A FEW OF OUR FAVOURITE THINGS

What, no Big Apple? No Weber's? No Giant Muskoka Chair?

My request for people to write in with their five places visitors to Canada should see before they die, and the five places in Ontario, has been getting some nice responses. SO KEEP IT UP, FOLKS!

We’ve had some interesting choices, which is exactly what we wanted. Lots of folks checking things like Niagara Falls and Gaspe and Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland, which is awesome. And some folks have been admittedly heavy on local sights, including a couple folks on our facebook site who chose Yonge and Dundas Square and the Hockey Hall of Fame as favourite spots.

 

What’s interesting is the giant, tacky souvenir choices. One person singled out the Big Nickel in Sudbury as a spot to see, while another listed the giant goose in Wawa. It’s only a matter of time ‘til we get the Big Apple from Highway 401 (they’re opening another one near Orillia, we’ve seen by our recent travels). Personally, I love the big Muskoka chair on the way into downtown Gravenhurst. My wife was actually disappointed when we went into town the other way last summer and bypassed the chair.

In a weird way, it’s a valid point. We all look for small signposts or things along the way to mark our passage on familiar journeys. I love the first glimpse of Lake Couchiching on my way up north, the first big rock cuts on the side of the highway, Weber’s (of course), the Hillbilly campsite and the Muskoka store south of Gravenhurst. Sadly, the old Junkaroo Bargain Centre is no more. But we still have the llamas and sheep outside Big Curve Acres. But we digress. The point is Ontario has a few giant souvenir spots. But it’s yet another area where this province and country needs to pull up its knee-highs.

The Aussies, not surprisingly, take great delight in such tourist bric-a-brac. Entire books have been devoted to Down Under kitsch, including giant lobsters and giant prawns and even a giant banana (no doubt the subject of the occasional sexually-motivated photo) and a giant avocado (not nearly as colourful but think of the guacamole you could make). There’s even a giant mosquito that one web site insists is called Ossie the Mossie, and, to quote the brilliant Dave Barry, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP.

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Anyways, thanks for the entries, folks, and let’s keep adding to our list of places to see before we go.

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THAT’S GONNA BE SOME KINDA TOLL

Spotted in the Star Travel department’s in-box the other day was a note headed: The Galapagos by land.

Wow, that’s gonna make the bridge to PEI look like child’s play, ain’t it? Either that or the people who built the Chunnel from England to France are looking for new work.