I live less than an hour away, but somehow in all my decades living in Toronto I’d never slowed down enough or taken the time to admire north Durham Region. That’s a mistake I won’t make again. I visited recently over two days and found beautiful art and pottery places, sipped some of the goods at a tasty cider operation, witnessed a truly amazing bit of historic architecture, and enjoyed a nice visit to the Lucy Maud Montgomery Manse, as well as a tremendous play about Montgomery’s time living in the region. I was extremely impressed by the creativity and Read more
literature
A historic home once lived in by one of the world’s greatest writers. Fabulous food. Great, local wines. And wonderful, walkable downtowns. The Tri-Valley region of California is not only easy to enjoy, but easy to get to. The valley is roughly a 45-minute drive from downtown San Francisco, and easily reached on the Bay Area Rapid Transit System. It’s not an area that gets a ton of publicity, but that’s what makes it so much fun to explore. I grew up about 10 minutes from the area, and a post at the daily Tri-Valley Herald was my first newspaper Read more
Canadians don’t hear a lot about the Gold Rush country of the Sierra Nevada foothills, but it’s a marvellous part of California, with pine-scented hills, great driving trips, fantastic wineries and fun towns such as Angels Camp, Murphys and Sonora. Ironstone Vineyards is a popular winery in the Sierra foothills in Murphys, California. The vineyards turn lovely shades of yellow in the fall, as you can see in the photo above. The floral displays at Ironstone Vineyards are part of the draw. They have a small deli making good sandwiches and soup, and the wine shop/wine tasting room is a Read more
