors Open Haldimand County (September 15)
- Hills of Erin Studio Tour (September 15-16, 22-23) 
- Savour Stratford Culinary Festival (September 21-23)
- Durham Savour the Season Festival (September 12-23) 
- Niagara Wine Festival (September 21-31) 
- Uxbridge Celebration of the arts: ART Happening Street pARTy (September 22)


Far from Toronto
- Native Festival (September 15-16)
- Wild for the Arts (September 15-16)
- Door Open Quinte West (September 15)
- Hike Haliburton Festival (September 20-23)
- Muskoka Autumn Studio Tour (September 22-23, 29-30)

Nuit Blanche - Interactive Landscape Dune

Nuit Blanche - Japanese Tea Ceremony

Nuit Blanche - Fireflies

Nuit Blanche - Circulatory System

Nuit Blanche - Swan Lake

Nuit Blanche - Endgame

July 2012 Events

Busy with online courses, not a lot of time or motivation to update this blog :P I have decided to give monthly instead of weekly updates/suggestions. And then update as I come up with more ideas.

So far for this month:

Food Festivals 

- Ribfest (June-August)
- Summerlicious (July 6-22)
- Taste of Lawrence (July 6-8)
- Night It Up! (July 13-15)
- Taste of Thailand (July 14-15)
- Lobster Lovers Festival (July 19)
- T & T Waterfront Night Market (July 20-22)

- Hot & Spicy Festival (July 20-22)
- TO Food Festival (July 29)

Other Festivals

- Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (July 6-8)
- Lavender Festival (July 14-15)
- Farm Crawl Hamilton (July 14)
- Beaches International Jazz Festival (July 20-29)
- Live Green Toronto Festival (July 21)

Click on the title of each event to see more details.

Have a great summer everyone! Stay cool! 

Bears love the purple lavender fields! Hard to believe this place is just 1 hr drive from Toronto!

Your typical summer street/food festival. There's almost one (or more than one) per week in Toronto.

Your typical outdoor food selling booth at a night market festival . A variety of multicultural cuisine and snacks are available. Some work till late nights which is atypical in Toronto.

Outdoor art exhibition. All FREE!

  

Spelunking @ Warsaw Caves

A few weeks ago I went spelunking (aka caving) with my friends at Warsaw Caves, which are located near Peterborough (about 2 hrs drive NE of Toronto). The area has multiple caves to explore, and some caves are even connected to each other. It sounded very interesting until I looked at some reviews of the site and they made it sounds like a really hardcore sport! "Clothes may get dirty, torn... you may get bruises from crawling and climbing... there's no 'walk-in' caves..." So taken their advice, I got myself prepared with headlamp (bought from dollar store), gloves, long sleeves unwanted clothing, bug spray, running shoes... the only thing I didn't bring was the helmet.

Anyways, the caving part turned out to be ok (once you get the guts to go in as some opening are quite narrow and steep). The headlight was useful because it really was dark inside, and gloves were essential as well because your hands would be grabbing rocks around you for support to go up/down. Thin long sleeves clothing was a smart idea to stay away from dirtying/scratching your arms and from the mosquitoes... which turned out to be more of a problem than the caving itself (bug spray is a must!). We went near the end of May but probably it'd be nicer to cave at end of April/beginning of May or in autumn so that the weather would be cooler and less mosquitoes around. But once you got inside the caves, it's quite cool down there. Also try not to go after a rainy day because the rocks can be slippery to climb.

But caving was definitely an interesting experience! The caves were actually bigger than I thought (originally I thought you'd have to duck and crawl a lot inside and maybe bending arms and legs to fit inside). This closed caving was different than open caving at Greig's caves at Bruce Peninsula or Scenic caves at Collingwood. Too bad we didn't stick around to see the "kettles". Will definitely go caving again in the future!

Southern Georgian Bay Waterfall Tour: Day 2-3

curry salmon sandwich

trout omelette

Honey house with homemade honey

local art gallery, featuring local landscape

Walters Falls

Marshy highland

Inland lake

McGowan Falls

Beautiful Sunset at Stoney Island CA

Overlooking Lake Huron, lots of pebbles and clear water

Steak/mushroom pizza + seafood pasta

Before a long day of driving, we ate brunch at a French cafe called Cafe Chartreuse in the town of Collingwood. We got the sandwich + soup combo as well as the homemade omelette. Nothing special about the potato+leek soup, but the curry salmon sandwich and the trout omelette were unusual choices and exceptionally delicious! After that, we visited the honey house and a local art gallery called the loft in a nearby town. Next we went to Walters Falls which situated right beside an inn. It's mentioned that some wedding pictures was taken here. On our way to the next waterfall, we passed by some interesting landscape, including a marshy-flooding highland and many wind turbines. Our last waterfall is called McGowan Falls located in Durham CA. It's relatively wide and flat but the water flowed very rapidly. We ended the day with waiting for sunset at the Stoney Island Conservation Area overlooking the shoreline of Lake Huron. Fortunately we made it in time and it was a clear, sunny day. Hence, the sunset was magnificient!!! It was a long drive back to the hotel, so we ate a brief dinner at Boston Pizza. 

Spa Bath Passes :)

Blue Mountain Village... there's still some snow visible on the mountain!

Wild Wings

Ridge Runner Mountain Coaster

Giant chocolate chip cookie :D

Sunset Point Park

The last day consisted of relaxing at the Scandanavian Spa at Blue Mountain. I had to say one of the hot baths was too warm for the day! Then we ate lunch at the Blue Mountain village's Wild Wings. There were so many flavours to choose from, but our pick was texas honey (honey + maple sauce). Unfortunately it was raining and we could not try the new roller coaster styled ride at Blue Mountain. Before we left the village I bought a chocolate chip cookie at the Royal Majesty Espresso Bar Bakery, it was very big, thin, and crispy! I also wanted to try their butter tart too. Before driving back to Toronto, we made a stop at Sunset Point Park in Collingwood, which had an Inukshuk, an amazing shoreline, aqua waves, and a lighthouse from afar. It was noted in a local magazine this would be the best place to capture the perfect sunset in Collingwood.

Southern Georgian Bay Waterfall Tour: Day 1

Northwinds Beach

Weaver's Creek Falls

Jones Falls

Jones Falls

Owen Sound Shoreline

Indian Falls

During the Easter break this year, we went on a trip to the Southern Georgian Bay area. First stop was the Northwinds beach in Collingwood, overlooking the shoreline of Georgian Bay (clear water with pebbles). Next stop was the Weaver's Creek Falls which was located inside Harrison Park, but we somehow could not locate the waterfall (disappointing >.<). After that, we went on to look for Jones Falls in Pottawatomi Conservation Area. After a short hike through the woods, we heard water and saw a waterfall... but when we turned around, we saw an even bigger one on the other side of the cliff. It was breathtaking!!! During the drive to our last waterfall of the day, we came across Owen Sound/Georgian Bay shoreline, and again, the view was magnificient! Finally we reached Grey Sauble CA just before sunset, and had to hike through a very rocky path and a steep slope to get to Indian Falls. The waterfall looked like a bridal veil :) We finished our day with a delicious meal at the Oliver & Bonacini Grill at Blue Mountain, with tuna tataki salad, sea scallops & red wine braised oxtail, and soma gelato (lemon sourcream & pumpkin pie) ^_^

 

Weekend of Apr 13-14

Thinking about what to do this weekend? This is my pick:

Green Living Show
Apr 13-15
Direct Energy Center @ Exhibition Place
Bring an electronic waste (e.g. mouse, keyboard etc.) for FREE admission!
(Regular admission costs $15)
http://www.greenlivingonline.com/torontoshow/
Perfect show for anyone who is eco-conscious, from products to food

Another possibility is going to view the cherry blossom in High Park, but the weather forecast doesn't look good for this weekend (rainy). Best to view would be on a sunny weekday (much less people). From my previous experience, it's extremely difficult to find parking there during the weekend. But if you have never been there, it's worth the trip... the sakura road is amazing :D

Weekend of Feb 18-20

Family weekend is coming up, so what're the picks for this long weekend? Let's see...

Canadian International Auto Show

New car, exotic car, classic car, eco-car...

Feb 17-26 @ Metro Convention Center

Cost: $20

http://www.autoshow.ca/index.htm

Free Icefishing Event

All equipment is provided!

Saturday February 18, 10am-2pm
Chemong Lake at BEL Rotary Park in Ennismore, ON
Note: Park at Chemong School or Causeway Christian Assembly and shuttle to site

http://clearvieworganizing.com/22.html

Ghost Tracking at Casa Loma

Hosted by the Renowned Ghost Trackers Michelle Desrochers and Patrick Cross, participants get to walk around the castle in search of ghost sightings. Everyone will gather at the end of the night to share stories and photos.

Sunday February 19, 7pm @ Casa Loma
Pre-registration is required
Cost: $28 + Tax

http://casaloma.org/Seasonal/


Snowman Mania

Enjoy activities such as Chili cook-off, Bingo Pancake Breakfast, Skating, Skiing, Tobogganing, Snowshoeing, Snowmobile, Poker, Dance, and Fireworks!

Feb 16-20 @ Wasaga Beach

http://www.snowmanmania.com/


Winterlude at Gamiing

Time for snowshoeing, skiing, skating, kicksledding, trail bingo and hot refreshments.

Monday February 20, 11am - 5pm
Gamiing Nature Centre, 1884 Pigeon Lake Road
15km south of Bobcaygeon and 19km east of Lindsay
Admission by donation

http://www.gamiing.org/index.php?nShow=34

Wish you a happy family day with your loved ones!