Reset search
Ellie StoneEllie Stone
SatelliteEdit route
📍 Canada Read more
  • Crossing Canada
    111
    Day 6

    Day 5 - Driving to Thunder Bay

    Yesterday in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    After a distinctly cold and uncomfortable night in Donnie Dodges belly, we decided to take the morning easy: we did sun salutations towards the sun and had lunch on the beach, before re-packing Donnie and heading out to Thunder bay.

    Before heading out, we got in touch with Barb; a friend of a friend who could potentially house us in the area. She told us she'd be happy to, but she recommended we don't rush the drive because it is a beautiful one- and boy was she right! The next 7 hours were filled with winding roads that went uphill and downhill; cliffs towered to our right and Lake Superior dazzled to our left. We stopped to get a picture with the world's largest goose🦆 but mostly did the 480km drive in one fell swoop.

    Barb turned out to be a delight, and brought so much excited energy to our trip. We pulled out the maps and showed her our route, and ended the night watching an episode of 'Midsummer Murders' as we fell asleep on her comfy couches. Thanks Barb!!

    -Hillis    Read more

  • Crossing Canada
    1
    111
    Day 4

    Day 4- Driving to Pancake Bay

    May 5 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    After yet another delicious meal we packed up and said goodbye to Barb, Curtis, Randy, Nancy and beautiful Manitoulin Island.
    We drove 4 and a half hours to the 'city' of Sault St Marie and the vibes were seriously off. Maybe because it was a Sunday, maybe because it wasnt pedestrian friendly as we were expecting, maybe its just a weird place but we stocked up on groceries and got the hell outta there.
    It was another hour to Pancake Bay where we had a campsite booked for the night. We squealed when we saw our first glimpse of Lake Superior- Ontario is GAWGUS you guys.
    We set up camp (I.e moved all our crap from the back seat to the front and laying out our foam thats about as thick as a tissue), Hillis made us some dinner and we spent the final moments of sunlight drinking local beers at Pancake Bay and reading Mary Oliver to each other.
    Campfire, cups of tea, then bed.

    -Ellie    Read more

  • Crossing Canada
    121142
    Day 3

    Day 3 - Manitoulin Island

    May 4 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    We started our day with a hearty breakfast with our new friends and ventured out into the island. Within minutes the fog cleared and it was like we had travelled to a different manitoulin! Our two hikes for the day were:
    - A short trail that led to a roaring waterfall called 'bridal veil falls' (we ended the hike with an almond mocha fudge root beer float that blew our minds!).
    - Next, the cup and saucer trail! It was a short 2 hour hike, but we made it an adventure by taking the the 'adventure trail' which was a lot of climbing through rocks and boy did it make the view all that much better. From the viewpoint we could see the north and east side of the island all the way to the mainland and we sat up there for as long as we could.

    Once we had soaked it all in we returned back to our lovely hosts who had prepared a delicious dinner of pulled pork, mashed potatoes and Caesar salad! Randy even treated us to a ride on his ATV which was a real thrill and something we never would have done if we hadn't met them. We even saw 2 groups of 3 deer (they didnt enjoy the sound of the ATV!) We ended the day watching the hockey which was a good game, but disappointing as the toronto maple leafs lost in overtime. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow 😊😊.    Read more

  • Crossing Canada
    34
    Day 2–3

    Day 2- Manitoulin Island

    May 3 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Ok buckle up, because day 2 was a day of miracles. It started completely unassumimgly; we were up and packed in time for the 8:30 ferry to Manatoulin Island. We bought ourselves breakfast and got to chatting to the couple sitting next to us, Barb and Curtis ... 2 hour ferry ride later and theyve invited us to stay at their friends house during our time on the Island! After quite a cold and stiff night in the tent we didnt need much convincing and gratefully accepted.

    We spent the first few hours on the Island visiting the Ojibwe Cultural centre (shoutout Darlene for the tour and examples of Indigenous crafts!)- I dragged Hillis for a small walk in the rain and he stuck it out for as long as he could (10 minutues) before driving us to visit our home for the night.

    After seeing deer and porcupine crossing the road (!!) on our journey we arrived at Randy and Nancy's place to see the lovely side house they had made up for us. We spent the rest of the day getting to know our lovely hosts, hearing stories of their adventures in Canada and getting recommendations for our next day on the Island.

    We cant believe our luck at meeting such warm and generous people- biggest shoutout ever to our new friends Barb, Curtis, Nancy and Randy!!! (photos to follow tomorrow of the whole gang together)
    - Ellie    Read more

  • Crossing Canada
    122212114
    Day 1

    Day 1 - Bruce Peninsula

    May 2 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Hello hello to everyone near and far! Here's your one stop shop for everything Hillis and Ellie for the next four months. Here goes:

    We awoke to a lovely sunny Toronto bidding us farewell and with giddy and nervous energy we packed the rest of our things and headed up the 400 north. Our first stop ended up being Timmy's, which did not disappoint. As we began our drive up to Bruce Peninsula National Park, we popped in a CD we picked up from the Toronto Island Bridge Boutique called 'Q Magazine's Essential Drive'
    It turned out to be the perfect starting music: a cool collection of alternative rock that felt like the kind of music our dads would have played in the car when we were young.
    We made a couple stops along the way: -Walmart for a charger and groceries
    -a dodge dealer to check if they had a spare spare tire (ours is a little old, and we don't know if it will hold up if we have to use it)
    -a junkyard who said they had a spare in alright condition (turned out to be in even worse condition than ours)

    By 14:30 we arrived at the park and began setting up camp. We did it as fast as we could so we could fit in a walk around the lake and to the bay before dark. And we are so grateful we did: it was one of the most beautiful walks I've ever been on. We walked the perimeter of Cyprus lake which was through lovely woodland area literally right on the shore. Then on our way to the bay we saw some crazy rocks that had these really distinct holes in them (does anyone know what this is???). We arrived at the grotto during golden hour and holy cow, the water was soooo beautiful and transparent. Georgian bay really giving Greece a run for it's money! The naturally occuring overhang was also pretty amazing and we sat on the beach wishing it was hotter and we could jump into the water. We made our way back to our campsite and the water on Cyprus lake was like glass. We watched the sun go down and paint the sky a ray of reds.

    We chose beauty over practicality because then we had to make dinner (luckily it was just salad) and a fire in the dark (lesson learnt!). We ended the day feeling excited for manitoulin and grateful that something we had worked so hard for was finally a reality (and, a little cold!).

    -Hillis    Read more

Join us:

FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English