We had passed a small turning that said Kincardine Hiking trail on our way to supper last night so we decided to check it out before we set off for Midland; a town on a small peninsula jutting out into Lake Huron; where we wanted to go on a boat tour of the 30,000 islands.
The hiking trail was absolutely amazing, it was a locally maintained path through a wooded valley along a small river (the type you would expect to find in Scotland or Wales with big boulders and stony beaches on the inside of the river bends). Tristan learnt to skim stones and we wandered for over an hour through the woods looking at brightly coloured yellow finch like birds, an amazing variety of plants and marvelling at this unspoilt valley in the middle of the town. Unfortunately our camera battery went flat as we tried to take our first pictures so we are unable to share the beauty with you.
Then again we drove northwards along the dead straight roads. They are loosing their interest now (especially with a speed limit of 80kmh, about 50mph), but we do always go 'wow' when we see the road stretching off to the horizon. We passed through the Blue Mountains on the way where there is a big skiing resort, so in the winter the locals must spend their time on the slopes and then in the summer they have the lake to do all sorts or water sports... seems idyllic.
We got to Midland just around 5pm and went to an information office. The last boat tour of the day was at 4:15, so we had just missed it, but they gave us lots of other information on the area and some discount vouchers for motels.
We set ourselves up in the Super8 and then went to eat at a local steak house with yet more HUGE portions of food (no wonder there are quite a few fat Canadians around!)
The next day it was pouring with rain, I went to do some laundry and tried to read my book but the thunderstorm was so close and so loud that it was impossible not to watch the rain smashing down, each drop rebounded about 8cm in the air making the ground just look like a frothing whirlpool bath. We decided to give the 10:30am boat ride a miss and went to look at one of the other places that the Info assistant had told us about called Sainte Marie among the Hurons. The first western (French)settlement in the region. It was founded by Jesuit priests in 1639, they called the local Indian tribe the Huron (that is where Lake Huron gets its name) because they had spiked hair that reminded them of a type of pig called Huron (in French); but the Indian name for themselves is the Wendat. The area was then known as New France and there were about 60 Frenchmen living here; Jesuit priests, volunteer craftsmen and workers such as cooks, carpenters and blacksmiths and their young apprentices (perhaps 10 or 11 year olds) who only received food and shelter in return for their services; this number being about 1/4 of the Western population in New France! Everything that could not be grown had to be brought in by canoe from Quebec and the Iroquois (another Indian tribe from the Montreal area) kept on attacking the Christian Wendat converts and the supply canoes, so eventually in 1650 the settlement was abandoned.
The place was great, there were demonstrations on how things worked such as a lock system that allowed canoes to come up from the river into the settlement and also allowed for water to be flushed from the settlement down into the river once chamber pots had been emptied into the system. Celso got hands on in a fire making demonstration, he tried both the French method with a piece of iron and a flint stone that were struck together to make sparks that were then allowed to fall onto a piece of linen (from old shirts) and then blown on to encourage the flames (he was completely successful with that one). Then he tried the Wendat method with a bow, stick and flat piece of wood, he made smoke... but no fire.. and was exhausted by the whole experience but satisfied to have had the opportunity to give it a go.
Tristan made a candle by dipping, again and again, a wick hanging from a piece of wood into animal fat that had been heated up over and open fire, it got fatter after each layer from the dipping dried. We tried some corn bread which was the staple diet, along with squash and runner beans that the Wendat grew as "The Three Sisters" on raised mounds. One of each seed on each mound, the corn grew tall, the beans grew up the corn stalk and the squash grew around on the ground with its spiked leaves to discourage mice to climb up and steal the beans or corn.
We were able to try out the tools in the carpentry shop, feel all the furs that were collected in the area (now from road kill!), make Wendat charms from clay and write with quills made from Turkey feathers. An Indian woman told us about the clothes of the day, both French and Wendat, and explained that western men always tended to stand with one leg in front of the other with the toe pointing outwards (the sort of pose you see actors in the old Robin Hood movies doing in their tights) because, apparently, in those days women always looked at a man's calf to see if he had good strong muscles! I asked about how the Wendat chose a partner, apparently it was a matriarchal society, you chose a man from another clan and then he would leave that clan and come and join the woman's clan and basically do what he was told.... just as it should be!!
We spent a happy 4 hours at the place but, even though the weather had cleared, we decided to leave the boat trip for another day as we wanted to get up early for our canoe trip tomorrow. We drove on to Algonquin and arrived at the Wolf Den backpackers hostel at around 6pm. It was a series of wooden cabins in the woods, we were in a shared dorm (8 beds in total) but spent the evening playing chess and cards in a shared cabin with kitchen etc.
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Friday, 7 August 2009
day 11 to Kincardine
Not too much to say today. We got up late and then it was Celso's turn to choose somewhere to go. We had seen 2 of the great lakes (Ontario and Eerie) so he decided to take us to another. So we headed North to Kincardine on Lake Huron. We wanted to stop in one of the national parks on the way for a walk but we couldn't find anywhere. We ended up asking an old guy with a dog where he went for walks in the woods with his dog. He told us how to get to a forest but warned us about Deer Flies.
As we approached the woods down an unpaved track our car was surrounded by these huge flies, they buzzed and swarmed and appeared to be trying to get into the car. We tried a short walk down a track into the woods switching broken off branches round our heads and bodies to avoid being bitten. We only lasted about 5 minutes before we turned back.. but we did see a garter snake and some weird mushrooms, however we didn't stop to take photos because as soon as you stopped moving the flies would land and start biting.
We drove on; along the dead straight roads again; to a town called Woodstock and missed our turn and ended up in a park by a small lake. Here we had a great walk through the woods. It always seems that we find great places by mistake!
Then on to Kilcardine and we are now holed up in a motel with a huge TV and the boys are watching Shrek III. We went out to a bar a grill to get some food, and had steak and shrimps and scallops. Celso's drink was served in a jam jar for some reason but beer and coke (pop as they call it here) were served in normal glasses... not sure what that is all about.
We drove along the beaches of Lake Huron on the way here, it is difficult to believe that it is a lake, it stretches to the horizon and has waves and tides because it is so large - amazing.
Yesterdays photos have now been loaded.
As we approached the woods down an unpaved track our car was surrounded by these huge flies, they buzzed and swarmed and appeared to be trying to get into the car. We tried a short walk down a track into the woods switching broken off branches round our heads and bodies to avoid being bitten. We only lasted about 5 minutes before we turned back.. but we did see a garter snake and some weird mushrooms, however we didn't stop to take photos because as soon as you stopped moving the flies would land and start biting.
We drove on; along the dead straight roads again; to a town called Woodstock and missed our turn and ended up in a park by a small lake. Here we had a great walk through the woods. It always seems that we find great places by mistake!
Then on to Kilcardine and we are now holed up in a motel with a huge TV and the boys are watching Shrek III. We went out to a bar a grill to get some food, and had steak and shrimps and scallops. Celso's drink was served in a jam jar for some reason but beer and coke (pop as they call it here) were served in normal glasses... not sure what that is all about.
We drove along the beaches of Lake Huron on the way here, it is difficult to believe that it is a lake, it stretches to the horizon and has waves and tides because it is so large - amazing.
Yesterdays photos have now been loaded.
Thursday, 6 August 2009
From Niagra to Port Dover - days 9 & 10
We took a look at the map and picked a spot along Lake Erie in the Southernmost part of Ontario - Port Dover - and that is where we decided to go. We had decided to have a rest day; find a motel with a pool and stay for 2 nights and do very little in between to recharge our batteries after our hectic start.
First we went to Marineland. Apparently the second largest marine park in North America; and certainly it was vast; but it didn't have that much marine life. A tiny aquarium with fish but fantastic large enclosures where you could see the animals from both above and below the water for Beluga whales (with babies), killer whales; dolphins; walruses and seals. You could queue up for ages to feed a Beluga but it was too hot to stand in line in the sun. On the far side of the park they had other animals in large enclosures. The best was a fantastic, half water, half land enclosure with black bears; people were buying bear food (some sort of honey balls, like cereal) and throwing it down to them. They all had different characters; one that didn't like getting wet and would wade through water to a rock on back legs with arms in the air. Another that was asleep in the water, he was floating but with his chin propped onto a rock, another that would raise his arm; as if to call over the waiter; when he wanted some more food. Elk that loved the fresh grass we brought them had silky soft antlers and a bit of an attitude if they didn't get their fair share; Bison (buffalo) that were very slobbery and snorty and also loved the fresh grass; and we walked amongst a herd of deer, they were being fed some sort of food like horse nuts that were dispensed in ice cream cones, the deer weren't interested in the nuts just the cones!
Celso and I rode the longest steel rollercoaster in the world which had 2 loop the loops and 2 twists, but never got more than about 6 metres off the ground so my fear of heights didn't really come in to play, nonetheless I had my eyes shut for most of the trip, but it was a great one!
We then got on our way to Port Dover driving along small country roads. The roads were really straight but really poorly signposted. We got a bit lost but made sure we just kept heading west towards the sun and we arrived in Port Dover at around 6pm.
Port Dover is an old fishing port that now survives on a very brief summer tourist season. The tourists are all Canadian; we haven't met any other foreigners and that's what the guy we are staying with says; and they come here for the beach on Lake Erie, it looks just like a sea. We drove around for about 1/2 hour looking for a motel but we could only find B&B accommodation. I left Celso and Tris on the beach and set out to find us somewhere to stay; we had decided that instead of a pool we could use the lake and beach to fulfill our 'lazy day' plans.
The first place I stopped at had 1 free cabin, a self contained unit with kitchen / sitting room with sofa bed; bathroom and double bedroom - PERFECT. The manager wasn't about, but the owner let me have the cabin at a reduced rate for a couple of nights for cash saying he wouldn't put it through the books. This got him in trouble with the manager the next day who relet the cabin as he hadn't written down that it was let!
It turns out that the place has an outdoor swimming pool open until 11pm and heated to 85F....bliss. He has about 10 cabins (they call them cottages) and also lets out rooms in the house. His son (about 14 or 15) spent the whole day on Thursday painting a boat opposite our cabin; I sat for a few hours watching, reading my book (I'm reading Obama's autobiography which someone sent me in the post just before we left but there was no note with it so I have absolutely no idea who - Thanks if it was you, it's a great read) and we did our accounts, spent a couple of hours on the beach and generally chilled out.
We now have 3 days to get north to Algonquin where we will take the canoe out onto the lakes; we are just going to see where the road takes us heading vaguely in a Northwards direction. If it all turns out as well as this place it will be fab!
First we went to Marineland. Apparently the second largest marine park in North America; and certainly it was vast; but it didn't have that much marine life. A tiny aquarium with fish but fantastic large enclosures where you could see the animals from both above and below the water for Beluga whales (with babies), killer whales; dolphins; walruses and seals. You could queue up for ages to feed a Beluga but it was too hot to stand in line in the sun. On the far side of the park they had other animals in large enclosures. The best was a fantastic, half water, half land enclosure with black bears; people were buying bear food (some sort of honey balls, like cereal) and throwing it down to them. They all had different characters; one that didn't like getting wet and would wade through water to a rock on back legs with arms in the air. Another that was asleep in the water, he was floating but with his chin propped onto a rock, another that would raise his arm; as if to call over the waiter; when he wanted some more food. Elk that loved the fresh grass we brought them had silky soft antlers and a bit of an attitude if they didn't get their fair share; Bison (buffalo) that were very slobbery and snorty and also loved the fresh grass; and we walked amongst a herd of deer, they were being fed some sort of food like horse nuts that were dispensed in ice cream cones, the deer weren't interested in the nuts just the cones!
Celso and I rode the longest steel rollercoaster in the world which had 2 loop the loops and 2 twists, but never got more than about 6 metres off the ground so my fear of heights didn't really come in to play, nonetheless I had my eyes shut for most of the trip, but it was a great one!
We then got on our way to Port Dover driving along small country roads. The roads were really straight but really poorly signposted. We got a bit lost but made sure we just kept heading west towards the sun and we arrived in Port Dover at around 6pm.
Port Dover is an old fishing port that now survives on a very brief summer tourist season. The tourists are all Canadian; we haven't met any other foreigners and that's what the guy we are staying with says; and they come here for the beach on Lake Erie, it looks just like a sea. We drove around for about 1/2 hour looking for a motel but we could only find B&B accommodation. I left Celso and Tris on the beach and set out to find us somewhere to stay; we had decided that instead of a pool we could use the lake and beach to fulfill our 'lazy day' plans.
The first place I stopped at had 1 free cabin, a self contained unit with kitchen / sitting room with sofa bed; bathroom and double bedroom - PERFECT. The manager wasn't about, but the owner let me have the cabin at a reduced rate for a couple of nights for cash saying he wouldn't put it through the books. This got him in trouble with the manager the next day who relet the cabin as he hadn't written down that it was let!
It turns out that the place has an outdoor swimming pool open until 11pm and heated to 85F....bliss. He has about 10 cabins (they call them cottages) and also lets out rooms in the house. His son (about 14 or 15) spent the whole day on Thursday painting a boat opposite our cabin; I sat for a few hours watching, reading my book (I'm reading Obama's autobiography which someone sent me in the post just before we left but there was no note with it so I have absolutely no idea who - Thanks if it was you, it's a great read) and we did our accounts, spent a couple of hours on the beach and generally chilled out.
We now have 3 days to get north to Algonquin where we will take the canoe out onto the lakes; we are just going to see where the road takes us heading vaguely in a Northwards direction. If it all turns out as well as this place it will be fab!
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Niagara - day 8
What a busy day.... wet, wet, wet and wet again! Started with us driving up to Niagara on the lake (at the point where the Niagara river meets lake Ontario); the route went past all that we walked yesterday and continued North up the river. Fabulous huge houses on the route, we were trying to guess how much they were. By 9:30 we had signed a disclaimer to Whirlpool Jetboat tours for both ourselves, and any descendants, that we would not make any claims against them. At 10 we were given a safety briefing, a poncho (optional), a life jacket (compulsory) and some deck shoes (optional) and we got into our silver jet boat and headed South down the river to the whirlpool. It was exhilarating, the power was incredible; 1500 horsepower; and the 360 turns and skid slides breathtaking. Then came the Grade 5 rapids... can't really explain, but Grade 6 is as rough as they come so you can probably imagine. Anyway we have the films for you to look at. The hostel owner lent us his waterproof, shockproof camera. It's not easy filming whilst your gripping on for dear life so excuse the fact that you spend rather a lot of time looking up my nose! I will try to load the videos below! Anyway, needless to say, we got very wet; the ponchos were absolutely pointless (except I suppose to prevent the windchill factor on the return journey when we were soaked through). We dried off and got into clean clothes and then headed back towards Niagara. After visiting a Buddhist temple whilst we waited our turn, we walked the 'White Water Walk' which is a boardwalk along some grade 6 rapids... I'm glad we didn't run those! Then after a bit of a rest we went on the Maid of the Mist.. right up to the falls in the spray with the thundering noise of the falls blasting at your ear drums so that it hurts. I'm glad they gave us our silly blue ponchos even though we all looked absolutely ridiculous, some sort of horrific bunch of teletubbies. Not nearly as wet as on the jet boats but wet all the same. After that we went on the Walk Behind the Falls, down into some tunnels with port holes looking out behind the Horseshoe falls, again the pounding of the water hurt your ears; incredible to think that a 7 year old boy survived going over the falls in 1968. Then we got very wet again outside right by the edge of the falls. Finally we went to see a film (movie) about how the Falls were formed, it was one of those 360 degree theatres but with moving floor and wind and.. Yes you've guessed it... lots of spraying water and we got wet again! Back to the hostel for a late supper and now it is past midnight so I'm sorry not to write too much. Both yesterday and today were just fantastic; I haven't done them justice here but I hope the photos and the videos tell the story.
Niagara - day 7
Today I think we walked at least 10 miles in the heat (or perhaps more).
We started out in the centre of Niagara and walked North along the river to a place called Niagara Glen. On the way we passed all the sights, the Maid in the Mist - boats that take passengers right up to the falls; the cable car across the whirlpool, the White Water Walk and the Niagara Bird and Reptile House. Of course we had to go in; Tris held a baby croc and several birds, some charming small parrots blessed me (right in my hair!), and Celso got angry that some of the labels on the cages were wrong!! The most fascinating bit was a huge indoor aviary with about 50 (maybe 100) free flying birds of all types. There were loads of trees and bushes and a small stream and they were busy making nests and displaying to each other. We just walked amongst them whilst they flew past inches from your face.
Any way, I digress, from Niagara Glen we took this horrid, see through metal grating, very high, spiral steps (for those of you who don't know I'm scared of heights; neither Tris nor Celso thought them horrid) down the side of the cliff into the valley carved out by the river Niagara (or more probably the glacier that carved it at the end of the last ice age; it is definitely U shaped rather than a V). We followed trails back Southwards along the edge of the river. Leaping from rock to rock or twisting our way through trees; Tristan described us as the mountain goat family! We took about 2 hours to get back to the whirlpool and watched jet boats run the rapids down the river. (We are going to do that tomorrow!)
It was such a fantastic walk. It was difficult to believe that we were so close to the tourist areas of Niagara; a little gem of a place that is not advertised to the tourists (but our hostel owner told us about it). There were lots of rock climbers down there practicing their moves on some huge boulders. They had carried down some sort of mattresses that they lay on the ground underneath where they were climbing to break their falls.
Blood (from Celso's knees), much sweat (from us all) but NO tears... we arrived back at our hostel exhausted but happy, showered and fell into bed.
We started out in the centre of Niagara and walked North along the river to a place called Niagara Glen. On the way we passed all the sights, the Maid in the Mist - boats that take passengers right up to the falls; the cable car across the whirlpool, the White Water Walk and the Niagara Bird and Reptile House. Of course we had to go in; Tris held a baby croc and several birds, some charming small parrots blessed me (right in my hair!), and Celso got angry that some of the labels on the cages were wrong!! The most fascinating bit was a huge indoor aviary with about 50 (maybe 100) free flying birds of all types. There were loads of trees and bushes and a small stream and they were busy making nests and displaying to each other. We just walked amongst them whilst they flew past inches from your face.
Any way, I digress, from Niagara Glen we took this horrid, see through metal grating, very high, spiral steps (for those of you who don't know I'm scared of heights; neither Tris nor Celso thought them horrid) down the side of the cliff into the valley carved out by the river Niagara (or more probably the glacier that carved it at the end of the last ice age; it is definitely U shaped rather than a V). We followed trails back Southwards along the edge of the river. Leaping from rock to rock or twisting our way through trees; Tristan described us as the mountain goat family! We took about 2 hours to get back to the whirlpool and watched jet boats run the rapids down the river. (We are going to do that tomorrow!)
It was such a fantastic walk. It was difficult to believe that we were so close to the tourist areas of Niagara; a little gem of a place that is not advertised to the tourists (but our hostel owner told us about it). There were lots of rock climbers down there practicing their moves on some huge boulders. They had carried down some sort of mattresses that they lay on the ground underneath where they were climbing to break their falls.
Blood (from Celso's knees), much sweat (from us all) but NO tears... we arrived back at our hostel exhausted but happy, showered and fell into bed.
Monday, 3 August 2009
To Niagara - day 6
Got our hire car, a Toyota Yaris, automatic, air conditioning, at around 12 midday and after several bunny hops and sharp braking we managed to return to our hostel to pick up our stuff. I've never driven an automatic before and kept pumping the floor trying to find the clutch. It was also quite awkward trying stay on the right, especially after a one way street. Turning right on a red light is allowed but rather scary!
Anyway.. we made it to Niagara with little incident, it seems that there was no countryside along the way, just one long..long..long extended conurbation along the length of the highway.
We checked into a cheap motel and then took a bus to the centre of Niagara. Can't explain how amazing the falls are, not only the sights but the sounds, the spray and the smell. The place is teeming because there is a public holiday tomorrow but the crowds seem to move seemlessly with no pushing and shoving and everyone is very good natured. We are saving all the "stuff" like maid of the mist and the walk behind the falls for tomorrow. Today we just walked and wondered about it all.
We did go in to Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum which was completely amazing and took us about 1.5 hours to go round because of the number of amazing artifacts from around the world and ancient news footage of incredible feats (is that how you spell it?). On the entry ticket it says "Memories that will last a life time, kinda like scars"!
We ate at an outdoor restaurant with live music opposite a huge casino. Tristan tried to eat the whole of the lamb spit roast as you can see from the photos!
At 9:45pm we headed down to the falls again, they somehow light up the falls (can't work out whether the lights were actually behind the water or if they were being projected on from somewhere) and then at 10pm there was a fireworks display between the horseshoe and American falls.
Rather a lot of photos today - but then WHY NOT?
Anyway.. we made it to Niagara with little incident, it seems that there was no countryside along the way, just one long..long..long extended conurbation along the length of the highway.
We checked into a cheap motel and then took a bus to the centre of Niagara. Can't explain how amazing the falls are, not only the sights but the sounds, the spray and the smell. The place is teeming because there is a public holiday tomorrow but the crowds seem to move seemlessly with no pushing and shoving and everyone is very good natured. We are saving all the "stuff" like maid of the mist and the walk behind the falls for tomorrow. Today we just walked and wondered about it all.
We did go in to Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum which was completely amazing and took us about 1.5 hours to go round because of the number of amazing artifacts from around the world and ancient news footage of incredible feats (is that how you spell it?). On the entry ticket it says "Memories that will last a life time, kinda like scars"!
We ate at an outdoor restaurant with live music opposite a huge casino. Tristan tried to eat the whole of the lamb spit roast as you can see from the photos!
At 9:45pm we headed down to the falls again, they somehow light up the falls (can't work out whether the lights were actually behind the water or if they were being projected on from somewhere) and then at 10pm there was a fireworks display between the horseshoe and American falls.
Rather a lot of photos today - but then WHY NOT?
Saturday, 1 August 2009
Casa Loma (the Dupont connection?) Day 5
Our last full day in Toronto (for a while; we come back to fly to NY on the 31st).
We decided to visit Casa Loma, a mad castle that was built in the early 1900s by Henry Pellatt. He was a Toronto financier and industrialist and fiercely patriotic to the Queen and then the King of Britain.
He made his fortune by buying up shares in the land in Western Canada and made millions when people went to live there and also from founding (and getting the monopoly on)Toronto's electricity supply.
He then started to have this crazy castle built but the First World War stopped the building process and then the electric company was made public and his next venture into flight was appropriated by the war office. He also financed a hydroelectric power station at Niagara but it was also appropriated. So he lost his fortune and had to sell the house and all the belongings.
It's a fascinating story which you can see at www.casaloma.org if you are interested.
We tried to find out why the street and subway station were called Dupont whilst we were there but no-one seemed to know. I have sent an email to the Toronto genealogical society to ask if there was a famous Dupont who lived here. Maybe we have a long lost branch of our family here. (For those of you who don't know my mum is a Dupont)
Tomorrow we pick up our hire car and we are heading South, but I think we will next have internet access when we get to Niagara on the 3rd.
We decided to visit Casa Loma, a mad castle that was built in the early 1900s by Henry Pellatt. He was a Toronto financier and industrialist and fiercely patriotic to the Queen and then the King of Britain.
He made his fortune by buying up shares in the land in Western Canada and made millions when people went to live there and also from founding (and getting the monopoly on)Toronto's electricity supply.
He then started to have this crazy castle built but the First World War stopped the building process and then the electric company was made public and his next venture into flight was appropriated by the war office. He also financed a hydroelectric power station at Niagara but it was also appropriated. So he lost his fortune and had to sell the house and all the belongings.
It's a fascinating story which you can see at www.casaloma.org if you are interested.
We tried to find out why the street and subway station were called Dupont whilst we were there but no-one seemed to know. I have sent an email to the Toronto genealogical society to ask if there was a famous Dupont who lived here. Maybe we have a long lost branch of our family here. (For those of you who don't know my mum is a Dupont)
Tomorrow we pick up our hire car and we are heading South, but I think we will next have internet access when we get to Niagara on the 3rd.
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