We got up and going today at about 8:30. It’s a beautiful sunny day in Owen Sound!
As there’s no breakfast service in the hotel (foiled by COVID once again) we had to go out for breakfast. The closest breakfast spot we could find was a place called Boot and Blade, about a 20 minute walk away. At about 9:15 we set out for the day, first stop: breakfast at Boot and Blade (we later discovered that the strange name of this place was inspired by local hockey teams). It was a good breakfast with the traditional offerings (bacon, eggs, sausage, toast, etc.). We were a little alarmed that no one (except us) in the restaurant was wearing a mask, not even the serving staff, and it was a fairly packed place. The service here was very good, though, and we finished up about 10:30 and started our walk.
We stopped at Owen Sound’s City Hall, as this is where the Tourism board was now located. We talked to a very nice woman there who gave us lots of maps, directions and insider info. We then set off on our walk for the day.
We headed along 2nd Avenue, our goal being the exploration of Harrison Park at the south end of the city. It took a few hours but we toured a lot of Harrison Park. What a beautiful place:
On the way back out of the Park we followed the path to Weaver’s Creek Falls, a pretty little waterfall nestled in the greenery of the park:
It was about 12:40 as we left Weaver’s Creek Falls, so we were thinking lunch thoughts. There was absolutely nothing in Harrison Park in terms of eateries, so we knew we had to get back into town and find somewhere to eat lunch – well, what an ordeal that turned to be. We walked and walked but could NOT find anywhere to eat. The only possibility we found was a really sleazy dump named Jazzmyns – I took a peek in and all I could see were three drunks slumped over their beers at the bar saying “Heeeeeyyyyyyy, come on in!!” – no thanks; we turned and left. We were right beside the Sizzlin’ Restaurant, but we had just been there for lunch the day before, so we wanted to try something different. We then thought we’d try Mudtown Station (which at one time had been the old Owen Sound train station), as it was on the way back to the hotel. We got into line there but they had no space for us, and were only serving large items (i.e. steak, etc.). Vince suggested we reverse our tracks and go to Metro to get some lunch items. We did just that and came away with sandwiches and drinks in hand. We proceeded on the long walk back to the hotel with our food, and FINALLY had our lunch – this whole lunch-seeking escapade wasted well over two hours of our day.
We rested at the hotel for a while (my feet were killing me!), and at about 4:00 we got into the mighty Durango and took a trip outside the town to explore Inglis Falls. Parking was a little steep at $6.00 but we coughed up and paid. The site used to be an old mill and there were still a couple of buildings and two old millstones left from decades earlier when the mill was in production. We spent the next hour exploring Inglis Falls, the grounds and the trails. Interesting place – it’s very pretty here and certainly is quiet:
We got back to the hotel about 5:15 and rested for a while. At about 6:00 we again got into the Durango and went out to the other side of town to have dinner at Boston Pizza (Vince had had a yearning for days for a BP entree). We found BP without a problem (gotta love Google Maps) and had a wonderful meal. Vince had Fettuccini with Chicken and Mushrooms, and I had the Spicy Thai Wrap. I actually ordered dessert this time, and opted for the Apple Blossom. It was quite a wait but worth it…. so good 🙂
After dinner we returned to the hotel without getting lost (again, thank you to the clever person(s) who invented GPS). It was about 7:45 so we stayed in for the evening. We were both tired and sore from several miles of walking today, so we just hung out, read, looked at our daily pictures and planned our next couple of days.
To bed very early (yet again!) tonight. It had been quite a day of walking and exercise.
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