Thunder Bay, July 21st to 26th 2017

…driving through granite!
…pictographs along the lake
…us and Lake Superior

After saying our goodbyes to some wonderful travel companions (Wanda and Charles) and our friends in the Sault (Rocky, Virginia and Ron) we headed around the top of Lake Superior and took two days to get to Thunder Bay.  We stopped for the night at White Lake Provincial Park.  Now, as Virginia had mentioned  the drive that was ahead of us is one of the nicest drives in Canada, if not North America.  She was not wrong, we cannot determine which days drive was the nicest, so we will just say that the drive from the Sault to Thunder Bay is incredible.  We stopped along the cliffs at a look out where the Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald (a very good song) happened, we stopped at the pictographs south of Wawa and we drove through some beautiful granite rock cuts and hills and valleys as we weaved along the ruggedness of Lake Superior, the largest by far of all the Great Lakes.

…our view from our home!
…the amethyst at the mine!

We pulled in at Dave’s ( friend from our Cuba cycling trip)  place in Thunder Bay and then followed him for thirty minutes to his sister’s place.  This thirty minute drive was interesting as we went up and down and around but was sure worth it when we finally parked our home for the next few days at One Island Lake,;z north of Thunder Bay.  A very big thank you to Dave for arranging it and to Karen and Chris for allowing us to boondock at their piece of paradise. So, this was home base for now.  After getting set up we had a wonderful steak barbeque dinner with some good Sleeping Giant Brewing Co. beer and also some good wine from Niagara and Prince Edward County.  Oh, and of course we had to try a Persian, which is a Thunder Bay special donut.

Now it was time to explore Thunder Bay and area. Over the next few days we learned about and physically mined Amethyst, went and saw the view points of Ouimet Canyon where the floor of the canyon is so cold and arid that it has plants growing that are only found in the Artic otherwise, we went to the Sleeping Giant and looked out over Thunder Bay, the actual bay of water not the city.  All these sights were absolutely breathtaking!  Then we had Finnish pancakes for dinner. That was only day one!

Pics from Day One!

…searching for the perfect one!
…Ouimet Canyon!
…the Canyon again!
…the three of us high above Thunder Bay
…and above us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…milepost 3339
…the memorial to Terry Fox, a Great Canadian!

We paid our respects to a great Canadian, Terry Fox.  There is a very nice monument to him close to Mile Marker 3339, this is where he walked to from the East Coast before cancer forced him to stop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…the best Persian!
…the second best Persian!

We also had a cycling tour of Thunder Bay, saw the University where Dave does most of his work at their library, where Dave grew up and lived.  We had to stop and take pictures of a mother deer and her fawn that crossed the path in front of us.  We did a Persian taste test, more sight seeing and had to stop at Sleeping Giant Brewing Company for some refreshments and sampling.  We even had coffee and sweets with Dave’s 92 year old Grandmother at her place in the country.

 

 

…Thunder Bay with a Sleeping Giant across the Bay

 

It was so nice catching up with Dave.  But, as the calendar days turn we must say goodbye and carry on westward.  It was also time for Dave to get back to work! 🙂

So, we packed up and drove the RV back over the hills and around the curves that took us back to the lake and we headed towards the Ontario Manitoba border.  One last night in Ontario and Winnipeg here we come!

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