Canada is a mosaic of peoples. We come from every corner of the world. We speak every language, worship every religion and practice every culture. But what about the people who called this land home long before the first 'white men' came? Our aboriginal peoples. We decided to visit Petroglyphs Provincial Park today. This is a very special park. Here native culture is evident in the form of rock carvings. This site is considered profoundly sacred by Aboriginal people. They use this area to pray, fast and conduct ceremonies. These rocks are thought of as a living body, possessed with spirit. We could actually feel the spirits as we entered the building that has been erected to protect the rock carvings from acid rain and other erosion. We took no photos because the Native peoples have asked that visitors not take photos while at the site since this would weaken the spiritual powers of the rocks. After a visit to the rock site and a short walk to a newly built visitor centre to learn more about about the park, we had a picnic lunch.
On our way to the picnic area, we passed a beaver lodge in a pond beside the road. No beavers were visible at that moment, but we did have other nature sightings. A white-tailed deer walked out in front of our car as we made our way to the picnic grounds. He quickly went back into the forest when he saw us. But soon we came across another young buck, eating the low green vegetation. He was much more friendly and posed for us, so I was able to get a photo of him. Cute, eh?
We also encountered some red squirrels who were not happy that we decided to sit at a picnic table in their 'backyard'. They chattered at us as we ate and one even went so far as to climb to the highest branches of a tall pine tree and throw pine cones at us! Needless to say, we didn't stay long! All in all it was a worthwhile and interesting day. On our way home, we decided to go out to a Japanese restaurant for sushi.
We went to Little Tokyo and ordered the bento boxes. There was way too much food, so we put it into containers and brought it home with us. We will eat sushi for breakfast tomorrow morning! It doesn't get much better than that, folks! From a native spiritual world to a restaurant serving sushi - we came a long way today.
Canada is a mosaic of peoples. We come from every corner of the world. We speak every language, worship every religion and practice every culture. But what about the people who called this land home long before the first 'white men' came? Our aboriginal peoples. We decided to visit Petroglyphs Provincial Park today. This is a very special park. Here native culture is evident in the form of rock carvings. This site is considered profoundly sacred by Aboriginal people. They use this area to pray, fast and conduct ceremonies. These rocks are thought of as a living body, possessed with spirit. We could actually feel the spirits as we entered the building that has been erected to protect the rock carvings from acid rain and other erosion. We took no photos because the Native peoples have asked that visitors not take photos while at the site since this would weaken the spiritual powers of the rocks. After a visit to the rock site and a short walk to a newly built visitor centre to learn more about about the park, we had a picnic lunch.
On our way to the picnic area, we passed a beaver lodge in a pond beside the road. No beavers were visible at that moment, but we did have other nature sightings. A white-tailed deer walked out in front of our car as we made our way to the picnic grounds. He quickly went back into the forest when he saw us. But soon we came across another young buck, eating the low green vegetation. He was much more friendly and posed for us, so I was able to get a photo of him. Cute, eh?
We also encountered some red squirrels who were not happy that we decided to sit at a picnic table in their 'backyard'. They chattered at us as we ate and one even went so far as to climb to the highest branches of a tall pine tree and throw pine cones at us! Needless to say, we didn't stay long! All in all it was a worthwhile and interesting day. On our way home, we decided to go out to a Japanese restaurant for sushi.
We went to Little Tokyo and ordered the bento boxes. There was way too much food, so we put it into containers and brought it home with us. We will eat sushi for breakfast tomorrow morning! It doesn't get much better than that, folks! From a native spiritual world to a restaurant serving sushi - we came a long way today.
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