A short Fall trip to Algonquin Park

 

We had a short trip this past week, heading North to see some colour. We do enjoy a fall trip usually, and this one was special as my eye sight has suddenly improved. On Monday the week before, I had cataract surgery in both eyes. Wednesday morning this week was the second followup in London, and things are "Fantastic" according to the surgeon. So Wed afternoon we were on our way North.

With no particular destination in mind, we expected to end up in a campground in Algonquin. The daylight started to get away from us though, so we checked in to Arrowhead Provincial Park, just north of Huntsville. We were able to get electricity to run our little heater, as the nights are cool.

On the way there we started to see some good colour, around Bracebridge especially, so had hopes for tomorrow.

Our Arrowhead camp in the woods

In the morning we left in good time, getting on Hwy 60 towards Algonquin Park. The drive in and through the Park had some great colour. This looks like it will be an exceptionally good colour year up that way. There's good colour already, and lots of green left to turn. A heavy leaf canopy this year.

Along the Oxtongue River "Hogs Trough" area

The day was pretty bright through Algonquin. 

A curious Raven

Continuing out the East end of Algonquin, we decided to loop down through Haliburton and back up to Arrowhead Park for the night. 

A scenic lookout over the town of Haliburton

Lots of colour and more to come

We arrived back to Arrowhead Park about 4pm, expecting to stay there again with an electrical hookup because of the cool nights. Only to find that the power had been abruptly shut down in the park that day, and would be out for the whole month of October! There were several irate campers in line angrily waving their registrations for electric sites. 

When campground security arrived, complete with bulletproof vest (!) we decided to head elsewhere. Bass Lake Provincial Park is near Barrie and on the way home, so we headed there. The office was closed by then and we were greeted with the printed announcement that reservations were now required for all sites, all the time. Even if we reserved online right there, we wouldn't get a confirmation until the next day, so "no room at the Inn" for us.

Well, there is a KOA on down the road a ways, so try there. They were still open, and we could get a basic site with electricity. When they finally disclosed it would be $76 for the night though, we thanked them and left. We haven't stayed at a KOA for many years, and it looks like it will be many more years before we do again.

At this point it was getting pretty dark.  We were only about 2 1/2 hrs from home though, so decided to stress-test the new eyes and head for home, with Cathie being the backup if I had problems. So away we went, setting a route to avoid the construction detours we encountered on the way north around Wingham.

All went well. Traffic calmed right down, and was not heavy on the less-travelled ways we took. It was a nice clear night, and we made it home safely with no drama. 

The new eyes worked well, better at night than before. Now it's time to put the van away for the winter (after the oil change service next week) and we'll have another trip to remember.

Approximate routes:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

 

 

 

 

Home from PEI after a great trip

Approaching the PEI bridge to New Brunswick

Remnants from the Ida storm gave us, and a lot of other people on PEI, a few wet windy days, unfortunately spoiling the Labour Day holiday weekend for a lot of people. Luckily for us retirees, every weekend is a long weekend.

On Thursday afternoon Ida dropped record rainfalls on PEI. One of the heaviest areas was where we had recently been camped in Cavendish on the North Shore National Park. We were sure glad to be under cover at Cathie's sister's place in town!

Full (normally dry) ditch in foreground, road in the background, from N&P's porch

After Thursday and Friday the weekend continued with light rains off and on. We had some good family times until starting for home on Tuesday.

Covid screening still active upon PEI entry

Over the Bridge to New Brunswick, Adieu PEI

A stop at a much older bridge at Hartland NB

It's almost 1/4 mile long, over the St John river

 

We had arranged to camp with my cousin Alan and his wife Ruth in a campground in Riviere Du Loup Quebec. They are on their way on a trip around the Gaspe peninsula, and we were able to coordinate an overnight visit during our respective travels:

Alan and Ruth's truck camper

The park had one nice spot for a view out over the St Lawrence river:

 

Our travels on Wednesday had mostly good weather, with a few showers interspersed. Our target was Perth Ontario, for a visit and overnight stay with my sister Beth and her husband Sandy. We made it, with (as usual) some traffic issues getting around Montreal. Rain, construction and heavy traffic (yes, on a Wednesday morning about 11 am) gave us a few scary moments, but we made it through ok. No pictures of that though, just an earlier one along the way:

A nice partial rainbow

Once through Quebec we stopped in Lancaster Ont as usual, to fuel up the van and ourselves. Then we continued with a much nicer drive through rural eastern Ontario to Perth.

Along the way we saw a sign for a Hill 70 Memorial, so we stopped to have a look.  Hill 70 was the site of a WW1 battle between Canadian and German troops. There is a newer memorial at the battle site in France, and also this one , here in the little town of Mountain Ont, a very tasteful memorial in a 22 acre town park:

We also stopped at the Upper Nicholson Lock on the Rideau canal, a very pleasant spot for a visit on a nice (now) sunny day:

We've become more interested in canals recently due to watching several Youtube videos on Narrowboats, a very nice antidote to most of the news these days. If you're at all interested in something like slow-paced RVing on the water, just do a Youtube search for "narrowboats", you're sure to find something you like.

We did make it ok to my sister's place for our short visit. Beth is currently laid up with a broken kneecap (ouch!) but is getting around well on only one crutch now.

We decided to avoid Toronto for the final stage home, so took a northern route (the Day 3 map below). It took a bit longer, but we were glad to skip the usual Toronto 401 zoo, and very relieved (and tired) to be home. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip as usual, visiting far-flung relatives has been made extra special these days.

Homeward bound, Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

 

Ida pushes us back to Stratford PEI for the weekend

We did get out for a sail on Tuesday, passing by a docked Bluenose II. It was a gorgeous day for a sail, unlike Monday.

Bluenose at the Charlottetown dock, lots of people around to view her

Our Boat owner, co-Captain and nephew Michael

A lovely day, a good breeze but not too rough

A large tanker was manoeuvring in the harbour too

Waterfront near the Charlottetown marina. Lots of development.

 

After the sail we headed out for a couple of nights camping in the area. First night was at Panmure Island Provincial Park. OK but didn't appeal to us for another night. So we decided to head to Cavendish, the main part of the North Shore National Park. We know there is good biking and beach hiking there.

Lobster rolls for supper as well as one for lunch earlier. Al would likely like them with peanut butter. :))

A nice beach for roaming. Usually not busy, even though this is busy Cavendish.

Looked a bit threatening, but nothing developed today.

In the late afternoon we had a nice campfire, and had a small visitor drop by, hunting around the campsites for varmints:

That's our campfire ring between us and the fox

Clearly hunting, not begging for scraps

 

We had intended to stay here Thursday night too, but hedged our bets by just registering for one night. The remnants of Hurricane Ida are expected sometime Thursday, and a windy wet weekend ahead.  The forecast Thursday morning included rainfall warnings, and the radar showed a large system moving in. We decided to head out as it started to rain by 8 am.

Strange clouds looked like icebergs in the distance this morning

So we're back in N&P's driveway in Stratford, spending the long weekend here before heading towards home.