Local Tourist

or day trips from or within Windsor-Essex

Bayfield's upscale shops, restos blend into town's tranquil charm

It had been some time since we visited Bayfield, the village on Lake Huron sandwiched between Grand Bend and Goderich.

Bayfield is the antidote to Grand Bend. If Grand Bend is party central and tends to the tacky Bayfield is quiet, charming and astonishingly beautiful.

The last time we were there was in the late-Nineties. We stayed at the famous Little Inn on Main Street. Everyone seems to know the Little Inn, which happens to be Ontario’s longest continually-running inn dating from 1832.

The luxury setting enhanced a quiet weekend in the community, with a short walk through leafy streets down to the sailboat-packed harbour and the sands of Lake Huron.

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Sorry, Grosse Pointes' shoreline is restricted to, ah, residents

Grosse Pointe. Or rather, “the Pointes” since there are five of them, are a feast for the motoring eyes.

To get there you travel along Jefferson Ave from the City of Detroit.

It’s like going through the looking glass as you emerge at Alter Rd. from the decayed, trash-strewn streets of the Motor City to the pristine confines of this affluent suburb.

The Pointes are known for their mansions, well kept properties, bucolic shoreline and some magnificent points of interest, like the Italian Renaissance tower at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club.

But if you want to admire the area from its signature shoreline you’re better off staying in your car.

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That land across the river? It's Grosse Isle!

Essex County residents driving along County Rd. 20 – the route that runs along the Detroit River – have stared at it thousands of times.

It’s a huge land mass, barely a mile across, looking very similar to Essex County’s own coastline, dotted with houses and a road that skirts the water’s edge.

That island is Grosse Isle Michigan, and it’s a great place to go for a drive and picnic.

Grosse Isle is the largest island in the Detroit River and, particularly in summer, has a laid back sumptuous summer resort feeling.

To get there take I-75 south to Trenton, and simply cross the bridge to the island.

(Trenton, by the way, can also be seen from Canada by its twin red and white power station smoke stacks.)

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Who knew? Toledo has a botanical garden

Most of us probably don’t think of Toledo, as in Ohio, as being the most scenic of communities.

(Perhaps, from Toledo’s perspective, the same could be said of Windsor.)

But just as Windsor’s riverfront parks wow the unsuspecting Toledo has several diamonds in the rough.

Like the Toledo Botanical Garden.

The Garden, which was created in 1964, is run by Toledo Area Metroparks, the city, and a board as a public-private partnership.

It’s located on the city’s west side.

To get there you take I-75 to I-475, exiting several streets away at Talmadge. For detailed instructions click on the Garden’s web site below.

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