Leaving our stresses of Quebec behind and vowing that we will one day return to tour Old Quebec City, but will fly there and use taxis or Uber to drive us to the hot spots. We camped once again in Lancaster, but chose a Regional Campground. The sites were very spacious with very few bugs, bonus! Well no mosquitos! There were tiny bugs, well thousands of them actually. They would fly in swarms but didn’t bite or sting. The biggest problem was if you were talking, the tiny bugs would fly right in your mouth. Not pleasant at all. Was kind of tough to talk while walking around the site. We only spent the one night and then continued to Guelph. An uneventful trip through Toronto again (gotta love the GPS for keeping you in the correct lanes). Other then heavy Saturday traffic, it was a breeze. In Guelph we camped in the same, and only, campground within the city limits, Guelph Conservation Park. We wanted to be close to Riki’s place and it is the best spot. We picked up both girls along with their bikes. Madison’s is a two wheeler with training wheels and she has no problem riding it. Alisha’s is a BMX bike minus the training wheels. Over the years she has had a couple of different bikes, but never seemed to master riding without training wheels. Ray said that she was going to learn in the campground as it is flat and has good gravel roads. So on Sunday, after a lot of the campers had left, her riding instructions began. Starting out she kept leaning her body to one side and looking down at her front wheel, but reminding her to sit upright and look ahead, soon had her riding on her own. She never really realized at first that Ray nor I were not holding the back of her seat. To be riding a two wheel bike on her own, was a huge accomplishment for Alisha. There was no stopping her now! Around and around she went, with a couple of other campers cheering her on as she passed their sites! I have never seen her with a grin as big as she had plastered on her face! So proud of her! Needless to say she spent the next three days riding that bike. She even met another 10 year old in the park and they soon were riding everywhere together. Ray took the training wheels off of Madison’s bike to give her some practice time too. But being only 4 years old she was not quite ready for two wheels. She still had fun trying to keep up with the older two girls.
Over the next four days we never really left the campground, except to go to the The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada. This is just outside of Guelph and is a refuge for donkeys, mules and hinnies who have been neglected or abused. Some of the donkeys have been rescued with hooves so long that they live in constant pain and cannot walk. The size of this sanctuary is 100 acres and is a tranquil place for the rescued to live out their lives. Ray and I over the years have sponsored donkeys at this sanctuary. So we wanted the girls to see the donkeys and learn more about them. I am sure that Madison was probably bored with the half hour "talk" about the animals. But she was very patient! In case some of you are wondering about the difference between a mule and a hinny........ a mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse,,,,,,,, while a hinny is the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey.
Alisha Bean
My funny little Madison
Ray took the truck to the Dodge dealer to get the oil changed as we had put about 10,000 kms on it since leaving home. He also took it through a car wash to try to get some of the thousand bugs off the front of the truck! The rest of our few days in Guelph we just hung out at the campground, went for walks while the girls followed on their bikes. On Monday my long time friend Nancy came to spend a couple of nights. Nancy lives in Oro-Medonte, which is about a two hour drive from Guelph. She knew beforehand that she would have to share the sofa bed with one of the girls, and she was okay with that. I have known Nancy since I was 18 years old (over 40 years). I met her when she was dating my older brother Ken. That relationship did not work out, but the two of us have maintained a long lasting friendship. We may go a couple of years without seeing each other, but as soon as we get together it is like no time whatsoever has passed by. We have seen each others kids grow up and now she gets to enjoy my grandkids when we see each other. The girls absolutely love her! She always comes up with some sort of game to entertain them. Our last night in Guelph after the kids had gone home with Riki, Nancy spent the last night in the campground with us. In the morning we said our goodbyes, she left for home and we left for Tobermory.
Manitoulin Island
Tobermory is a tiny little town on the tip of Bruce Peninsula and on the shores of Lake Huron. This is where you catch the ferry that will take you over to Manitoulin Island. Taking this 2 hour ferry allows you to avoid the long drive from Guelph up to Sudbury. With a square milage of 1068, Manotulin Island is the largest freshwater island in the world. There are a number of lakes on this island, three of which have islands of their own. To get off this island on the north side, you have to cross a one lane swing bridge which is controlled by a traffic light. We spent a night in a campground which had us backed onto the lake, so it was a beautiful sight in the evening and early morning. The campground itself was in bad need of some TLC. The sites were large and clean, but the laundry and clubhouse looked as though they were ready to fall to the ground. And the building which housed the two had a damp moldy smell, so you know what that did for me! I do not do old buildings or museums because of the “old” smells, that can ultimately affect my poor lungs. I had to get Ray to fetch the laundry when it was done as I was not going back in there!! Any of the staff we met were all super friendly.
Lighthouse on Lake Huron
View from the rear window of our campsite on Manitoulin Island
Morning cuppa
When we left Manotulin, we headed back to Sault Ste Marie to have another visit with Danny and Angel and as it turned out it was Angel’s birthday. We met lots of nice people that evening, mostly Angel's family but also Danny's Dad who we had never met.
Angel and her little niece
Ray and Danny chillin
We were now on a mission to get Regina again to hook up with Jim and Marline who are also on a trip to the east. When Ray is on a mission to get somewhere, there is no stopping him. Up to this point on our driving days we have kept it to driving no more then 5 hours. Gone are the days when Ray would drive 10-12 hours a day. On our way east it took us two days to get around Lake Superior, but this time it look us a day. About 9 hours of driving! Ugh!! I mentioned the beauty of Lake Superior in a previous post, but that was while driving eastbound. The drive west is even more spectacular! A different view for sure at each curve in the road. I never get tired of seeing the mountainous landscape, I loved it when I first drove through in the 70’s. Maybe because it reminded me of BC, although the mountains are not as high as ours in BC, but truly a beautiful sight when you are away from home. We camped just east of Thunder Bay at a KOA campground. As all KOA’s, it was pin neat with friendly staff. Poor wifi though, which has become a very common occurrence on all of our trips. Makes me wonder why camp grounds advertise Wifi but you can never get connected!!
Let me tell you a bit about Thunder Bay. It has a populations of about 108,000 people and is a major shopping area for all the smaller towns in North Western Ontario. Thunder Bay is also referred to as Lakehead because of its location at the end of Lake Superior. Outside of local and Provincial government employers, and with approximately 1500 employees, Resolute Forest Products is the largest employer in the area. Bombardier Transportation is another larger employer with over 800 employees. Just east of town is an amethyst mine. Amethyst Mine Panorama is the largest deposit of amethyst in Canada.
Until next post....
Lori and Ray
Until next post....
Lori and Ray
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