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The Butchart Gardens – Victoria, British Columbia
Badge of Awesome Communities invites you to share your favourite things to see and do in cool destinations around the world. We caught up with the folks from The Butchart Gardens — one of our featured attractions from the Vancouver area — to learn about what they have to offer and what they think makes their community…
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Backyard Axe Throwing League (BATL) – Kitchener, Ontario
Badge of Awesome Communities invites you to share your favourite things to see and do in cool destinations around the world. We caught up with the folks from Backyard Axe Throwing League (BATL) — one of our featured attractions from the Waterloo Region area — to learn about what they have to offer and what…
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Adventure Rooms Canada – Kitchener, Ontario
Badge of Awesome Communities invites you to share your favourite things to see and do in cool destinations around the world. We caught up with the folks from Adventure Rooms Canada — one of our featured attractions from the Waterloo Region area — to learn about what they have to offer and what they think…
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Dunfield Theatre Cambridge – Ontario
Badge of Awesome Communities invites you to share your favourite things to see and do in cool destinations around the world. We caught up with the folks from Dunfield Theatre Cambridge — one of our featured attractions from the Waterloo Region area — to learn about what they have to offer and what they think…
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Anna Mae’s Bakery and Restaurant – Millbank, Ontario
Badge of Awesome Communities invites you to share your favourite things to see and do in cool destinations around the world. We caught up with the folks from Anna Mae’s Bakery and Restaurant — one of our featured attractions from the Waterloo Region area — to learn about what they have to offer and what…
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Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery – Ontario
Badge of Awesome Communities invites you to share your favourite things to see and do in cool destinations around the world. We caught up with the folks from the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery — one of our featured attractions from the Waterloo Region area — to learn about what they have to offer and what they…
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Pirate Adventures – Ottawa, Ontario
Badge of Awesome Communities invites you to share your favourite things to see and do in cool destinations around the world. We caught up with the folks from Pirate Adventures Ottawa — one of our featured attractions from the Ottawa, Ontario area — to learn about what they have to offer and what they think…
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Take a Boat Trip to the Tip with Long Point Tours – Turkey Point, Ontario
Long Point: With its secluded beaches and colourful history of pirates, shipwrecks and sunken treasure, you’d half expect to find it somewhere in the Caribbean. Instead, this rare ecological gem is a short two-hour drive from Toronto, Ontario on the shores of Lake Erie.
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Thinking Things Through: Lessons learned from nearly swallowing a severed human toe
There are 3 items on my ultimate bucket list. Joining Captain Dick’s World Famous Sour Toe Cocktail Club is one of them. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this… unusual… drinking tradition, Sour Toe cocktails are found exclusively at the Downtown Hotel bar in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. Entry into the prestigious club…
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Failing Your Way to Success: Lessons learned from being blindfolded and left in a farmer’s field
Whenever my extended family gets together you can usually count on three things: a lot of boxed wine, a lot of Euchre and a lot of jackassery. Our Easter celebration a couple years ago delivered on all three counts and included an activity that my Van Osch cousins came up with: the Blindfold Game.
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Discover a cool way to watch Old Faithful blow: Yellowstone National Park, USA
Jam-packed with the world’s largest collection of geysers, Yellowstone National Park literally explodes with awesomeness. No visit to the park is complete without a visit to Old Faithful, the world-famous thermal pressure cooker that spews a roaring column of boiling hot water over 100 feet in the air every 91 minutes or so.
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Cool things to do in Grey County, Ontario
Badge of Awesome Communities There’s adventure around every corner! Badge of Awesome Communities celebrates great destinations around the world and invites you to share your favourite things to see and do in those places. Check out the video to learn about this project’s near-death origin story, discover what others are saying about Grey County and…
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Go see Notre Dame Fighting Irish college football game – South Bend, Indiana
Make no mistake: I’m no sports fan. The last time I watched a full hockey game, the Nordiques were still a thing. When I get invited to a Super Bowl party, I usually have to look up who’s playing beforehand. And I still have no clue how offside works in soccer. So when my girlfriend…
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Cycle for Change: Otesha bike tours
Welcome to beautiful British Columbia. Home of the Canucks, the West Coast Trail, Bryan Adams… and freakishly large zucchinis?
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Grind it out at the Grouse Grind in Vancouver, British Columbia
Welcome to Mother Nature’s Stairmaster. On paper, the 2.9 km trail hardly seems daunting. However, when you get to the foot of the Grouse Grind and realize that it comes with its own “you might die” warnings, it starts to sink in that this might be more than a leisurely stroll.
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Bicycle around Angkor Wat: Cambodia
The world is full of awesome things to see. But oftentimes, how you see something matters just as much as what you see. This week’s Blue Marble Badge of Awesome goes to Jon Chilton, for sharing his bicycling experience around temples in Cambodia.
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Shoot Blow Darts in Japan
As the Baby Boomer generation gets older, more and more attention is being paid to “senior-friendly” activities. Your mind may automatically go to things like Bridge, shuffleboard or knitting (or Guerrilla Knitting if you’re super cool). But a rather unconventional activity is picking up steam in Japan: blow darting.
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Play Dodgeball World Domination
My brother Dan introduced me to a great variation of classic Dodgeball. Here he is to explain: “At the school where I teach, students are in charge of organizing and running intramural activities this year. They have started with an old-school favourite: Dodgeball. However, they have introduced numerous variations on the game to keep the…
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Do a Photo Scavenger Hunt
Photo scavenger hunts are a great, low-impact, low-cost alternative to the classic “find and collect” game. Whether you’re looking for a fun activity for your corporate event or just want something to do with your buddies on a Saturday afternoon, a photo scavenger hunt is a quick and easy thing to whip together. As the…
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Donate Blood
One of the most awesome, simple and selfless ways you can help somebody is by being a blood donor. In 2008, at age 27, I was diagnosed with Chronic Mylogenous Leukemia. The doctors gave me 40-50% of surviving. Despite the odds, my doctors and I were determined to do everything in our power to beat…
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Go on a Retreat: Washington meets WiFi in Virginia, USA
I think some people thought me strange to drive 9 hours to spend a week in Winchester, Virginia on a “writing retreat.” After all, I work from home. Couldn’t I get the same work done there? Maybe. But I feel there are many advantages to getting away from your daily routine and surroundings. Virginia proved…
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Remember: Wartime letters from my Grandpa
Remembrance Day is November 11 – a time for us to reflect on our freedom and honour the brave men and women who served (and continue to serve) our country in both times of war and peace.
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Assemble a Book of Encouragement
A couple weeks ago I wrote about the birthday “human art show” my friends and family performed for me while I was in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Another uplifting and awesome thing they pulled together was a “book of encouragement.”
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Host a recipe swap night
Here’s a simple idea that’s both a fun social activity as well as a way of beefing up your personal cookbook (or vegging it up as the case may be). Throw a Recipe Swap party. The rules are simple: Bingo-bango-bongo, you’ve got 10 new recipes in your playbook. If you want, you can also choose…
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Sandboard the Dunes: Peru, New Zealand, Namibia and more
Growing up in Canada, tobogganing factored big in my childhood. Each winter the hills around Port Albert, Ontario became the grounds for epic battles with my siblings and cousins. I often felt bad that people living in warmer climates were missing out on this awesome activity. But then Ashraf Dean submitted this photo of him…