Thanksgiving weekend randoms

This first picture is a view of a flooded cranberry field which is being harvested at Johnston's Cranberry Marsh. Next is a view of the water taken from the grounds of WayPointe Mental health centre at Penetanguishene, who knew Canadians provide prisoners with such beautiful views? While we were trespassing on the grounds of this gorgeous park taking pics of the boats on the bay, we were approached by security who were quite forceful in their demands that we are not allowed to take pictures on the grounds. I offered to show him that I was shooting the bay and not the hospital/prison but he was happiest when I said we were just about to leave anyway. a second security car approached us seconds later to ensure that we really were going.
The next photo is a family of Whistling Swans which are being reintroduced to this marshy area near Midland. They have a wonderful trail system nearby and we enjoyed a short hike along a shaded part of the Tay shore trail where we saw lots of people enjoying the day on their bikes.

Next photo is back at the cranberry marsh. We noticed lots of tadpoles and water bugs in the flood waters of the fields but these little minnows were swimming in one of the irrigation ditches. Obviously a healthy water system with all this wildlife.

Finally the picture of the heron that Deb noticed sitting out in the marsh while we were hiking on the Tay shore trail. We also enjoyed hiking in the Wye Marsh but decided that is a return to spot since it was quite wet on the trails and a very hot day so we didn't get as far as we would have if the day had been a little cooler. We were so hot and focused on trying to keep our feet reasonably dry that we didn't even take any pictures. Right beside the parking area was a native village St Marie among the Hurons. It probably would have been interesting to visit but again the day was so very hot that we chose not to bother trying since we would not have liked the heat while trying to watch the actors and checking out the buildings and displays. There was also a seemingly very popular shrine across the street. A huge church high up on a hill with lots of traffic paying to go in and see it. Midland is a busy tourist place with lots to see and do. It is also where we spent Sunday night at the Best Western.

A couple of short videos of the guys harvesting cranberries at Johnston's Cranberry Marsh in Bala. Cranberry harvest was the reason for our trip this weekend however we managed to squeeze in alot more than just this. We did lots of sightseeing, some trail hiking and we checked out many waterfalls along our route.

Johnston's Cranberry Marsh

In the upper pictures you can see the cranberries floating on the surface waiting to be scooped up and also underwater still attached to the plants. Next is the machinery harvesting and dumping the berries into little floating barges. When we found a dry field I wandered in to check out the plants and found them loaded with berries hiding underneath the leaves. The plants are less than a foot high, if that, but lots of berries on each. I think they harvest using water because the leaves and berries float nicely and the water protects the delicate plants during the harvest. They use machinery to dislodge the berries and then harvest by using machinery to scoop them from the surface as I did with the little handful. It is very cool to watch them harvest and a pretty amazing process. It appears that the fields are flooded with about a foot of water which is then drained and used to flood other fields.

Thanksgiving weekend 2011

We drove as far north as Parry Sound. The boat in the harbour and the charter float plane pictures were both taken there. I'm not quite sure where the small dam picture was taken but the nice fall colours on the tree and that OMG bridge we drove across TWICE were both found on a little dirt road in nowhere Muskoka. We were hoping to see some mosse but only found a few deer and lots of ducks and geese. Some of our early morning pics from Sunday didn't turn out so well. I had left the camera in the car overnight and the lens sort of fogged up. Luckily eveything cleared up fine once it got warmed up again. You can be sure I won't do that again!

Thanksgiving weekend 2011

Top left is sunrise on a bay near

Midland. To the right was a nice view taken along a back road in Muskoka. The next two are part of the Bruce Trail and the old mill at Walter's Falls. The final picture here is Inglis Falls. These were all places that we managed to visit while on our long weekend road trip.