Harvest Cake ingredients (partial)
On the weekend I had friends over for some cake. This meant that I dropped everything and had three cakes ready for 7PM. It was hectic but I am glad I did it. I hope my guests liked the cakes – this (ok, there is more apple pie in another dish) is all that was left:
The cakes were frazzled to reflect my state of mind while making them.
Lately I’ve been thinking about Centrum (a shopping centre in my neighbourhood) and what makes it bike friendly and even more so what makes it bike non-friendly. Furthermore, what would make this a good biking destination.
First of all, I’ve looked at the businesses I patronize and realized that they are in the parts of the mall that are more accessible on foot and bike than the rest of the mall. Whether this is because I can’t be bothered to visit shops that require cars to get to (I don’t think so, I go to Centrum more often by car than by any other means) or that they are the kind of businesses that only appeal to non-active-commuters (is that a demographic???), I can’t tell. In short, I go to the Signature Plaza (grocery store, pharmacy and toys) which is connected to the rest of Kanata through trails and quiet residential streets. I often go the Chapters which, if you can get through the Kanata Avenue/Campeau intersection, is just a short jaunt along a path and wide sidewalk. Finally I go to the City Walk (hairdresser, movies, beer and wine, clothes…) area which is a bit more finicky to get to if you are not comfortable with vehicular cycling.
If I could improve something about Centrum it would be:
1. Intersections leading to the mall – in Eastbound and Southbound directions on Kanata/Campeau intersection the road is too narrow to ride along side the car traffic and, with the right turning traffic, the cyclist has to take the lane to continue going straight (I would even recommend taking the lane to go right, it is so narrow). Westbound and Northbound are not so bad. Kanata/Earl Grey intersection is not too bad, but I tend to take the lane right away down Earl Grey so I can turn into the parking lot which can be a bit of a hassle if the traffic is busy. Admittedly, there might be other, better, ways of getting there but I don’t see it.
2. Non-vehicular cyclists must have one heck of the time getting to the City Walk! I never though of this before since I am a vehicular cyclist, but now that some of our kids are biking we need to come up with a safe route to get there. Frankly, I am stumped.
What kinds of improvements might help:
– MUP along the south side of Kanata Avenue. There seems to be one behind Chapters, but it turns into sidewalk behind Wallmart and then completely disappears.
– MUP along Earl Grey from Kanata Avenue to the little island at the entrance to the City Walk – it would be nice to have another MUP to the other island behind Three Brewers, but one would suffice
I don’t spend much time thinking about using Maritime Way to get to Centrum. I tried biking along it once as an experiment and, though it seems the same distance on the map, it felt boring, long and roundabout. The road felt too narrow and there is an, albeit short, apartment building section with cars parked on both sides of the street that are just asking to door you. On the other hand, this area is still under development and there is still hope that off-road paths will be put in.
Anyhow, if you have an opinion or experience biking or walking to Centrum, please talk to me about it, especially if you don’t bike or walk there but would like to. I’d love to hear about this from another point of view.
Edit: So there is a no-lane-taking way to get to City Walk – from Maritime Way go straight down Lord Byng Way and then either ride in front or the back of Future Shop / Home Outfitters strip to the City Walk parking lot. Also we checked out Maritime Way and it is actually rather wide but it feels narrow for biking since there are no lanes on pavement whatsoever. Should be fixed in the future.
There is still about a meter of snow in our front yard, but the temperature is above zero and threatening to stay that way. The kids have done their last ski of the season and I have the (probably) last xcountry session scheduled for tomorrow. This was a tough winter temperature wise, but it was amazing for winter sports.
We have completed another lovely Vermont getaway. We stayed at the Killington resort and took the K1 gondola ride (ticket was part of our package) our first morning there. The boys were enamored with the gondola and it took quite a bit of convincing to let us walk down the mountain rather than take the gondola back.
Despite both Chris and I being in good shape, the descent left us sore. I guess we need to exercise the descent muscles more! We went swimming in the afternoon which gave us plenty of opportunity to stretch out and relax.
The next morning we visited a farm and a corn maze followed by the most beautiful hike to see the White Rocks Icebeds Trail.
By now, the boys have fully acclimatized to the mountains and there were absolutely no complaints. In fact, Trevor was so excited and happy to have done the hike he thanked us for taking him on it!
On the last day we headed to Woodstock and hiked the Mt. Tom trail.
This trail consisted of a series of switchbacks which the boys particularly enjoyed.
We made it to the first major lookout and were not able to leave until we promised Trevor that we will come back in a few years and do the full hike (the trail gets more steep and technical past that point).
We headed home later than we usually do and hit a major delay at the border. Though the two hours we waited were kind of fun, Owen and Markus competed to sit in my lap whenever we were parked, next time we will either take an extra vacation day or go through Ogdensburg to avoid the rush of Quebecers returning home at the last minute.
Overall this was a great little holiday. While the colours were not as vibrant as last year, the weather was considerably warmer and, with Markus in the backpack and with Owen becoming a strong walker, we were able to do more challenging and exciting hikes.
Well look at us, we’ve gone on fourth camping trip of this year. Over the years there have been plans for a girls only camping trip. As late as this winter we were talking about a week long (or at least a long weekend) trip to somewhere exotic (Maine?), canoe camping, maybe even biking etc, etc, etc. Once Reality had its say it turned out to be one overnight in the Gatineau Park with all the kids. Well, I’ll take it.
We had picnic and hung out on the beach the first part of the day.
Yes, they could not wait to get their bathing suits on before they got into the water.
The day was perfect for the beach. We even saw a loon or two.
Our campsite was close to the yurt we rented this winter. I was hoping to go and take some pictures I can compare side by side with pictures from this March, but the logistics of camping with three little kids did not allow it.
Chantal built an amazing fire and we roasted marshmallows after supper.
Luisa’s brother lent us the four person tent and it was nice to have extra room. I still only brought three mats and I arranged Owen and Markus on the opposite sides of the same mat once they were asleep.
I must admit that camping when there are at least as many adults as children is much less stressful. In the morning, by the time I had taken each boy to the bathroom, Luisa and Chantal made breakfast and put the campsite away.
Though there seemed to be a lot of people camping when we got there on Sunday afternoon, by evening most people had gone leaving us with only a few families on our stretch of the camp.
On Monday morning we rented a canoe and went to another beach for picnic. Again, pictures would have ben lovely, but balancing a canoe with three kids made the cell phone camera out of reach (I forgot to pack the real camera). I managed to turn on Endomondo for the first part of the trip.
Our campsite as well as the yurt we stayed in this winter are inside the “eye” made by Trail 50 and the other road on the lower part of the map.
We were satisfied with our camping experience and headed home. When we got to Kanata we congratulated ourselves on making use of the last bit of wonderful summer weather as the thunderstorms started. As is the case any time it rains in Kanata, we lost power. Though we managed to not use the camping stove while actually camping, we ended up pulling it out and making the rest of the food we brought with us but did not end up eating in the park.
Kitchen camping party to close the summer!
After a few unsuccessful attempts to locate a powered bathroom I could borrow before bedtime, the power returned in enough time for me to scrub the kids for the first day of school.