Cheap Things to do in Southern Ontario - Part I

Dave and I have often Googled things to do in our area, and come up empty.  No one seems to care about spreading the word of the hidden secrets in our vicinity that don't cost much money.  So, being as how we are also usually broke, as you might be, I am pleased to present to you the beginning of a semi-regular installment, detailing for you what might be little known treasures in Southern Ontario.

Conestogo Lake

About 30 minutes from Kitchener and located near a town called Dorking, is the Conestogo Lake Conservation area.  It costs $4.25 per adult for a daily admission into the parks.  Being my first time there, I was surprised at how pretty it was, in comparison to some other conservation areas that I have had the fortune of visiting.

In the picture below, you can see the beach, which is mostly sand but is a tiny bit rocky in the shallow areas.  It isn't very wide along the water, but the sand goes pretty far back from the water, providing lots of room for families, even on holidays.  In fact, it was the Labour Day Monday that we went and it wasn't at all cramped.  The area is surrounded by grass, trees, and rocks, with picnic tables and barbecues.  There is a playground for the kids, and to the left of the beach area is a boat launch ramp and a place to rent boats.  But I suppose if you are here because you are searching for cheap things to do, that wouldn't be of interest to you.

Also to the left of the beach is a dam which supports a road on top.  Across the lake is what looks to be a bunch of cottages and their private beaches.  So while you are enjoying your cheap beach trip, you can also resent those who can afford to own or rent the cottages.

Once you are tired of swimming and enjoying a rousing game of Backgammon in the sun, you can take a walk along the rocky beach to the right of the swimming area.  Here you will find what looks like the Designated Seagull Exploding Area (there was A LOT of feathers amongst the rocks).  But aside from the feathers there are great views, giant boulders, driftwood, water skiiers and a variety of other nice things... like these tree roots.

Across the street from the park's main entrance, is another entrance to their lower park.  Here you will find what looked to be a very quiet campground, in fact we were interested in looking into it for some future camping of our own.  Otherwise there are some good fishing areas, and the main event, the other side of the dam!  Actually it is pretty cool to see, its so big and ominous looking.  The area is teeming with wildlife, including herons perched atop the dam walls.  There doesn't seem to be any place to swim here.  Even though we didn't venture to the far reaches of the campground, I doubt there is, the shore is lined with large rocks.  As seen below.

~Alysha

ohai...

Okay so this is the second post. I am the other half of this blogging duo right here. This is where you get a brief intro to who we are exactly, as Alysha has rudely neglected to do at all in the first post. Well, it may not be so much that she is rude as she is forgetful and it may be less polite on my part as it is an overwhelmingly nerdy desire to write an "origin story" for us like in a comic book. Whatever.

So, we are a couple who happily co-habitate in a small one bedroom basement apartment. With our 3 children. By children i mean cats. They are Meeshka, Milo and Banks and they are jerks. We've been a family for just over a year now. Basically, I courted (harrassed) Alysha over facebook with charming notes and poignant hand drawn portraits (of my penis) until it flourished into a full blown MSN relationship. Then one day (july 29th 2007 specifically) I showed up at her (now "our") apartment and, uh, moved in. Seriously thats basically how it happened.

Okay so it's not a a very super powered origin story. I mean, nobody was bitten by a radioactive spider or "belted by gamma rays" but love is still pretty awesome, right? And you should see the cats jump! Thats some superhuman action there, though i guess it's technically sub-human.

Ok, well you just wait till you hear the origin story of "THE CLAPPAH!!"

coming soon...

-Dave

Activia Challenge Warning

So today I have started the Activia Challenge. It isn't by choice, the food bank gave us a whole bunch of yogurt that is 2 days past its due date. Dave was eating some and pointed out that it was that special pro-biotic crap, so I actually got a little excited at the thought of having a glowing yellow asterisk around my waist. Dave, rarely being the practical one, mentioned we will have to remodel the doorway, just like in the commercial. We'll cross that bridge when we reach it.

So he ate his yogurt was told me how magically delicious it was, so I was convinced. I had a couple myself. It IS pretty good. It tasted... I don't know... thicker than most yogurts, and I wasn't sure if that could be attributed to its age, or if its made that way to be more filling.

Not 10 minutes after I was done eating it (that process took merely seconds), I had a feeling. A feeling deep inside me. It was then that I realized the waist-asterisk in the commercial was a visualization technique used to show what cramps might look like, were they outside your body.

Bonus: Dave just ate 2 more cups, and wonders if your mouth is supposed to tingle like you have just eaten a whole box of nerds...

For those of you who don't know, those bio yogurts work on your intestines with good bacteria to... well... make you poop.

So they really do work. We are proof.

I just wonder now, who would WANT to take the Activia Pooping Challenge?

~Alysha