Nelson Burkhart on the route with OJOA Slalom Chair Ross Hamilton. Top down, jackets done up tight.....
2007 Spring Blossom Run
Photos courtesy Aaron Perras. (Thank you, Aaron,from all of us.....)
To see Aaron's Photo Album, please click his photo of Lee's E-Type:
By Jeff Booth The Ontario Jaguar - OnLine
Sometimes,things can be better the second time around
That was the case with OJOA's annual
Spring Blossom Run, into Niagara Wine Country.
The May 6 event had 80 drivers and passengers, and 37 cars, touring from Stoney Creek into the
Niagara Peninsula, up onto the Niagara Escarpment and then down again,
to end up near Jordan Harbour for a leisurely lunch.
This year's event served up lots and lots of blossoms (sometimes we don't have them on the tour, depending
on weather), breathtaking views of the entire western basin of LakeOntario,
of the Toronto skyline across Lake Ontario, and leisurely
travel through some of the finest and prettiest areas in Canada.
This was all in direct contract to the
first time members and friends of OJOA travelled this route. The
2004 edition of the Blossom Tour, ran entirely through very wet,
heavily overcast and -- up on the escarpment -- dense fog. This
year's event was the complete and welcome opposite. Members who had
participated in the 2004 Niagara Tour asked for a repreat because they
knew they were taking an interesting route -- it was just that with the
wet, the fog an all, they couldn't most of it!
The Pride of Cats gathered at a usual
meeting spot — Tim Hortons, foto at right — and soon created a
very, very busy parking lot (with accompanying parking crisis for
anyone else). The number of Jaguars also lured staff from the
restaurant outside to take in some of the visiting automobiles.
Once off, the line of cars stretched
about one kilometre and its first challenge was a complex stop light
that allowed only seven or eight cars through at a time. Then, right
after that was a slow motor along King Street and literally across the
site of the Battle of Stoney Creek, where British defenders attached
and routed a camp of American invaders. Had this June 6, 1813,
engagment not ended with the Americans withdrawing, folks in the area
might be speaking American today, instead of Canadian.
For more on the Battle of Stoney Creek, click:
HERE
Some American sources argue the battle
was won by American troops. Others, especially in Canada, argue the
victory was clearly British. Bottom line: the American invaders
withdrew. One of the more interesting sights on the battlefield was the
monument, which blossomeers visited in 2004. Also of interest was
nearby Smith's Knoll, which is bristling with muzzle-loading cannon and
which, at it's east end, provides the final resting spot for soldiers
who fell there on June 6, 1813.
Then, it was south and up, as in up
the Niagara Escarpment, a United Nations World Biosphere Preserve.
As Blossomeers left the urban core of Stoney Creek and climbed New Mountain Road, they went
from city living to the country in 90 seconds.
The land, the way of live and the
intensity of development atop the escarpment was entirely different
from the "lower city" of Stoney Creek. Atop the Escarpment, on apty
named Ridge Road, the Blossom Run pulled over for a 10 minute layover
to permit everyone to clear the challenging stop light in the lower
city and catch up to the tour. While waiting, many partipants
took the opportunity to stroll across the road and take in the
panoramic view of the city below, Lake Ontario and even the Toronto
skyline on the northern horizon.
Interestingly, some people had trouble
orienting themselves -- because they were used to having the lake to
the south — not the north.
<>
Other highlights of the nearly two-hour run included the Erland Lee House, birthplace of the Women's
Institutes, in Upper Stoney Creek. It's the Women's Institutes
which are responsible for among other things, lines down the middle of
our roads, the skull and crossbones on poisons and milk in sterile
bags. The home was designated a National Historic site in 2003.
For more on the Erland Lee House and Museum,
click: HERE
Also on the intinerary were drives
across a portion of the exquisitely fertile agricultural land between
Grimsby and St. Catharines, the so-called Ontario Plain (which is
actually the bottom of long-gone glacial Lake Iroquois. Portions
of the tour had the Jaguars slowly winding their way along slower roads
that revealed this subregion. It's more popularly known as the Niagara
Fruit Belt and reveals well-pruned viticulture, tender fruit such as
apricots, plums, pears, peaches and apples, plus several nursery
operations. Much of Canada's soft fruits and vines are here.
Again,up on the Escarpment a second
time, Blossomeers saw first-hand how very different the land is higher
up, on what's known as the Erie Plain where the soil is poorly drained
clay and the climate is wetter, with shorter frost-free periods.
While the tour was deliberately laid
out to offer participants as wide an environmental/habitat experience
as possible, there was one repeating theme throughout the run, and that
was seeing, passing through, and enjoying the fresh spring scent of
Carolinian forest. This very special zone is found on and along
the face of the escarpment and it offers an amazing variety of
flora and fauna. Unfortunately, it also shares the same threat that the
tender fruit and grape regions of the area also have -- reduction by
urban expansion.
Then, as the tour wound its way back
toward Jordan and The Jordan House, the eatery that was our final
destination, the pride of Cats motored through the historic and
picturesque Ball's Falls Conservation Area. As the tour moved
across a steel girder bridge there, a glance to the right revealed a
river that suddenly ended -- at the lip of the escarpment, producing a
postcard-lovely waterfall that was just out of sight but the sight of a
wide river suddenly ending in a sharp, straight line, was a wonder unto
itself.
For more on Balls Falls and a view of that waterfall, click;
HERE
Also on the tour was a run through the
Valley of the Twenty, as in Twenty Mile Creek, on of the region's
prettiest spots and a destination that offers a wide range of wineries,
winery tours, antique shops and restaurants.
Moments later, and after a downhill
drive from the Erie Plateau and back down to the Ontario Plain, it was
time to pull over at the Jordan House, park, turn of engines, and enjoy
each other's company.
For more on the Jordan House, click:
HERE
For more on Jordan Village, click:
HERE
As lunch moved along at the Jordan House, which was yet another historic point on our tour
(it dates back to 1842) club members got to find out who the winners were of the wacky
sign contest, Runners up were John Field, plus Ann Oakes (foto below,left) and John
McLaine, each receiving a Jaguar ballcap, and First Prize went to Nigel
Watson, in the form of a lovely chrome Jaguar Leaper keychain.
Also receiving recognition at the
Jordan House were Blossom Run organizers, Fred Hill, Connie and Jeff
Booth (foto, below right). They received lovely Jaguar-etched
vases.
2008 SPRING BLOSSOM RUN:
OJOA member Steve Sherriff
promises an enjoyable tour of the Forks of the Credit area,
complete with thick forests,twists, turns and pleasant experiences.
Other highlights of the nearly two-hour run included the Erland Lee House, birthplace of the Women's
Institutes, in Upper Stoney Creek. It's the Women's Institutes
which are responsible for among other things, lines down the middle of
our roads, the skull and crossbones on poisons and milk in sterile
bags. The home was designated a National Historic site in 2003.
As lunch moved along at the Jordan House, which was yet another historic point on our tour
(it dates back to 1842) club members got to find out who the winners were of the wacky
sign contest, Runners up were John Field, plus Ann Oakes (foto below,left) and John
McLaine, each receiving a Jaguar ballcap, and First Prize went to Nigel
Watson, in the form of a lovely chrome Jaguar Leaper keychain.
promises an enjoyable tour of the Forks of the Credit area,
