Sault Ste. Marie and beyond

View from our room..tanker heading to the locks

The bridge from Sault Ste. Marie Canada to Sault Ste. Marie USA

We spent two nights in Sault Ste. Marie, as we arrived late on Saturday night, and really needed to do laundry.  It was nice having a day off to just walk around and be lazy.  We left this morning and headed out to Wawa.  The weather forecast was for thunder showers the whole way, but we had blue skies and some clouds.  It was a beautiful trip, with some scenery that would rival the Cabot Trail!  Lake Superior is like a fresh water ocean!!  We saw some beautiful beaches along the way.

Lake Superior

The great riding road

Hard to see, but in the distance Lake Superior

Checking out the water temperature...I wanna go swimming!!

This was the beach we were at

Wawa Goose

And another goose..I think I saw 3 altogether.  This one at a  motel.

 Wawa is famous for the goose that is at the information station.  The town founder decided he needed a drawing card to get tourists to stop enroute to Thunder Bay.  It seems to be working!  We also got to see our first moose today, after all the warning signs from New Brunswick to here.  Thankfully it was a stuffed one at the gas station in Wawa :-) 

Kevan tried to commandeer a helicopter tour of the area, but all the helicopters were fire fighting out of the province, so he had to be content with just looking at all the photographs at the information station.  We had lunch and then carried on to Marathon, where we are spending the night.  We did finally hit some rain, but only for 1/2 hour or so just before we arrived at the motel, so no big deal.  It is dry again now.  Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, and we have a shorter day tomorrow, heading to Thunder Bay.  We probably could have made it in one day, but with the forecast predicting thunder showers we decided to not be so adventurous today.  Kevan almost changed his mind, but when we hit the rain, we decided to stay put in Marathon.  We are heading into town shortly to check out a local eatery, get a good nights sleep and be on our way tomorrow!

Old Woman Bay beach..a long sandy beach

Yesterday was an awesome day!  We left Owen Sound and headed to Tobermory to catch the 11am ferry. We had to be an hour early, so left the hotel just before 8am.  The trip up was very nice.  We went through a few small towns, including Wiarton, home of the famous groundhog Wiarton Willy!  We didn't see him but his pictures were everywhere!

Willy was hanging at every lamp post :-)

We continued along, passing some wind turbines and headed up to Tobermory.  We were able to have coffee while waiting for the ferry, and enjoyed the gorgeous view.  This area has a marina, and Kevan had his eye on a very nice 56ft. boat...he says he wasn't really paying attention. Ha!  It was a SeaRay.

Wind turbines on the way to Tobermory

Tobermory Marina

Coffee break waiting for the ferry...a gull checking for leftovers

A lighthouse we passed by

The ferry ride was 1.75 hours.  It was warm weather, and a smooth ride.  We were sailing on Lake Huron up to Manitoulin Island.  The island is the largest island in fresh water in the world!  We are learning alot about our county as we travel.   Once on the island, we headed for the west side and had lunch.  This was about a 27km trek out of our way, but worth the trip.  The roads on this island have some curves and small hills, so lots of fun to ride on a bike.

Kids were feeding the gulls cheesies...eating out of their hands.  They followed us for  the entire trip :-)

Kevan at lunch checking in with Dave at Mountainview Harley :)  What's the name of the dealer in Winnipeg??  We need an oil change.

The view as we travelled after lunch

The bridge to leave the island, back to the mainland

Alot of the topography was similar in ways to BC landscapes as we travelled to Espanola.  Even though it was already 4pm, we decided to head to Sault Ste. Marie, which is 3 hours away.  We felt good, the weather was great, and thought we'd make a longer day and have Sunday off to do laundry.  One of the necessary things when you can only pack one week's worth of clothes.

The road we travelled

What fun!!

We stopped to stretch our legs at this motel off the road..nice views here too!

Just a small place, but great location

The view for paying guests only.. Kevan snuck in to take a picture

We had a good dinner and sleep, and have Sunday off.  We headed to a laundromat to take care of our clothes, and have a relaxing day today.  We are looking at the weather carefully, as there is a nasty storm travelling our way, but decided we'd risk the rain and head to Marathon tomorrow, and then make our way to Thunder Bay Tuesday.  Then off to Kenora and then Winnipeg on Thursday!  Will be seeing family there to celebrate Crys & Denley's wedding!! They will be getting married, and we will be celebrating our anniversary :-)

Having fun at the laundromat!  We played crib while the machines cleaned our clothes.

Owen Sound

Kevan in the car wash:)

Today was a great ride!!  Beautiful weather and gorgeous scenery.  We started out the day with giving the Harley a bath.  It was very dirty from yesterday!  We then headed to the largest lift lock in the world in Peterborough.  Very cool to see.  A party boat was unloading on the top side and 3 ski boats unloaded in the lower area.

The largest lift lock in the world

We then headed out to Orillia.  What a picturesque area at the top of Lake Simcoe.  The downtown core was closed off to traffic and a REAL sidewalk sale was in progress!  We would have liked to browse around for a long time, but had to head out again after having lunch here.

Lake Simcoe in Orillia

Sidewalk Sale

We went to the beach in Collingwood, enroute to Owen Sound.  A great area, lots of new construction in Collingwood, and a resort feel to the area.

Kevan enjoying the beach in Collingwood

Georgian Bay in Collingwood

 Kevan and I had dinner at the hotel we are at, which is on the Georgian Bay, and is very beautiful.  A wonderful way to end the day. 

Dinner on the patio at our hotel...marina in the background

Tomorrow we leave early to catch a ferry in Tobermory that will take us up the Bruce Penninsula.  A very picturesque area, and good riding roads!  It's going to be another great day!!

Ottawa to Peterborough

Last night we had the privilege of having dinner with Corey & Rachel Pickford and their three beautiful girls.  They took us out for dinner and we celebrated Olivia's 7th birthday!  She got cake :)

Olivia got cake :)

We had a nice visit, which was way too short, but such is the life of the cross-country travellers.  After the Pickfords packed their clan back home, Kevan & I headed out to the market place.  Even though we were stuffed from dinner, we shared a beaver tail (cuz you just have to do that in Ottawa!!) and then stopped for a beverage at one of the sidewalk pubs.  Lots of people out on the streets.  We walked passed the Rideau Canal, strolled up Sussex Drive and took in the sights.  Silly me, I had left the camera in the hotel, so no pictures of that.

The Parade in front of our hotel

This morning we were treated with the changing of the guard at the parliament buildings (we think that's what it was!)  They came by the hotel this morning as we were about to head out.  That was cool to see.



We headed out to Peterborough and stopped in historic Perth for lunch. 

Lunch in Perth and toasting Bert & Diane for the anniversary!!

This was outside of the restaurant

Cute town, with lots of older buildings.  



After lunch, the weather we had been dodging found us, so we got a few showers for the rest of the trip.  We were warm and dry on the inside, so other than the bike needing a good cleaning, we did fine.



 Enjoying a relaxing evening in Peterborough, and planning the next few days out.  The forecast is for scattered showers tomorrow morning, and then it clears up again and is sunny and warm for the rest of the weekend.  We will be heading to Lake Simco and the Georgian Bay, so think this will give us more opportunity for sight-seeing.


Having issues with uploading pictures again...not sure what the problem is, but at the next stop I'll try to add more!  Off to Owen Sound.

Ottawa

We left Quebec City alittle earlier this morning, and took Highway 40 to Ottawa.  A quick stop for breakfast and another one for gas and a snack, and we arrived in Ottawa around 2pm.  Checked into our hotel and had a relaxing afternoon.  We are meeting friends for dinner downtown, which we will walk to, and will most likely head to Peterborough tomorrow.  The trip today was not scenic, as we stayed on the major highway, but passed through Montreal with mostly clear sailing right through.  The weather is good, with mid 20 temperatures.  There is a storm going through Toronto tonight, but we think we will be north enough to skirt that.  We are a day ahead of our loose schedule at this point, so we know we can take our time going through Ontario and stop and see the sights along the way. I haven't taken pictures yet today, but this evening will probably give opportunity for some, so I'll post those tomorrow!

The Trip to Quebec City with Pictures

The bridge in Campbellton

Monday morning we left Dalhousie, NB and headed to Campbellton.  Here we crossed a bridge to get onto the Gaspe Penninsula.  As we started climbing the mountain, we were reminded of BC scenery.  We followed a river for the first part, and came to the town of Amqui.

Up and over, we arrived on the other side and did not have to wait too long to get our first glimpse of the St. Lawerence River.

The St. Lawrence in the distance

We passed many dairy farms, bright yellow canola fields, and stopped for lunch in Riviere-du-loop.  We enjoyed a very good lunch and loved the European flair of this French town.

Where we had lunch

The streets of Riviere-du-loop

One of the many churches

    carried on along the St. Lawrence, and as we got closer to Quebec City, the temperature rose.  With the humidex we were in 38 degrees, sitting on a hot engine!  We enjoyed the ferry ride across the St. Lawrence to cool off abit before hitting the city.  We checked into the hotel and had a nice cool shower before heading into Lower Quebec City for dinner.

The ferry across the St. Lawrence to Quebec City

View of the Chateau from the water..alittle hazy this afternoon

This morning we had a liesurely morning, and then headed into Old Quebec again.  We walked around the Citadel, walked over to the Plains of Abraham, took a tour of the upper city area with a horse and buggy, viewed all the tourist attractions in the upper area, and then took a cobblestone lane down to the lower area again.  We stopped for refreshments, and then climbed back up to the upper area.  We took alot of pictures!  So many historical sights, beautiful buildings, and lots of patio restaurants and little shops.  A very beautiful area!  Pictures do not do it justice.  We loved our day here, and it felt like a "holiday" to just be tourists and not be riding.  Our butts enjoyed the break too!

The Chateau

Our horse having a drink on our tour around upper Quebec

The oldest restaurant

The cobblestone path we took down to the lower section

Typical Old Quebec street

Tomorrow we head off to Ottawa.  We have both been here a few times, but hope to have dinner in the area across from the Parliament Buildings and maybe have a beaver tail :)