sugar bush

We spent the last day of R's March Break being tourists at the Sugar Bush.


Did you know that Lanark County {just west of Ottawa}, is the Maple Syrup Capital of Ontario? I do...now. We headed out in that direction with Jill & her family, and spent the day at Fulton's Pancake House & Sugar Bush.

I have to start out by saying, we did have a fun time. Although it was not quite what we expected.

I have been telling R all about how maple syrup is made, getting him ready to see the Sugar Bush. We even turned on Treehouse one day, and happened to see an episode of Franklin where Franklin and his friends made maple syrup. They helped drill into a tree, put in the spigots, and watched the sap run out, carried around the buckets in their wagon, etc. R was so excited - he thought he was going to get to use a drill and put in the spigots... {I knew that wouldn't happen, but I did think we would see all the trees with the buckets, etc}.

Well, to my disappointment...that is just not how they get the sap out of trees in this age of modern technology. Who knew? {Well, I guess all of you, that are not first-time sugar bushers...}

So instead, we got a thrilling look at the blue wires {???} that vacuum suck the sap out of the trees and pump it into the sugar shack...where something very technical to do with barometric pressure {again ???}, blah, blah, blah happens... What the? Where are the charming old sap buckets with sap dripping into them?

We asked at the not so informative info booth where the sap buckets were, and were told "we don't do that anymore". But shouldn't you still have some sap buckets around, for the sake of history, maybe? We were told there might be one around the playground. After doing some looking around on our own, we finally saw a sap bucket or two, but not any in use. We were having fun anyway, so this made me happy...but really,couldn't they tap a few trees the old-fashioned way...for educational reasons, for old time sake, for the fun of it?

Here it is, the staged,not for real use sap bucket that made my day...

And this little bit of history amongst the ugly blue wires made me happy too...

And here is what made the kiddies happy. Maple taffy on a stick...

This made Miss S very happy. Teeter...

totter...

And this was the highlight for me. A horsie ride, at Miss S's request...

We also lined up for the pancakes with maple syrup and maple sausages and maple beans {which ended up being not so great, but the kiddies liked it, so we were all happy}...

And this guy was pretty cute. This is Jasper, "Fulton's Playground Ambassador"...

He likes to nap on the picnic tables...

So, for next time, maybe all you experienced Sugar Bushers could tell me a different place to try? Are there any places left that have at least a few sap buckets in use? And where is the best food?

On the way home, we stopped to check out Mount Pakenham, since it was just a short drive away. It made me really miss the mountains back home, and got me thinking about how I miss snowboarding, and want to go again {not as often as I used to go, but at least a few times a season would be nice}. I will definitely have to start R skiing next year!