Greetings from Amanda! Another beautiful Ontario Park under our belts- Rondeau was a perfect place to cool our heels after the Petrolium fields of the south west. We enjoyed the scenic drive from Sarnia with more and more wind turbines peppering the landscape along the shores of Lake Erie, and were sure to stop for some sunset photo at the roadside.
We spent the next few days zig-zagging around the region, starting our day at the Ridgetown Library. This group was a real treat, and probably the more polite and well-behaved group of kids we've ever seen. Blenheim drew some large crowds for a small town, and we ended our day at Wheatly Provincial Park. We were jealous of some of the parks staff there, having spotted a Fox snake in their maintenance shed that very day! Shame they couldn't have just had him wait there for us, but oh well ;)
It was rough going Wednesday morning, with a 5:30am wakeup call to mosey over to the Chatham Farmers Market. It was quite a rustic little market, and we enjoyed the fun vendors, like Mr. Pickle, as well as the Railway Newfie blaring his country-music cover album all day. We met some very nice people there, however I found the number of people gasping and detouring wide circles around our tent a little disheartening. We've all got our fears, but what a shame that snakes draw such extreme reactions. Of course that's why we're out here on the road, dispelling as many myths and misconceptions as we can as we go along. On to the Chatham Library we were given a lovely thank-you card and even a Tim Hortons gift card... such a thoughful gesture from the library staff!
The show at Rondeau that night was a big hit, with all 3 of us presenting like a well-oiled machine ;) Katrina got to reconnect with her old TA from her Queens U herpatology course, and we got to take a peek at their baby Spiny Softshell turtle (rescued from a listing on Kijiji of all places!). It was great having the next day off after such a jam-packed week. Katrina and I took one of the parks canoes for a paddle around the marsh, and were thrilled at spotting an adult Map Turtle, as well as (maybe?) a Least Bittern bird. haha we hope! Regardless we felt very lucky to be there in the middle of it all.
Ciao for now!