Ontario

3 August – We left Michigan where we had been for 29 days and crossed the Canadian border with no hassles. At the Canadian Welcome centre we stopped to publish the last blog which was a bit of a problem as we had internet issues. Managed to do the blog but could not get onto our email. Very strange! We drove 40 miles north to a provincial park at the Pinery. This is a huge camp with about 1200 sites however they could only book us in for 1 night. We walked down to Lake Huron and a beach with a heavy “sea” bounding in. The swimming was great though. Later in the day we cycled thru this huge camp for about 10 miles.

4 August – After breakfast we hopped on the bikes and cycled back to see if we could stay for another night. They gave us a site but we have to change sites. Not a problem for us however. The forecast for this afternoon is not great so we went to this wild beach for a swim and a sunbathe. Back for lunch and as the weather is still warm we returned to the beach but after a swim the clouds rolled in and we returned to our site just as the rain started. It did not rain for long.

5 August - A strong cold wind off the lake for our drive north along the Lake Huron coast mostly thru farming country and small towns. We are now at another provincial park at Inverhuron. This park is situated on a small peninsula and we walked to a nice sheltered beach. After Val had done the laundry, we walked a trail around the park out of the shelter of the bay and with a strong wind whipping up a bit of surf. It’s really is like the ocean! The temperature has dropped and we are in our track pants and jerseys outside for dinner.

6 August – A very short drive today so we stopped for a shop. Alcohol can only be bought from the LCBO shop (licensing control board of Ontario). Overall we were pleasantly surprised at the prices. Not much dearer than USA. We camped at a provincial park at Sauble Falls. Off to the beach which is reputed to be one of Canada’s top 10. We are now getting very good at biking with our chairs balanced across the handle bars and our towels around our necks. The beach was ok but there was a cool wind and we have seen a lot better. The water was refreshing! Back to “Ernie” and a walk to the Sauble Falls. It is a series of small leaps with many kids enjoying the pools etc.

7 August – A 50 mile drive up the large Bruce Peninsula which sticks out into Lake Huron forming the Georgian Bay on one side. We booked a camping ground for the weekend which is only 1 ½ miles from the tourist town of Tobermory and at the very end of the peninsula. Again the bikes are great to get us into the town. There are two harbours and the smaller one (Little Tub) is where the shops and restaurants are situated. We wandered the town and had a beer overlooking the harbour before going to the National Park visitors centre. Our hope was to stay a night in the park and walk some of the Bruce Trail which goes all the way to Niagara but the camp was full. Change of plans! Instead we booked a boat trip to Flowerpot Island for tomorrow. Back at the camp we enjoyed a refreshing swim in the camp pool and a skyping session to catch up with the family.

8 August – It rained in the night and continued raining thru breakfast. Fortunately just as we hopped on the bikes for our ride to the boat trip the rain stopped. It is only 6 kms to the Flowerpot Island but we diverted into the other harbour (Big Tub) where there are a couple of shipwrecks just below the surface. Being fresh water they are perfectly presevered and with the clear water very easily seen. At the island we left the boat for 3 ½ hours. There are many boats coming and going so the main attractions are very crowded.

We chose to take a short hike thru the island’s interior. This is in the National Park and the bush was different from what we had seen so far. Eventually we caught up with the crowds at a lighthouse where the original lighthouse keepers house has been restored to when it was abandoned in the early 1960’s. It reminded us of our childhood. We sat on a rocky beach for lunch before going to the main attraction of the island, the two flowerpots. These are stone columns on the waters edge.

The stones are like the pancake rocks at Punakaiki and the water is very much like the Able Tasman. It was a great trip which we really enjoyed. A last look at Tobermory and an ice-cream before we cycled back to the camp.

9 August – We drove back down the Bruce Peninsula thru Owen Sound and around the bottom of the beautiful Georgian Bay. We took a site for two nights at Craigleith Provincial. Park The beach was quite different to anything we had experienced. The shore consisted of large flat rocks which gradually stepped down into the luke warm water. It was like swimming in a pool with waves. We had many swims and enjoyed drying off in the sun between them.

10 August – The forecast is for rain this afternoon. We cycled 10 miles along a rail trail into the town of Collingwood with its great historical murals. After cycling back to the beach at Craigleith we went for a swim just before it started to rain. It rained off and on for the rest of the day. Val managed to break her Kobo e-reader. Disaster!!

11 August – The weather was cool as we drove into Collingwood and managed to buy a replacement Kobo before continuing on to a Provincial Park on Lake Simcoe, a large lake not far from Uxbridge where we are headed to tomorrow.

 

12 August – It was a late start today as we only have a short drive to Uxbridge where Craig and Kathy Seddon live. (Paul’s brother) On the way we shopped in the small town of Beaverton. We are parked up Craig and Kathy’s drive and will spend 2 nights here. Holly and her partner, Joe came around and we had a nice meal catching up on all the news. Val managed get her new e-reader going thank god!

13 August – Craig and Kathy went to work leaving us in charge of the cats. Val did a wash and we rode our bikes thru the lovely town of Uxbridge to the supermarket. Uxbridge is an historic town and was settled in 1806 by the Quakers from Pennsylvania. We relaxed in the afternoon out in their beautiful garden. Craig and Kathy’s friends, Muff and Gary came around for a barbeque dinner.

14 August – It has been raining so we spent time on the internet booking accommodation for the next few weekends. This afternoon we will drive up to the Burstow cottage (David and Chrissie, Kathy’s parents) at Muldrew Lake in the Muskoka area where will spend the weekend with the Seddons, their family and friends.

Michigan

19 July – The family breakfast at Peter and Linda’s was great and we left them at around 1:00pm for a short drive thru the centre of Lansing (the capital of Michigan) and continued west. Lansing is in the centre of Michigan and we are going to spend a few days on Lake Michigan. We stopped at a State Park at Yankee Springs and got a great site backed onto a small lake. We relaxed and spent the rest of the afternoon watching small boats cruising past us. The pontoon boats are very popular here. They are basically a platform with a large circular sofa. Great for posing!! The weather is much cooler and not so humid.

20 July – We had a slow start to the day enjoying the perfect weather and our view before a short drive to

the Lake Michigan shore at Van Buren State Park. The beach was only a short walk away with plenty of families enjoying the swimming and sand. There was a cool wind however and the water was surprisingly cold. After lunch we followed a cycleway 6 miles to the beautiful beach, harbour and town of South Haven. There are a few of these harbours along this coastline which we will visit. A few spots of rain sent us inside for dinner.

21 July – Our first stop today is at the harbour town of Saugatuck on the Kalamazoo River. This town was voted the best coastal small US town for 2015. We strolled past the many cute boutiques, art shops, fudge shops and restaurants and back along the harbour front where many huge pleasure boats were moored. There is a very unusual ferry crossing the upper harbour. It is a hand cranked chain system and has been running since 1857. Our overnight stop is at another harbour town of Holland.

The State Park is quite different from any we have encountered in the USA and is right at the mouth of the harbour with a nice beach. The camp itself is an asphalt car park for RVs etc. We spent some time at the beach but the water was a bit cool for us to swim. Michiganders did not seem to mind though as there were many in the water. At sunset we walked back to the beach to watch the sun go down.

22 July – Back on the road for an even shorter drive to the Grand Haven State Park interrupted by a shop up at Wal-Mart. This state park is like the last one, all on asphalt, but this one has 40ft of sand between each row. The beach was very close and we spent the afternoon sunbathing and even had a couple of swims in the cool water. We walked the channel to investigate a musical fountain that plays every night.

At sunset we hopped on our bikes and rode back along the harbour to where we hoped we could see the musical fountain which is billed as the biggest of its kind in the world. As it got darker many boats stopped in the channel to view the fountain. The music started and the fountain played with many colours and displays. Very good but I still think the Bellagio Fountain in Las Vegas is bigger and more spectacular. We rode home in the dark dodging the pedestrians.

23 July – We headed north east passed the city of Grand Rapids to our pre booked camp at Grand Rogue for the LPGA golf tournament. This is a strange camp as it has been closed for 5 years but the owner, Tom, opens it for special occasions and the golf is one of these. We have a great site overlooking a small lake and in a nice mix of sun and shade. After lunch we cycled to the Blythefield Country Club golf course about 1 ½ miles away. Perfect!! We picked up our 4 day pass and explored the course which is very park-like, watching the first round. Unfortunately Lydia Ko and a couple of other big names are not playing as they are at St Andrews practicing for the British Open. Still we saw some great first round golf. Most of the people in the camp are either spectators or volunteers for the golf.

24 July – Back on our bikes and off to the golf. This would have to be the best course we have ever been at as far as spectating is concerned. The access is great with many banks to sit on and trees for shade. There are many grandstands, most of which are for the general public. Walkways across the fairways make easy access to most of the greens. Even the food is cheap with many free give-aways. We have now walked most of the course and seen most of the players and can be more selective tomorrow. For you real golfing fans you will be pleased to hear that Inbee has improved her swing and does not have than awful stutter at the top now. She must have heeded my advice!! Back at the camp and a cool off in the shade with a beer.

25 July – It is now a familiar bike ride to the entrance and we enjoyed another great days viewing. Some of the shots these girls play are unbelievable. We have made friends with several of the other couples at the camp either working at the golf or watching it. We had drinks with Bev and Don and stayed for a barbeque.

26 July – Today we spent most of our time watching the leaders go thru our favourite spots on the course. It was an early tee off time for the field as many players have a private jet booked to get them to the British Open starting next week. We sat at the 18^th green to bring in the winner, the crowd favourite, Lexi Thompson from USA at 18 under par. It has been a great 4 days of golf which we have thoroughly enjoyed.

27 July – Our drive is now north and inland thru the Manistee State Forest to a State Beach camp just north of the town of Manistee at Orchard Beach. The camp is situated above Lake Michigan with stairs leading down to a narrow beach. The weather is now around 33C and the water was very warm so we spent some time swimming and sunbathing. At sunset we stood with the other campers watching the sun set into the lake.

28 July – The lower peninsula of Michigan looks like a hand with the thumb at the left. Most Michiganders will show us their hand to describe where they come from. We are headed up to the little finger and an area known as Sleeping Bear Dunes National Shoreline. It is a huge area of sand dunes but unfortunately the two camps were full. We drove inland away from the dunes and found a small forest camp beside the Platte River. It was very isolated so we took the opportunity for haircuts. We sat out in the warm evening around a camp fire.

29 July – We headed east into the centre north of the state to the big inland lake, Higgins Lake. We have decided to stay 2 nights here. After lunch we walked a 2 mile fitness trail before heading off to the beach for a swim. The water is warm but quite shallow. Still it is good for a cool off, however. There is a strong warm wind blowing.

30 July – Pancake Thursday! After our leisurely breakfast Val did some washing and I cleaned the shower. Down to the beach for swims and a sit in the sun and the shade.

31 July – A re-positioning day today. We did a big shop (last before Canada), replaced our outside chairs (after 2 ½ years they are well slogged out!) and drove 160 odd miles. Back to the hand geography of Michigan. We are now at the top of the “thumb” after driving back thru Bay City where we were 2 weeks ago at another great state park with a nice beach on Lake Huron where we had our first swim in this Great Lake. The skies darkened as we dried off in the sun and by the time we were back at “Ernie” we had torrential rain. It did not last too long however.

1 August – Our drive today was around the remainder of the “thumb” following the Lake Huron coastline

with some great views of the lake. Our overnight stop is at Lakeport State park only 10 miles away from the Canadian border at Port Huron. We arrived around lunch time but our site was not ready until 3:00pm so we went to the beach for a swim. Again a storm brewed so we hot-footed it back to “Ernie” just in time again. At the camp the sun came out and we had a quick look at the beach where we will on doubt spend some time tomorrow.

2 August – There are storms forecast for this afternoon so we went down to the beach after breakfast for swims and sunbathing. It is hard describe how good these lake beaches are. The water is warm and clear and of course not salty.  Back at the “Ernie” for lunch and a few jobs before returning to the beach for more of the same. The sky darkened but it came to nothing. We had dinner outside and just as we were packing up the promised storm arrived bringing a tree down right where we had been sitting and fortunately missing “Ernie”. There was lots of lightning and heavy rain until after midnight. The power also went off.  Tomorrow we cross in Canada and hope to publish this blog at the Visitor Centre.

Lakes Superior and Huron

5 July – We walked up to the Buffalo House restaurant at the camp in Duluth where we have been staying and treated ourselves to breakfast while we published the last blog. Along the highway thru Superior and Duluth and onto the scenic road north/east following the shoreline of Lake Superior. We are now halfway around the largest lake in the world! Our camp was at Gooseberry Falls State Park and after lunch we walked to the falls. It is a series of falls with many families climbing on the rocks and swimming in the pools.

We left the crowds and followed a trail to the upper falls crossing the river and down the other side to end up at the visitors’ centre where we were able to get some info on the provincial parks in Canada. At dinner time we had a big electrical storm and some rain.

6 July – It rained off and on thru the night and was still raining in the morning. The drive north should have been spectacular but mist and rain obscured our view of the lake. Our last camp in the USA for a while was at a state park named after a mayor of Duluth. It was still raining so we sat inside until it eased off a bit and then donned our parkas for a walk thru the forest following the swollen river passed some rough waterfalls to a natural feature called the Devil’s Kettle. Here the river divided in two with half the flow disappearing down a hole in the river bed (the spout). It was a great 3 mile walk which at least got us out of “Ernie”.

7 July – The sun shone and we were back on the road north still following the beautiful lake shore to the last place in the USA before crossing the border, the National Monument at Grand Portage. This was a trading post in the 18^th century where the trapper’s furs were exchanged for supplies. The furs were taken by canoe from here to Montréal and supplies were bought back on the return trips. These birch canoes were huge carrying 4 tons and 8 people. Parts of the trading post have been restored and were very interesting with actors playing the various residents. We drove on to the border into Canada and were waved thru without any problems.

We may have been slightly over our alcohol limit however!! At the Canadian Welcome centre we picked up some more helpful info and used the internet. The country changed and we were into hills again. We headed slightly away from the lake to a Provincial park at Kakabeka Falls. The host at the camp last night suggested going here. The waterfall is spectacular dropping 40m and with lots of water as the river is in flood due to yesterdays rain. We were able to access the falls from both sides giving great views.

 8 July – Another great drive skirting past the city of Thunder Bay and back onto the Lake Superior shore with lovely views of the bays. Our overnight stop is at Rainbow Falls where there was a laundry and we could do a wash. The waterfall comes out of a small lake and we followed a board walk passed the rapids and then climbed a hill for views of Lake Superior.

9 July – Lake Superior has a huge effect on the temperature. 10C cooler in the summer and 10C hotter in the winter. This was demonstrated to us today as we shopped in the small city of Marathon on the lake shore, with the temperature about 12C. We continued on to our camp at White Lake 10 miles away from Lake Superior and ended sunbathing on a small beach in about 25C. 

10 July – Friday today, so we decided to stay two nights somewhere in the huge Lake Superior Provincial park. The first camp we came to was Rabbit Blanket Lake, a small camp some distance from L.S. Our site was great overlooking this small lake. We have no idea why it has this strange name. After lunch we followed a short trail along a river. The mosquitoes were brutal!                   A German couple in the next site came back from the hike we will do tomorrow. It had taken them 6 hours and they were exhausted. The weather is still perfect and we sat outside until dark enjoying our great view.

 11 July – We have decided to do our intended hike despite the German couple’s experiences. With our lunch packed and dowsed in insect repellent we set off for the 15km loop trail. The first section was a gentle climb rising 150m and then a series of ridges up to Peat Mountain with some great views of various lakes. Unfortunately there are some major forest fires in British Columbia and the smoke has caused a haze this far east so we could not see Lake Superior. Continuing on along another couple of ridges overlooking Foam Lake in the valley below.

The track then descended to the lake shore where we stopped for lunch. The return track was passed a beaver dam forming a large pond and eventually back to our camp. It was a great hike! It took us 3 ½ hours. So much for the German couples advice! We enjoyed a swim in Rabbit Blanket Lake to cool off.

12 July – We continued on thru the Lake Superior Provincial Park and onto Pancake Bay Provincial Park. This is a huge camp right on the Lake Superior shoreline with a great beach. The weather is really hot now (30C) so we walked down to the beach and spent the afternoon swimming and sunbathing. 

The difference between summer and winter is hard for us to comprehend. Lake Superior was totally frozen over last winter, we are swimming in it today, (water temperature around 22C) and there will be snow here again in September.

13 July – We continued south towards the Canadian/USA border at Sault Ste Marie (nicknamed The Soo). This is the part of the world where Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan all meet. We were stopped at the border for some time as the guards were interested in chatting and for some reason could not find our entry stamp into the USA. They also confiscated our fresh eggs (avian flue). Eventually we were allowed back into the USA and drove to the Locks on the St Marys River. We have been here before with Gareth, Cere, Paul and Lynne in 2008. There is a level difference of 21ft between Lake Superior and Lake Huron so there is a huge lock to allow the freighters to sail between the two lakes. Fortunately one of the 1000fters (the name given to these freighters) was going into the lock as we were there. Quite a sight but the ship moves so slowly it takes for ever! We continued on to Brimley State Park where we had stayed in 2008. It brought back some great memories. The weather has been much cooler today and it rained later in the day. We are now only 20 miles from Tahquamenon Falls where we were 3 weeks ago. We have now done the Grand Circle Tour of Lake Superior. This is a world renowned road trip and has been fantastic!

 

14 July – It is still cool with some drizzle. We drove south and over the Mackinac Bridge which is huge and crosses the Straits of Mackinac separating the Michigan upper and lower peninsulas. At Cheboygan we had a large shop as we had let our stocks run low. Canadian prices are much higher than USA. We also managed to find a propane dealer and filled our tank. On to the Cheboygan State Park on Lake Huron.
From the beach we can see Mackinac Island which we visited in 2008. After lunch we had a great bike ride along the Lake Huron shoreline.

15 July – A much sunnier day for our drive around the shores of Lake Huron passed some lovely coastal towns. Our overnight stop is at Harrisville State Park with a nice beach. We enjoyed a bike ride back into the village of Harrisville, a visit to a quilt shop and an ice-cream.

16 July – We continued on the road south along the shoreline of Lake Huron. There are great houses with beach frontages on all the available spaces between the road and the shore. We stopped at Bay City State Park and cycled a pathway into the city 9 miles away. The last part followed the Saginaw River Walkway. On the way back we enjoyed a beer at a pub right on the river. It was a lovely warm evening but rain set in at night.

17 July – We drove thru Bay City and inland towards Lansing to stay with Linda and Peter Carrington. The weather is much warmer away from the lake. We are parked up their driveway after a bit of tree pruning. Linda drove us all to a great little pub for dinner. Cere came around for a visit.

18 July – After breakfast with Linda, Peter and Zeus the dog (who thinks he is a horse) Val started the job of washing every article of clothing in sight! I relaxed! It was very humid and eventually the storm came with heavy rain. It cleared and the T- shirts went out on the clothesline. It was great to sit around and do very little. I cooked dinner for us all as it was Peter and Linda’s wedding anniversary.

19 July – This morning there will be the traditional Carrington Sunday breakfast when their daughters and partners join them. We will leave after this and head east to a state park and our trip along the Lake Michigan shoreline.