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| Prince of Wales Hotel, Niagara-on-the-Lake |
It started out rocking – literally – to the sound of fireworks on July 1 – Canada Day. We have often been away on the boat for Canada Day and so haven’t always been able to take in the fireworks. This year, my husband, Gord, and I spent the Canada Day long week-end soaking up the history of the War of 1812 – we are ardent history buffs and seldom does a trip go by without learning something new from the past. For all of you Ontarians, you know that the very heart of the War of 1812 history is Niagara-on-the-Lake.
We camped at Bronte Creek for the first time. What a great little provincial park – it is smack dab in the middle or suburban Oakville, but feels far away from the cars and the cares of urban living. We took our bikes and enjoyed a glorious day on July 1, doing an 18 km bike along the Niagara River between Niagara-on-the-Lake and Queenston.
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| Biking the Niagara Parkway |
The view of the river is spectacular but there was something even more fascinating. If you haven’t been to Toronto, or to Canada, you may not know that Toronto is the most diverse city in the world. You can find people and food from virtually every country on the globe and we discovered that new Canadians love Canada Day!! All along the Niagara parkway, there is extensive parkland for picnicking. Over the years, we have often seen couples or small families resting and enjoying this serene space. But on July 1 there wasn’t a picnic site available as Canadians from all backgrounds enjoyed large family get-togethers – celebrating both the people and the country that they love – it inspired our own family barbecue 2 weeks later.
We also discovered that tens of thousands of people descend upon Niagara Falls on July 1! Gord and I have been there hundreds of times (or at least it feels like hundreds of times!) but had never, ever encountered anything quite like July 1. It was all we could do to get the truck down to the end of the parkway past the falls – craning our necks to catch a glimmer of a rainbow in the fine mist of the Horseshoe Falls. This was where we had planned to watch the fireworks – us and what seemed like almost everyone else in Southern Ontario - we couldn’t even consider becoming enmeshed in the crowds – even every tacky tourist place on Clifton Hill was busy J
So, back to Niagara-on-the-Lake for us, and back to the War of 1812. It wasn’t easy to find someone willing to tell us where the fireworks were being held, but someone finally took pity on us tourists and shared the top secret location – Fort George. The fort was the primary Upper Canada defence from the attacking Americans and was directly across the Niagara River from American Old Fort Niagara. It was during the Battle of Queenston Heights that famous British General Isaac Brock died in action – there is a huge monument to Brock in Queenston and one of my mother’s crowning achievements was walking the 235 spiral steps to the top of the190’ monument to take in a spectacular view of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario.
Fort George really did seem like a top secret location – the crowd was almost entirely made up of locals and they all had their favourite “spot”. Blankets that started out as ground cover quickly became wrapped around entire families as the evening air became chilled. There was a great band and the Fort George Fife and Drum Corps (summer students in full regalia) to entertain us until the sky had darkened enough to show off the fireworks. There is nothing like watching wee ones with sparklers or glow sticks jumping and squealing in anticipation. 
Oh Canada Our home and native land
True patriot love
In all thy sons command
Car ton bras sait porter l’epée
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est un épopée
Des plus brilliants exploits.
God keep our land glorious and free!
Protégera nos foyers et nos doits.
Oh Canada we stand on guard for thee.
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