Road Trip Ontario: Views, Food and a Bit of Romance

Little Lakes Road in Huron County, Ontario.

Driving beyond the city.

Farm fields, silos, small towns, straight roads, tree canopies, lost lakes, rolling hills, long vistas…

Shuffle and repeat.

Perfect. A road trip into the country. A release from the city.

I was recently talking to a friend about her need for such a release – her need, our need, for a vista. I've written about this topic before in terms of my need for a long focal length. She said that a psychiatrist friend of hers said that the appeal of a vista is that it asks nothing of you.

So last week I headed to Huron County. And on the drive I enjoyed the minute by minute unfolding of farm country sights. When I arrived I found an expansive vista that asked nothing of me – Lake Huron.

Each day I was in the County I drove country highways and backroads to the art classes I took, to the meals at recommended places and to a bridge – just because I'd heard it had been built out of love.

Here are my photos from Huron County.

My first view of Lake Huron on Ontario's West Coast.

Table of Contents

Road Trip Ontario – The Views

I could have stopped my car dozens of times just to soak in and photograph the landscape of Huron County. I did on a number of occasions. I even took video of one of the Little Lakes, not for all the action in the scene, but for the sounds, the bullfrogs and birds… the sounds of travel.

My car parked at a fork beside two of the Little Lakes. A right and I was on my way to Ball's Bridge. But this is the joy of a road trip. You can take any turn you like and just explore. One example of this took place on a road trip down the Loire Valley in France with my 11 year-old. He was my navigator, and doing a great job, but I was frustrated on our search for castles. I saw an exit left and took it saying “I've had enough of this road” which left him scouring the map to try to determine where we were going. It was a fun, free-flowing trip. He loves this story and, now 25, has told it many times.

A little lake on Little Lakes Road.

Another one of the Little Lakes. It was such a beautiful, peaceful area.

A classic view of a field. Corn? Hay? Guessing is part of the fun for a city girl.

Road Trip Ontario – The Food

I arrived in Bayfield around 7pm and checked in at the Little Inn of Bayfield then went down the street to have a meal at the Black Dog. Look below. The food was delicious. Plus, they happily accommodated me on the packed patio as a solo traveler. Over the course of the next few days I ate at a number of places, from cheap and cheerful to expensive and it was all good.

In Huron County, I stayed in Bayfield. The first night I had a delicious dinner on the outside patio at the Black Dog.

This was my dinner. A variety of sautéed mushrooms on toast with Quebec brie and sprigs of watercress.

The next morning I had breakfast at Bayfield Berry Farm where I met two women who told me where to have lunch – at Pat & Kevin's on the Square in Goderich.

Pat & Kevin’s on the Square is a classic diner with exceptional food.

This was my lunch at Pat & Kevin's. Delicious!

Follow the signs to downtown Port Albert – which is all of five buildings. Yes, irony is not exclusively as city thing. This is Port Albert General Store.

Brigitte and Steve are the owners of Port Albert General Store. Brigitte's pizza is wonderful and you can see by their smiles that the trip is worth it for the warm welcome as well.

This salmon with white asparagus at the Bayfield Inn was fantastic.

Road Trip Ontario – A Little Romance

At the end of Little Lakes Road, described by Elizabeth of The Art Gallery in Goderich as the prettiest road in the county, is Balls Bridge. It has a romantic history…

In the 1830’s, William and Mariah Ball emigrated to Canada from England together with their 5 sons and 2 daughters and arrived in Huron County a decade later. The family settled on top of the hill overlooking today’s Ball’s Bridge. In those days there were no bridges, so each time they crossed the river to go to the market in Goderich, they had to remove their shoes. One day a granddaughter went with her mother Jane Ball to buy sugar at the market. At the time a construction crew was working nearby and a young engineer spotted her. According to Daryl Ball, a direct descendant who still lives on the original land, the two fell in love and in 1885, the young beau built Ball’s Bridge so that his love would be able to cross “without getting wet.”

You can just barely make out the lettering of Ball's Bridge in the iron work across the top. See the bar half way down the stonework. Not every vehicle can get across. Fortunately, one larger than mine went across before I had to try it myself.