My 2018: A Tour around my town: Sarnia, Ontario!

SARNIA

Where has air that smells like burning ass hair? Where has hills that kill? If you have been following my posts already, you know that I am talking about Sarnia. Sarnia is located in the province of Ontario, and is also the city I was born and raised in. I have been doing sections of my city, in piece by piece articles, but I thought the My2018 - A tour around my town challenge by @anomadsoul and @blocktrades was the perfect way to put everything in one post about the town, us Sarnians like to call Sarnhole!

(above is sarnia sign on 402)

If we start off as if we were coming from London Ontario, you would most likely take the highway 402. Sarnia is actually featured alot on the T.V. show Heavy Rescue 401 due to the highway running right through us. The Highway 402 is a section of the 400 series highway which ultimately leads to The Bluewater Bridge. The bridge is a beautiful structure that I go into more detail about in my Exploring Sarnia - The Twin Bridges! post. The bridge spans across the St. Clair River right into the United States of America. We often spend alot of time under the bridge. Going for walks along the water front, is an all time favourite of mine. Along with walks, there is a playground, french fry trucks, a casino and a newly added splash park for kids. One of my favourite spots, plus it is close to one of my other favourite places. The beach!

(above is the bridge)

(above is a screen shot of Heavy Rescue 401 show)

Although not much fun this time of year, the beach is thriving in the summer. We have lifeguards and beach volleyball. Just a nice relaxing spot. Plus I can take the kids there and they don't bug me for hours! Yay! The beach resides inside Canatara Park. The park holds our main festivity. Canada Day. Along with Canada day fun the park has an animal farm, many playgrounds, a kids train plus lots of beautiful trails. Like I said earlier I love this spot as well. I could spend many hours here. Just magnificent.

(above is a storm coming at the beach)

(above is a train ride during Christmas on the farm at Cantara park)

If you head up the road a little ways you will come upon the hills that kill. I talk about these in more detail in my post called Exploring Sarnia - The Bay!. The hills were found to have toxic levels of asbestos in them. They had to do an entire re-do of the park. We have had many festivities here from bayfest to the celebration of lights. This park is truly wonderful and is another place I spent a majority of my time as a young child. I have many fond memories there.

(above is the bay)

(above is a playhouse at the celebration of lights at the bay)

(above is a screenshot of Bayfest at the bay)

(above is my son sledding on the hills)

Now if you take a leap and a jump on down the road a little farther, you would come across Sarnia's downtown. The downtown area is full of little local shops. It is sometimes fun to go look at all the different places. Most of the buildings are still original. However some of the originals were destroyed in the tornado of 1953. This tornado was an F4 and took out blocks of the Sarnia downtown. The ones that are left are pretty incredible.

(above is downtown)

(above is a building downtown)

A little farther down the lane on the way to Corunna Ontario, you will find, what us locals call Chemical Valley. Chemical valley is acres and acres of chemical power plants. This is where we get the burning ass hair smell. This is one of the major downfalls of Sarnia. Although bringing in lots of jobs, the plants produce alot of toxic waste without properly being monitored. It has caused many issues for the Native Americans that live directly beside them. Some children are being born without limbs. It truly is sad. However if we were to get rid of the plants, Sarnia would probably end up a ghost town.

(above photo is chemical valley)

On the outside of the town lies alot of farm land. It is a nice drive in the summer time to see all the crops growing. Sometimes you may even see a deer, turkey or bear. That's right, you heard me right! BEAR! There has been some bear sightings around here in the recent years. Definately odd for this area.

(above is a local farm)

(above is a screenshot of newspaper article about bear sightings. Article found here)

Within the inside of the town things are pretty typical. There are Walmart super centers, grocery stores and major retailers. There are some pretty awesome local places. Like one place you may have seen on Facebook is Sugar! Sugar!. They are known for making the cotton candy borritos. I have had one and they were delicious! If you come this way I would definately recommend it.

(above is a screenshot of cotton candy borrito from Sugar! Sugar!)

One of my favourite things to do within the town is walk the trail. You may have seen me write about walking on them. They are absolutely beautiful and relaxing. The trails are old CN railroad tracks that have been taken out. We have many old tracks here. Some are still in use and some are not. I sure am glad some of them got changed into trails, as I take most of my summer walks there.

(above photo is the trails)

Even though Sarnia is just a small city with a population of around 71,000 people, we have many fun and interesting things to explore. I am learning more and more about my own city as I make these posts. Sarnia is slowly growing and maybe one day we will be able to get rid of the bad things that lie within. Even though every city has its ups and its downs. I however will be staying put for now, and enjoy the many benefits Sarnia has to offer.

(above photo is a nice sunset at the bay)

Well that is all to see about my home town Sarnia. Hope you all enjoyed! Have a wonderful day!

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