Travels with my son�s aunt.

To continue with my adventures of last week, on Monday we drove to Wasaga Beach where my sister-in-law and her husband have a beautiful place. Since they don�t have children, they can afford to spend their money on other things, like holidays in Cancun and Hawaii, and doing up their house really nicely. They are also great party people and had managed to get two days off work to spend with us. We arrived mid-afternoon, having stopped in a small town with a general store that boasted both a Beer Store and L.C.B.�. at the back (not much selection, but better than nothing in the wilderness) where we picked up some beer, including a local micro-brewery brand, Creem�re, and two Australian reds so as not to arrive emptyhanded.

Dinner was absolutely fantastic. My brother-in-law is almost as good a cook as I am (I say that in all honesty and modesty, don�t get me wrong) and prepared a feast for us: garlic-roasted potatoes with saut�ed red peppers, steamed broccoli, and sockeye salmon and bluefin tuna sliced and marinated in garlic and lime juice, barbecued, accompanied by a freshly-baked (purchased) baguette. Incredible. Of course I ate and drank too much, not even able to push myself away from the table. Thank heavens there was no dessert! The conversation with scintillating, probably owing to all the wine consumed, and ranged from religion to rock and roll. Even Buddy Boy had a good time. He, his dad and Uncle Len stayed up quite late discussing all sorts of interesting things while the womenfolk retired to their respective bed chambers.

The next morning Hubby and his bro-in-law hit the tennis courts while we girls prepared lunch (actually, I ended up doing the actual preparation, since my sister-in-law is a self-professed non-cook) and when the boys got back we had pasta salad on a bed of mesclun with cheese and left-over salmon and tuna. After lunch we all headed to the beach, sans Uncle Len who had to stay home and do some pricing for work. It is against the law to consume alcoholic beverages anywhere but on your own property or in a licenced establishment in Ontario, which means that if we had been caught pouring beer on the beach, we could have been handed anything from a reprimand to a stiff fine. Luckily, we weren�t caught.

Wasaga Beach has the longest freshwater sandy beach in the world, and is a real tourist area. The water is extremely shallow, and you have to walk out an incredible distance to get any depth. It�s perfect for families, and that is what you get mostly. Before the provincial parks department took it over, it was a famous biker hangout. Now it�s a commercial beach town that is half-dead in the winter. We ate supper at a Greek restaurant, then wandered over to Nancy Island for Jazz in the Park. It was a big band with a rather awful singer, and we only stayed for a short while.

Back at the house we somehow got into watching Wayne�s World on television. I had totally forgotten what a crazy movie that was. It really captured a segment of that era. More tomorrow.

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