Day 2 Summer 2012 Road Trip

We had to set the alarm to get us up this morning.  We have to depart the hotel by 7am because we have a long 711 KM drive ahead of us.  Today we will drive as far as Thunder Bay Ontario.

Before we leave Sault Ste. Marie we have a few roadside attractions to visit.  I have an app on my iPhone called “Roadside America”.  It is a guide to uniquely odd roadside attractions.  The app will tell me what is nearby that is worth checking out.   Since installing the app, we have visited 112 locations.
So first up today is the “Three Goofy Cows in a Pile”  located in front of a local dairy.



Next is the “Worlds Largest Baseball”  It is made of steel and is 2000 times as big as a normal baseball.



And last was the “Man vs Moose, Moose Wins” statue.



And so we depart Sault Ste. Marie on Hwy 17.  Every few KM’s or so there is a warning sign to be aware of moose.  This would be a dangerous drive at night, a lot of accidents must happen despite the warnings.

  

Hwy 17 across the top of Lake Superior is considered one of the most scenic drives in Ontario, around each bend is another spectacular view.

  

We stopped at one of the many overlooks.

  

We stopped in Wawa at another roadside attraction.  The “Largest Canada Goose”.   Wawa means “goose” in a native language.  The goose is 27 ft tall.

 
 

Highway 17 crosses through some of the most remote regions of Ontario.  If you are a Bell Mobility subscriber, there is no connectivity along this part of the route.  Gas stations are few and far between, and you can drive 200 or more KM before finding a station. 

We fuelled up back in Sault Ste. Marie, but by the time we got to Wind River our gauge said 1/2 so we stopped to fill up again.  While I filled up the car, Karen walked down the road a bit to take photos of this colourful childrens playground featuring Winnie the Pooh.

  

Back on the road again and more stunning scenery.

  

There are many rock cuts along the way.

  

And the scenery just gets better and better.

  

We arrived in Thunder Bay around 4:30 pm.



We checked into our hotel and then went back out for dinner at Pizza Pizza, then back to the hotel to work on the photos and blog.

Tomorrow we can sleep in a bit, we don’t have to leave quite as early in the morning.

To see all of the photos from today, you can find them all on FLICKR.

Day 1 Summer 2012 Road Trip

We are beginning our Summer 2012 Road Trip.  We left the house around 9am and headed North on the 400.  Our destination today is Sault Ste. Marie Ontario.  This is about a 575 KM drive.

 

This is a familiar part of Ontario for us as we drove this route in the opposite direction at the end of last summers vacation on our way back from Sault Ste. Marie.

Perched in many high places along the route are rock “Inuksuk's”.  Road travellers have gathered enough rocks and then climbed up to place the carefully.

  

Something else we noticed were Canadian Flags attached to the face of the rock walls.

 

Once past Parry Sound, the 400 Highway becomes Hwy 69.

 

We stopped at the French River Trading Post for lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant.  The food is good and it is a nice convenient place to stop for a break.

 

The Trading Post has been in operation since 1956.

  

Continuing North we got onto Hwy 17 (The Trans Canada Highway) and by-passed around Sudbury and continued on towards Sault Ste. Marie.

 

In the town of Massey ON.  we stopped for fuel and while I was putting fuel in the tank, Karen took photos of this life-sized horse made of metal.

 

Further North, we drove through the Blind River area.

 

And then we saw a rather odd sight… a horse and buggy.  We did not know that there were any Amish or Mennonite people in this part of Ontario.  We also saw road signs to be aware of horse and buggies on the highway.

 

Another Canadian Flag on the rock face.



We arrived in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario around 4:30 pm.  We drove through town to get to our hotel. 

  

On our last visit, we stayed at the Super 8, but this time we checked into the Sleep Inn.  This is a nicer hotel, and it is located a short walking distance to the waterfront.

We got checked in and then I checked my iPhone to see if there were any lake freighters close by.  The app I have is called “Marine Traffic”   It will give me real time locations of any ship anywhere in the world but it will also show me what ships are close by in the area.  I could see that the American Integrity was Northbound on the St Mary’s River and headed for the locks.  So we went to get some photos.

  

We then went and had dinner at the Swiss Chalet, then came back to the waterfront to watch the tugboat races.

  

This year Sault Ste. Marie is celebrating its 100th Anniversary as a City.  There is a garden in the waterfront park commemorating this occasion.

 

There was also a large steel table and chairs nearby so we took some fun photos of Karen sitting at the table, and of me standing under the Sault Ste. Marie Arch.

  

We then watched as the Mesabi Miner, another lake freighter, proceeded Southbound on the St Mary’s River after passing through the Sault Locks.  This ship is so long, it fills the whole picture frame with the camera zoomed right out.

  

There is also a water fountain on the shore of the St Mary’s river.  I am trying to capture the rainbows in the spray blowing off from the fountain.

  

Before we left to go back to our hotel, a family of geese swam up to where we were, I suppose they thought we would throw them some food.

 

We have to get up at 6am because tomorrow we will drive from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay.

To see all of our photos from today, you can find them on our FLICKR site.