By admin Wednesday, September 5, 2012

It is September and that means the end of summer and beginning of fall. While many of us will miss the warmth of summer we are lucky enough to live in Ontario and have a lot of things to do during the winter. This year I decided to start my autumn off by trying out a day of the Rural Ramble. It does sound a little like a wrestling match but it is actually a self-guided driving tour through the Ottawa Valley.

The Rural Ramble starts at the beginning of September and runs through the end of October. This gives everyone a chance to come experience a few of the awesome events. There are a variety of sites that a “Rambler” can visit throughout the Ottawa Valley. If you visit the Rural Ramble website (www.theruralramble.ca) they have a calendar that you can take a look at to see what event, adventure, or activity interests you the most.

I had talked to my sister about spending some time with her son, my nephew, over the first weekend in September and when I found out about the Rural Ramble I thought it would be a perfect thing to do with him. He is still young enough to not care that he is hanging out with his “old” uncle while at the same time old enough to appreciate a variety of cool activities. My Sister thought it was a great idea, so on Saturday we rambled out.

The activity that I saw on the Ramble calendar, that I thought David would like the most, was the Calabogie Peaks Resort autumn chairlift rides. There was a coupon for $2 off the chairlift ride for adults, making it $8, and since David was only 6 his lift ride ticket was only $5, not too expensive for an afternoon of excitement with your nephew.

The purpose of the Rural Rambler is to “celebrate rural living at its best” and to bring in city dwellers and tourists to see the beautiful foliage during autumn in the Ottawa Valley, which is one of only two regions in the world with the unique combination of climate and topography that results in such amazing foliage. The colours of the leaves changing are breathtaking. This is one of the reasons I thought going up in a chairlift 780 feet would be so cool. What better place to get a view of Ottawa Valley’s unique and brilliant fall foliage than on top of Dickson Mountain?

We had a great time riding up the chairlift, but David did get a little scared. Once he saw I wasn’t worried and got distracted everything was fine. I pointed out the different areas around the lift and when we got to the top we got off and wandered around looking out in every direction at the great scenery. Calabogie Peaks Resort gives you the option of walking back down the ski trails instead of taking the chairlift back down. Since David was still a little iffy about riding the lift we decided to take advantage of the great weather and get some exercise by walking down. I have to admit it was a lot of fun and gave us a different perspective.

David was smiling ear to ear as we galloped down the ski trail. By the time we got to the bottom I could tell the little guy was tired and decided it would be a good time to head out. He was asleep before we were out on the road. Calabogie Peaks offers chairlift rides on a variety of dates and you can visit their website (www.calabogie.com) for more information. It is definitely worth it, especially as fall progresses and the deep colours of leaves come out.

I will also have to take a look at the other Rural Rambler events and go try a few more out soon. I think it is such a great idea to give everyone the option to customize their own Rural Ramble online and then plan their own route through the beautiful Ottawa Valley. I hope to run into some of you Ramblers in the Valley soon! Click to view other fun things to do in Eastern Ontario.