Saturday July 18, 2009 - Trip to Parry Sound

Today was another day of sun, cloud and rain.

The only difference is today we drove south to Parry Sound (birthplace of Bobby Orr) along Hwy 69. I thought we would see glimpses of Georgian Bay on the way but we didn't. The scenery along the highway is very pretty with lots of rivers and marshes though.

Clouds as we headed south

Dead pine tree along the road

Snowmobile Bridge at the French River Provincial Park Rest area

French River taken from the snowmobile bridge

Hwy 69 Bridge as taken from the snowmobile bridge

Birch tree growing amongst the rocks

The story of the snowmobile bridge


We made a brief stop in Parry Sound along Parry Sound Inlet which is part of Georgian Bay. We also stopped at a Tourist Information Bureau to get some campground information but wound up driving to the Parry Sound KOA and we were able to get 2 nights there (Monday and Tuesday) at around $37 or so per night. They are pretty booked up! No idea where we'll be after that.

Part of downtown Parry Sound

This is for our granddaughter, Lilly

Centre for the Performing Arts, Parry Sound

is also the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame

Georgian Bay from downtown Parry Sound

Scene near the KOA at Parry Sound

Pretty purple flowers among the lilies and lily pads

Scene along Hwy 69 on our return to Sudbury

We left at 10 and got back at 5. These driving days are taking their toll. I'll be really glad to get to Lindsay and stay in one place for a while!

Friday July 17, 2009 - Haircut!

Today was mostly cloudy and rainy. I heard rain before I got up but it stopped long enough for me to go for my walk.

I decided to finally go and get my hair cut today. It's the same style, just shorter. I've been putting off doing this for weeks and I couldn't find a place in Wawa. I stuck with the same style as I find this it good for our present lifestyle and in fact I've had it for a number of years. You don't have to get your hair cut every 4-6 weeks but it does get annoying after a while!

While I was out I also picked up a few more groceries.

Not much going on today!

Thursday July 16, 2009

Gordon has updated his journal, to read it, click here.

We had a real drenching of rain overnight but this morning it was bright, warm (compared to what it's been lately) and sunny. I walked as far as Richard Lake on the gravel side road with just the birds to keep me company. It was a lovely walk.

My back has been bothering me lately so I used my massage cushion yesterday and overdid it. Now my back muscles are so sore no one can touch them. All this riding in the truck probably isn't helping either!

After a shower at the campground showers this morning, Gordon got my chair out of our storage so I could sit outside. The morning was beautiful but then the clouds started rolling in. So I came inside and read and had a nap but it didn't rain and the sun was in and out all afternoon.

We decided to go to a park we've seen which is fairly close by - it's called Fielding Memorial Park. It has some nice paths and a swampy area so, of course, we took some photos.

Pretty pink flowers in the garden

Pond and marshy area with some mallard ducks

The trail

Then we stopped for some photos at a stand of white birch trees



While we were out we decided to find the Big Nickel for which Sudbury is known.

Me by the Big Nickel
The flip side of the nickel



We no sooner got back to the RV than the rain started.

Wednesday July 15, 2009-Onaping Falls & Manitoulin Island

The forecast for today was going to be showers. However we left the campground around 10 a.m. and headed up Hwy 144 toward Timmins, ON (where Shania Twain comes from) but only as far as Onaping Falls.

Here's the road on the way

And Onaping Falls


Just as we got to the Falls it started to rain so we snapped a few quick photos and decided we want to go back as there's a really nice trail (below) that runs along the Falls.

While there we decided to go further west to Manitoulin Island.

This is a one lane wooden swing bridge that you cross to get to the island.
We stopped for a late breakfast at Garry's Family Restaurant at Little Current on the island.

Beautiful views of North Channel

A pair of Sandhill Cranes with their baby

I stopped here to buy some jams. The lady ahead of me buying was from Texas.

It's a huge island so we didn't get to cover all of it. We were actually looking for an RV park to stay there for a week but we didn't find anything that could accommodate us, either they were full for next week or there's no way we had a clear view of the south. Lots and lots of trees!

There are a few First National areas on the island and there's a lot of artsy places. No time to stop for that today!

View of Manitowaning Bay


We had sun, cloud, rain, heavy rain and some mist today. We arrived home a little after 8 p.m. absolutely exhausted. Tomorrow we're taking a day off!

Tuesday July 14, 2009

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day! The best I've seen in a while. It was bright and sunny with a breeze and I even got to wear shorts! Too bad we were too tired and had to do mundane things like grocery shopping. We managed a lovely 24C (75F) as a high.

There's a gravel road than runs along the campground (Richard Lake Road) that has no traffic so after I had walked around the RV park a bit to get my bearing as to where the restroom and showers were I took off down that road. It's nice to be somewhere that you don't have to look out for traffic.

A couple of photos of the beach here at the park


When I got back and had breakfast, Gordon and I walked over to the Tourist Information Centre to get info on Sudbury and the area. They were very helpful there. When we got back we walked around the park a bit and down to the beach.

After lunch we proceeded into Sudbury and found a Food Basics, one of my favourite grocery stores and the mall which had a bank, Dollarama (another favourite store) and Walmart. Unfortunately it's not a Superwalmart but they did have groceries. I managed to stock up on stuff I couldn't get in Wawa. We didn't get to see much in the way of interesting stuff this afternoon.

Sudbury is not an easy city to get around in. Nor are the streets in good shape. I felt like we were back in Louisiana with the condition of the roads.

Gordon got a messy job out of the way today. Every so often the bathroom sink trap has to be taken apart because it gets clogged by hair, mostly mine I'm sure however it's now done and working well. I also put a mixture of baking soda, vinegar and boiling water down to clean it out as well.

Monday July 13, 2009-Now near Sudbury, Ontario

Last night just before I went to bed we had this awesome rainbow! If you look closely you can see it's a double rainbow.



Today we left the Great White North and traveled 541 km (338 miles) to Sudbury, Ontario basically back the way we came. We left at 9:20 a.m. under sunny skies but chilly at 8C (46F). It was mostly sunny for our drive but we started running into clouds and a few spatters of rain as we neared Sudbury. We stopped a couple of times for a break along the way.

I saw this RV at the gas station in Wawa when we fueled up this morning

Here are glimpses of Lake Superior on our way from Wawa to Sault Ste. Marie. This is my goodbye to Lake Superior and the moosie moosies.









It clouded up as we neared Sudbury



We arrived at Carol's Campsite at about 3:30 p.m. It was a very long drive! We were basically set up by 5 p.m.

Our site - they are a good size



This is what the sites look like going toward the lake



We've made the decision to stay here for a week. We can tour Manitoulin Island and check out the shore of Georgian Bay as well as Lake Nipissing from here. Although the campground isn't much, since we paid cash we got the week for $150 which is pretty good.

We're basically in a pull thru site in a field but at least there are no trees and we had no problem with the satellite.

I think we'll be having an early night tonight. We're both tired from the long drive.

Sunday July 12, 2009

Today, although sunny for the most part was downright chilly! This morning when I started out for my walk it was only 8C (47F) and I don't think our high got above 12C (54F).

Silver Falls in fog


This is the view across the road from the park that I've featured numerous times, this time in fog. It's kind of like the Superstition Mountains were to me in Mesa. I never get tired of looking at it.



My day was spent reading, on the computer, cleaning and doing laundry. Tomorrow we will hopefully be heading south and east on our way to the Georgian Bay area. We don't have a park to stay at yet. The one I emailed doesn't have room on the weekend and we like to get weekly rates when possible. We'll probably stay somewhere about half way to Georgian Bay tomorrow night. Maybe we'll find that former KOA at Spragge, ON that we were going to stay at on the way here. Who knows?

I didn't take any photos today so the ones featured are from yesterday's trip to Potholes Provincial Park and from our foggy evening drive the night before.

The gorge at Potholes Provincial Park

Marshy area at Potholes Provincial Park - this is part of the Kinwabi River

When we got home yesterday I noticed these huge toadstools under one of our pine trees.