People tend to rag on Hamilton as a bad place to live. Although there are some places you definitely want to be after dark, there are still TONS of things for you to do here.

So what have you done outside the McMaster bubble that was awesome?

I've done...

... wait for it...

*Absolutely Nothing!*

(Unless you count going to eat at restaurants that are already reviewed in the review sessions...)

That said, why don't you say some of the stuff you did? >_>

I have gone to a bunch of places in the city on photography adventures, but wish that I have done more.

• I went on a hike in Cootes last year to help my partner with his Ecology assignment. He's not from Ontario so he was having some issues identifying some of the flora.
• Tiffany Falls was really nice; I've been a couple of times now and got some good shots.
• There was also an overlook of the city whose name I can't remember. You can see it in the background of this band's picture.

I used to go to the Underground a LOT in first and second year. There are a couple of other venues I've been to, including Absinthe (but never for Motown Wednesdays).

I went to Locke Street one evening, to get cake. I really want to go back during the day, there's some cool shops in there.

I've been to a couple of Bulldogs games. If you're a Canadiens fan you should know it's their farm team.

I saw the Nutcracker two years ago (2007) at Hamilton Place. I think they have a group of performances every year. Hamilton Place and Copps Coliseum have various concerts and events throughout the year. I saw Incubus at Copps with a group of friends in first year too.

I've been to a bunch of the bars/clubs/pubs in Hess as well. I got my tattoo at Sinkin Ink, too.

Oh, you don't consider Cootes within the Mcmaster bubble? >_>

In that case I have:

(I do not recommend doing any of the things that are in smaller letters and coloured white)
Early first term (Before workload started piling up):
- Me and some friends went in through the Brandon Entrance, walked in for a couple of minutes, realized it was a little dark so we left and got some flashlights from another friend and went back into Cootes
(though later it turns out those flashlights were pretty terrible and didn't help). Eventually we just relied on the moonlight to keep everything lit up. After about an hour of walking we got fed up so we decided to cut through the forest uphill where we found ANOTHER trail...
Eventually it led us back to the soccer field behind Les Prince... It effectively took us over an hour to go from Brandon to Les Prince... I also slipped once and got my clothes slightly muddy.
(Did I mention this was roughly 3 in the morning?)
Late Second Term:
- Since we never actually went through the entire trail, me, 3 of the original 4 friends who went the first time, and some more went into the trail again.
This time with proper flashlights so we could actually see where we were going.
We still started from the Brandon entrance and took the same (wrong) turns we did last time. But eventually we found our way back to the regular trail and we ended up in some residential area near Westdale and we also walked back from there.
(Roughly the same time as last time... Although this time around I was *really* drunk and could barely walk straight, not a good idea considering we were already off trail)
But yeah, Cootes was really nice.
(I do not recommend doing any of the things that are in smaller letters and coloured white)

Originally Posted by JEFF_CHAN

Oh, you don't consider Cootes within the Mcmaster bubble? >_>)

It's technically not a part of McMaster, although it borders part of it. So nope!

Soo Jeff you have never been to the lakeshore from Behind Brandon? :O Also If that counts as outside I sorta used to run all over cootes in early fall/late spring, I first got introduced to it when we went there for once a week Hill Run for track. Now I've become competent enough to find my way to Princess Point(the place you can see from 403) and to Botanical Gardens on the opposite side!

Other then that:

1) Mountain Top Park thingie(Upper Wentworth Bus)
2) Eastgate Square(by Mistake, baddd idea)
3)Locke Street; Love the Bagels at the Bakery there.
4) Mountain Top Mall, there was a closing/renovation fire sale at many shops there that I "almost" bought CHEAP stuff from. I believe it is still going on.
5) This is amongst my more wierd adventures, I took a bus all the way to Stoney Creek to visit the Stoney Creek Dairy for an apparently Good Milkshake, it sucked.
6)Confederation Park
Other Then that I just tend to take the busses all over the place in the Summer when I don't have much to do...

Websters falls in Dundas is really good.. it's like 10 mins from mac!
I go there for picnics and wine and tanning with my friend and the falls are amazing, lots of good photoshoot places for models or photographers too.

There are pick your own fruits farms close by to the falls, which are fun sometimes with friends.

Also, downtown dundas... lots of little shops including the British shop which has all the UK foods and stuff. its a 5 min bus ride from university plaza!

Starlite drive in!!!! woo

Spice avenue restaurant on upper james. AMAZING and looks really nice inside and the prices are very cheap and the servings are huge.

Locke street.

Locke Street Bagels - om nom nom.

Websters Fals in Dundas.

Princess Point (Near Bond & King)

See a Ty Cats Game.

Gore Park (during the day if you're skittish)

random dumb q.. is club absinthe's absinthe real? I thought it was illegal in canada

no its not

i want to explore hamilton more!

Check out the museums in Hamilton! Most are now free with your student cards!
Use your HSR Passes to get to the museums!

That's it for input? Oh man.

Dundas Valley is good to visit. From the trail centre there's 5 main trails and multiple other ones spread from that totalling over 40km.
You can take the rail trail there and the trail centre is 5.5km from the start. Once you get to the trail centre there's 5 main trails and multiple other ones spread from that totalling over 40km. You can also drive to the trail centre. It's just off Governor's Rd.

I would recommend the Main Loop or the Northern section of McCormick Trail (it's west of the main entrance and on the North side of Governor's) It has an amazing view of Hamilton and Dundas. You can even see the Burlington Skyway from there.

I've been on the trails for work and have to cover all of them for the project. I might have some others to recommend once I'm done as I'm now getting into trails I haven't gone on during my own time.

Besides all the restaurants I've been to all over Hamilton and the malls that I've shopped at (Lime Ridge, Jackson Square, and Eastgate), I've done a bunch of fun things in the Hamilton area:

- Hiking on Bruce Trail; Webster's Falls, Tews Falls
- Food tour of Hamilton put on by OPIRG's PEAS where I got to visit an organic farm, the garden at Dundurn Castle, and a backyard garden in the East end of Hamilton
- Volunteered with the Soup Van for the Salvation Army and handed out food to needy people in various places in Hamilton (An amazing experience, so interesting connecting with the other volunteers and talking to the people from the community who don't have it so easy. It's very real and humbling.)
- Explored and taken pictures at beautiful places like the lookout on Concession St. up the mountain, Dundurn Castle, on the 403 looking over the water, the Waterfront
- Went drinking/clubbing/watched shows at places downtown and Hess
- Spent a day just walking along Main St. from downtown as far east as my friends and I could go
- Attended formals at the Hamilton Convention Centre and Sheraton Hotel
- Shopped at the Hamilton Farmers' Market
- Did MacServe and helped out at a local food bank for the day
- Travelled to and shopped at Mountain Plaza, Meadowlands Power Centre

There's probably more than I can't think of, but I plan on doing more things like:
- Attending the Britney Spears concert at Copps Coliseum next week. (Yay! ...Don't judge.)
- Meeting a friend for coffee at the Williams Coffee Pub by the Waterfront (there's a great ice cream place there too, Scoops)
- Visiting the local museums with my Mac Student ID (Thanks Joe Finkle!)
- Go hiking some more
- Explore downtown Dundas (I pass it on my way to go hiking and it looks neat)
- Check out the shops in Westdale more
- Watch a movie at the Westdale Theatre

There's definitely a lot to do in Hamilton, if you're willing to go outside of the McMaster bubble. Even food alone, there's so much variety and ethnicities represented in the cuisine. Hamilton has a lot to offer if you're willing to give it a try.