Spelunking at Bonnechere Caves

This past week, we celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.   Since we were at our campground located near Eganville, we were trying to figure out what we could do with the kids on our special day.   I approached Bonnechere Caves to see if it could be possible to visit and an agreement was made.   I will be honest is telling you that I always wanted to check out these caves since we were camping at Logos Land Resort for over 10 years but it never happened.   Originally we had the idea of visiting Bonnechere Caves on the day of our anniversary which is June 6th but the rainy day on June 5th ended up the day we took the tour.   It was perfect in many ways and we had a blast exploring the caves.   

Bonnechere Caves is located near Eganville next to the Fourth Chute Falls.

The caves were discovered in the late 1800s by a guy while he saw these holes near the chutes. 

Looking for adventures, he explore the area and found this hole in the ground which he decided to explore by simply attaching rope on a tree and slide through it.

And he entered the cave to explore it…  but before I give you too much on his explorations – which is after all the story you will learn while visiting Bonnechere Caves – let me tell you more about the tour itself.

The first part of the tour will introduce you to fossils found in the area (not only in the cave).   We somewhat arrive a bit late for this part of the tour but we got a private presentation at the end of the tour which was very thoughtful from the tour guide.

After this presentation, we are guided toward the area where you can see the caves via the river nearby and to the entrance of the Bonnechere Caves.  The entrance is easy to access and wooden stairs have been made for visitors.

Throughout the tour, you will hear the story of the first explorer of these caves.  I will not tell the story as it wouldn’t make it interesting for you if you decide to visit Bonnechere Caves.  However, we found the story fascinating and very interesting to follow.  Now only do you get the history of the caves but you also get the snapshot of the person who explore the caves.  You will also learn how to be more secure when spelunking and how it is important to never be alone when doing so.

At one point, our tour guide needed a volunteer.  Our son, Dominic, stepped up to the place and inserted his hand in the hole found on the wall.    There is a story linked to this hole in the wall but again it is part of the tour so I won’t spoil the mystery surrounding this particular place.

At some point during the tour we arrived in the bat cave.  Unfortunately at this time of the year the bats have left the cave for the spring/summer so there was no little brown furry friends to observe.  If you want to be able to see the little brown bats, it is suggested to go in the fall which is when they come back to nest for the winter.  This is where they would be found.   When the first person to explore the caves arrived at that point there was over a thousand bats hanging there.  Nowadays, there are about a hundred of them coming in the fall.

The next thing that you can do if you are not claustrophobic is to go through the path that was taken by the original spelunker of the caves.  The area is not too bad to walk though you might get your shoes wet at some places due to water accumulating in some areas.   There is one section that get very tight and can be frightening for some. But it was fun to retrace the steps of the person who first visited the caves.

At one point, we stopped and we could see a rope crossing the path.  I thought that it was an area not opened to visitors but we learned that at some point pumps were used to remove the water from the area further in order to explore more of the caves.  So in the spring, the pumps remove the water and in the falls the pumps are stopped.   It would take about three days for this section to be filled with water.  At this point in the story, the tour guide will warn everyone to stay together and will demonstrate how dark the caves can be without light.     Let me tell you that it was pitched dark…

Finally at the end of the tour before exiting the caves through another entrance, you have the opportunity to take a picture.

Once the tour is finished, you can get back out in the woods.   Be aware that you will have a bit of climbing to do with the help of a staircase that has been added to help the visitors.  The area is almost magical and reminded me of scenes in the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit or the Narnia movies.

The tour for the Bonnechere Caves starts daily (rain or shine) and happens every 20-30 minutes.   Plan to spend about one hour for the tour alone.  However, you can explore the above ground site to see the original hole where the first explorer went through or the falls nearby.  By aware that it is extremely recommended to stay on the paths due to the presence of poison ivy.

In case you are wondering how easy it is to walk in the caves, I can assure you that it is beautifully setup for anyone who desires to explore.   The paths are sturdy with wooden trails (except for the excursion to retrace the path of the first explorer which has patch of water here and there…) and the lighting is making the exploration easier to do.

We were extremely blessed to have been able to visit the Bonnechere Caves in exchange of a review.  However, for a family of six like ours the fees would have been almost 90$ which is expensive for us.  And I know numerous homeschool families with many children who would enjoy doing a tour and spelunk as well.  It is a great way to discover caves in the area.   It would be interesting if a special family fee would be put in place in order to facilitate large families to come and visit.  However, they do special pricing for homeschool groups if you desire to organize a field trip.  Homeschool groups qualify for school rate which can be seen by going at the Teacher’s Info section on their website.

Nevertheless, exploring Bonnechere Caves will cover history, spelunking, security, and learn a bit about the bats that live in the caves and the beavers that were found in the caves at some point.    It is a great field trip to do with your kids.  Bring a picnic and explore the area afterward.  There are beautiful falls close by and many other things to discover in the Ottawa Valley.  

Bonnechere Caves is located at 1247 Fourth Chute Rd in Eganville, ON.   If you desire directions please visit their page which listed directions from Ottawa, Toronto, Algonquin Park, and NorthBay-Petawawa-Pembroke.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Chris for allowing us to visit Bonnechere Caves in exchange of a review. I was not monetarily compensated for this post . Please note that the post was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own. All pictures posted on this blog post were taken with our own cameras.

Our experience at the Capital Gaming Expo

This past week-end we visited our local sports center but a totally different reason that you might think of.  Our kids are not doing hockey or figure skating and besides our swimming lessons are usually on Wednesday afternoon.  No.  The main reason why we headed toward the Nepean Sportsplex was that the Geek Market and the Capital Gaming Expo was happening this week-end.  Here’s a bit more about our experience with the Capital Gaming Expo.

FRIDAY – April 8

The Capital Gaming Expo was opening on Friday.  So we decided to go at 4pm to get our bracelet and so on.   We find it was a bit disorganized at the tables.  First of all there was two entrance for the events – one for the Geek Market and one for the Capital Gaming Expo.   We had won tickets for the Capital Gaming Expo but not knowing where to go at first, we initially entered the Geek Market area first.  There they gave us the wrong bracelets even though our ticket was the Capital Gaming Expo.   So when we tried to go to the other area, we were stopped due to the wrong bracelet identification.  After some clarifying, we finally got the right bracelets for the week-end.   I also experience a bit of an issue for my media pass but in the end it got resolved after I was brought to the proper table.  By the way the kids ages 12 and under were free so that was bonus for us.  

Nevertheless, we checked out the Geek Market a bit and immediately the table that grabbed my kids attention was the one with numerous Lego display.   It was very interesting to see the creativity of adults who enjoys Lego.

Next, we finally entered the Capital Gaming Expo.   Our goal for our first time participating such an event was to learn more games by playing them.  It was under our understanding that there would be demos and such during the week-end.  Well after talking to someone at the game library where you can borrow a game to play on one of the table, we discovered that some of the guys there can show us how to play by giving us a quick lesson of the rules.   Okay.   So bottom line, someone was there to help if needed and you could read the rules to learn the game.  It wasn’t really what we had in mind but we could manage.  However, the person who was assigned to explain the game of Small World to us had not played it in ages apparently and didn’t seem very confident in explaining it to us.   So after checking the time – by then it was supper time for us – we decided to go back home to eat and come back the next morning for the opening.  It made more sense to us to take the time to learn it with videos from YouTube before taking the game and playing with it.   That’s what we did.

SATURDAY – April 9

After some food and a good study on how to play Small  World by Days of Wonders, we were ready for some good time with the family at the Capital Gaming Expo. 

In Small World, players vie for conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate them all.  The game is designed by Philippe Keyaerts.  Small World is inhabited by a zany cast of characters such as dwarves, wizards, amazons, giants, orcs and even humans; who use their troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other races off the face of the earth.

It took us a bit of time to set up the game.   Usually the game is for 2-5 players and depending of the number of players you have you will have to select a different map which is included in the box.    The fact that we were six people around the table didn’t stopped us.  We decided to use the 4 players map and the 2 players map side by side and adapt the game a bit.   Mind you there is a map for 5-6 players that exists but you have to purchase it separately.  Besides the game library did not had it for loan. 

We had a great time discovering this game.  The art is fabulous, the characters and their powers are fun to play with and you can decide to put your troops out to pick another one.   Someone had mentioned to us that is was an easier version of Risk.  At first my husband was disappointed with this comment but after watching some videos on how to play the game he respectfully disagreed with the person who had told us that the previous evening.  The game has the idea of Risk when you need to conquer land but there are more strategy and twists in this game because of the powers that would change every time you play, the fact that you can put your race in a disappearing more and much more.

Everyone in our family from the youngest to the oldest enjoyed the game.   The game has taken a predominant place in our list of games to get. 

After playing this game, we needed to get out because we had some errands to do.  But before leaving, we checked out the various games we could play the next days and decided we would try the 7 Wonders game by

SUNDAY – April 10

Last day for the Capital Gaming Expo – our most busiest one at this.   Why?  Well first we needed to check out how the game would play.  Thanks to YouTube we quickly learned this game.  Then it was time to go to church.  After we left church we immediately ate our lunch a bit in advance and drove to the Nepean Sportsplex in the hopes we would be able to play with 7 Wonders.  The game was available.

The game is divided in 3 ages. During each ages, you will have the opportunity to play 6 cards to develop the city you have been assigned and build your wonder.   If you need to purchase something you can only do it with your immediate neighbors.  At the end of each age, players compare their military strength with their neighbors on the left and right.   At the end of the third age, you score the points and the military conflicts in order to discover who won.

Our learning the game was moving along nicely thanks to the presence of a seven player – a young man who was nice to guide us in our discovery of this game.  

We all enjoyed the game pretty much.  As we were playing someone came to our table and asked if we would register to the 7 Wonders tournament which would start an hour later.  We were taken aback as we didn’t expected that.   After all this was our first game playing 7 Wonders.  Can we manage to play during the tournament?  Would it be friendly enough for the kids?   So we

Honestly before we signed up for the 7 Wonders tournament, there was only 6 people on the list. When I signed up our family then we were 12 people interested in playing.  Only eleven showed up for the tournament.   Considering the fact that we played the game only once before the tournament, I was a bit worry some about how the other players would be. But each players were very nice and took the time to encourage each member of the family in playing.   The tournament was quite simple, we played two games of 7 Wonders and the six stronger scores would move to another game of 7 Wonders with the 7 Wonders Leaders expansion.   This was the kids first time in participating to a tournament and it was a good experience for all of us.   The best part is that the kids were able to play with other people than us parents.   

After calculating the results of everyone, my husband discovered that he made it to the finals of the tournament.   So while dad was in the final of the tournament, the kids played with fun little video games nearby.

In the end my husband arrived fourth – tied with someone else – but he enjoyed being part of the finals.  We didn’t win anything but it was okay.  Well it’s not true.  During the first two games, one of our kids got the worse scoring point of all the players and for this they gave us a 5$ rebate when you order online at their store.  Okay.   And to top it all one of the guys approached us and invited us to a regular game night at Wizard Towers in our area.   On Tuesday nights he teaches about a game and have people playing it afterwards.   Looks really fun and we plan to swing by to check it out.

In retrospect, even if our Friday visit had a few loopholes, we had a great time at the Capital Gaming Expo.  We played two fabulous games which are now on our wish list, experience our first ever tournament (even though we were beginners) and made connections with people who enjoy board games.  This is something we would definitively enjoy doing again in the future if we can.

However, I would like to suggest a different type of pricing for the event.   As I mentioned, we are a family of six people – 2 adults, one age thirteen, one age twelve, one age ten and one age 8.   This time around three of our kids could go in for free.  But next year it would be a different story as we would have to pay for four.  The week-end price was 35$ per person in advance – 45$ at the door.   Do the math quickly with me…. that is 140$.   For that price we could easily get a few games from the online store where we usually order and get free shipping (when the order hit 150$).   So we could do more research on the games in order to determine if it would be a good fit for our family.   It could be a hit and miss too but we could always resale the game that we didn’t like.   Considering the price tag attached for a family of six people (because like it or not eventually the kids that are free now will grow up…) the cost to attend such an event for our family would eventually come to the whooping price of 210$.  Yikes!   So I would like to suggest to the organizers to have a family price for everyone in your family age 13 and older.  That way it would make it more affordable for bigger families who would like to spend time together to an even like the Capital Gaming Expo.   Not only you would help such families to save a bit of money but it could bring up some costumers as well who would visit the Geek Market and find a special item that they would like to obtain.

Having said that… we are looking forward for the next Geek and Gaming Garage Sales. 

Ottawa Geek Market and Capital Gaming Expo

A couple of years ago, we were vendors at the Geek Market Ottawa and we were introduced to the world of gaming – as in board games – because we were able to check out the other event that was happening at the same time.

Needless to say we had a busy day and we grabbed a game that we didn’t know about: Marvel Heroes.

Fast forward in 2015 where we took the game out and played for the first time.   When we initially purchased this game we still had kids who were a bit young.  But last fall, we felt that everyone could play even if our youngest would have to team up with someone.   So we played and loved it.   Turns out that the 8 years old daughter remind us the rules when we forget something.    

Somehow we were introduced to deck building games and we discovered Marvel Legendary and DC Deck Building which we are enjoying very much. Since then we are checking various board games (nothing like Monopoly or Risk) to see which one we would prefer…

 

Last week, I decided to participate to a contest in order to win tickets to the upcoming Ottawa Geek Market and the Capital Gaming Expo.   Turns out I won the tickets!   So I told my husband about it and we are planning to go with our four kids to the event.

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What is Ottawa Geek Market and Capital Gaming Expo?

The Ottawa Geek Market is a festival of all things geeky.  It provides an opportunity fr patrons to celebrate their favourite geeky fandoms through shopping, entertainment, video, and board gaming, and family-friendly activities such as a scavenger hunts, crafts, and cosplay (wearing costumes).   Focus is essentially on sci-fi, fantasy, comics, anime, steampunk, horror and gaming.

You can also shop for art, accessories, apparel, books, collectible toys and action figures, comics, costumes, games of all kinds, household items, jewelry, movies and props. 

This year, there will also be a masquerade which is a division-based amateur costuming competition for all geek-related costumes as well as costumes inspired by such works.  This will include anime, manga, gaming, movies, TV shows, comics and much more.   The masquerade is a great way to see cosplayers show off their superb costumes, craftsmanship and creativity.

The Capital Gaming Expo is a gaming convention which offers a large variety of types of games.  At this convention, you will be able to participate to activities like video games, board games, tabletop RPGs, collectible card games, living card games, miniatures, traditional card games, LARPing, and escape rooms.

There will be special guests, workshops, panels as well as tournaments.

As you can see there is a lot that you can do during an event like this.  If you purchase tickets for the Capital Gaming Expo, you have access to the Ottawa Geek Market.  However, the reverse is not true.  People who desire to access the Ottawa Geek Market only can purchase tickets for this.  

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So as you can see there will be plenty to see and experience during the week-end.   Our kids are getting excited to the possibility to try new games and maybe participate to tournaments.    We are newbies in these kind of board games but we can see the possibilities they can bring for us.   Since last fall we have been spending more time as a family in playing games on Saturday morning and these kind of board games can be challenging, competitive, and sometimes cooperative.   So far we have played Marvel Heroes, Marvel Legendary, DC Deck Building, Pandemic, and Ticket to Ride.   We also have Carcassonne, Crown & Kingdom, another version of Pandemic and a few other games we need to discover.  We also have a few that we don’t own but look forward to discover at the Capital Gaming Expo.   Our week-end in indeed booked for it!

The event of Ottawa Geek Market and Capital Gaming Expo will be happening on April 8 to 10, 2016.   Hours are 4pm-9pm on Friday, 10am-6pm on Saturday, and 10am – 5pm on Sunday.  It will be held at the Nepean Sportsplex on Woodroffe Avenue in Ottawa

Tickets for the Capital Gaming Expo are available for purchase directly from the website - http://cgexpo.ca/en/registration/.   Tickets for Friday are 10$ in advance and 15$ at the door.   Tickets for Saturday are 20$ in advance and 25$ at the door.  Tickets for Sunday are 15$ in advance and 20$ at the door.  Week-end pass is 35$ in advance or 45$ at the door.  The VIP pass is only available in advance and will cost 55$.  The VIP pass includes week0end access tot he event, Capital Gaming Expo tote bag, t-shirt, a deck of playing cards, a coaster, a notepad, and a collectible lanyard.

Tickets are also available at

• Comic Book Shoppe 2 at 228 Bank St.
• Myths, Legends and Heroes at 240 Montreal Road
• Comic Book Shoppe at 1400 Clyde Ave.
• Kobold’s Corner at 430 Hazeldean Road in Kanata
• Boutique FDB at 114 St-Raymond Blvd in Gatineay
• MultiZone Aylmer at 181 Principale St.
• MultiZone Gatineau at 140 Greber Blvd.

For the Ottawa Geek Market only, tickets will be 10$ or 15$ for the whole week-end.   Note that on Friday you can enjoy a two-for-one deal which mean that if you bring a friend you will pay only 5$ each.   On Sunday if you come in costume, the price to enter will be 8$.  Finally, admission will only cost 5$ for the last hour of each day.  For this specific event only tickets will be available at the door and the only method of payment accepted will be cash.

Also for both events, you need to be aware that children 12 and under can be admitted for free when accompanied by an adult.  

Legoland Discovery Centre in Vaughan

Not too long ago, as we were in Vaughan on a rainy day, we decided to take advantage of an offer to visit the Legoland Discovery Centre.   We knew in advance that it wouldn’t be super exciting for the older kids in our family but we were in the area anyway.   

Legoland DIscovery Centre contains rides and attractions inside one facility.   Not only can you experience a mini tour of the factory, watch a 4D movie, experience a ride where you go on a quest, see various minilands, but you can also build cars, experience and earthquake, climb a mini gym and do a ride.  Also you can celebrate birthdays and eat a a Café.

The two first sections of the Legoland Discovery Centre is the “How bricks are made” and a Kingdom Quest Laser Ride that you can do with your family.  The game consists of accumulating points by shooting the enemies of the princess.  You will travel in a mini roller coaster cart but the path is very straight.  The whole game last about 5 minutes or so. 

Here Jasmine and Jérémy are bringing yellow plastic beads up the machine in order to make lego bricks.

In this specific area, you can discover how much bricks you weight…

As part of this visit, you also get a special brick for you to keep.

As soon as we passed the how bricks are made demo and the Kingdom Quest Laser Ride , we walked into an amazing detailed mini  city of Toronto.

The kids could play with the sets of baseball and the hockey games if they felt like it.

Two other landmarks of Ontario were also there – the Niagara Falls and the Parliament in Ottawa.

Star Wars is also feature at the Discovery Centre including a giant scale Darth Vader with which the kids had fun posing with it… 

In a specific section of the Discovery Centre you can also visualize specific scenes from the Star Wars movies.   Each of the scenes are fabulously made and contains numerous details.

Throughout the Discovery Centre, you will find multiple figurines built at a bigger scale.  Jasmine couldn’t resist to sit among her favorite friends.

In another part of the Discovery Centre, the kids can built cars or simulate an earthquake for their tower.

Finally, a ride and an indoor gym are also included inside the Discovery Centre.  

Our younger kids enjoyed it while we were visiting the Centre.    While visiting the Discovery Centre we also attended the 4D cinema which was interesting.  We watched something based on the Chima line of products and was able to experience a different kind of movie watching with special things happening while watching.  But to be honest, I was disappointed because I have experience a 4D movie before and that one was much better when it came to the sensations to experience while watching the movie.  We had a great time exploring the miniland Toronto and observe the details put in each section.   We also enjoyed quite a bit the miniland Star Wars which was in a different section of the Discovery Centre. 

Please note that the Legoland Discovery Centre is more geared to families with children aged 3-10 years old.   Tickets to visit the Legoland Discovery Centre start from 17.60 if you purchase them online or 22$ and more if you purchase when you walk-in.  Kids up to 2 years of age are free.

Oh and when you get to the cashier, the person will offer you an extra passport for the price of 5$ in case you want your child to fill it in.   Inside there are activities and places where you can get some stamps.  At the end of the visit, the child will also get an extra gift by showing the passport.   Between you and me I would prefer to have this passport included in the price of the ticket.

Finally, when you exit the Legoland Discovery Centre, you will be directed into the Lego Store in the mall.  So be prepare in advance depending if you want to spend extra money on Lego kits or not.

Legoland Discovery Centre is located inside the Vaughan Mills at 1 Bass Pro Mills Drive, Vaughan, ON.

Note to my readers.   I have taken numerous pictures while we were visiting Legoland DIscovery Centre in Vaughan, ON.  However, I didn’t want to post all of these out of respect to the attraction.  So if you want to see more of it, I would suggest you go visit Legoland Discovery Centre.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Legoland Discovery Centre for allowing my family to visit free of charge. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.