Blind River

Since we had only a short drive to Blind River today, we allowed ourselves a little extra sleep. There was no reason to rush. Our motel room even had a coffee maker that brewed surprisingly good stuff 😎.

Leaving Little Current, we crossed the famous one-lane swing bridge, an engineering curiosity that immediately caught our attention. Supported by a massive central pivot, the bridge rotates 90 degrees to allow ships to pass through the channel. The process begins at the top of every hour and takes about 25 minutes to complete.

In Espanola, we stopped at Tanner’s Supermarket to browse around and ended up leaving with bottled water, a few beers, some plums, and a T-shirt that Ursula couldn’t resist. For the next several miles, we happily snacked on the plums until it suddenly occurred to us that they might have a certain effect on our digestive systems 😅.

We arrived in Blind River just in time to satisfy our midday hunger. A couple of coffees and some sandwiches did the trick.

Our accommodation, the Old Mill Motel, sits right across from the railroad tracks, but check-in wasn’t until 4:00 PM. That gave us plenty of time to explore the Timber Village Museum, visit Fourth Sand Beach, and hike the Boom Camp Trail. All three turned out to be excellent choices.

After relaxing in our simple but comfortable room and taking a quick shower, we returned to the 17 Restaurant for dinner. To end the day, we shared a cold Molson Canadian beer as a nightcap.

Tomorrow, we’ll cross back into the United States and make the roughly three-hour drive to Mackinaw City, Michigan.Read more