A Rare Day (or 3 for 3)

When we visited Patrick, Mary & Addie in June, Jim announced he was going to start doing pushups. Having recently read an article about the many benefits of pushups, I told him I thought that was a
terrific idea. Then he challenged me with “I can do more than you”, a challenge he regrets to this day.
Today Jim did 19, admirable, while I did 40. We also lifted weights ( 2.2 kg, beginner sets) which he declared me also to be the winner of; I didn't realize that was a competition.

My real coup was soundly beating Jim in gin rummy something I haven't done for many, many years and not just because we weren't playing.

Yeah, Mellie!

Public Unveiling

Today on Beach 1 of Awenda PP was the general public unveiling of the tattoo I got earlier this summer. Family and close friends have seen it but my tribal horse isn't located in a place that's visible unless I'm in a swim suit. Today was a full beach day and perfect for it so out came my horse.

On a related note, we've been buy fresh wild blueberries from roadside vendors plus peaches (and green beans, peas, sweet corn, etc). Almost every nite Jim's making a butter & brown sugar syrup on the grill, adding sliced peaches & blueberries. We use that as a topping to some ice cream & WOW is it delicious. If I keep eating that every nite the tattoo may never be seen again since I'll be too fat to wear a swimsuit!

Awenda

I thought it wouldn't be possible to top the beaches at Killbear, but Awenda beats them hands down. We spent about 6 hours at Beach 1 today. I is a beautiful crescent of sand fringed by large rocks, somewhat reminiscent of the Baths on Virgin Gorda. There actually are 4 beaches here, but we were content to laze away the day without taking a look at the others. I'm pretty sure they are every bit as nice since lots of other folks were walking to them.

I usually get a quizzical look when I tell people we come to Canada for the beaches, I've not found a beach anywhere in the states that is nearly as good as those along the shores of Georgian Bay, on the east shore of Vancouver Island or on Lake Okanagen. These are all beautiful settings with the north woods meeting the water and rocks. The temperatures are moderate, today was 28, with very low humidity. You can easily while away the day in sun or shade, your pick. What could be better.

Brief note on temperature. It's celsius up here; we find it easier to go with the flow and not be continually converting to fahrenheit. All you really need to know is that good weather starts around 20 and it gets warm at 30. Here's the conversion formula. You multiply the celsius temp by 1.8. I do this by doubling the number and then reducing it by 10%. So if the radio says its 20, you double that to 40 and subtract 4 (10% of 40) to have 36. Add 32 to the 36 and you know that 20 C = 68 F. So 20 is long sleeve shirt weather. 28 C = 82 F, a pretty good temperature for sitting at the beach.

Awenda is not a big park by Ontario Provincial Park standards, but by any Iowa measure it is huge. The sign as we entered the park told us to expect 6 km of winding roads before we got the the entrance station. That's about 4 miles and it was another mile from there on to our campground. There are 6 campgrounds including 1 that is pet free and 1 that is radio free. This is a big park, but then Ontario is a big province. It's so big the AAA map just cuts off some part of the northern most piece. The map just ends up without any indication how much is not on the map. Its all rocks, trees and water; not a road anywhere.

Disney World

I think I've read or heard that Disney World is the #1 vacation spot for Americans; its one place I have never been. Today was my kind of Disney World. A fine boat tour in the morning, a poutine snack at a small cafe, a visit to the Leacock Museum and all topped off by live music in the campground amphitheater.

Stuart McLean says that in the early 1900's, Stephen Leacock was more widely known than Canada itself was. Leacock has been compared to Mark Twain. Both were humorists and social commentators, but while Twain strikes me as a misanthrope, Leacock was a man who lived life to the hilt and enjoyed the company of others. The Leacock Museum is in his craftsman style house on the shore of Lake Couchiching. His early writings had established him throughout the english speaking world as both an economist and humorist and apparently had made him financially set for life. He wanted a summer retreat and bought a 20 acre tract on a little point of land in 1908. His camp started out rustic and it wasn't until 1928 that he built his house. It is a house meant for living and he really did live. He went fishing every day, often featuring his catch on the daily menu. He had a small fleet of sailboats, skiffs and canoes and spent much of his days on the water. He had frequents guests, there are any number of letters inviting friends to visit him in Orillia. His biographer said Leacock “... knew good food, and he served good food”. Much of the food came from his vegetable gardens and his daily fishing trips. His handwritten menus were a feature of dinners at his home. All in all, a man who loved life and lived it to the fullest. His home is one of the best preserved examples of early 20th century living I've seen. His study and library look like he just left the room, the living room could easily be used today for a party. We spent a little over an hour touring the house after first having a drink at the lovely small restaurant on the grounds. We walked the Lightfoot trail around the property and took in the views. It was a great experience. Side note, Lightfoot does refer to Gordon. He was born in Orillia, but we didn't see him here either.

We are spending the next 2 nites in Awenda PP on the shores of Georgian Bay. As I was checking in I noticed that the evening program was a concert by a French Canadian singer. There was no chance we weren't going to see live music and it turned out to be a good call. Turns out it was a quartet, 2 guitars and 2 fiddles. There is a strong french presence in this area. Seems that this area is where the french in America came to when they were on the losing side of the war of 1812. Most of the tunes were in french but it was very entertaining and a good way to end up a Disney day.

Orillia

If you learn nothing else from this blog tune in to the Vinyl Cafe. We listen to it on Sat at 7PM, just after PHC. We get it on Iowa Public Radio, the WOI feed. This is a CBC show. The host, Stuart McLain, tours small town Canada and presents a weekly show of his writings and Canadian music, think Hawksley Workman, Serena Ryder, etc. Anyway sometime during the long dark Iowa winter he did a show from Orillia and turned me onto Stephen Leacock. He was a Canadian writer/humorist around the turn of the century whose signature book is "Sunshine Sketches of a Small Town", set in Orillia. I knew we had to make a pilgrimage. As is the case with so many of my travel ideas, the place turns out to be all that I imagined. We are sitting on the patio of the Brewery Bay cafe. I'm enjoying some poutine with curry gravy and a good beer, Melodee has sweet potato fries and a strawberry daiquiri. Again, life is good, we;re off to the Leacock museum.

Morning Boat Ride

We really got on the move early, 7:30. We've taken to putting everything away at nite, so we can easily move to a more scenic spot for breakfast. Today's breakfast camp was the Parry Sound harbor. Pancakes with fresh wild blueberries and canadian maple syrup, what a treat.

Turns out one of the best boat tours anywhere does a 2 hour morning sail around the inner islands of Georgian Bay. Lots of beautiful cottages and fabulous scenery. Made for a great start to the day.

Georgian Bay

If there's a destination on this trip it's Georgian Bay. I've read that this area is a magnet for Canadians in general and Toronto residents in particular. I've read about the 30,000 islands, the powdery white sand beaches, the place where the Canadian shield meets the big water. Today we arrived at Killbear Provincial Park right on Georgian Bay and its everything I imagined it would be. I write this from the day use area. Its right on a beach in a sheltered bay; my view has 5 or 6 boats anchored for the night and 20 or so islands. Earlier we took a short loop hike to an overlook that gave us our first real view of Georgian Bay. Breathtaking. Wine and cheese hour is about over and we'll soon start cooking supper and wait for the sunset. We are on the sunset side of the lake now. For the next 8 days our view to the lake is westward. Life is good.