25 Aug, 2011
A trip to Sandbanks Provincial Park
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Easy ways to make kids happy| travel talk
I don’t know about you, but this is the time of year we start looking around for some big ways to cap off the summer. I figure it’s good to go out on a high note, kind of like a salute to summer.
One of the things we did last week was take a day trip to the beach at Sandbanks Provincial Park.
Sandbanks is in Picton, Ontario… about a 3.5 hour drive from Ottawa. Our chosen route included a very nice (and short) ferry ride too:
We’ve camped at Sandbanks before, but it was so long ago I can hardly remember. Perhaps it’s time to return for an overnight or two.
The big draw here is the beach. It truly is the perfect place to bring a young family. Imagine giant sand dunes, soft white sand as far as you can see, and shallow water for swimming and wading … with no rocks or weeds or yucky things to step on.
Just look at that beach:
I wish we could have overnighted (there are lots of resorts in the area), but it wasn’t in the budget this time around. :(
A couple of tips:
- Leave early. Pack a lunch in a cooler and don’t forget to bring LOTS of water. There are snacks and drinks available at a nearby store, but we should have packed our own (not very smart on a hot summer day).
- Bring buckets and shovels too. The sand is the perfect building material because it’s so fine.
- There are shaded spots near a stand of trees that skirt the length of the beach, but they go fast. I was very happy that we remembered to bring our beach umbrella.
- If you’re driving home the same day, consider leaving enough time to poke around Kingston. I wish we had! It’s a great place to visit, and not far from Ottawa at all.
- We had dinner at a restaurant in Kingston called the Raging Bull Chophouse near the waterfront. Mark declared their burger to be the best he’d ever eaten. (Which is saying a LOT. Trust me.)
All in all it was a really great day. The girls nodded off in the car and we had a peaceful ride home.
Have you been to Sandbanks? Did you love it or what?
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