Collingwood 2022: Meaford and Thornbury

 

As part of our weekend vacation to the south shores of Georgian Bay with our friends Yim and Murray where we would stay two nights at a vacation property in Blue Mountain, we spent the first day touring Collingwood.  The next day we explored the areas around Meaford and Thornbury.  By pure luck, we happened to be in the vicinity on the day of the Meaford Summer Fest, which featured a sidewalk sale, an art exhibition, a dog parade and a vintage car show.  We arrived in Meaford just as the dog parade was getting started.  I was impressed by how well behaved the dogs were, given their proximity to so many other dogs of different sizes and breeds.  They all trotted calmly and dutifully beside their owners as the parade made a big circle around the main street.  Some of the dogs were decked out in bow ties and handkerchiefs.  The most impressive participant was a majestic Great Dane who looked like he was wearing a tuxedo.  At the end of the dog parade, a few exotic cats were trotted out on a wagon for a mini cat parade.

We wandered into the Meaford shops on and around North Sykes St. which is Meaford’s main street.  We saw some interesting items in the store “Crystal Dragon Collectibles” such as a plaque that says “Alexa, make dinner”, themed monopoly sets including one featuring the characters from Schitt’s Creek, and some vintage kiddie electronics including a Cabbage Patch Kids radio with headphones, and quirky radio with a cartoonish pirate draped over it.  The most fun thing in the store is right at the front.  It is a giant Wonder Woman figure with the face of Gal Gadot who portrays the character in the movies.  I became worried when I caught Rich checking the price tag!  From the sidewalk sale, I bought a shellacked rock with a whimsical cartoonish cow painted on it. It was sold by a woman with an image of a cow tattooed to her arm.  She was from the Love of Brian Farm Sanctuary, which provides a safe space for farm animals to live out their days.  Further along, I found a pretty pumpkin-coloured top that I liked on a sale rack where everything was just $1.  There's no better feeling that stumbling upon a good deal!

The ”Painted Doors” Project hired local artists to create painted murals on wooden doors next to storefronts on North Skyes.  It was fun watching the paintings come to life, starting with a sketch or a base coat of background paint.  We saw the doors in their initial stages when we first walked down one side of the street and then up the other to check out the shops and sidewalk sales.  Before we were ready to leave the main street, we returned one more time to see how far the artists had gotten.  It was too bad we didn’t get to see the final works, but we had a good idea of what was intended for each door based on the progress made by our second visit.

We wandered over to the waterfront to find the Vintage Car Show.  I have always liked the look of older cars as they have more interesting shapes and colours than the currently produced boxy vehicles that are mostly white, black or silver.  I especially admire vintage cars that have round curves, exotic hood ornaments, or the flattened, wider shapes of the old muscle cars.  I don’t know anything about cars, so left to my own devices, I would be telling you about the green one or the red one or the blue one.  Luckily, we were in Meaford with our friend Murray who is a car savant and can name most cars at a glance (sometimes even when covered by a tarp!)  He informed me of the make/model/year of some of the cars that I liked. I was particularly drawn the beautiful Turquoise-hued 1960s Ford pickup truck with matching interior panels and bucket seats and a bulldog hood ornament. There was also an orange 1960s Pontiac Firebird Convertible, a long, sleek black 1960s Ford convertible, an olive green 1960s Chevy Camaro SS convertible with cool air scoops on its hood, and a bright blue 1960s/70s Volkswagon dune buggy.

Being partial to the colour red, I loved the 1960s Chevrolet lowrider with long tail fins that had many interesting features both inside and outside of the vehicle.  On the exterior, the words “Great Balls of Fire” with an image of a fire ball were embossed on one side (a shoutout to Jerry Lee Lewis who recently passed away). Chrome mid-century modern style airplane motifs decorated both sides, a decorative dial was mounted at the top of the passenger door, and a long antenna stretched across the back of the car.  The interior was equally cool with a red leather steering wheel and dashboard, two-toned beige and red leather seats, a die as the knob of the gear shift as well as a decal depicting a pair of dice on the windshield, a radio made to look like an old Wurlitzer jukebox and a gas pedal in the shape of a bare foot. The rear-view mirror is draped with a silk scarf, a piece of fur, a black bra, and a set of fuzzy dice.  A single stiletto shoe lies sideways by the rear window along with what looks like a mini replica of this vehicle.  This car was ready to rock and roll!  I think Jerry would have approved.

My favourite car of this show was the ruby red 1933/34 Ford Hot Rod with the curvy shape, large grille with round headlights mounted on either side, and a hood that opened by lifting it up to the side in a folding manner.  The custom license plate number was the word “Nasty” attached with a chrome figure of a devil or demon thumbing his nose.  Inside the red dashboard nicely contrasts the beige seats. There is a smooth, circular orb at the top of the gear shift, and a skeleton dangling from the rear-view mirror.  The spokes of the steering wheel look like wire whisks and there is a cannister attached underneath the dashboard that might be nitro used for drag-racing?  For a car from the 1930s, this one sure has been pimped up!

Whenever we head towards Thornbury, we always make a point of stopping in at Goldsmith Orchards, which has great frozen fruit pies.  We bought our usual frozen wild blueberry and Thornberry (blueberry, raspberry, blackberry and apple) pies to take home with us. This time, we also got a smoked trout quiche.  We cooked it a few days after we got back from the trip and it was delicious, with large chunks of flavourful trout and a light flakey crust.  We will definitely look out for this again on our next visit to the area.

Just past Thornbury on our way back towards Collingwood, we stopped by Penny’s Motel, a recently opened “hipster” boutique motel that marketed itself as a luxury motel (with prices to match).   The beautifully decorated rooms with hardwood floors, commissioned art on the walls, heated bathroom floors, and designer soaps go for $300 per night in the off season.  One can only imagine how much they would cost in the summer, or during ski season.  The motel also features 3 firepits, picnic tables, heated patios, a bocce ball court, hot tub and lounge area, restaurant, bar, room service and possibly complimentary bicycles for use during your stay.  While the concept is interesting, I’m not sure I would want to spend that much money to stay in a motel, albeit a very nice motel.

Before heading out to our dinner reservation later that evening, we visited the Grey and Gold Cidery in order to do some cider tasting.  The ciders are made from heritage apples grown in the Grey County area with only natural and local additives such as sumac, chamomile or wildflowers and have won gold medals in international cider competitions.  We thought it would be a quick stop and therefore only allocated less than an hour before dinner.  We soon regretted this decision when we saw the lovely setup at the cidery.  On a warm summer late afternoon, we were seated outdoors surrounded by apple orchards as Rich, Yim and Murray took part in tasting 8 different alcoholic ciders which they really enjoyed because the ciders were dry and not too sweet.  Given that this is exactly the opposite of what I like to drink, I chose the sparkling non-alcoholic sweet cider instead.  The ciders that the others tasted were very interesting combinations including the “Jin and Juice” which added juniper, wild grapes and sumac to the cider, giving it gin-like accents, citrus taste and an astringent finish.  It was such a pleasant experience sitting out in the sunshine while the owner came repeatedly to pour a new cider to be tasted and the bag of potato chips that we bought as a pre-dinner snack made it all the better.  It would have been nice if we could have stayed longer, but since we had to go, each couple purchased 3 bottles of cider to take home with us.

Whenever we are in the Meaford area, I always want to go to Ted’s Road Range since it is such a unique place with a very eclectic menu.  Accordingly, I had made a reservation for us to go for dinner there.  But then Yim discovered that the high-end butcher shop and French bistro Cote de Boeuf in Toronto had a sister restaurant in the Grey County called Hearts Tavern which served similar menu items.  The four of us had wanted to go to Cote de Boeuf together to eat their signature “cote de boeuf” dish, a 48-oz dry-aged rib steak cooked medium rare and cut into slices, which is meant to be shared by 3-4 people.  It is served with duck-fat potatoes and seasonal vegetables.  So far it had been difficult for us to get a seating since the Toronto restaurant did not take reservations, but the Hearts restaurant did!  We were not able to pre-book an outdoor table but were told that if we waited at the barrel-topped tables inside, they would call us once a patio table came available.  In the meantime, we were able to check out the meats hanging from the butcher shop which are local, grass-fed cuts that are aged for up to long periods of time.

When we saw the outdoor patio surrounded by woodlands, we were glad we waited.  Our waiter recommended that for 4 hungry people, the cote de boeuf meal should be supplemented with some appetizers.  We ordered the smoked fish, the rillette, and the terrine of pork.  When the main course came, it was everything that we hoped for.  The slices of meat were perfectly cooked and seasoned and came with grilled zucchini and fries with mayo.  Not realizing that the cote de boeuf came with vegetables, we also ordered a dish of broccoli, leeks and lentils which ended up being too much food!  And yet, there is always an extra stomach for a good sounding dessert.  Rich and I shared a Chocolate Nemesis truffle cake topped with nuts and a cherry coulis.  It was wonderful to finally have our cote de boeuf dining experience, made all the better by the beautiful setting.