Places we have been.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Going-up North of Toronto

We attended a house-warming party last June 28 in Thornhill, north of Toronto. Like any other Filipino gathering, it is an opportunity for me to meet kababayans (fellow-filipinos) and to have Filipino food. When we got to the place, we were greeted by Nang Thelma with open arms. We met the guests and the table full with Filipino dishes took my undivided attention. It was very heart-warming to feel like we're home. I have to mention my favorite among those dishes are the crabs (sautéed in butter, very delicious) and cassava 'lidgid' (cassave 'suman'). It's been a long time since I had it.

We shared a long table at the garden with my cousins Yetyet and family, Joyzen Santoya and husband Dave (who came from Massachussets), Nong Boy and some other guests. We left at around 10:30pm.




The following day Monday, we went for a day trip to the north of Toronto with Joyjen, Dave, Yetyet and family. We started off at 8am from Scarborough and drove up north through the town of Markham. We haven't been in this area before, it seems to be a pretty place. Looking at the landscape and houses around it clearly shows its diversified culture. There was even one which looks like a typical German house. This town is considered as the fourth most populated town in the Greater Toronto area, after Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton. It is also a home to technological companies like IBM, Motorola , Toshiba, Apple and the many more.



We drove further north and later on reached the Cook's Bay which is a part of Lake Simcoe at the Keswick, Ontario. While driving by the lake, I was fascinated with the view and the houses/villas at the water front.





A perfect getaway from the hussle and bustle in the city. It is really a beautiful place. We dropped by the Inn On the Lake (http://innonthelake.net/index1.html) but the office was still close. So, we did hang around at the lake side and enjoyed the serenity and the view of the place.




Keswick is a part of the town of Georgina. From there we drove to the town proper to have some coffee and then drove further to the next destination. Driving in the country-side is so much fun. There was a place that looked like Ebeltoft, a place we usually drove in Denmark everytime we go to the beach area. The landscape somehow is similar to some places in Europe.

Peninsula Resort (http://www.peninsularesort.net/Home.php) in Pefferlaw was our next stop. The place was pretty big. They have a boardwalk, a park area, beach area, waterfront cottages, restaurant and river-side patio. It is a nice place to spend holidays with the family. There were few families camping in the park area and some really nice boats were cruising the lake and the river. It reminded me of my nice memories with my childhood friends in my home town Loreto.










Thereafter, we drove to the Point of Mara Resort and Trailer Park (http://www.pointofmara.com/trailer.htm) in Brechin. Though this place is smaller than the Peninsula Resort but it's kind of compact and cozy. It's more of a private place. Certainly, it is a very nice getaway destination for the family. There are camping and trailer areas, as well as waterfront cottages. It offers lots of activities for the family. When we got there it was so windy and a little bit chill hence, the water was rough. No way we could get into the water but some girls were brave enough to go for a swim. If time permits, I would love to stay in this place for a few days to get-away from the busy and noisy environment in the city.









By then, it was past lunch time. We decided to have a Japanese late lunch, so we drove back to Toronto. Yetyet's husband Alain took us to Maison du Japon in Woodbine Avene, Markham. It is a fairly good restaurant; nice location, fair ambience, good food but the service was below my expectation. A friendly approach and a smile from the crew would have made a difference.


After lunch. we drove back to Yetyet's home and spend the rest of the evening there with the karaoke session and the seemingly never-ending updates on our family whereabouts after more than 20 years of being out-of-touch.

Posted by: Jernie

2 comments:

Hi ate jernie,

That was really fun! We enjoyed every single minute with you guys...Miss you a lot!!!!!!!!1


YETYET and family

By: Anonymous on Jul 8, 2008, 12:57:00 AM

Hi Yet,

Thanks for your message. I just hope that we could get together again soon with Joyjen. It was really nice, though it was not planned. Thanks a lot to Dave and Joyjen for coming here.

Ate Jernie

By: Anonymous on Jul 8, 2008, 6:33:00 AM

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