Day 1 - A Modest Beginning

Well, we're off! What started out horrible (imagine Kevin retching as he tried to pack the car in the middle of a torrential down pour - vitamin belly and spring weather, thank you) ended pretty well. We got on the road on schedule and in spite of missing an accident by feet before we even left the city, we had some good karma working for us. Gord is to thank for that. Would you believe that he slept from early on the 403 until Parry Sound!? That's her eating a muffin by the Bobby Orr/Stockley Centre (sp?) - cute, no?

After that we got back in the car and kept going North. Our goal was Killarney Provincial Park, and we still had a few hundred kms to go. Fortunately for us, the sky dried up and the traffic we anticipated never really showed up. 

Killarney is a jewel of the Ontario Parks system and Ty's nice to enjoy the environment and amenities that make it such a gem. Our site is HUGE, we have TWO picnic tables, we can see beautiful lake George from our site and it's not too busy. It is a little buggy (Theresa would not use the word 'little'), but otherwise we have it pretty good. As I write this we're all copied up next to the fire, Gord's sleeping on T's lap, and we can hear a lovely concert! That's right, as part of the Killarney Summer Concert series Dave Leask is playing at the amphitheatre, and the sound of his Scottish voice singing Van Morrison is wafting to us through the trees. Relaxing...

Tomorrow we're heading for Gitchigumi - Lake Superior. Wish us luck and we hope you're enjoying your Summer. We are.

TOTAL FUEL FILL UPS: 0

DAILY WILDLIFE: chipmunk (basically in the tent); moose (in the distance, on the road); black bear (just the butt end of him as he bounded into the bush from the road); hairy wood pecker.

Day 3 - A Smart Change of Plans

Well, it didn't take too long for us to change our (very detailed) plans, but we'll get to that in a minute. Gord's great napping during the day may have contributed to a baby who was not ready to sleep until after 9:00, sigh. Nevertheless, he was up and ready to go at 5:40, so we all got up.

After briefly flirting with the idea of having a quick breakfast, the bugs won again and we made a quick retreat. No worries though, as T made a bunch of PB and Js to go along with our healthy collection of GORP, apples and chocolate chip bran muffins! 

T had Gord sleeping after a little while and we continued our trek to the North shore of Lake Superior. Around every corner was another breath-taking view.

Finally he woke up at about 10:00 just outside of Scheiber ON, and the search for our breakfast/lunch stop began. That's when we came across the village of Rossport. To say Rossport is a small town is a bit of an understatement, their Wikipedia page lists their pop. at 66. But he was crying and we could eat - so when we saw the sleepy homes on the picturesque shore we stopped. The only real restaurant we could find (Serendipity Garden Cafe and Guest House) didn't open until 11:00, so we headed for the playground on the beach. 

The water was like ice, but there was a lovely breeze so we walked along the shore and waited for our brunch. The good news was that it was worth the wait - Serendipity was lovely, and the home made veggie burger, spanicopita, and chocolate sundae all made Gord happy!

So then we got back on the road. With a belly full of food G was down pretty quick, so T and I could talk. Needless to say, by the time we got to our destination for the night (Sleeping Giant Provincial Park) we had some questions for the staff: what was the bug situation (dire, we swatted double digits in the park office); was there a way to get a site NOT in the bush (more breeze = fewer bugs, but there was no way, the park was full); and finally, what would be the refund if we cancelled - it was nearly full! So that's how we found ourselves in the Airlane Hotel in Thunder Bay!  

Yup. It was a discount hotel we found n Hotwire, and while the place reminds me a little of Jack and 'redrum', we have A/C, we went for a swim, and best of all no bugs.

Tomorrow we'll start our day 60 km closer to Winnipeg, and we won't have to break camp before we leave. In sum, we're happy with our decision. 

So Happy Canada Day tomorrow, we'll see how the 'Peg fetes our national BDay.

TOTAL FUEL FILL UPS: 2

DAILY WILDLIFE: moose (up close on the road from Lake Superior PP), black bear (up close tearing up a dead fall on the road to Sleeping Giant PP).