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On the shores of Gitche Gumee
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On the shores of Gitche Gumee

Off to Our Northern Neighbor we go, hoping that August in Canada will be better than July in Maine Czytaj więcej
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    6 sierpnia 2023
    CWBuffOn the shores of Gitche GumeePodróżnik

    Border

    6 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    Crossed Peace Bridge at Buffalo.
    Penny (for those who didn't know Penny a.k.a. Penelope is my Android Auto Map Guide 😉) for whatever reason decided to take me on a scenic route via PA-309, 29, US-6 and couple of other small roads before spilling me onto I-86 just at Elmira NY, E of Buffalo... definitely a new one for me.
    So here we were, finally 5.75 hours after hitting the road.
    BTW no problem at the border     Czytaj więcej

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    Breakfast at Tiffany's

    6 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F

    ...ok, maybe not at Tiffany's
    Sunset Grille is a Canadian chain and the food and service were very good
    Laurie was a good girl and ordered an avocado toast while I just had to be a piggy and get the Meat Lovers Poutine.

    As a side observation the moment I switched the Malibu settings to Metric, my map went to KM, the speedometer needle jumped to 140 (the numbers on the dial remained the same) and consumption registered liters/100 km.

    And interestingly enough there is a Wine Trail starting almost from the border. We saw probably signs for at least 50 wineries for the next 15 exits     Czytaj więcej

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    HGVC at Blue Mountain

    6 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F

    The Blue Mountains is a town in Grey County, southwestern Ontario, Canada, located where the Beaver River flows into Nottawasaga Bay. It is named for the Blue Mountain, and hence the economy of the town is centred on tourism, particularly on the Blue Mountain resort.
    Hilton is just one of a couple of big name hospitality hotels that are located at the foot of The Blue Mountain

    Seems like a nice place all around at 1st glance. We we given a room in Lodge 6

    A little walk around the "back yard"     Czytaj więcej

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  • CWBuffOn the shores of Gitche GumeePodróżnik

    Our room

    6 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    Very nice and spacious room. It is a studio but plenty of space and kinda neat.
    So the kitchen backslash is the beds headboard on the other side.
    Huge bathroom... and I don't know why are there these shutters from a kitchen corner overlooking the bathtub... maybe to whet the appetite? 😉😆
    A large balcony deck overlooking pool area and it even has a hammock attached for your afternoon nap...     Czytaj więcej

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    Village

    6 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    The Village is a venue with shops & restaurants, plus free activities & live music in summer located in the middle of hotel resorts.
    I'm sure we'll return to it throughout our stay, but this is our first fast venture out...

    Dinner at Northwind Pub on the terrace
    SMOKY Beet Salad / Peach seltzer
    Bizon & Bacon Burger / Lager ale     Czytaj więcej

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    Collingwood Arboretum

    7 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    The Collingwood Arboretum is a beautiful park with both paved and natural trails for hiking and biking. It is an ideal location to be used for special occasions, weddings and celebrations. It is a vital Botanical Park complete with historical records (genealogy, habitat, common & Botanical names) of coniferous and deciduous trees, shrubs and plants.

    Now that I told you all about it - the reason why we wound up here is that the weather is very unsettled this week (unfortunately), which makes it hard to plan for any serious hiking.
    We were told that some easy trails are in town called Collingwood, and there you have it, folks 😊

    We took very leisurely strolls on Boardwalk Trail around that Nottawasaga Bay, the southern part of vast Georgian Bay. Good number of water fowl as you can see and of course beautiful flowers.
    You can also see The Labyrinth and a place for turtles to lay their eggs     Czytaj więcej

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    Harbor Trail

    7 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    As I said, there are many various trails that intertwine around this area.
    We jumped at Harbor Trail and walked a portion of it from Arboretum to Historic Downtown.
    Along that we came across a Historic Marker of an awesome swimming feat, a boat ramp that was swamped with ducks and couldn't help but notice the Collingwood Grain Terminals - a landmark in the community, that was constructed in 1929 by Collingwood Terminals Limited and features 52-grain silos.
    When the Grain service stopped in 1993, it ended 64 years of operation for the cement elevator and 123 years of grain trade in Collingwood. The building was declared surplus and was permanently closed.
    Although a couple of proposals rejuvenate it into something we're floated, nothing came of them, until this past July, when it looks The Council approved a proposal to turn the building along with surrounding area into luxury condos.

    At the end of our walk, the Hurontario Basin displays a historic marker of the shipbuilding days while modern condominiums line side     Czytaj więcej

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  • CWBuffOn the shores of Gitche GumeePodróżnik

    Historic Downtown Collingwood

    7 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ 🌧 72 °F

    Collingwood is a town in Ontario, N. of Collingwood is a town in Ontario, N. of Toronto. Its harbor is in Nottawasaga Bay, the southern part of vast Georgian Bay.
    It was named after Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, Lord Nelson's second in command at the Battle of Trafalgar, who assumed command of the British fleet after Nelson's death.
    The town center is marked by the beaux arts–style Collingwood Federal Building. Nearby, the Collingwood Museum has exhibits on Collingwood Harbor's shipbuilding history.
    You can check out more of town's history at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collingwood,_On…

    ... And I discovered that, apparently some patios in Canada must be licensed 😉😁     Czytaj więcej

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    A simple dinner

    7 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    Skies just didn't look appealing once more, so we decided to eat in, but out
    (Hey, if a Good Lord gives you a nice size balcony!!! 😊)
    It's worth mentioning that this place has a VERY LIMITED kitchen, so our usual idea of cooking dinners had to be scaled down.
    Hence, a turkey sausage with fresh veggies salad on the side.

    As expected, the rains started just as we finished enjoying our desert fresh black cherries, and we will not venture out to the village.     Czytaj więcej

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    Pretty River Valley Park Bruce Trail

    8 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ 🌬 63 °F

    This morning was still iffy even after we had our breakfast.
    However, the prognosis started to look better, and we decided to take a chance.
    Pretty River Valley Park is supposed to have many trails... only the problem was there is not much info....
    After a couple of tries and turnarounds, we finally found a small remote parking area that denoted a trailhead for Bruce Trail
    This was somewhat a Leap of Faith since, once more, we had no concrete info, and the WIFI is not very reliable in the mountains...
    The trail was a bit muddy from last night's rain, but not nearly as bad as Maine.
    That said, the little buggers (pun intended) did show up, although, also, not as bad as last month.     Czytaj więcej

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  • CWBuffOn the shores of Gitche GumeePodróżnik

    Pretty River Side Trail intersection

    8 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ 🌬 64 °F

    Not knowing the layout of the land, we came to an intersection of Bruce Trail and Pretty River Side Trail that promised roughly a 5km loop, so we decided to do that.
    Bruce Trail uses white markers, while PRST - blue
    It took us to a nice little pond with a beaver dam (as I mentioned on my Camino trip - zooming on the phone is a forlorn hope 😒)... and we think we might've found Bigfoot....     Czytaj więcej

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  • CWBuffOn the shores of Gitche GumeePodróżnik

    Back via Trout Brook

    8 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    Hitting main Bruce Trail again, we took a small food break and then duly went to the left and soon descended to the Trout Brook.
    The trail eventually took us back to the parking lot.
    Of course, the loop and trails rate as Modeate, but are more "challenging " than that.
    Lots of ups and downs, some slippery surfaces and small bodies of water crossed

    The tally is 5.5 miles (8.8km) hiked in almost 4 hours. Not awesome, but good, steady pace, especially considering the conditions.     Czytaj więcej

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  • CWBuffOn the shores of Gitche GumeePodróżnik
    2

    Relaxing pre-dinner

    8 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ 🌬 70 °F

    Back at the resort, a little bit of time before dinner (we decided on the repeat menu from yesterday as our choices are limited), I took a little cool-down dip in the pool (although the water was warmer than I would like) and then a swing in the hammock on the balcony 😋
    Seems Laurie had a different idea 😁     Czytaj więcej

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    Evening at the Village

    8 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    After dinner, we decided to take a stroll through The Village
    I was hoping to get a photo of the sunset, but it didn't happen for 2 reasons:
    One - the sun was setting behind Blue Mountain, so unless we went hiking to the top (definitely NOT!😁) we couldn't see it and
    Two - this high up North, it was still light close to 9:00PM even as official sunset happened 30 minutes earlier.

    So we just walked through The Village and discovered that the BLUE sign was truly blue from the back...

    We made it to the back part of The Village where all the attractions are and looked at folks zip-lining. Sine we were a little up on elevation at this point, we were able to see Georgian Bay in the distance beyond zip lines.     Czytaj więcej

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    Beautiful morning

    9 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    Caught the sunrise or the best I could do given that a clubhouse roof was blocking the view, and the treetops obscured the horizon.
    Still, it's better than the previous couple of days when mornings were cloudy ...
    ...and the courtyard area is very peaceful ✌️     Czytaj więcej

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    Scenic Caves Nature Adventures

    9 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F

    This day was definitely turning into a beautiful one. We headed to the Scenic Caves Nature Adventures right after breakfast.
    Situated within one of Canada’s eighteen UNESCO biosphere reserves and dating back 450 million years, this place is an attraction offering caves, hiking trails, ziplines, mini golf, cross-country skiing & more.

    Of course, we primarily were interested in trails 😁
    We hit The Caves Trail first     Czytaj więcej

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  • CWBuffOn the shores of Gitche GumeePodróżnik

    Caves

    9 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ 🌩️ 70 °F

    This trail was totally cool as we walked through many natural crevices that were carved out in the course of millions of years.

    There are interpretative signs telling us about Petrun Indians who lived in this area.

    There is a Fat Man's Misery cave, which we didn't even DREAM of squeezing into...the sign tells all..., and you can see the exit, which is only 14" wide.     Czytaj więcej

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    Ridge Top Lookout Trail

    9 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    Coming out from Caves, we switched to Ridge Top Lookout Trail.
    Nice, wide with shredded wood chips flooring, it was a pleasure to hike.

    At one point, I descended into a Chasm Trail, and you can sort of see me exiting it 2nd picture after the one with the sign.

    Another smooth transition put us on the Escarpment Run Trail, where some of the buggers finally caught up with us 😡🤬.     Czytaj więcej

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    Suspension Bridge

    9 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    Completing the Escarpment Trail and jumping back onto Ridge Top Lookout Trail, we took that back to the Main Enry area, were we took a much deserved rest and feasted on falafel bites with hummus and tzatziki as well as bananas we brought.
    Thus fortified, we attacked the last Trail of the day - the one that led us to The Suspension Bridge.
    The Bridge is the longest Suspension Bridge in Southern Ontario and offers a breath-taking 10,000 sq km view from it.     Czytaj więcej

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  • CWBuffOn the shores of Gitche GumeePodróżnik

    Suspension Bridge 2

    9 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    I have to say that this trail was by far the hardest, even as if it wasn't the longest.
    The grading was quite steep, but we managed.

    Overall, this hike was challenging, with some grading both up and down hills & crevices, and boulders, especially in the Caves' area. We stayed away from a couple of other side trails since they went into much densely forested areas, and we figured they would still be muddy, slippery, and attract the dreaded bugs.

    If you look at the enclosed map - we started on the Blue (Cave) Trail at the entry point right by parking lot on the right; switched to Green (Ridge Top Lookout) Trail right before the end of the Blue, followed that to double wide Yellow (Escarpment) Trail, back on Green and back to beginning (map doesn't show it but think "hard left" where Green line ends and way up back to beginning of blue.) After lunch, completed the single Yellow loop to suspension Bridge and back.
    Total distance not so much - only 4.6km (7.4miles) but it was a good workout.     Czytaj więcej

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  • CWBuffOn the shores of Gitche GumeePodróżnik

    On the shores of Gitche Gumee

    9 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    The day being gorgeous as it was, we decided to take a short drive to the water, thus finally TRULY putting ourselves "on the shores of Gitche Gumee."
    Our initial destination, Northwind Beach, proved to be unreachable - the parking lot was completely full, much to our chagrin - the place was stunning, but all we could do was drive right by it.
    We found another access to water via one of the side streets.
    While we were hoping for Lake Huron, it was still Georgian Bay.
    We, however, will take consolation in the fact that the locals told us that since The Bay is PART of Lake Huron, they consider it TO BE Lake Huron (and who are to argue with locals..😊)
    So I'm calling it Lake Huron on the video!!!

    And here is Laurie symbolically dipping her toe into The Lake     Czytaj więcej

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    Dinner in Ireland

    9 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    Well... not really, but the day was nicely finished when, after returning to the Resort and freshening up (me squeezing another fast refreshing dip in the pool) we settled for a scrumptious dinner in The Village at MJ Burne's Irish Pub.
    Laurie had Chef's Creation, which was a grilled chicken sandwich with cranberry Coulee, Pear, Brie ... and I opted for Ublin Seafood Pie
    The grub was nicely washed down with Hellers A local crafted beer     Czytaj więcej

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  • CWBuffOn the shores of Gitche GumeePodróżnik

    Farmer's Pantry

    10 sierpnia 2023, Kanada ⋅ 🌧 64 °F

    Preamble:
    The morning was REALLY UGLY!!! Gray clouds dominated the skies, and the rain started coming down in a steady pour.
    It was obvious to us that any hiking was simply wishful thinking, so we decided to jump on the Apple Pie & Cider Trail - a driving trail consisted of local apple farms and breweries.
    Turns out that Georgian Bay is home to at least 10 cider producers, so we were out for some sampling and maybe getting our (well, mine really) hands on some local apples.

    Farmer's Pantry was our 1st stop... and we found out that there are no apples and there is no cider... inasmuch as everything was already picked and produced, nothing is happening until late September, and any apples or Cider available were "leftovers".
    Almost made me want to cry 😩

    Didn't stop Laurie from meeting Harry The Alpaca     Czytaj więcej

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