Nigel, Paul and I headed down to Fort Erie this morning in the hopes of photographing a lighthouse that is normally closed off to visitors in the winter months. Unfortunately we were one weekend too early to get onto the grounds unless we paid for a group tour. We decided against this and went to explore the Erie shoreline instead.
The Breakwall
I had done some online research to see what was in the area and I came upon a photo of a beautiful ruin of the Crystal Beach Amusement Park. As it turned out it had been demolished for years. How did I miss this? Absolutely no clue. Maybe it was that I didn’t do enough research. We were just not having a lot of luck with structures today. So we continued along the shoreline and did find some remnants of certain sections of the park, closed back in 1989.
Stepping Stones
We continued along the shoreline into the Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-lake before deciding to call it quits for the day. While on the way home we decided to stop at 50 point pier to photograph the old piers.
Broken
As you know, I’ve been here a lot but it still makes for an interesting subject. Sometimes its good to revisit a place over and over as things will always be different each time.
I decided I would go a little further out today to reach the rest of the four parks along the Lake Erie shoreline. I started out at the furtherest point in order to make the drive home shorter. My first stop was John E. Pearce Provincial Park, a day use park with it high sand cliffs inhabited by cliff swallows.
John E Pearce Provincial Park
Below the cliffs lies a narrow beach where many like to spend their summers. After some exploring and deciding not to climb down the sand dune with my gear, it was off to another day use park – Port Bruce. This stretch of sandy beach has shallow waters for those looking to get their feet (and the rest of themselves) wet. Many sunbathers were out enjoying the park on this hot summer day.
Port Bruce Provincial Park
As you can tell from the photo above – most were out in the water to keep themselves cool. Across the road from the beach is the main parking lot which hosts a yummy little takeout place where I stopped to have a bite. Then it was off to Port Burwell with it’s 2.5 kilometre long beach.
Port Burwell Provincial Park
If this had been my last stop for the day I would have enjoyed plopping myself down on its sandy shore and maybe even got myself to explore the water a little more but I had one last stop – Long Point Provincial Park.
Long Point Provincial Park
The fourth oldest park in Ontario, established in 1921 its long sandy beach is one of the largest bird migration sites in North America. This is where I decided to settle down for an hour and enjoy the sun and sand – and yes a little water before the long drive home.
