Review: Maple Sugar Bush, Bruce's Mill Conservation Area

Address: 3291 Stouffville Road, Stouffville, ON L4A 7X5

Today, Dan and I went to Bruce's Mill Conservation Area, one of two locations of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority's (TRCA) Maple Syrup Festival. We both love maple products, so we were excited to go.

When we got there, we had to pay $8 each for admission. I wasn't surprised by this as it was on their website, and the other location (Kortright Centre) also cost $8, but you also had to pay $4 for parking).

Once we parked, we walked down to where the action was. First thing we did was go to the pancake house for breakfast. I expected food to be free/cheap, but it wasn’t. Pancakes and sausage for 2 cost us around $14. The food was good and the pancakes were massive, but that was a bit silly.

Next we went to visit the petting zoo (my favourite thing ever). There were some goats, sheep, a fat pig, a llama, a pony and a donkey. They also had some chickens and a couple of bunnies. I bought a cone of feed and fed some animals and I was happy!

After that we went on a wagon ride. It was really lame. We went around a little loop, and the whole thing lasted less than 5 minutes. We had some time to kill, so we went to the sugar shack and did a little shopping (maple syrup, maple candies, maple butter). It was more costly than I thought, but still cheaper than in store.

The last thing we did was do a tour of the sugar bush, seeing how maple syrup is made.

Showing us how the First Nations made maple syrup.  This is only mildly offensive, right??

However, much to our disappointment, the maple sugar bush is for demonstration purposes only…they don’t make their own maple syrup. This made me wonder what exactly my $8 didn’t really give me much…I got a tiny sample of syrup (produced elsewhere) for my $8.

Overall, it was a pretty disappointing experience (despite having a very fun time with Dan and spending time together). If we go again next year, we’ll try to find a different maple sugar bush to visit.

Men's sledge hockey is amazing!

For two and a half weeks in February, we were inundated with Olympics coverage on all channels.  And I loved it!  Then it all suddenly stopped and I was in major Olympic withdrawl.  No longer did I see people wearing their red mittens from HBC, no longer could I watch people hurdle down an ice slide head-first.   I was quite sad.  

Then the Paralympic games started with little fanfare.  The Opening Ceremonies were broadcast in real time only in BC, and the channels had been broadcasting Olympics 24/7 were back to regularly scheduled programming.  This was quite disappointing to me. 

I've caught video replays of some of the events...our Paralympic Athletes are amazing!!  I can't ski for the life of me, and Brian McKeever can do it while being visually impaired.  And he does it great (enough to have qualified for the Olympic team, only to not be allowed to make history, but whatever). 

The highlight, however, for me so far has been Sledge Hockey.  Yesterday, Dan told me TSN would be broadcasting the Team Canada vs Norway game.  The caveat, of course, was the crappy 11:30pm EST broadcast time (despite having scheduled the team Canada ice hockey at games prime times).  But, I toughed it out (for the first period at least) and IT.WAS. AMAZING.

These guys (and gals, potentially, as they are allowed to play on sledge hockey teams) are amazing to watch.  It is a fast-paced game, where the players exhibit a high level of athletic skill.  There are hits like in ice hockey, and boy, some of this hits are hard.  The shots are great and I can't believe how fast these players make it from one end of the ice to the other using their uper body.

But what makes it even more exciting is seeing on of Thornhill's own on the ice - goalie Paul Rosen.  He's definitely making Thornhill proud.  And the rest of our Paralympic athletes are making Canada proud.

Edit: Sadly, we won't be winning gold, after a heartbreaking loss to Japan (!!!).  But I'm confident we'll still take home bronze. 

GO CANADA GO!!!