Scarborough Bluffs, Toronto, Ontario

Why join the mass weekend exodus on  packed highways to cottage country when here in Toronto we're already on beautiful Lake Ontario with miles of coastline and plenty of clean, swimmable beaches?

This summer I've found myself many an evening in Toronto's east end at the Scarborough Bluffs, wading through wildflowers on top of Cathedral Bluffs with a walking buddy, having a drink in the Dogfish Pub at the marina or enjoying the breeze on the beach with the seagulls and Pat. A favorite daydream of mine: deciding which of the cute little houseboats I'd choose for myself, given the chance (haven't seen a "for sale" sign yet!). Wildlife--from red foxes to waterfowl to a feral cat colony--thrives. Just blocks from home yet a world away, we find ourselves marvelling that it's very hard to believe we're still in the 416 area code.

Though often used as a shooting location by Toronto's film industry and noted by Frommer's as unique in North America, the 14 km-long Scarborough Bluffs remain one of the city's best-kept secret beauty spots. See what you may have missed by taking a virtual tour of Toronto's miles of waterfront here. And unlike provincial and federal parks, access to Toronto's parks and beaches is completely free of charge. Beautiful!

Ground Control to Major Tom

I never leave the house without my camera. This morning, though, preoccupied by thoughts of how Hurricane Bill might impact my trip to South Beach, I ran out to the bank leaving it on the charger.
Halfway there, I saw two kids let go of a foil balloon that rose, glittering, against the sky. I was tickled for a moment, watching it drift up in a lazy spiral. It seemed a space oddity, like a model space station in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was digging for the forgotten camera when I remembered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and all the horror and disbelief I felt when I first heard of it.
In case you haven't, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a vast mass of debris (primarily plastic like bags, six-pack rings, toys, balloons, etc. caught in tangled webs of "ghost", or lost, fishing nets) swept together by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre. A whole new garbage "continent" estimated to be twice the size of Texas. TWICE THE SIZE OF TEXAS!
And if the toxins leaching out of it are not scary enough, a little light reading on the subject of nurdles should get you crying in no time.
We need major ground control, Tom (and everyone else)! No matter where in the world a plastic bag or bit of packaging, wrapper or bottle cap fall into the street, it eventually finds its way by sewer, river, lake and ocean currents into the Pacific. The smaller the scraps, the more mobile they are. Please bother to bend and pick up any pieces of plastic, vinyl or mylar you spot and dispose of them carefully. Not to be preachy, but just thinking about the GPGP makes me sick.
Sure, I like to discover continents new to me but not if they've been formed out of garbage. I'll be thinking of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch--and ordering my mojito without a straw--when I'm on the beach in Miami.