Spent the weekend camping about 40 minutes south of Barrie, Ontario. Our road trip there took us traveling through historic Fergus, near Bellwood, around the outskirts of Orangeville and following the Hockley Valley along Hockley Road to the village of Hockley, through to Loretto. From there we took back roads into Alliston and then headed towards Cookstown. Saw fields of drying soybeans ready for harvest, fields of silage corn being strategically harvested before the frosts come and only just a blush of colour so far in some of the maple trees along the roads. There was some fall colour, here and there, but mainly from goldenrod in bloom and the sumac bushes just starting to take on red hues. Pretty... the contrasts of colours against a beautiful blue sky with a few puffs of white cloud and enhanced by crisp, clear autumn air.

We often see wildlife when we travel through the countryside and this trip was no exception. Along the Hockley Road, not far outside of Orangeville we were startled by a group of wild turkeys that appeared in front of our car and half flew, half jumped across the roadway. A few young ones followed after we'd passed by. The tom in the group was quite large, seeing him helped us realize they weren't pheasant trying to cross the road. Wild turkey are finally begining to re-populate all around southern Ontario, at one time, sighting them was rare. Although they can be noisy and even scary when encountered on the road it's comforting to see them come back strong. Their domesticated cousins wouldn't stand a chance in the "wild" world.

We camped at a place called Nicholston Dam, http://www.new-tecumseth.com/Nicolston_Dam.html situated on the Nottawasaga River, just outside the town limits of Alliston, Ontario. It's a popular place with people who enjoy fishing, canoeing or kayaking. There's also a pool, a hot tub, mini-putt and a fish ladder where fish are being monitored by Ministry officials for salmon and trout reproduction information. The family that operate the park have lived on the property for many generations, since the late 1800's, and the office is an old Grist Mill. There's a camp store with all sorts of curiosities and something people just don't expect - a capaccinno machine - a treat for those of us loving a good jolt in the morning!

I'll admit I'm not one to camp at private parks very often. I prefer provincial parks or wilderness camping. In private parks I often find the sites too close together and too noisy. Also these parks tend to be packed full of trailers which can really take away from a nice view... There were several trailers there this weekend as people were anticipating a big salmon run. But the streams are still a bit too warm and very few salmon were trying their run upriver. Needless to say there were bored and disappointed fishers at the camp grounds.

Our camping party wasn't bored or disappointed at all. My brother cooked up a "drunken chicken" right on the barbeque that came along with the little cabin he rented for $50.00 a night. Drunken chicken is chicken roasted with a can of beer and fresh cut herbs and garlic shoved up inside the bird's chest cavity allowing it to steam from the inside. The completed chicken was tender and juicy and delicious. Not your normal camping fare but my brother just had to try it. Our taste buds were glad he was so determined. The same technique can be used with red or white wine as well as any sort of broth like chicken or vegetable broth. Normally cooked in an oven - if your barbeque is high enough so the bird can stand up - it can be cooked right on a barbeque.

Saturday night was a full moon. The harvest moon at that. It rose large and bright above our campsite around midnight and gave us a soft light to sleep under, but it also washed out the lights from the milky way. The air was cool, normal for this time of year, and we could see our breath condensing as we made our way to the outhouses before retiring for the night. Sleep came very easy once the park settled down. Breakfast, on sunday morning consisted of french toast with homemade strawberry jam, bacon, orange juice and coffee. The cabins include a coffee maker and toaster making quick breakfasts possible.

A side note: I haven't been able to edit my Bookmarks properly and have some bad links there I can't seem to delete. I've mentioned this to our mindsay leaders and hope editing improvement is part of their housecleaning issues as I'd like to get that section back up and running! In the meantime here's the link to the companion poetry site if you missed it before; http://luckydragon.mindsay.com