HappyTrails

Revisiting the Summer

 
   

I think the family will recognize this lad.  For others, these are pics taken while the grandson was traveling in Ontario, Summer 2005.

Sometimes a photo speaks

I was wandering down memory lane reviewing our 2005 travel photos and found a great shot taken by my talented spouse while we were traveling in Canada with JP.  I love this one, JP and the King:

Touring the Great Lakes..

We have done our best to at least cast our eyes upon all of the Great Lakes as we traveled from New York into Ontario, CN and back into Michigan and Indiana.  Whenever possible we tried to investigate the sights and waters of the Lakes as we blasted past (we had three weeks for the first portion of this part of our travels).  An update to our photo album and some backtracking to update previous posts will be completed soon.  Our challenge for these recent travels was connectivity to the site. We had one WiFi locations while in Ontario and the cell coverage continues to be a little thin.  

update:  adding link to one of our favorite areas visited - Georgian Bay information

   We're on our way to Sioux Falls, SD to take care of some quick business.....

Back in the U.S.A.

We returned to the U.S. today via the International Bridge from Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.   We had a brief delay as the line progressed through the border cross but it all went surprisingly well.  We are now taking advantage of information provided by other fulltimers and are parked at a casino in the UP of Michigan.  We took a ferry to Mackinac Island and there will be more posted here on that topic.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Canada but we really appreciate being U.S. citizens!

Ontario Provincial Parks

Link: Park Locator - parks by distance.

One more week in Canada, Eh?

We arrived in Sault Ste Marie (called the Soo by people who know) after a two day drive along the North Shore of Lake Huron.  The vegetation and habitat changed quite dramatically in relatively short distance as we made our way.  Cell service and internet connectivity were nil and fuel costs were extremely high but we put all of that aside and enjoyed the moderate temperatures and the rare thunderstorm resulting in much lower humidity.  All in all aninteresting area of the world that we would like to enjoy for a longer stay next time.  I doubt these two shots need further explanation...especially for grandfathers. 

         

  We're planning to take a train tour and a boat ride through the Soo Lock.  The lock is the passageway for ships traveling between Lake Huron and Lake Superior.  It should be quite interesting.  While we were staying at the Six Rivers Lake Provincial Park near Honey Harbour we enjoyed a three hour boat tour of what is called the 30,000 islands.  (see the photo album for photos)

Check back as this post is still being updated...

<----Grandkid negotiates

 and scores!

Oh Canada, eh!

We arrived in Niagara Falls, OntarioMonday and realized we had landed in an extreme tourist destination.  We'll update soon with photos but we want to let folks who are interested know that we are now in Sauble Beach, Ontario. Check out the grandson on the air car over the whirlpool near Niagara Falls.   While staying at the KOA in Niagara Falls, ON we had easy access to the tourist attraction(s) on steroids. We rode the local shuttle (bus) to town and were absolutely awestruck at the number of folks who had the same idea of checking out the falls at this time of year.  Thousands of folks from all over the world checking out the falls, the ticki-tac shops, the casino(s) old and new, restaurants and the special holiday fireworks.  It was quite a change from the quiet solitude of Bath, N.Y.  Through it all we kept reminding ourselves that our intent was to enjoy being "shameless tourists."  On our second day we drove out to what was believed to be an historic fort where I might discover the truth about my distant ancestor who may have lead a raid to burn the Capitol during the war of 1812.  Let me just say, the fort was not really that impressive and the fees to see the less than impressive fort were high even for shameless tourists so we passed and moved on to the quaint village of Niagara on the Lake.  Canada is encrusted with plaquesand bronze statues marking important people, war heros, sunken ships, deceased literary characters.........and on and on.   Much more will be described on this expression of pride we see throughout Canada.

After a very long ride starting in urban Canada and ending along beatiful farmland of Bruce Peninsula we arrive in a small lakeside village of Sauble Beach on Lake Huron. (None of us have ever been to Lake Huron before.)  This is a quiet vacation area visited mostly by Ontarians.  We met many friendly folks here who had a lot of advice as to what we should see when the heard our planned routes.