Lake Superior Circle Tour - first full day in Thunder Bay

lol the lady who took our photo at Kakabeka falls told us we had to move apart
so the river would be in the picture ;).  
You know, instead of moving one step either direction ;-P.  
But I love how much it made us laugh.

 Our first full day in Thunder Bay was both packed and amazing.

While the hotel we stayed in was maybe not in the prettiest part of town, it was super convenient to everything.  But mostly they had the best breakfast worker ever.   lol breakfast was included and one of the women working there, Wynona, was possibly the most pleasant and cheerful human I’ve ever met.  She made you smile just to see her.  Also, she had a phenomenal memory for details about random small talk w a stranger.  We very quickly started looking forward to seeing her in the morning, alas our last day was clearly her day off.

Loved this shot I took on the trail at Kakabeka Falls

Anyways - we weren't there for the hotel; it was more a place to sleep.   AND we lucked out w weather again so we started the day with visiting Kakabeka Falls, which was one of the key things Mum wanted to do, having been there both as a teen and later w Dad.  I’m so glad she did - it was a more intimate version of Niagara :).  

I love most waterfalls, but this one was special

A fraction of the people (the most we saw on our trip but still comparatively super quiet), the trail we did first was legitimately accessible - which means compared to our previous day’s adventure was a walk in the park ;). 

 

At the top of the falls

Sorry, couldn’t resist.  But yeah - about a km give or take a bit, wide, flat, even, wheelchair-accessible, surface with lots of info breaks on the way.  And then a gorgeous boardwalk to see the falls from either side.  

The bridge over the falls allowed for this shot\

The falls were stunning, the mist made a rainbow in places, the sound was crashing water and birds, and it was overall just gorgeous.  

I really enjoyed this rainbow

I have always been drawn to water and waterfalls, so it prob isn’t much of a surprise, but I really enjoyed this one. 

The falls from the other side

The other thing that got me at Kakabeka falls was imagining people trying to portage that when they didn’t know the land or where they were going.  Even with trails smoothly marked it’s hard to imagine - with the thick trees it must’ve been a significant challenge.  

Gratuitous calm with mist photo.
The crashing sound of the falls belied the innocence of the scene. 

Anyways - things like that spin my imagination wildly so I came back to my not quite reality and topped off the wonderful experience with ice cream 😂.  Little things in life.  It was not even lunch time when we finished, so we decided to head over to Ouimet Canyon as well and do that hike as well.  

This bridge on the hike to the canyon struck me as very photogenic ;)

Mum on the path - this was also a lovely and *mostly* accessible trail
(aka you could do it in a wheelchair if you were fit,
 but some of it I suspect would be a bit challenging)

Ouimet Canyon
Impressive, even without water ;)

If you look far enough, there was water in the distance at least ;)

Almost as easy a hike, but no water (which surprised me - somehow in my head canyons have water), lots of info to learn both the science and the legends, and a really spectacular canyon. 

The rock on the left caught my attention (you might have to zoom)
as it kinda looks like a sentry guarding the canyon
Apparently same for others since there are indigenous legends about it

It's a LONG way down

We had a super healthy lunch of raspberries and cookies (aka what was in the car) at a random picnic table and then headed out.  On the way out we stopped at a photo spot that was so very different from the cayon, so close to it, that I was astounded.  Again with the imagination - hiking and camping not knowing what was coming, the challenges would have been wild (literally ;-P). 

Still, flat, and marsh - except for the Beaver Palace

On the way back we detoured to visit the Terry Fox monument.   This was where we met the other super-friendly and outgoing staff of our trip.  Seriously an incredible combination of people who seem to be well suited to and genuinely loving their jobs  across this trip really added to the experience.   This one we chatted w for a bit and she gave us recommendations and then we went to the monument itself, which is not far from where Terry Fox’s run ended.  The whole thing is exceptionally well cared for and laid out, and the monument itself can be viewed from the highway if you think to look up :).  Really well done.   It amused me to no end though that I was able to take a pic of Mum w NO cars on the hwy behind her.  Traffic really doesn’t appear to be much of a thing ;). At least not that we’ve seen.

Terry Fox Monument

That was a LOT for one day so we found some dinner and chilled.   At that point I was really regretting that I hadn't brought my sketchbook with me, so we went over to the Superstore across the street in search of drawing materials or some other form of killing time, and some other form won in a big way!   Mum found me a Wooble - importantly a MOOOSE.  What better a souvinere from this trip than a stuffed toy I made ON the trip.  Lol I've made exactly one Wooble before and have had zero success at other forms of wool-craft (I'm much better with string).  But still, I loved the idea, and in the hotel we had enough internet that I'd be able to watch the videos, so giant win.   I was more excited than I should've been lol, but those who know me won't be terribly surprised by that ;)

Introducing Roosevelt