For our first camping trip in the New West in 2016, we created an itinerary that took us around Lake Ontario, allowing us to visit family and friends as well as visit a much-anticipated park. Overall, we had a great time, but it was also the Trip of the Lost and Forgotten Things (we will explain).
Nous sommes partis en retard après avoir cherché la doudou préférée de Julianne pendant environ 45 minutes. Elle avait simplement disparue! Tellement bizarre... Notre voyage ne commençait pas bien. Notre premier arrêt a eu lieu à Kingston: nos amis Scott et Natasha ont bien voulu nous héberger pour la nuit. Nicolas et Julianne ont eu droit à un souper de hamburgers cuits sur le tout nouveau fumoir de Scott, alors que Katrine est allée à une activité de Jeu d'évasion avec Natasha, suivi d'un souper Indien. Avant de partir le lendemain matin, Julianne s'est dégourdie les jambes sur le trampoline. Malheureusement, nous avons laissé les poupées de Julianne, nommées Cappuccino et Coco, à Kingston. Plus de doudou, plus de Coco, ça allait mal!
We left late because we searched everywhere for Julianne's precious blanket that had simply disappeared! The trip was not starting out on the right foot... Our first stop was in Kingston to visit Scott and Natasha and their kids Finn and Aida. They were gracious hosts, as always. Julianne and Nick had a hamburger dinner cooked on Scott's new smoker grill, while Kat and Natasha took off to do an Escape Room adventure and have an Indian curry dinner. In the morning, Julianne got some exercise on the trampoline before we left. We somehow managed to leave Julianne's dollies, Coco and Cappuccino, behind in Kingston. No blanket, no Coco... this trip was cursed!
Nous avons ensuite poursuivi notre chemin vers Toronto. Nous avons été fort bien accueillis pour la nuit chez Ron et Lu, oncle et tante de Katrine. Après un délicieux souper pour emporter du restaurant Thaïlandais Lemongrass, une nuit reposante et un copieux déjeuner (spécialité de Lu!), nous sommes allé visiter Natalie, soeur de Katrine, et son nouveau-né Oliver.
We continued on to Toronto, where we were met with more wonderful hospitality at Aunt Lu and Uncle Ron's house. They have an empty nest now, so plenty of room to stay in the basement. After a delicious Thai takeout meal, Julianne had a nice bath with toys provided by her great-aunt and uncle. We were treated to a Lu special breakfast the next morning and then went to visit Natalie and little Oliver, the newest addition to the family.
Oli is a very sweet, very hungry little guy - the latter quality making his mommy a bit tired sometimes... Though we didn't see Abbie and Simon, everyone is doing well and the renovations are almost complete on the house. Everything looks great!
Après le repas de midi, nous avons repris la route vers Letchworth State Park. Nous sommes arrivé à destination vers l'heure du souper, et avons même pu griller quelques guimauves sur le feu avant l'heure du dodo!
After lunch, we were back on the road to Letchworth State Park in New York State. This park is hailed as the "Grand Canyon of the East", so we were very excited to see it. We arrived around dinner time, but we made sure to roast a few marshmallows before going to bed because Julianne had been talking about doing that since before we left home.
Dès le lendemain, nous avons entrepris de visiter les environs de notre site de camping: Bien sûr le parc situé en face de notre emplacement, mais aussi le sentier Kisil Point, avec son point de vue au confluent de la rivière Genesee et de l'exutoire du lac Silver. Dans l'après midi, Nicolas s'est promené dans les sentiers de vélo de montagne. Lorsque Julianne s'est réveillée de son dodo, nous sommes tous allés courir le long du sentier de mise en forme - tellement amusant! Lors du souper, nous avons cherché notre râpe de fromage sans succès et Nicolas a eu l'idée farfelue de regarder dans le sac de poubelle - une chance que Saint-Antoine lui a suggéré cette idée, la râpe se trouvait là! Notre voyage devenait de plus en plus bizarre!
The next day, we started to explore: Obviously, the park right in front of our campsite was the main attraction for Julianne, but we also took the Kisil Point trail, which looked out on the Genesee River and the Silver Lake outlet. In the afternoon, the girls napped while Nicolas went for a bike ride. Later, we all went for a run together on a Fitness Trail, which was a lot of fun - different stations for different exercises along the way, what a good idea! Dinner involved looking for our cheese grater to no avail, and then Nick got the strange idea to look in the garbage bag and there it was! What a weird trip this was turning out to be!
Notre prochaine journée nous a permis de découvrir d'autres sentiers et points de vue du parc: le sentier des Gorges, qui montre les trois chutes de la rivière Genesee.
The next day took us to the Gorges trail and views of the Lower, Middle and Upper Falls (the three falls along the Genesee River).
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| Katrine devant les Lower Falls In front of Lower Falls |
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| Middle Falls |
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| Upper Falls
Après un bref arrêt dans la boutique du parc pour acheter un toutou pour remplacer bébé Coco, nous sommes allés pique-niquer à Eddy's Tea Table. Katrine et Nicolas ont pu séparément profiter du (bref) dodo de Julianne pour visiter les environs. Oh, et le ballon rouge dans la photo? Nous l'avons oublié exactement à l'endroit où vous le voyez...
We stopped briefly in the park gift shop to buy a replacement stuffed animal for Julianne's precious baby Coco and then had a picnic lunch in a place called Eddy's Tea Table. Katrine and Nick tried to explore the area separately while Julianne napped, but the nap didn't last very long. Oh well. Oh, and see that red ball in the picture? It was forgotten right there in that exact spot...    |
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| Big Bend |
Nous avons complété la journée par une visite du barrage Mount Morris avant de retourner vers notre camping pour notre dernière nuit à Letchworth Park. Ceci est un barrage sec, qui ne retient l'eau que 20% du temps.
We finished the day with a quick stop at Mount Morris Dam (a dry dam that only holds back water about 20% of the time) before returning to our campsite.
We finished the day with a quick stop at Mount Morris Dam (a dry dam that only holds back water about 20% of the time) before returning to our campsite.
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| Julianne très concentrée sur sa lecture avant son dodo Julianne trying to read Papa's book - she is concentrating hard! Sur le chemin du retour, nous avons fait un arrêt chez Suzea, une boulangerie sans gluten (!), puis au vignoble Deer Run, où nous avons pu déguster des vins locaux délicieux. On our way back towards Canada, we stopped at Suzea's, a gluten-free bakery (!) run by an expat Canadian and at Deer Run Winery, where we tasted local wines served by the loveliest woman who was in love with "Ju-Ju", as she called her. |
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| Nos achats! Our purchases! |
For our last night of camping, we stopped at a park that we have visited before - Wellesley Island State Park, just before the Canadian border, in the Thousand Islands region. Julianne remembered the nice park that is located there.
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| De la pluie pour notre dernier matin! Rain on our last morning! |
Mise à jour: Nous avons trouvé la doudou (gros mystère, nous l'avons trouvé sur un bac de recyclage au cours de danse de Julianne le matin du 13 mai??) et les parents de Katrine ont récupéré les poupées de Julianne en allant au chalet de Ron et Lu en Ontario, donc tout est bien qui finit bien.
Update: We have found Julianne's blanket (so strange, we find it draped over a recycling bin at her dance class this morning, May 13th?!) and Kat's parents retrieved Julianne's dollies during a visit to Lu and Ron's cottage in Perth this weekend, so all is well that ends well.
Update: We have found Julianne's blanket (so strange, we find it draped over a recycling bin at her dance class this morning, May 13th?!) and Kat's parents retrieved Julianne's dollies during a visit to Lu and Ron's cottage in Perth this weekend, so all is well that ends well.
