A Trip Outline

The idea for this trip goes back about 5 years to a time when I played online bridge with someone whose profile said he lived near the longest fresh water beach in the world. Turns out its almost 20 miles long and on Lake Huron. A little more investigation led me to Georgian Bay and soon I was obsessing about our need to visit this Canadian vacation paradise. Melodee frequently reminds me that I usually plan our vacations and all that was keeping us from this Lake Huron nirvana was taking enuf time to do it right. You see, it takes more time to go to a new area. You have to allow extra time to see what's there, find out what you want to do when you come back, and realize that unfortunately this may be the only time you get to some places.

With that in mind I set out early in the year to plan the trip, make the campsite reservations and buy all the tickets. We like to spend 2 nites in each park and then drive 2 or 3 hours to the next. It seemed logical to drive straight north from Burlington to the UP, cross at the Sault and then trace the northern shore of Georgian Bay down to the longest freshwater beach in the world, Sauble Beach. Since we were only about 120km from Stratford, it made sense to take in some plays there and then drive on to Niagra-on-the-Lake and see a few more at the Shaw Festival.

Here's the final itinerary.
Aug 1, a long drive to Appleton WI with an overnite stay at High Cliffs State Park
Aug 2-3, Van Riper State Park, roughly the center of Michigan's upper peninsula.
Aug 4-5, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Aug 6-7, Tahquamenon Falls State Park
Aug 8, cross into Canada at Sault Ste Marie, on to Pancake Bay Provincial Park (PP)
Aug 9, Chutes PP. Needed to do one nite stays to break up the 6 hour drive to Killbear
Aug 10-11, Killbear PP squarely in the heart of the Georgian Bay cabin country
Aug 12-13, Awenda PP still in the heart of the Canadian vacation territory
Aug 14-15, Sauble Beach PP with a possible trip to the Owen Sound Folk Festival
Aug 16-17, Bruce Head Peninsula National Park. Canadian National Parks are a real treat.
Aug 18, drive to Stratord, see both a matinee and evening play, spend the nite next to the Avon River
Aug 19-21, Niagra on the Lake. We'll see a play each nite and enjoy this delightful small town.
Aug 22, This is our anniversary. We see a Cyrano de Bergerac in the afternoon and then drive on to Goderich (self proclaimed prettiest small town in Canada) and Hockey Mom Hockey Dad in the evening.
Aug 23, Falls Reserve Conservation Area, a natural water park on the Maitland River
Aug 24-25, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, an old favorite
Aug 26, we drive home.

There you have it. We're gone 25 nites, spending 5 nites in state parks, 2 nites in a National Forest campground, 2 nites in a National Lakeshore campground, 8 nites in provincial parks, 2 nites in a Canadian National park, 2 nites in a Canadian conservation area and 4 nites in city parks. Put another way we spend 5 nites on Lake Superior, 10 nites on Lake Huron, 3 nites on Lake Ontario, 2 nites on Lake Michigan and 5 nites not on the shore of a great lake. We'll see 8 plays and possibly attend a couple music festivals. All of this will still allow us plenty of time to read and simply relax.

Part of the problem with a trip like this is that there are no package deals. Everything has to be handled one at a time. Good thing that I like to think, plan and make reservations.