Exploring the North Shore and so much more

Two weeks ago, while I was still in Canada, I sat down to start the blog.  I knew I didn't have time to finish it that night, but was sure I'd have time over the next couple of days to get it finished.  That was 16 days ago...and the last two weeks have been a crazy blur.  But I'm sitting down tonight committed to finishing what I started,   So let's go back and get this started.

For the last couple of years I've been thinking a lot about making a visit to Canada to visit Lake Superior's North shore.  Things have happened to keep me from making the visit, until now.  So this year, my annual June vacation was all about getting to Canada.

After spending Monday running errands and getting ready for the trip, we were up early Tuesday and on the road by 8:30.

We headed North to cross the border in the Soo, so of course we had to make a stop at Clyde's for lunch before heading into Canada.  It was our first visit to Clyde's in the Soo and we all approved. 

The girls and I thoroughly enjoyed our lunch break at Rotary Park.  What a great little spot!

The only other time I've been across the border here, I was only 18 years old and it was a quick trip across just to say I'd been to Canada.  It was definitely a different experience this time.

We saw plenty of Moose Crossing signs throughout the week, but this was the first of our trip.

My only plan for Tuesday was to get to our cabin on Catfish Lake outside of Wawa. But of course I couldn't resist the roadside stop at Chippewa Falls.

It was a great place to stretch our legs and explore.  Mina wanted to explore more than Peaches did, but I think we all enjoyed this stop.

I also loved that this stop is the mid-way point of the Trans Canada Highway(Hwy 17).  Maybe one day I'll travel the entire length!

When I saw a billboard for famous apple fritters, of course I had to stop for one.  It was pretty tasty.

We saw this beautiful view of Lake Superior too.  I was so surprised at how different the geography was in Canada.  So many more hills!

Finally, we arrived at Catfish Lake and got settled into our cabin.  By the time we arrived, most of the stores in nearby Wawa were already closed, but I did find a Circle K Convenience Store that was open so I bought some ice and I few snacks.

On our way back to the cabin, I saw Krazy Fries and decided I'd stop for dinner.  While I had brought food to make at the cabin, after a long day on the road, I decided poutine for dinner sounded like an excellent choice.

While we waited, I made the girls pose for a picture. I'm sure they weren't that thrilled with me.

With food in hand, we headed back to the cabin to eat dinner with a lake view.  It was just what I was hoping for in a vacation stop.

After dinner, the girls and I took a walk around Catfish Lake.  It was a beautiful evening and it was nice to get out for a bit

We finished the day relaxing inside the cabin watching the sunset on the day.  The 10:02 sunset really allowed us to make the most of our day.

We woke up on Wednesday with a full day to relax and enjoy the surrounding area.  After breakfast, we headed out for a walk around the property at the resort and then headed down to the lake.  Mina and Peaches had a great time sniffing and exploring.  

We then headed back to the cabin so I could enjoy so quiet time reading.  The girls enjoyed a nap and watching the world from the screen door.  It was a perfect start to our day.

After our quiet morning at the cabin, we headed out to explore the local area.  I knew there were some interesting spots in the area and I really wanted to check things out,  

One of our first stops was at Magpie High Falls.  Peaches loved this park and it's fine grassy areas.  It was perfect for her to roll around in and she just couldn't resist doing just that.

The falls were pretty impressive and I even got the girls to pose for a picture.  This was also a really interesting spot with lots of local history.   I really enjoyed this cute little park.

Our next stop was at the Middle Silver Falls Trail.  While we couldn't get close, there were some nice views.

I also really liked this quiet little picnic area with a view of the Falls.    Peaches wouldn't stand still, but I loved this happy picture of Mina.

We continued down the road away from Silver Falls and came to this beautiful Lake Superior Scenic Lookout.  I never get tired of Lake Superior views.  She's amazingly beautiful no matter where you see her.

We continued down the road to our next stop, and I stop I had really been looking forward to, Sandy Beach.  We had traveled a long way to visit the North Shore of Lake Superior and we finally were going to get some beach time!

It was a warm, sunny day, perfect for time at the beach.  While there were other people at the beach, it was big enough that we could really spread out and not worry about bothering anyone.  Once we got ourselves established in our spot on the beach, I let Peaches off leash to explore.  

We played with fetch with sticks, spent time splashing around in the lake, and walked along the shore.  Mina even discovered that she can swim, although she was too confident about going into water that was too deep for her to stand.  But the longer we were there, the more her confidence grew.  

We enjoyed many things about our vacation, but this may have been my favorite part of the whole week.  There isn't much that makes me as happy as spending time on the shores of Lake Superior.  

Before heading back into Wawa, we continued a little farther down to the road to check out Michipicoten Harbour Lake Road Falls.

Once we were back in Wawa, we had to make some stops at the local highlights.  The first stop was at the original Wawa goose.  This concrete goose was an attempt to get tourists to stop in town when the TransCanada highway route was established and skirted the town taking potential customers away from the businesses in town.  It was the World's Largest Goose for a few years, until it was replaced in 1963.  It is still drawing in crazy visitors like me.

We then headed further into town for a stop at Canadian Tire.  This dog-friendly store has a variety of items for sale, including dog food and treats as well household items.  We bought a small fan to take with us on our travels.  The girls loved their visit to the store.

Then we walked around a local park and on a nice trail along the small inland lake that is at the heart of downtown Wawa.  And we enjoyed the wonderful aroma of the lilacs in bloom.  

Then it was on to the highlight of town-the Wawa goose which is currently the Largest Canada Goose in Canada.  

After a busy afternoon of adventures, we headed back to our cabin to enjoy dinner and a quiet evening.  We would be leaving the next morning to continue our journey West across Ontario.  While our stay in Wawa was short, we really enjoyed our time there.

After a relaxing morning at Catfish Lake, it was time for us to check out of our cabin and move on.  It was a very hot day, and we had a significant amount of travel to reach our hotel for the night.  

The spot I was most excited to visit along our travels on Thursday was White River, the home of the original Winnie the Pooh.  Winnie was an orphaned female black bear cub who was purchased by a soldier on his way to Europe to fight in WWI.  Winnie was left in the care of the London Zoo, where she was visited by A.A. Milne and his son Christopher Robin, and ultimately inspired the the Pooh character.  I love Winnie the Pooh and all of Winnie's friends, so this was a fun stop for me.  It was way too hot to do much but we did walk around the park, read the historical markers, and check out some highlights of town before grabbing lunch and continuing our journey.

We made a few stops at some scenic overlooks along the way, but the heat prevented us from doing much hiking.  We still enjoyed the views.  

We ultimately made it to Terrace Bay, which is a cute little town right off Lake Superior.  We stopped in at an awesome little pet store in a shopping center and then I made the girls climb the Terrace Bay Lighthouse with me.  Peaches was not thrilled about the climb, but Mina had no fear and headed right up the steps.

Then we took a short walk and I grabbed a quick picture of them in front of the lighthouse before we were back in the car for the short drive down the road to Schreiber, where we stayed for the night.

I picked up dinner before we settled into our hotel for the night.  When we went out for our evening walk, we met a funny group of road construction workers who were staying in the rooms next to us at the hotel.  The girls made fast friends with them and were spoiled with french fries and some dog treats.  We had an interesting conversation with the group before taking our walk and had an additional conversation with them when we returned to the room.  It is always interesting to talk to non-Americans to see how their views on the world are similar and different to ours.  We then settled in for the night.  Peaches was clearly exhausted from the day.

Friday morning we made the drive back to Terrace Bay to explore the beach there.  

In addition to a nice boardwalk along the beach, there are also some more rugged trails, including one that got us up close to the Lower Aguasabon Falls.  I was pretty happy to find some Lady Slippers along the trail.

This is the view of the Falls from the beach next to the trailhead that follows the river back to the Falls.

The girls enjoyed the hike along the river, as did I, despite the fact that the mosquitoes were eating us alive.

The view from the Falls toward the Lake is very pretty as well.  After we explored the Falls, we spent some quality time on the beach too.  It was a wonderful way to start our day.

Our final stop in Terrace Bay was the Upper Aguasabon Falls and the Aguasabon Canyon.  Pictures just do not do justice to this view.  It was pretty impressive.

We then continued West back to Schreiber where we stopped at the highly recommended Golden Rail food truck for a burger and fries which we took to the Schreiber beach to enjoy.  

After a short walk around the beach and talking with some locals, we were back in the car to continue our journey West to Thunder Bay.

The views along the way were pretty amazing and we made several stops to enjoy them.

When we reached Nipigon, we took a walk to the bridge and climbed the tower there for a scenic view of the area.  Peaches was not happy about either of these stops, but she was brave.  

Once we passed Nipigon, we didn't make many stops because we had the next two days to explore Thunder Bay and the surrounding area, and the girls and I were all ready to get to our Airbnb and get settled in for the evening.  The girls quickly made themselves right at home as soon as we arrived.  It was nice to know that we had some time to relax a bit without a lot of driving.

Saturday we woke to a rainy day.  I had expected the rain and thought we might take a few short adventures and then spend some of our day just resting and getting some reading done.  Boy was I wrong.

The Terry Fox Memorial just outside of downtown Thunder Bay was a good rainy day stop.  I didn't know the story about Terry Fox, but he was an impressive guy.  You can read more about his story here.  He was pretty inspirational.

This sign shares many of the highlights along the Lake Superior Circle Tour...and there were only a couple that we didn't visit this trip.  

We then just started driving around, seeking out some unique looking parks and natural areas that I saw on the map.  I wanted to get as many Lake Superior views as I could.  We found a lot of beautiful spots.

After driving around for a bit, the rain had pretty much stopped, so of course we were up for some more adventures.  We visited an Amethyst Mine and I was able to dig around to find my own Amethyst which was pretty cool.

We then visited the Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park.  We had a great hike, and even though it wasn't very long, it was pretty.  The best part about this park was the view from a couple of different lookouts and learning that because of the way this canyon positioned, the bottom of the canyon supports a subartic climate with many plants there that typically only live in the artic tundra.

I am sharing a ton of pictures because I was just in awe of this area.  It was out of the way, but boy am I glad that we made the drive out to visit this amazing place.

I also appreciate all of the friendly strangers who offered to take my picture with the girls along our travels.  I know some day I'll really appreciate these memories.

On our way to the Ouimet Canyon, I had seen a sign for Eagle Canyon, which is a privately owned part of the Ouimet Canyon.  I decided I'd drive down the side rode to check out what the Eagle Canyon had to offer.  They advertised Canada's longest suspension bridge and that drew me in.  While it was a little pricey, I decided to go for it and take the self-guided tour.  

There were two suspension bridges over the canyon that had to be crossed to complete the hike on the property.  The first, and shorter, was 300 feet long, and the longer was 600 feet long.  Peaches wasn't too excited about the bridges and our progress across the first bridge was slow and steady, but she made it across both and I tried hard to enjoy the views.

This is definitely a gem in the area and boy am I glad we visited!

We had been out adventuring for most of the day at this point, but there was one more place I wanted to make sure I visited before leaving Thunder Bay and it was only a short detour for us on our way back to our Airbnb, so off we went to visit Kakabeka Falls.

These Falls quickly became a favorite of mine.  They were massive, powerful, and beautiful.  After exploring the area for a bit, it was finally time for us to head to our Airbnb home for the night.  

We had had a wonderful day and an excellent week in Canada.  We spent our final night enjoying the peace of our home for the night, doing laundry, and preparing for the next segment of our road trip.

I packed the car with an audience on Sunday morning and then we took a quick potty walk before loading the girls in the car of the trip back to the US.  We grabbed an early lunch, spend the last of our Canadian cash to top off the gas tank, and headed toward the US.  We made one final Canadian stop for a view of Lake Superior just moments before we headed to the border crossing.

I always learn something about myself when I'm out on a road trip and this one was no different.    While I enjoyed the trip, the views, and the unexpected differences between the US and Canadian shores of Lake Superior, I was happy to be back in the U.S.A.   

The rest of our travels for Sunday took us along Minnesota's North Shore to Duluth.  I had never been as far North as Grand Portage and was excited to see the area.  We made a stop immediately across the border to visit the High Falls of the Pigeon River and look back across the river at Canada.

Then I stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks...and was happy to say that the sky was clear enough that I could see Isle Royale which was only about 20 miles away.  I promise it's in this picture.

There were pretty roadside waterfalls and wonderful Lake Superior views along the way.  

We also made some stops for a few geocaches and to check out some quirky roadside stops.

While we didn't have enough time to do much exploring along the way, I'm definitely planning on going back to spend more time here.  What an awesome area.

Finally, we made it to Duluth for the night.  We got in a nice walk before some rain moved into town so I grabbed some delicious takeout, and we settled into our lakefront room for the night.  

We had had an amazing day and I was pretty excited about relaxing in our room for the night and just getting in some quality time with the girls because the next day would take me back into the world of work and away from the girls for a few nights.  So we made the most of our Sunday evening together.

Well, that is probably enough for today.  I'll continue to write tomorrow and catch you all up on the last two weeks.  Thanks for following along our our journey!