I really miss living in Ontario. As a result of this, I especially enjoy going for a walk around the old stomping grounds whenever I'm back in the province which is yours to discover.

Walking past Lion's Park, I noticed another of our old riding spots was gone. There used to be a nice bank, drop & curb-cut here - but now there's just a boring 3 stair.

I have no clue what this building was originally, but it was a teen hangout centre & a restaurant during my youth. Maybe this stucco treatment & new porch will bring some occupant for a bit longer (although there is quite a bit of vacancy along main street nowadays, & this building is awkwardly tucked away...)

The ledge I learned to feeble grind on is gone as well.

No more foot-high planter at the Royal Bank.

Continuing along, St. Simon & St. Jude still looks weird without its bell tower.

If it means that the church can avoid closing & hang around for a few more decades; then I guess I am for it.

The old Sweetwater Landing - and the accompanying apartment - was all gone now. Replaced by a cookie-cut TD bank like you see in every other Southern & Eastern Ontario town.

There are a few American banks which seem to build unique, interesting structures & I really enjoy them. TDs are fine & alright, but they're no Bank of the Wests.

Continuing along, I passed the Le Petit Dragon motel - which doesn't even have any Yelp ratings or markings in Google.

The wood logs they nailed to their ledges to prevent us from grinding them...remain at the bottom of the picture.

(This isn't the seedy town motel or anything...it always seemed to be used by anglers in the area. Apparently rooms are only $40/night! (I just Googled it)).

I was going to walk down to the end of the marina, but the howling wind made me go down Lakeview Drive instead.

I had seen this view before, with dirt piles where the City Limits restaurant used to be, but now it was even more concrete with no remains of City Limits left behind.

I continued up Lakeview Drive, over to Notre Dame Street, and returned back towards the west end of town.

It still looks pockmarked to me without the King George there.

Rounding towards home, it was funny to also notice the age and quality to certain structures in town.

Of course you go to other places and gawk at all of the old buildings, but you never really notice that you have them in your hometown (that is, until you live in a place without many buildings older than the 1950s).

Speaking of older buildings, I also went for a drive around the county and ended up in Tilbury.

Even before I really took note of architecture, I was always enamored with Tilbury's 1901 Post Office.

I wanted a picture of their arena while I was in town...and I found their train station as a result (it is located in the grass lot behind the arena).

For all of the times I've went street riding in Tilbury, I had never found this before.

I also wanted a picture of the old Hudson Motors Factory. Hudson was one of the big names in car manufacturing in the 1930s and 1940s - and it was weird when I was randomly reading about their history...and found information about Tilbury!

(Hudson was merged into Nash Automotive & Nash moved the jobs from Tilbury to Toronto in 1954. The structure is home to a warehousing company nowadays.)

I also decided to snap a shot of Tilbury's Beer Store, as apparently it is abandoned now - although I didn't see a new one around town (I'm sure it's there).

This is The Beer Store where Donnie & I left the skatepark one day & he told me to pull over immediately - he had a tick on his leg and proceeded to remove his pants and pull the thing off right in front of the store.

Good times in Tilbury (both then & now).