Around Kitchener, Ontario--September 7-10, 2012

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Around Kitchener

Friday, September 7 we drove north-east through the countryside looking at prosperous farms, neat looking villages/towns to the Grand River Casino and Raceway that sits in the middle of nowhere. They advertised a huge buffet dinner at trackside. Unfortunately, we should have made reservations, as they took only a limited number of customers even if it was a buffet. So, looked around and got some food from a canteen type place and then watched the trotters race. We then sat outside and bet on a few races. I lost all. Valerie won a few. Ontario is trotter horse country with the Mennonites using so many carriage horses they are bred, raised, and trained in this province.

Although we had planned to attend a huge Farmer's Market with many Mennonite vendors this Saturday morning, we woke up to heavy rain and decided to just hibernate for the day in Rosie. The Green Acres campground was very pleasant with ponds and geese and other waterfowl. We were basically out in the country with a large Conservation Area around a lake just down the road. The RV Park was like many we have encountered here in Canada. Over 1/2 the space of the park is occupied by more or less permanent residents in mobile homes. We are always amazed at how many people live in mobile homes and/or camp trailers/RV's of all sizes. Many of these parks have facilities for get-togethers and schedules of activities--like bingo, hay rides, etc.

On Sunday, we drove into the nearby town of St. Jacobs and visited a Mennonite Museum and walked through the tourist shops in this small town. Since it was Sunday, we saw lots of buggies going here and there. We ate dinner at a local buffet place. Not particularly good, but ok. On the way back to the RV park, we drove into the next door Conservation area to check out the prices for camping. As we had surmised from what we had read, they were higher priced than the RV Park without hook-ups. Saw a flock of wild turkeys as we drove in.

Monday, Got things ready to leave first thing in the morning as we had to drive back into Kitchener and find the RV dealership in time for our appointment.

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