Growing up in Ontario, I think I got a little too used to how much was right outside my door. Lakes, galleries, theatre festivals and stunning stretches of wilderness all felt normal simply because they were familiar. It wasn’t until I moved abroad that I started looking back at some of these places differently.
Distance has a funny way of turning the ordinary into something you suddenly realize was pretty special all along. From skating through downtown Ottawa to bopping along the shores of Georgian Bay, here are eight Ontario spots I should have appreciated more when I actually lived there.
The Grotto in Bruce Peninsula
I didn’t appreciate just how spectacular the Bruce Peninsula was when I had relatively easy access to it. Georgian Bay was always beautiful to me, but it was also familiar enough that I lumped it into the general category of Ontario lakes and didn’t think too hard about it.
The Grotto is wild, though, with its limestone cliffs, rugged caves and crispy blue waters. After moving to the Mediterranean (which is obviously amazing in its own right, too), I’ve gained a new appreciation for how beautiful (and uncrowded) Ontario’s freshwater landscapes are. They’re a bit rougher and less glamorous in the obvious sense, but the scale and clarity of the water are something else.
The AGO
The AGO was always just part of Toronto to me, so I never really stopped to think about how lucky I was to have it so close by. Of course, France has some seriously epic galleries, but the accessibility doesn’t feel quite the same. When I was younger, I could wander in for free, and later take advantage of free admission nights. I could also take classes there and spend time making and learning about art instead of just looking at it (the linography course was a personal favourite of mine).
At the time, that all felt pretty normal, but now that I live away from Toronto, I appreciate how rare it is to have such a major gallery feel so woven into everyday life. I think I just figured I’d always be able to pop in whenever I felt like it, which is probably exactly why I didn’t appreciate it enough.
Prince Edward County
Prince Edward County was easy for me to dismiss as just another trendy Ontario weekend destination. Wineries, farm-to-table restaurants, knick-knack shops and converted barns started to feel a little cliché at a certain point. But living in France has actually made me appreciate the experience of visiting PEC a bit more. I’ve become much more aware of how much I love places where food, agriculture, wine and landscape all intersect, and PEC very much has its own distinctly Ontario version of that lifestyle (even if it has turned into a bit of a tourist trap over the last decade).
The Rideau Canal
The Rideau Canal Skateway is one of those Ontario experiences I barely registered as unusual when I was younger. Skating outside was just a normal part of winter, so the idea of an entire frozen canal becoming a public skating route through the middle of the country’s capital never seemed especially remarkable to me. Now that I live somewhere with much milder winters, the idea feels almost surreal — especially when I explain it to pals who have barely even seen snow.
Toronto’s Chinatown
Toronto’s Chinatown was another place I barely thought twice about when I lived there because it was simply part of my usual routine. I’d wander down Spadina for dumplings, grab cheap produce and bop over to Kensington for a drink afterward. No big deal, right? Sigh. Wrong.
After moving away, I started appreciating how much character neighbourhoods like Chinatown gave Toronto, and how easy it was to experience different languages, foods and vibes without making a whole thing out of it. The streetcars, crowded streets, bargain finds spilling out onto the sidewalk and restaurants packed into almost every block — I miss it a lot.
Killarney Provincial Park
There’s no wonder why the Group of Seven was so obsessed with painting Killarney’s landscapes. Even though I appreciated its beauty at the time, I look back on it with even more awe now that it’s been a while since my last visit. It’s such a perfect example of how spoiled I was by Ontario’s wilderness, with brilliant blue lakes, pink granite and enormous stretches of forest that still feel remote. I miss my summer canoe trips up there now that I live somewhere where the nature is still beautiful, but totally different.
The Kawarthas
I probably took the Kawarthas for granted because it was just such a typical scene for me back then. Lakes, cottages, docks, canoes, campfires and little towns were never particularly exciting to me because they were the norm (I know, my privilege is showing). But since moving away, I’ve come to see how special that entire way of life actually is. So much of what still feels like summer to me is tied to jumping off a dock, sitting around a fire and waking up to a quiet lake. Even if the area doesn’t have the same dramatic scenery of some of Ontario’s bigger destinations, they still capture a version of home that I miss dearly.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.