Back from Sleeping Giant

On the drive back after our short stay in the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, again the stunning views over Lake Superior as well as the Fall colors....

We had an overnight in a small motel in the town of Little Current on Manitoulin Island (to change the route back a bit from the ride to the park a few days earlier). The next morning on to South Baymouth where the ferry departs to Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula. While waiting for the ferry, we made a nice short walk in the town's small harbor along Lake Huron.

In the line up for the ferry behind us was a truck which had delivered young Rainbow Trout to a farm on the island. Interesting to learn how such a transport works. On the way there they can't use the ferry, but on the way back (empty) they can. A local artist had painted the tanks in which the fish was being transported.

After the ferry ride of two hours (a bit too chilly this time to sit outside on deck as I had done in June 2022), another few hours driving along Hwy 6 homewards. A nice six days away....

Sleeping Giant Provincial Park

In the park we had reserved one of the cabins (or 'roofed accommodation' as they call it on the park's website). We had two nights in the cabin with one full day.

The park has about 30 walking trails categorized as easy, moderate and difficult. Also a few trails for mountain biking and during the winter for cross-country skiing. Mary and I did one of the easy trails together which led to an old cemetery of about 200 years ago. The first settlers on the peninsula were exploring a small gold mine there. 

Later I did a moderate trail on my own with some stiff uphill and downhill parts, good for a few very stiff leg muscles the next day. But the view over Lake Superior on the highest point was worth it.

Drive to north-west Ontario

Last week Mary and I made a drive to a provincial park (named Sleeping Giant). That drive takes about 18 hours, so we split it up in two days. Our first stop was just past Barrie where friends from Fonthill moved a few years ago. After lunch we continued up to Sault St Marie which is about half way. We had an overnight in a simple motel there.

Day two brought us to close to Thunder Bay where the park is located on a large peninsula in Lake Superior. That lake is one of the largest in the world and deep enough to classify as an ocean. The views while driving on Hwy 17 (which also become Canada's cross-country National Hwy 1) are spectacular and I already posted some photos in my blogs of September 2021 when I drove all the way to Vancouver and discovered the beauty of this road. I am glad that Mary has seen this part of Ontario now as well. Hereby a variety of the views we enjoyed with some early fall tree leaves coloring....

We passed several concrete production plants of LaFarge, the company Mark works for. And we also saw a few animals....

To our big surprise, we had a large moose cross the highway right in front of our car. Even though there were many road signs warning drivers for the possible crossing of moose, this mostly happens at night. But we had front seat view this time. Impressive animals! And then we visited the giant goose in Wawa (see also my photos in September 2021 when I did a wild camping overnight along Lake Wawa)...

And we had breakfast in a family restaurant in Wawa on the way to the park, as well as lunch on the way back from the park a few days later.

Food for thought - Spinoza

Once or twice a week I try to do the 'hilly walk', just outside of Fonthill. From our house and it is a loop of around 4 km with a few stiff ups and downs. About halfway I normally take a short break with a view over a local apple orchard....

There I mostly do some meditation minutes or reflection on life. Today I was thinking about a few pages I once copied from a book in which Einstein quoted a philosopher from the 17th century. Here are the three photos I made from that text. Good food for thought....

Interesting that this philosopher named Spinoza was a Dutch person some 400 years ago...

Further down the walk one of the large houses along the road put out a lot of pumpkins for the annual Thanksgiving celebrations....

Birthday Mary

Yesterday we celebrated Mary's birthday. It was also the day 33 years ago that we got married. Time flies. Hilary and Shayd were over from Vancouver (also for a wedding this weekend of one of Hilary's friends. We had a nice dinner at the house of Mark & Carly in Stoney Creek.

Earlier in the day we had a nice coffee at Sue & Ralph with Opa Vandenboom. Last weekend they hosted a nice dinner with Joe, Marcy, Spencer and Will over from Sarnia. With them we played a few hours pickleball, the new mania......

On the bike again

After the almost three months of no to little activity during the prostate problems, it is nice to be on the electric bike again regularly during these beautiful late summer days. On my way to Port Colborne - a ride of about 17 km - I passed the South Niagara Rowing Club (see my hat which is a souvenir of my few years as volunteer while Hilary had some good sport years in the eights, fours and doubles here). 

The boats would come from the storage place a bit beyond the defunct railway bridge to the 2 km race course. It is a bit narrow for six boat races, but it was an exciting venue for us to watch the races. Hilary did well especially in the eight and the four during her first two years (2007-2009 period) and qualified twice to be racing in the famous long distance Boston river races. The tough winter training periods on the so-called 'erg' (rowing machine) slowed down her enthusiasm and her last high school year she did no longer participate. But it got her into a fine fitness shape which she has been able to maintain.

In Port Colborne it was time for a coffee break in the shade overlooking the canal where it ends into Lake Erie. On the photo in the background one of the lake river cruise boats. On the way back I passed one of the lake cargo ships on its way to Lake Ontario. It is always an interesting sight....

Mark and Carly spend a weekend in Sarnia visiting Joe and Marcy + sons. One of the main activities seemed to have been pickle ball games....

Summer ending again

The tree which grew out of control is gone. Two professionals took it skillfully down and Ralph cut the tree in more pieces for firewood for his woodstove heater. 

Leaves and a few other smaller dead trees off to the landfill and our backyard looks a bit more cleaned up again. This summer gave us a lot of changing weather with more rain than usual resulting in still very green fields. Now the average temperatures are going down a bit again; on our way to the Fall.

The past two weeks I was able to catch up with several former colleagues again, among them Tom from Vancouver and Hadi from Kingston. Most of them are still fully active in the working world and others are in the semi-retired stages. It is nice to hear their stories and I must admit that I do not miss the work life anymore. It is good to have this phase of life without deadlines, too many meetings and especially managing people. I look back at a very fortunate, exciting and rewarding career, but it was long enough.

Now is the time to lose myself in many books, the occasional 1,000 piece puzzle, lots of walking, regular swims and exercises + sauna in our basement. I found a fun group to play bridge with on Friday mornings and am looking at some other volunteering with seniors as well as mentoring of younger professionals (who work in the international development field).

And every day being in awe with how close Mary keeps our Canadian family ties. Here she is on the phone with Hilary in Vancouver with whom she chats every day. Same with Mark who lives closer by, her brother, wife and kids in Sarnia (and one of the sons currently in BC), her sister, husband and daughter here in Fonthill (coordinating the daily looking after their Dad). Since my visit to Holland last Fall, I send updates to my sisters and their kids through a Whatsap chat group, but there is no comparison. Each family has its own dynamic of course.