Thunder Bay, Ontario

Arrived here safely at Thunder Bay after a drive through a lot of woods  with hills and switchbacks. Wendy had invited Bev and Bob and Lois and Jim over to have dinner with us. She made a great dip which had to be cooked in the oven. As the cheese melted, some of the oil spilled over onto the oven and it started to smoke. The fire alarm went off and the firemen came to the rescue so I got to meet them. I wish I had taken a picture of them and the truck but didn't think of it. Wendy called to say it was a false alarm but they still come. She was very embarassed but we all got a good laugh out of it.
We had a great dinner of lasagna, garlic bread, Caesar salad and a yummy blueberry cake. Wendy makes the best desserts

Just arriving at Wendy and Lumpy's - Patsy excitedly greeting his best friend, Lumpy. Wendy saying, "What about me?"

Where do you think the women are after a great dinner? Wendy and Bev filling the dishwasher.

Lois taking a break from washing the dishes

Oh, we found the men - in the livingroom waiting until cleanup is over - here are Bob and Jim

and now we see Patsy and Lumpy resting after all that eating!!! Real hard work, don't you think?

 

I have heard that Ann and Wayne and Judy and Bob are on their way. They are our friends from Arizona and we are looking forward to seeing them also.

Wawa and Marathon, Ontario

Today was our longest day, 250 miles to drive. That may not sound like much but the maximum speed limit on the TransCanada Highway is 90 kilometer, which translates into 55.8 mph and when you go through towns or construction the limit is lower as low as 25.2 mph. The drive is up and down hill with winding turns so passing is difficult until you come to a passing lane. It was indeed a long drive. Patsy said he was exhausted just riding in the car. How did he think I felt? There were moose warnings all over the road. We looked at every bog, there were plenty of them, for moose and never saw a one. There were also lakes a plenty. We drove past Mom Lake, only to be followed by Baby Lake and then Dad Lake. We liked that. The highway weaved through the forest so we had to amuse ourselves any way we could. There is a lot of Fall foliage up here - I didn't get any good pictures as it was rainy.

Wawa means "Wild Geese" - this sign below says it all

at the Visitor's Center in Wawa, looking down at Lake Superior

Some totem poles - preety clever

another goose and saw one on a roof

 

The beautiful rocks at Pebble Beach, here in Marathon, Ontario not the California one!

see the rocks an driftwood

looking East on Lake Superior

looking West on Lake Superior

the waves washing up

McFarland St. - McFarland, my maiden name. I think that it is a great name for a street. Maybe they named it McFarland thinking I would be here. What do you think?

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Note the warning sign on the highway!

 

As we left Sudbury on Rte. 17, the Trans Canada Highway, we saw a family walking along with backpacks. Further up we noticed a man skate boarding down the side of the road, which had a very narrow shoulder. Up near Thessaleon, we saw a horse and buggy coming down in the opposite lane. I looked over and saw two Amish gentlemen in it. A while later we saw another horsr and buggy with one Amish man in it. All this on the highway!

Just walking into the trading post

a beautiful stained glass window above the entryway

artwork, handmade furniture and taxidermied birds done by the Indians on the reservation

We continued on through an Indian reservation and decided to stop at an Indian Trading Post, which was beautiful, but the outside was having some work done. I took a couple of pictures of the inside

coming into the Soo Locks from Lake Huron on the American side

look how high the water is on the Lake Superior side of the locks

the water level has risen and we are ready to exit to the Lake Superior side

a huge boat going into Lake Huron

another large boat

the refinery

an overhead crane with a scoop dumping a load into a big yellow truck

going into the Canadian locks

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited this house, which is adjacent to the Canadian Locks

another house at the locks

look at the water level - see the white, that's where we started - the water level goes down entering Lake Huron from Lake Superior

the opening of the locks

This is the Sault Ste Marie Arena - also the Terry Fox Plaza is on the grounds. Terry is the gent that had cancer and decided to walk from the west coast to the east coast of Canada. He made it to this point before he died. A statue is erected in this site to note his accomplishment.

this is Sault Ste Marie City Hall

a beautiful fountain in the water

a boat in drydock

the Edison Electric company

the Soo Locks tour boats

We finally came into Sault Ste Marie, Ontario and realized that we had time to make the 3:30pm boat ride through the Soo Ste Marie Locks. At our checkin we asked where it was and the clerk said that the Canadian side didn't run anymore. We would have to go ove to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, which we did. Going through Customs was very slow and we had 10 mins. to get there. We were behind a car that didn't know where they were going. We got to the dock at 3:27. I ran in to buy tickets and we ran to the boat. It was quite a ride going by some huge ships and going  locks were much bigger and took longer to fill up. We went by refinery on the Canadian side.

Mattawa, Ontario

the Mattawa Trading Post - The Hudson Bay Co. sent men to Mattawa to stop lumbermen from fur trading and built a permanent post there

During the late 1800's with the arrival of the Canadian National Railroad the logging industry in Mattawa thrived.

a church on a hill opposite the Mattawa Trading Post - the stained glass windows on the front were beautiful - did not go up to see the church as we had on traveled half of the distance we had planned for today.

 

Today we drove from Pembroke to Sudbury and had lunch at a restaurant located in a house in a small town called Mattawa, which is located on the Ottawa River. We had a nice lunch and decided to drive through the town. It had typical old town charm with all the stores on Main Street . Many of the stores had huge carving in front of them. Some were soldiers. Indians, a priest, etc. - maybe related to the French and Indians Wars - I don't know. The Algonquin Indian Reservation is in the area.
The city of Sudbury is called the Nickel Capital of the World because it is the largest produce of nickel. Saw some of the mines on the way out of town.

Pembroke, Ontario

the murals - a water tower that was pretty neat!

a mural of the logging days in this area

part of a mural that expands an entire block

a close up of one side of the tower

 

off to Sudbury, Ontario tomorrow

Pembroke, Ontario

Pembroke was the 1st city in Canada to have electric street lights and this is the old lighting plant, which is now a museum. It contains fixtures & other items dating back to the 19th century