03/08: I've Never Been to Meaford .....
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
but now I have. One day when I was looking at a local map I noticed Meaford on the coast of Georgian Bay and realized that I had never been to Meaford and neither had Ed. Driving the Miata our first stop was Ellen and Rob's cottage. We dropped Zaph off and in the sports cars (our Miata, their TR6) drove to Meaford. A new rule has been instituted .... first we drive to our destination then the geocaching can begin. A good thing we instituted this rule because I messed up the lunch plans and we would have starved if we had stopped to look for geocaches on our way to Meaford. In retrospect it was good that I messed up lunch as we had the best fish and chips from a vendor by the harbor --- they were so good that I plan on eating fish and chips the next time we good to Meaford and there will be a next time. In fact the entire day ending up being filled with wonderful things we "lucked" into such as the book sale. The local library has use of an old building where they sell used books (50 cents for paper backs and a dollar for hard cover). The books come from the library or are donated. Yes, we bought a number of books.
In the distance we saw white things sticking up in the water, on closer observations using the telephoto lens and the cameras magnification we were able to determine that there were a lot of sailboats sailing close together. When we got to the harbor we were told that it was a sailing regatta.
Meafords beautiful harbour.
Not sure why people have the need to leave graffiti everywhere.
Meaford has a number of geocaches. One of them took us to Beautiful Joe Park. This park is in honor of "Beautiful Joe" a mixed breed dog and Margaret Marshall Saunders who wrote a story about him in 1893. Beautiful Joe was originally owned by a local Meaford man, who cruelly abused the dog to the point of near death, and even cut off his ears and tail. Walter Moore, rescued the dog in 1890 from what likely would have been a violent and painful death. Margaret Saunders, of Nova Scotia, learned of the story when she was visiting her brother in Meaford. She returned home and wrote a best seller. The park has memorial sites for police dogs, a rescue dog who perished at the world trade center in 2001 and pets. The park exists to help promote a more human world. The photo is of the memorial for the dog that perished in 2001. The cross was cut from a beam of the New York World Trade Center.
Another geocache was located on this tank at the old Legion building.
The rule is after we have found ten geocaches we can stop at Dairy Queen. We stopped for our reward after only finding six geocaches but did plan on finding four on the drive back to Rob and Ellen's cottage. This little guy was out ride on the motorbike.
We pulled over on the side of the road to find a geocache. Rob and Ellen recognized the place to be Morland Gardens where some of their daughter's wedding photos were taken. The sign said the gardens were open so we stopped for a visit. There are acres of gardens and a hedge maze. We'll need to come back when the flowers are in bloom and when we have more time to explore the gardens.
We started chatting with a fellow and it turned out he was the owner of the property. After a bit of a chat he offered to show us the stone portion of the house. In the 1970s the current owner built the "stone manor house" addition for his mother.
There is a room on either side of the door, it is two stories tall with a Belvedere yielding wonderful views. All of the rooms are filled with antiques.
The circular stairs were amazing.
Just a couple of hundred yards down the road from Morland Gardens we stopped and found the tenth geocache of the day. As we pulled up to a sign that was at the specified co-ordinates, we spotted the cache. Just love the easy ones.
After a hurried but very good pork tenderloin dinner we walked down to Two Chicks Cafe to hear Danielle Todd. I believe we saw her when she performed at Two Chicks last year. She was great but it was just too cold to stay for her last set.
Even Zaph enjoyed the show.
In the distance we saw white things sticking up in the water, on closer observations using the telephoto lens and the cameras magnification we were able to determine that there were a lot of sailboats sailing close together. When we got to the harbor we were told that it was a sailing regatta.
Meafords beautiful harbour.
Not sure why people have the need to leave graffiti everywhere.
Meaford has a number of geocaches. One of them took us to Beautiful Joe Park. This park is in honor of "Beautiful Joe" a mixed breed dog and Margaret Marshall Saunders who wrote a story about him in 1893. Beautiful Joe was originally owned by a local Meaford man, who cruelly abused the dog to the point of near death, and even cut off his ears and tail. Walter Moore, rescued the dog in 1890 from what likely would have been a violent and painful death. Margaret Saunders, of Nova Scotia, learned of the story when she was visiting her brother in Meaford. She returned home and wrote a best seller. The park has memorial sites for police dogs, a rescue dog who perished at the world trade center in 2001 and pets. The park exists to help promote a more human world. The photo is of the memorial for the dog that perished in 2001. The cross was cut from a beam of the New York World Trade Center.
Another geocache was located on this tank at the old Legion building.
The rule is after we have found ten geocaches we can stop at Dairy Queen. We stopped for our reward after only finding six geocaches but did plan on finding four on the drive back to Rob and Ellen's cottage. This little guy was out ride on the motorbike.
We pulled over on the side of the road to find a geocache. Rob and Ellen recognized the place to be Morland Gardens where some of their daughter's wedding photos were taken. The sign said the gardens were open so we stopped for a visit. There are acres of gardens and a hedge maze. We'll need to come back when the flowers are in bloom and when we have more time to explore the gardens.
We started chatting with a fellow and it turned out he was the owner of the property. After a bit of a chat he offered to show us the stone portion of the house. In the 1970s the current owner built the "stone manor house" addition for his mother.
There is a room on either side of the door, it is two stories tall with a Belvedere yielding wonderful views. All of the rooms are filled with antiques.
The circular stairs were amazing.
Just a couple of hundred yards down the road from Morland Gardens we stopped and found the tenth geocache of the day. As we pulled up to a sign that was at the specified co-ordinates, we spotted the cache. Just love the easy ones.
After a hurried but very good pork tenderloin dinner we walked down to Two Chicks Cafe to hear Danielle Todd. I believe we saw her when she performed at Two Chicks last year. She was great but it was just too cold to stay for her last set.
Even Zaph enjoyed the show.