In appreciation for our Harvest Host hospitality, we browsed the farm shop, bought some wine, ciders, fruit, and breakfast. We bought tickets to ride the small train around the farm, taking in the size of the operation.
We left the farm and headed to Hamilton, Ontario to look for biltong at Florence Meats. In case your wondering, biltong is is a form of dried, cured meat that originated in Southern African countries (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia). Various types of meat are used to produce it, ranging from beef and game meats to fillets of meat cut into strips following the grain of the muscle, or flat pieces sliced across the grain. It is related to beef jerky in that they are both spiced, dried meats; however, the typical ingredients of black pepper, coriander, salt, vinegar or other spices for variety may and differ.
With Susan driving, we left Hamilton, and experienced a high volume of traffic on the 401. Fortunately, we had missed the morning rush. The fourteen lanes of traffic moved well along the collectors and express ways, with a few areas of congestion. There were a few times when we were boxed in by heavy transport trucks.
With the city behind us, the roads eventually narrowed into a two lane split highway. We settled down to a steady pace, heading to our destination, following the direction of the Garmin GPS. Previously, we had it configured for the shortest route between two points. This resulted in us taking narrow scenic back roads. Susan was constantly looking at her phone GPS, questioning every turn, and rapidly loosing faith in the Garmin directions.
For our collective peace of mind, I reconfigured it to take the fastest route. The Garmin was giving us steady instructions, we were peacefully following along, until I saw an antenna farm.
In my excitement, the geek that I am, and Susan laughing at me, we missed the Garmin instruction and ended up being rerouted, taking the long way around – again.
After a ten kilometre detour with lots of questions being asked, we finally arrived to visit Susan’s childhood friend Susan and her husband Gord. Yep, two Susan’s – easy to remember their names, but when you call, they both answer.
We had a wonderful evening, talking late into the night, catching up on the years since they had last seen each other. The next morning, we had a lovely breakfast on the patio overlooking a vast forested landscape.
We drove to Canadian Forces Base – Trenton, to visit the National Air Force Museum. The history of flight is amazing, and they had a broad selection of early aircraft to modern day jets. The old technology, using bamboo, wire, and doped cloth contrasting with the new technology of titanium, carbon fibre, advanced electronics, and radar reflecting surfaces.
We left the museum and drove around parts of town, taking in some of the history, then headed out to Roblin Lake at Ameliasburgh. Chloe had a swim at the lake while Gord pointed out the good fishing areas for Large and Small Mouth Bass. I wish our sons could be here to throw a line into these waters – they would have a blast.
Chloe had her first encounter with a harmless garter snake. The snake stood its ground while Chloe’s survival instinct kicked into overdrive, accompanied by lots of skittish jumping and barking.
We returned home, had a lovely BBQ while the two Susan’s spent their last evening talking about old times.