The Road Goes On…

2023 Western Canada

  • Falcon Lake, MB to Dryden, ON

    With the weekend coming, we couldn’t extend our stay at Falcon Lake any longer so it was time to have our last breakfast at The Nest, get the van cleaned up and ready and hitting the road for Ontario.

    Before leaving Manitoba we dropped in at the visitor centre and thanked the two ladies we had talked to when we first entered Manitoba. They had been very helpful in suggesting interesting places to see in towns off the Trans Canada highway, many of which we ended up visiting.

    There was lots of road widening construction on Hwy 17 in Ontario and many sites where blasting was being done. We had several stops where traffic alternated along the one lane that was open.

    In Vermillion Bay, we stopped at the Nowhere Craft Chocolate and Coffee Roastery. Little did we know that our stop for a cappuccino and a hot chocolate would turn into such an insightful and detailed lesson on how artisanal chocolate is made. Eleanor, the owner, spent close to an hour explaining and showing us the process while we were sipping our drinks and tasting her delicious chocolate. We couldn’t help buying some roasted beans, nibs, and bars. The seeds for making our own chocolate from raw beans has been planted. In time, this will no doubt, have been an expensive place to stop at. Ruth is already worried about the new set of equipment required.

    A few kilometres further is Egli’s Wool and Sheepskin Shop. Last time we drove by Martin bought a sheepskin winter hat and we decided to stop by again. Ruth was particularly interested in the large selection of knitting wool, but was strong enough to refrain adding to her already vast collection.

    In Dryden we had dinner at the Masala Restaurant which offers East Indian, Greek, Thai and North American food. They had a buffet, but it was mostly Indian except for maybe the french fries and spring rolls. The food was delicious and the entertainment was a large party celebrating a 60th birthday. We congratulated the birthday boy and were quickly accepted as family and each given a piece of the tasty birthday cake.

  • Dryden, ON to Terrace Bay, ON

    Today was largely a driving with wonderful dinner at Drifter’s in Terrace Bay. This is a restaurant that we stop at each time we pass by because the food is so delicious and the service is always great.

    Our waitress suggested we walk down to beach in Terrace Bay. The Lake Superior water and the evening sunlight were just perfect for taking pictures.

    We now needed to find a place to stay and the now closed Terrace Bay airport was suggested as one option. We started to go there, but it was on a pretty rough road and very close to the paper mill so we chose not to continue. Now we quickly needed to find an alternative as it was getting dark. The iOverlander app came to the rescue and found us a really nice spot near a lake with two other campers. We’ll investigate further tomorrow.

  • Terrace Bay, ON to Lake Superior, ON

    It was a cold morning and the windows of the van were totally fogged when we awoke. When we stepped outside to see what our surroundings were like, we were greeted with a thick fog over the landscape and lake and dew on the plants. It was glorious!

    The fog gave way to a beautifully sunny clear day, great for driving. Along the way we stopped at a lookout point just as an extremely long freight train snaked along the mountain below.

    This time, instead of waiting until it was dark, we stopped at around 3PM at a beautiful free wild campground directly at Lake Superior. We had to take some pictures of this amazing scenery before going for a swim in the super clear water!

    It was refreshing but not too cold and we managed an enjoyable 20 minutes in the water. A couple that arrived shortly after us joined us in swimming and we had great conversations both in the water and later sitting outside in our lawn chairs overlooking the lake.

    This wild campground has about a dozen sites and we walked around to explore the area a bit. We got to know some of the couples there and had great conversations but a small dog stole the show for Ruth and she had to photograph it.

    The sunset was magnificent!

  • Lake Superior, ON to South Baymouth, ON

    We were almost ready to make breakfast when we had a knock on the door. Our new friends from Quebec City said goodbye and wished us all the best on our trip. After breakfast we couldn’t resist going for one last swim in Lake Superior. It was our last chance after all…

    It was time to move on which was a bit sad, but in Sault Ste Marie we had a fantastic Italian lunch at Giovanni’s Restaurant. Well fed and happy we continued our drive to South Baymouth from where we will be taking the ferry to Tobermory tomorrow.

  • South Baymouth, ON to Dundas, ON

    Time to go home! Since we were camping in South Baymouth close to the ferry terminal were lined up at 8AM to see whether we could get on an earlier trip than the 3:30PM one we had booked. We were lucky and made the 11AM trip. The weather was rainy which made us look forward to going home.

    The ferry ride went well and the drive to Mobilife (our RV dealer) to pick up a replacement window for the one that broke was quite scenic. Ontario is beautiful as well and we have to explore more of our province.

    We got the window we needed and then drove into the Valens Conservation area campground, not to sleep, but to empty the rest of our tanks before proceeding home.