Elkhorn MB to Crystal Lake ON

Yes, we're back in Ontario! Still about 3 days from home, but the end of the trip is in sight. 

It was hard to find pictures today, but was a really good drive. Real easy in Manitoba, good (in most places) 4-lane divided highway, light traffic. As soon as we hit the Ontario border though, the highway became mostly 2-lane, and the oncoming traffic heading west was unbelievable. Looong strings of vehicles, a short break when you think "it must be over now", and more vehicles. Not sure what the occasion was, maybe just the start of the summer travel holiday season? It did dwindle down a bit once we were past Kenora.

There's something about morning sun rays filtered through light clouds...

When we came west this trip, it surprised us that Manitoba had shut down its Welcome Center just inside their provincial boundary on the TCH (Trans Canada Highway). When we headed east we found that, while some of the Ontario Welcome Center is still open (mostly the washrooms, and a gift shop that was closed today until 10 am; this was after noon and still closed) the tourist info function has been moved into Kenora, which is not even on the actual TCH. 

We didn't take any more pictures until we stopped at a nice picnic area off Hwy 17 in Ontario. We were kind of heading for Dryden Walmart again, and thought this looked like a better spot to lounge for a while:

Cathie is waving from the bushes up there

We don't usually get choice spots like this in picnic areas

Cathie spotted this flower plant apparently growing underwater

It was a really pleasant surprise to not have Black Flies around a spot like this. If you're not familiar with what we call Black Flies, you're lucky! They are a small fly that bites by removing a small chunk of skin, then injecting an anti-coagulant while they lap up the blood. I'm one of the unlucky people that react badly to this, with swelling and itching that can last up to a couple of weeks. 

So we carried on, still too early to think about settling down at Walmart, when we came across the Crystal Lake campground. Pretty nice for an afternoon like this, and no Black Flies here either. Some larger biting flies, but there are dragonflies zooming around hunting these flies.

There's a small lake through those trees, and a nice beach area

Looking back at our site

 Still about an hour west of Dryden.