Stanley's Olde Maple Lane Farm
Teri and Christine (two of my university friends) came to Ottawa for the weekend and the three of us, along with another friend Chris, decided to go visit a sugarbush on Saturday morning. After some careful research, I chose Stanley's Olde Maple Lane Farm. Stanley's boasted a maple syrup operation, an almost 200 year old stone house and the original barn from 1825 still standing and housing a variety of animals, maple taffy, a sugar shack and lots of maple products to try and for purchase. However, the real pull for me was the Easter Egg Hunt that Stanley's had on the hour all weekend long! I realize that I am in my 20's and maybe a little old for an Easter egg hunt, but I emailed in to sign us up anyways to take part.
Stanley's is located about 35 minutes south of Ottawa near the town of Edwards. We arrived shortly before noon and went to pick up our tickets for the 12pm Easter Egg Hunt. I had filled the girls in the night before that we were doing this so all of us were pretty excited and ready to steal chocolate from smaller, slower children who might also be on the hunt. I went up to the ticket sales lady and I gave her my name, mentioning that I had emailed the day before to sign us up. She didn't have us on her list but she said she had room and then asks me, "So this is for 2 adults and 2 children?" to which I replied, "No, four adults." She looked at me like I was kidding and when she realized I was serious, she sobered up rather quickly and said in a low voice, "The Easter Egg hunt is really just for children." I wanted to die... By now, the other girls had come over with me and after I told them the verdict, they all looked so disappointed. The poor lady felt terrible and I tried to tell her that it was my fault and I hadn't read the fine print obviously and it wasn't anything to do with her. She said we could still go if we wanted to, but being that we are mid-20's, and don't really want to steal chocolate from small children, we declined and still laughing, signed up for the wagon ride instead and went out to explore the rest of the farm.
We visited the barn to see and feed the animals, went on a wagon ride, learned about how they make the syrup from Uncle Ken in the Sugar Shack and hugged the mascot, and took lots of pictures. The place was really cool and we went back into the gift shop at the end of our visit to get some maple syrup products for ourselves and our parents. The lady who had had the misfortune of denying us the Easter Egg hunt earlier was still there and still looked like she felt badly about the whole thing (which I still say was entirely my fault, not hers). As I was paying for my maple honeys, butter and mustard, she snuck me 4 free maple taffy sticks because she felt so bad! I got her name then - Kathy - and got a picture with her to remember the whole fiasco... We went and got our taffy and headed back to Ottawa, still laughing about my screw-up. What a day!
Stanley's is located about 35 minutes south of Ottawa near the town of Edwards. We arrived shortly before noon and went to pick up our tickets for the 12pm Easter Egg Hunt. I had filled the girls in the night before that we were doing this so all of us were pretty excited and ready to steal chocolate from smaller, slower children who might also be on the hunt. I went up to the ticket sales lady and I gave her my name, mentioning that I had emailed the day before to sign us up. She didn't have us on her list but she said she had room and then asks me, "So this is for 2 adults and 2 children?" to which I replied, "No, four adults." She looked at me like I was kidding and when she realized I was serious, she sobered up rather quickly and said in a low voice, "The Easter Egg hunt is really just for children." I wanted to die... By now, the other girls had come over with me and after I told them the verdict, they all looked so disappointed. The poor lady felt terrible and I tried to tell her that it was my fault and I hadn't read the fine print obviously and it wasn't anything to do with her. She said we could still go if we wanted to, but being that we are mid-20's, and don't really want to steal chocolate from small children, we declined and still laughing, signed up for the wagon ride instead and went out to explore the rest of the farm.
We visited the barn to see and feed the animals, went on a wagon ride, learned about how they make the syrup from Uncle Ken in the Sugar Shack and hugged the mascot, and took lots of pictures. The place was really cool and we went back into the gift shop at the end of our visit to get some maple syrup products for ourselves and our parents. The lady who had had the misfortune of denying us the Easter Egg hunt earlier was still there and still looked like she felt badly about the whole thing (which I still say was entirely my fault, not hers). As I was paying for my maple honeys, butter and mustard, she snuck me 4 free maple taffy sticks because she felt so bad! I got her name then - Kathy - and got a picture with her to remember the whole fiasco... We went and got our taffy and headed back to Ottawa, still laughing about my screw-up. What a day!