When my sister arrived from BC, one of the things we decided to do was to go over to the Toronto Islands.
Since I have two bicycles, we decided to ride downtown on the bike trails and take the Ongiara over to Hanlan's Point.
As we travelled along the pavement, we noticed that some trees had small signs attached to them.
Upon further investigation, we found that whenever we saw a little green painted evergreen on the path, we would find another sign on a tree.
These signs, or plaques gave us a lot of information about the tree and for the next few hundred yards, we were constantly stopping to read them.
Once home and in front of my computer, found a web site called "The Canadian Tree Tours".
If you go to the page, you will find an interactive map with pop-up windows to give you all the information about the trees.
There is also a link to a photo gallery, and you can view a slide show
here:
http://www.flickr.com//photos/canadiantreetours/show/
It seems that there are 58 trees stretching from Hanlan's to Ward's with little plaques depicting their origins, their Latin name, family and a picture of the leaf.
I guess if you are reading the sign in the winter, it 's nice to see the shape of the leaf, as well.
Last Saturday, I joined about a thousand other cyclist for the Bike Lanes on Bloor, aka Bells on Bloor.
We got a pep talk from one of the organizers, and the owner of Sweet Pete's Cycle Shop, who donated bicycle bells to all those in need.
We started at the entrance to High Park, and pedalled our way east along Bloor Street towards the downtown core.
The reason for this ride is to bring to the attention of everyone, that this street is in need of bike lanes.
Everyone was very supportive along the way...they waved, honked and some even clapped as we passed.
It was very a empowering day ride.
Many cyclists joined in along the way, and I think the numbers may have doubled by the time we reached Spadina.
Since as early as 1990, Bloor Street has been designated by cycling organizations, and their advocates as a prime candidate for bike lanes.
It's the perfect route - being long, flat and parallel to the subway. But it is not a very safe route. I personally have had some close calls with drivers on this route. So much so that most times, now I will opt for another route, a back alley, even a park, or a parking lot.
