July 24th and July 25th 2010 were the days to hop into your cars, vans, motorcycles and head out to the county to create your own adventure! My daughter and I had a wonderful time wandering in and out of a variety of venues along Essex County rd 50.
25 different business along this route opened up to the public to showcase the variety of home grown quality produces and services available to everyone. We had the opportunity to taste wine, food, and music, to feast our eyes on gorgeous handmade jewelery, and indulge in a little bit of self care!
Our first stop was
Klassen Blueberries, where my lovely little 4 year old chose
chocolate icecream instead of their blueberry pie or milkshakes! Head out there sometime to pick your own to eat, freeze or bake with.
The ice cream bowl was licked clean and off we went map in hand! *Everyone who participated was given a map and a passport. At each stop you got your passport validated and after 5 validations, you got to tuck it into a ballot box for a chance to win one of the prizes donated by the businesses.
I was blown away by Viewpoint Estate Winery, our next stop. I sampled some award winning wine, and ate the best darn sandwich this side of Lake Erie! They have a patio that made me want to sit and sip wine all afternoon, looking directly out over our Great Lake. Check out their
web page here, and take a peek at their menu and honestly, GO EAT THERE!!
This is going to be a longer post than I usually do! Stick around, you'll be glad you did.
So, we snacked, had a bit of wine, gaped at the view and the fact that all this time I had NO IDEA there was such a magical place around here! Just go. You'll love it.
My daughter, was in charge of the map and kept begging to get to the the next stop on our journey, because she recognized the name of a plant we have in our garden.
Serenity Lavender! Pst...they're on Facebook, too! A nice taste of lavender tea, and the calming scent of lavender kept us hanging around the cute little roadside stand. Take a peek at these products - I could have spent my whole afternoon there, just thinking about all of the long hot relaxing baths I could take using their products. Seriously, check out these pictures below, you'll see what I mean!
We thought we were headed to our last stop along the route, but we got seriously sidetracked!
LLLR Designs had my wee one's eyes gaping open and the 'pleeeeaasssee mommy's!' were turned on full speed ahead! You can reach Linda at (519)738-3294 .
See what I mean, my kid couldn't keep her hands off the beautiful glass creations!
It was a hot day, and we were getting ready to indulge a little. Off to
R&R Studio and Spa! You can find them on facebook, or you can call them and book an appointment for a hair treatment, massage therapy or reflexology. Maybe Tammy would even let you wander around in her gardens - G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S. Tammy was holding a raffle to raise funds for the NICU at Met in Windsor - a place that is home to the hardest working group of nurses and doctors around. The prizes donated were fantastic, too bad I didn't win anything! Ah, there's always next year, and who can complain when you're giving to such a good cause?
R&R Studio and Spa hosted a garden party that afternoon, welcoming visitors to massage and reflexology for only $1/minute! As well,
Rosemary Heenan worked hard at Hand Analysis - apparently my daughter is very similar to me. I wonder if anyone who knows us would say the same. *wink* It's true! Oh! And there was some yummy Epicure Spice taste testing going on. Little Miss will tell you without a word of a lie that the taco chips were the best part of her day.
See what I mean about the gorgeous garden? There were other practitioners there in the garden, but I had a tired gal along with me, and our skin was getting quite pink from the sun, it was time to head on home.
If you missed the event - you missed out! But, I have a feeling that when it rolls around for it's second annual event - you'll be there.
Peace,
Lee-Ann
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