We just happened to stumble upon this region, and what it has to offer. We booked a few nights at an RV park on the shores of Lake Ontario. While in the office checking in, we found a tourism pamphlet titled “The Cheddar and Ale Trail”. This document included local cheese producer’s, craft breweries and a few Cider / Wineries. Well this is right up our alley, so we set off to explore as many of these places as 2 days would allow. We found some other attractions during our stay here, so read on, its not all food and beverages…….
As you can see with this mix of land and Water, it makes for beautiful country.
First stop: Beer
Gateway Brewing in Trenton, Ontario. Try the Stout- its a winner!
small place, seems new on the scene, but decent beers.
The biggest Apple in the world tempted us to stop at the originally named Big Apple
They are famous for apple pies. We didn’t buy any pies, but we enjoyed the smells coming from the kitchen.
Yeah, its a big deal here, note on the wall they have made about 5.3 Million pies
We settled in for the night on the shores of Lake Ontario….. yeah its a hard life, but someone has to do it.
Traffic Jam in Farm country.
First of many Cheese stops!
You may be thinking, big deal a cheese factory- well we are about two hours from the Quebec border. Poutine and amazing Cheese Curds were invented here! These Cheese Curds are out of the park.
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Dairy Farm. Ontario and Quebec produce about 70 percent of Canada’s Milk.
Moooo!
Another country store.
The beauty of this region makes for a nice drive thru the country. Rolling greens fields, dairy cows, small barns and lots of interesting stops.
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Next up: Church Key Brewing. The brewery is built inside a late 1800 church. We are not religious people, but are you allowed to drink beer in a church?
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Quick tour: The Mash Tun and Kettle is in the old Sunday School Room. Holding tanks are in the main Church area. Priests offices upstairs are now the brewery offices
Also in nearby Trenton is Canadian Forces Base Trenton, next door is an Air Force Museum, with free admission.
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We did not know what to expect walking in the front doors, other than we can see old airplanes. The greeter, explained that the most famous plane here is the last Halifax Bomber in existence. This plane was shot down over Norway at the end of the second world war, spent 50 years at the bottom of a lake, was brought to the surface, salvaged, taken apart, shipped to Canada and completely restored.
the last remaining Halifax bomber
A big part of travelling, especially in Canada is seeing the History of this great land. Unfortunately that history includes the loss of many brave Men and Women. We must never forget the sacrifices others made to shape Canada, and the World. This museum included many memorials to those lost during the wars. My favorite was this, written on a large piece of granite. (it feels wrong to take photo’s of memorials, so we try not to)
A Memorial to all those who so gallantly gave their lives in Canadian Naval Aviation:
They shall grow not old, As we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. -Laurence Binyon
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Tail Gunner
Unmanned aircraft used in Afghanistan.
Aya on the flight deck of a Hercules Simulator.
Yes its only a simulator, we will see a real Hercules in a few minutes.
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Hercules taking off from nearby CFB Trenton
And finally a real Hercules in the flesh.
This plane was retired for larger, more powerful Hercules’. It was in active duty until about 5 years ago, and lucky for us, they allow you to check out the interior.
Flight deck.
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This plane was large inside. The newer models are 4 times larger.
From Trenton, we drove south into Prince Edward County, stopped at a few cheese shops along the way, and then up towards Ottawa.
We had to catch a 15 minutes ferry in Prince Edward County.
Last stop: A farm based Brewery. They grow the Hops and Yeast onsite.
knock off the chit chat and lets taste it.
If you make it out this way, check out Mackinnon Bros Brewing. Very interesting to see the farm based set up.
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