Tourists in Our Home Province

July, 2011

After being Albertans for 2 years and not seeing family & friends in that time, we decided it was time for a little summer reunion. With our bags in tow, we were on our WestJet flight en route to London, Ontario.

Our first stop was my hometown of Strathroy, now Strathroy-Caradoc, a municipality about 30 mins West of London with a growing population of approximately 20,000. Born and raised here, I have many connections and family to come back to. The reception on arrival was big (family of 10 plus spouses and children is a good party). There were hugs, tears and lots of laughter and of course an abundance of food.

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Because we are such social people and have a large group of friends, we knew it wouldn’t be possible to visit everyone, so we planned a party for everyone to see us in one place at the beach I grew up going to as a child and where Tony lived with his mom and brothers for a few years. Ipperwash Beach is one of the longest fresh water beaches in Ontario. The main beach is located along the shores of Lake Huron in the municipality of Lambton Shores. As a child, it was a Provincial Park until a land dispute with Indigenous members of the Stoney Point band occupied the park to reclaim the land. I had so many great memories coming here as a child. The beach to this day is open to public by the Stony Point band and a beautiful place to spend with family with even a drive on beach as an option and a few amenities including Gators for ice cream treats and good eats as well as clothing and beach apparel on Ipperwash Beach Rd. The shallow shores are an ideal place for children to swim (no Lifeguards) and there are multiple things to do in the area from camping to hiking the dunes and trails. The weather and beach couldn’t have been more perfect that day.

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Our trip wouldn’t be complete without a night out, partying it up and dancing our legs off like we had never left. We had Cellos Nightclub in London reserved just for us and even had our friend DJ Everfresh spin the beats for us. Coincidentally he was the clubs regular DJ at the time so it was perfect.

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We spent a couple of days in London to visit with Tony’s aunt and spend some time relaxing in her backyard oasis and pool. London is a University city (University of Western Ontario ~ UWO) of approximately 400,000+ (2017) people, located just North of Lake Erie within the Quebec-Windsor corridor and just over 2 hours from Toronto. Also known as the forest city for its abundance of trees, nature parks and greenways along the Thames River, the great night life, delicious dining experiences and historical landmarks made this a great living experience for us for the 5 years we lived here before moving west to Alberta.

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Our final week was spent in Tony’s home city of Toronto, the capital of Ontario. Toronto has several beaches along Lake Ontario’s northwestern shore, also know as the Lakeshore. We enjoyed hot and sunny beach days at Ashbridges Bay in the West end, and in the evenings, took in the bright city lights of the downtown core. Toronto is a metropolis of sky scrapers, sports facilities, concert venues, green space, trails and home to the iconic CN Tower and more. We loved being tourists in Toronto on this trip.

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A highlight of our time in Toronto was an amazing day spent at Canada’s Wonderland (Canada’s Disney) with Tony’s mom and brothers. The theme park is located just outside of Toronto in the city of Vaughan and was a childhood past time for all of us at least once every summer. With 17 coasters, an 8- hectare water park and more, it’s no wonder this is a place for every age to enjoy from all over. Great memories made this day.

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So many lasting memories were had on this trip, and it was neat to be a bit of a tourist in our birthplaces and experience all those familiar things from that perspective, but most of all, we enjoyed many conversations, laughs and delicious home cooked meals that were greatly missed. The whole visit was ‘Soulfood” for us but as the saying goes, “all good things must come to an end” and all too soon we were on our way back to Alberta to the new lives we had built for ourselves and home.