First Entry: Acton

Hello world. This blog is about the two things I crave the most: getting out of the city, and pizza.

Whenever I fantasize about a change of scenery, what I envision is a road trip to a small Ontario town, specifically along the route where my favourite pizza chain has its locations. The other day I looked up that pizza chain and found that, sure enough, all of its locations are in quaint towns not obscenely far from where I live. So I decided to visit each of those towns. Pizza optional.

AND SO TODAY I packed up our dog, Bogart, got in the car and headed to Acton. It was sunny and warm for November. I hit no traffic on the 401 West heading out but was still underwhelmed by the long stretch of highways before the "scenic" part of my scenic drive kicked in. Then as the 401 veered toward London, I saw more green than grey and was excited to see signs saying "Entering the Green Belt" and "Escarpment Country."

I should note that as soon as I started my drive, I put in Joni Mitchell's "Blue" CD, a favourite, which I hadn't played in ages. The first words she sang? "I am on a lonely road and I am travelling, travelling, travelling, travelling, looking for something. What can it be?"

And that's exactly how I felt! Was there a purpose to this? What did I expect to find or achieve?

For what it's worth, I did achieve a getaway. I got away. I sang the entire Blue album twice. While on the 401 I heard a CBC interview with Adam Gopnik about his love of winter (I love it too!). Another interviewee very directly addressed my concerns about today's excursion. "If I blog it, will they come?" His conclusion was, "They probably won't, but blog anyway."

Once in Acton I didn't know what to do or see. I'm not interested in The Olde Hyde House and couldn't go in with Bogart anyway. I drove, momentarily got lost in a subdivision, but then found the main road, found Acton again. It's a charming town, not unlike what Aurora looked like before it sprawled into oblivion. I followed a sign that said "Fairy Lake," which led me to a parking lot at Prospect Park behind an ice arena. Bogie and I walked the loop then got back in the car, drove further into town, parked at a side street and went for another walk.

Sights: Pretty, very old red-bricked row houses covered in fall-coloured vines. Pumpkins from last week's Halloween. Cute but unpretentious shops. Happy families out for walks and wearing lots of cozy plaid. Happy dogs.

Smells: Fall leaves baking in the too-warm November sun.

Sounds: Hound dogs yowling in a backyard on Willow Street until the woman who lived there said, "Hey. Knock it off." Dried fallen leaves in the breeze, scraping against the road beside me. Bogart panting.

I didn't get pizza today. Decided to save money and spare myself the calories. So I left Acton, got stuck in traffic on the DVP, got a sore back and wondered if it was worth it.

Conclusion: Disappointed, not in Acton but in my lack of planning. Next time I'll find out ahead of time where to go for a hike. There are beautiful places to walk but, unfortunately, getting to them from Toronto always requires an hour of driving. Never worthwhile. Need a helicopter! Should I continue? Maybe I have to, since I've started a blog about it.

Acton ratings, from 1 (bad) to 5 (great)

Quaintness: 4
Happy factor: 3
Creepy/depressing factor: 2
Backward factor: 1 (I saw at least 4 non-whites in my very short stay, so it can't be that hick)
Liveability: 4 (everything is there, and I felt zero loneliness in the air)