Sun, May 31 2009 - Lilac Festival at Royal Botanical Gardens (View Original Event Details)
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It was windy but otherwise a very nice day to visit the RBG. Most of us arrived early, and spent some time viewing and smelling all the lilacs (and eating expensive but delicious hamburgers and hotdogs) while waiting for our last carload to arrive.
Some of the group went ahead and started hiking on the lovely trails, which go through Cootes' Paradise nature reserve, one of the largest wetland rehabilitation projects in North America and an important fish spawning and migratory bird staging area.
When the remaining participants arrived (after a long scenic detour) the rest of us headed out onto the trails. We encountered fish spawning(?) in the water near us, swans, ducks and pairs of geese who were not afraid to walk on the trail with their fuzzy goslings. Our two-group split soon developed into a 3 or 4-group split as we stopped for photos along the way. Sadly, because of this, our two canine members, Misiek and Ginger, never did meet, although both had a good time!
Eventually, most of us took the shuttle buses and ended up at the main RBG centre, with its indoor garden displays, teahouse and gift shop. Later, we caught up with Rich back at the Lilac Dell before we headed for home. Rich had great photos of lilacs and rare birds as well as tales of the maze he had explored.
The RBG is a great spot for a daytrip - with several garden areas and Cootes Paradise to explore there is plenty to do! It also holds an Iris and Peony Festival in June and a Rose Festival in July/August.
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Erik Sonstenes at photos@torontooutdoorclub.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.