With a few days to spare before we had to be in Toronto, my family and I decided to spend a couple of nights camping in Bruce Peninsula National Park. This would not be your  average camping trip, instead we stepped it up and notch and tried out glamping. Bruce Peninsula has ten yurts that available for rent inside the park near Cyprus Lake. While we still didn’t have running water inside the yurt (running water was available at the bathhouse), I still think I may have  ruined my wife from ever sleeping in a tent again.

We had a pretty good amount of rain the first day in the park, but we still managed to hike out to the Grotto and Indian Head Cove along the Georgian Bay Trail and parts of the Bruce Trail. The cliffs and caves of the rugged Georgian Bay coast were impressive, as was the crystal clear water. The rain cleared by evening and we had a beautiful sunset to enjoy while surrounding the fire pit and roasting marshmallows. It was nice to nearly completely disconnected from the outside world for a couple of days.

After a great time at the African Lion Safari near Cambridge, my family and I started our drive north towards the Bruce Peninsula. We didn’t make it far before it was time to stop for dinner. With no dinner plans scheduled we spotted Crabby Joe’s Tap & Grill in Guelph along our route and stopped in for a drink and a bite to eat.

Inside

Crabby Joe’s is an Ontario chain of about three dozen restaurants, started in 1996 and expanding each year. We arrived right at 6pm and found a relatively quiet restaurant, though there were already a few tables full of kids, taking care of their “Kids Eat Free” special on Sundays.

Rickard’s Red

The draft list was full of a few names I’ve never heard of, but looking back it seems that most were likely brands of Molson Coors. I tried the Rickard’s Red, while my wife went with the Rickard’s White. Neither were anything special, though I’m reading that when the Red was introduced in 1984 it was a big departure from the  lager dominated country.

Peppercorn Chicken BLT

For dinner I chose the peppercorn chicken BLT served on a toasted Asiago bun and topped with BBQ ranch ($11.99). I upgraded the standard side of fries to the classic poutine, because Canada ($1.29).  The poutine portion was enough to share with my entire family, so keep that in mind and  you might just one to do one upgrade. Both the poutine and sandwich were fairly good, and I would recommend both.

Edgy Veggie Burger

My wife had the edgy veggie burger topped with goat cheese, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, red onions, arugula, garlic aioli, and a sweet balsamic glaze ($11.99). I didn’t try any of her sandwich but she seemed to enjoy it. Many of her included side of fries ended up dipped into the extra gravy from my plate.

Our service was great despite the young woman telling us that we would be her first unassisted table. The food was good, and the kids ate for free ($6.49 value). We would definitely return, especially on a Sunday.

We made a few stops on our way up to Toronto a few weeks back. The first was a visit to the African Lion Safari  outside of  Hamilton, Ontario and just an hour or so outside of central Toronto. Last year  my family and I went through  northern Ohio’s African Safari Wildlife Park,  and this one is similar to that but even wilder. In addition to the deer, bison, bongo, zebra, and giraffes, the African Lion Safari’s drive through game reserves also feature  African lions, cheetahs, and baboons! There is nothing between your car and any of these animals.

Feeding of the animals is not allowed, though one of the cars in front of us was feeding the baboon bananas causing the group to climb all over our cars. This was definitely the highlight of the drive through safari. Though it was also really cool to see the African lions up close and without a cage blocking the view.

After exploring the game reserves we spent even more time taking in the elephant round-up show, looking at the bird aviaries, petting the goats in the petting zoo, and playing in both the jungle playground and Misumu Bay wet play area. The elephant show featured Asian elephants showing their strength, playing sports, and even making a painting that would later be for sale. As much fun as my kids had seeing the animals, they had as much fun in the play areas, even the wet play when the temperature couldn’t have been more than 65 degrees.

We came for the drive through safari but enjoyed the other aspects of the park just as much. In the end we stayed for hours longer than I initially thought we would. With so much to do it is easy to spend the entire day there.

This past weekend was the fourth annual Bunbury Music Festival. I missed the first year completely due to prior commitments, but I’ve attended at least one day in every year since. Aside from some issues on the first day this year, this year’s fest was probably my favorite to date.

Kid Runner on Sawyer Point Stage

First my favorite addition for this year was the Sawyer Point Stage, which was added adjacent to the permanent Sawyer Point Pavilion Stage. However I still feel that this should  become the main stage, over the currently used Yeatman’s Cove Stage. The reason is simple and I’ve said it before, the Sawyer Point area seems much more conducive to large crowds than Yeatman’s Cove. A large video screen occupied the back of the sound booth for the main stage, but since the space is too narrow views of the stage from the back of the crowd are nearly impossible.

Walk The Moon on Yeatman’s Cove Stage

The lineup for this year was also very good. With The Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, and The Decemberists all playing on the second day, I knew this would be hard to top. But I really enjoyed seeing sets from Father John Misty, Bleachers, and Walk The Moon on the first day. I wasn’t overly thrilled with Sunday’s lineup, but I was still able to catch a great performance from Shakey Graves before leaving early due to the heat.

The Devil Makes Three on Sawyer Point Stage

As I mentioned earlier there were definitely some issues on the first day, all of which were due to the large attendance, which lead to lines for nearly everything. Some friends waited an hour and a half just to get through the main gate. While I didn’t face much of a wait there, our group waited over an hour and half for pizza!  For the second and third day, additional entry gates were opened and I walked right through each day. Water lines were also terrible and something that needs to be addressed for next year, though it was nice they changed the policy for the second and third days to allow sealed water bottles to be brought into the festival.

The Decemberists on Sawyer Point Stage

I’ll be honest and say that the issues on Friday were enough for me to consider making this my last Bunbury, but I was happy to see the organizers make some changes to try to fix the mistakes made. I’ve heard rumors of the festival possibly moving up I-71 to remote locations  between Cincinnati and Columbus, which would offer more space and room for camping. But I really hope that this is not the case. I enjoy the festival where it is, even if that means there are ongoing issues to be worked through.

On our second day visiting Toronto, my family and I found ourselves at the Firkin On Yonge for dinner. The Firkin Pubs chain operates roughly 30 restaurants throughout Ontario. This location is just south of the Yonge-Dundas Square, in the heart of the city.

Inside

The Firkin On Yonge offers two levels of bars and dining sections. A  decent selection on Canadian craft beer is available on tap. I had the Mad & Noisy Brewing Hops & Bolts IPL, while my wife enjoyed the Hop City Brewing Barking Squirrel.

The London Porker

The menu is a solid mix of British style pub food along with a selection of Indian influenced dishes. I had the London porker sandwich with pulled pork, bacon, apple coleslaw, and Keen’s English mustard on brioche bun and a side of fries ($14). I could have used a little more pulled pork on the sandwich, but what I did have was pretty good.

My wife had the chicken curry ($11 small/$16 large), a very solid curry dish over basmati rice, which was  a better choice overall. A kids menu is also offered, making a good place to take the whole family.

After a long day exploring Toronto  I took my family to the Amsterdam BrewHouse for dinner. The location of this restaurant is amazing, right on  Lake Ontario  in the heart of the Toronto waterfront. The space occupies an old boathouse and has a small on-site brewery.

Outside

The inside is very large and offers multiple levels of dining. I really enjoyed the open aspect of the old building and appreciated being able to see into the kitchen and brewing areas. Though the weather wasn’t too nice during our visit, there is also a large outdoor dining area.

Inside

The bar area offers numerous seats and plenty of televisions. I especially enjoyed seeing playoff hockey on every screen, something that you just don’t see back home in Cincinnati. I enjoyed the Boneshaker IPA as well as the Downtown Brown.

So Many TVs

To start our meal we ordered something the entire family would enjoy, including our two preschool aged children, the Boneshaker Cheddar Dip served with toasted pretzel breads and pickled vegetables ($13). The kids enjoyed the pretzels just as much as I did. The pickled veggies were all for me, and they were also very good, though not recommended for dipping.

Boneshaker Dip

My wife and I split the chicken and brie wood oven pizza, which also featured white sauce, mozzarella, smoked bacon, baby spinach, and roasted garlic ($18). The portion was large enough for two and we still had a couple of slices leftover. The slices of brie were very generous and the toppings all paired well together.

Chicken & Brie Pizza

Our entire family had a great visit to the Amsterdam BrewHouse and I would definitely return anytime I find myself back in Toronto.

Last week my family and I drove nearly 1,500 miles up to, through southern Ontario, Canada, and back. My wife  needed to be in Toronto for some work functions for one of the days. Rather than drive up and back over the course of a few days, we decided to make a week of it and check out some of the surrounding areas. I still have to go through the photos on  my DSLR of these  areas, so for now here are some photos from my phone of our days in Toronto.

Lego!

Lego Hockey

Our first destination in Toronto was the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre. Lately Trey has become very interested in Lego, and he loved this just as much as I thought he would. There was also enough to keep Paige, our two-year-old, very busy for a couple of hours. The rides were fun, and we all enjoyed the 4D movie, but their favorite exhibits were hands on building with Lego blocks. I think any kids over the age of ten might start to get a little bored, as most exhibits seem geared towards the young.

CN Tower

Tower View

Later that same day we walked around the downtown area. Since the weather was pretty good we decided to take a trip to the top of the CN Tower. It is a little pricey, but the view from the top is amazing, plus the glass floor is always a treat. While the weather on the ground appeared nice, the wind was really strong at the top. The lower level of the viewing areas are outside, so it was quite thrilling to walk all the way around and feel just how strong the wind could be.

Glass Floor

Rainbow over Toronto

We were treated to a beautiful rainbow on our walk back to our hotel, a great way to end our first day in Toronto. On the second day my wife  had to go into the office, as I mentioned earlier. Trey, our four-year-old, woke up and wanted to see Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, so off we went. I feel like once you’ve seen one aquarium, you’ve seen nearly all of them, but this was a good one to visit.

Ripleys Aquarium of Canada Jellyfish

Nap Time

After a nap, the kids and I decided to explore a little more before mom  would be done with work. So we took one of the streetcars over to the Corktown Common Park. Once we got off the streetcar, Trey immediately picked up the scent of donuts, so we followed our noses to Tim Hortons, before continuing on to the playground.

Tim Hortons

Corktown Common Park

I had only visited Toronto one time before, back when I was in junior high. This time I  visited some of the same sights I did as a child, and some others that didn’t exist back then. There were even some things I did back then  that we didn’t do this time around, but hopefully we can make a return visit to see more. Toronto offers so many things to do, especially for visitors, that you could easily spend a week there and not get bored.

With increasingly busy schedules my wife and I don’t find much time to enjoy a meal without our kids very often. So we recently started meeting for lunch during the work week. Revolution Rotisserie & Bar was our first destination. We had passed by earlier in the week with our kids in tow, but didn’t think there was much on the menu that they’d like to eat. The menu is limited to pita sandwiches all featuring their signature rotisserie chicken, along with a handful of salads and some chicken based specialty plates.

Inside

Upon our arrival on a Thursday for lunch, all the tables were occupied and we were told it would be a ten minute wait.  We let the hostess know that we needed to be in and out in an hour and she was kind enough to pass this along to our server when we were seated a few minutes earlier than the quoted wait time.

George Washington Pita

We had already browsed the menu while waiting for our table and put in our order right away. I went with the George Washington pita sandwich with rotisserie chicken, arugula, feta cheese, red onion, cucumber, tomato, and tzatziki sauce ($8).  With such a Greek influence on the dish, I’m not sure why it is named as it is, but regardless the taste was outstanding!

Nelson Mandela Pita

My wife went with the Nelson Mandela with rotisserie chicken, pepperjack, black beans, corn chips, cilantro, tomato, and chipotle ranch ($8). Again this was a very good sandwich, though I think I’d give a slight edge to Washington’s creation as it seemed to pair best with the pita bread.

Joan of Arc Side Salad

My wife also ordered the Joan of Arc salad as a side ($2) with strawberries, toasted almonds, goat cheese, and raspberry basil vinaigrette. The portion size was very generous and the ingredients were really fresh. I tried just a small bite of the salad and it was excellent.

Tater Tots

For my side I went with the tater tots served with chipotle ranch dipping sauce ($3). The price tag for this side is a little high when compared to the salad.  If you are planning to order two or more sides of tots it might be better to split  the tater tot poutine appetizer instead ($8), which features cheese, gravy, and chicken on top of a generous portion of tots.

The food at Revolution Rotisserie is excellent. Our service was fast and attentive to our needs. I will absolutely be back in the future, though I wish some more kid friendly dishes were on the menu.

It took me quite some time to realize that Hyde Park Gourmet Food & Wine in Hyde Park Square is more than just a boutique grocer. It’s true that the store has an extensive selection of gourmet cheeses, crackers, chocolates, sauces, and not to mention the massive collection of wine, but they also offer quick salads, sandwiches, and soups.

Inside

There are roughly a dozen choices of panini sandwiches, all served on grilled Ciabatta bread. I chose the Hyde Park with turkey and pepper jack ($7.99). The bread was rubbed with an olive oil mix before being pressed on the grill, which added a great flavor to the sandwich. It came served with pretzels or chips and a pickle on the side.

Hyde Park Panini

I also ordered a chicken salad sandwich on rye with choice of lettuce, tomato, onion, sprouts, mayonnaise, mustard, and horseradish sauce ($6.00). I was planning to split the sandwiches with my wife, but I quickly discovered almonds in the chicken salad mix, which I’m allergic to, so my wife ended up with this sandwich to herself, which she didn’t seem to mind. Again this was served with chips or pretzels and a pickle slice.

Chicken Salad Sandwich

Overall the sandwiches were good and were offered for a fair price. As far as cold sandwiches go, it is hard to beat the nearby Carl’s Deli, but I think the panini sandwiches are worth at stop at Hyde Park Gourmet Food & Wine. We took our’s to go and enjoyed them on a bench in the square, or a small patio is available just outside the front door.

Recently there was an article posted by  WCPO’s Jesse Folk asking the question, “Are there too many breweries in Cincinnati?” Most seem to be believe that we are far from the saturation point and I couldn’t agree more.

Jagged Mountain Brewery

I spent the majority of last week on business in Denver. When I moved away from Denver in 2011 there were definitely less breweries in town than there are in Cincinnati now. And now there are over 100 breweries in the greater Denver metro area.

On my first night in town I explored a couple of these breweries in the newly revitalized River North  Art  District. There are currently ten breweries in this one neighborhood, none of which existed five years ago.

River North Brewery

In fact there are so many breweries in the area now that even my friends living in Denver have become a little overwhelmed. There is definitely a long way for Cincinnati to go before I could  become overwhelmed by the choices available.