While in University I spent alot of time touring the Maritimes and wound up seeing more of those provinces than Ontario despite having grown up here. As a kid we did a lot of camping are some of my fondest memories. This provinces beauty never ceases to amaze me. The trouble is many people who live here don’t think about it that way because we’re all too busy working – and we get our vacation ideas from the T.V. As a result I’ve made a resolution to tour more of Ontario and see what beauty she has to offer!

Now that my son is of an age where he can enjoy camping we’ve begun our summer camping trips. Last year we tried out Sandbanks Provincial Park, and this year we tried out Presqu’ile which was even better. Both parks are on Lake Ontario just east of Coburg so it’s at most a 1 hour drive from Oshawa.

Presqu’ile is a beautiful park with huge sandy beaches with lots of shallow warm water. Great for kids who can run and play in the water with adult supervision – but you don’t have to worry about them getting clobbered by a huge wave (unless it’s really stormy).  Since it’s a spit of land – there is a very large marshland and boardwalks on the opposite side of the beaches, and of course many scenic trails and a beautiful rocky beach near the campgrounds. In fact we had quite a few good swims there. The shore is rocky made of perfect skipping stones and instead of sand, there is flat bedrock that extends out into the water in wonderful steps which you can sit on in the water. On our last day we took a drive all the way out to the end of campground where the historic lighthouse is and the natural center all of which are open for tours. Our son got to pet a local snake, and feed worms to frogs. Apparently that was the best part of the trip.

We spent two nights in total and had an amazing time. In fact, since the park is so close we’ve even begun day trips just spend time on the beach.

Here are a couple of pictures and if you want to see my first attempt at a photosynth click here.