Lake Superior Circle Tour: Thunder Bay Day Friendship Garden and Fort William

The white arch across the pond is one of the entrances to the Friendship Garden

Today was the warmest on our trip - reaching 29deg.  And I now know what a dry heat feels like.  lol definitely more pleasant but then need an extra 10 deg to be warm!   Also it’s insanely windy here - good at times but not for sheer warmth.    We had some time to kill in the am so started the day w a Let’s Roam in the “International Friendship Garden” which I had no idea what it was but ended up loving it!   

Mum going to visit Lithuania

This gorgeous garden, public space - no parking or entrance fees - that has monuments to many different countries from which people have immigrated here.   Once I figured out what it was all about I really enjoyed it.   

You may be able to guess which country this one represented ;)

It was gorgeous and very well done, and if I lived up there, Sasha would probably get walked there semi-often.

Scotland was one of my favourite ones,
but almost impossible to photograph (esp w my phone) because the art was all reflective and it was dramatically perfect weather.  So you just get to see the simplistic castle ;)

The only thing that might've strengthened it (for me) would've been info on why some of the monuments were what they were - what was the significance of the thing portrayed to the country it's from.    A few of them had info that sort of addressed that (the Ukraine one, while not my favourite monument, had all the details), but not for the most part.

The Ukraine Monument
and below the details

And to wrap it up, right before we left I discovered:

A map we found right at the end of our explorations  🤦‍♀️ 

From there we headed off to Fort William where I learned that not all forts were military.  

From the outside, Fort William looks like most forts of that time period in Canada;
Spoiler alert.  It's not.

This one was a business centre and the tour we took was fascinating - honestly far more to my personal interests than military would've been although those are interesting too.  Essentially Voyageurs from Montreal (a 6 week paddle) bringing European goods, would meet here with trappers from the interior bringing furs for a few week meetup before everybody left to paddle home before the water froze.  There was a medic (think old school, not what we'd have now), significant trade exercises, and essentially an annual "town hall" type meeting of anyone involved in the business.  

Learning about how they flattened, packed, and weighed furs to be transported

We toured most of the main area, but didn’t go around to the farm or a few of the farther buildings.  Mostly cause by this point we’d done a lot of walking and were ready for both a break and a drink, so we caught an “express canoe” (aka shuttle) back and good to go ;).  

Canoe building and repair area with someone actively working the craft while we were there

The top muckymucks got good meals and actual beds to sleep in (of course that didn't apply for the average human).   Interestingly the guides and the translators were allowed in these hollowed grounds - but only at the back tables ;) 

Fancy - we learned all about the hierarchy of who ate where, and when

A not top-level room, but pretty high up there comparatively

The average person would've been lucky to find space to set up their tiny tent
(outside of the fort walls of course!)

I mean, at least the tiny tents (far left) had a good view?

 

I felt like I was a kid back on a field trip 😂. And possibly learned a ton more cause I was there by choice.  The staff are all reenactment based and have full characters - at least some of which (I wouldn’t be surprised if all) were based on historical record.  Apparently during “rendezvous” during mid-July it’s really quite the show w a cast of a few hundred.  I enjoyed this WAY more than I expected to, and would do it again planning for a longer visit if I were ever back out that way.  Highly recommend.   We also got lucky cause we had half-price entry compliments of the lovely woman at the Terry Fox monument.  So double win.

Normally part of the tour is done inside here

But today it was deemed way too hot!

Again our timing of after-school-trips and before-summer was awesome.  Our tour only had one other couple and their little, and there were very few other non-staff people around (pretty easy to identify who was being paid here by what century their clothing was from ;)).   

I'm not kidding when I say we had the place to ourselves;
We were definitely outnumbered by staff

They also referred to the "two week paddle" it would've taken us to get there from York and a few other references that were both educational and entertaining.   By far the most entertaining though was the woman who called for our express canoe through a walkie-talkie, and then you could see the moment she realized she'd broken character and that wasn't period-appropriate (it's obviously VERY drilled into them) so made a comment about "fastest and strangest looking messenger pigeon ever" lol.  I gave her full credit for that one.

Period-appropriate hobbies are encouraged while waiting for express canoes ;)

So in complete randomness to close out the day, as if I hadn’t already learned a ton today, today I also learned that Thunder Bay has produced the most pro hockey players per capita of any city.  And where we ate dinner had pictures of them all - in what looked like a loose chronological order (loose cause I’m going based strictly on photo style and cause they weren’t in a line but all over a wall).  It was well done and kept my attention for longer than I would ever have expected. 

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

Lake Superior Circle Tour - Overview and Home to Thunder Bay

We didn't know it was a "thing" when we originally decided to go :)
Also, it took way more tries than it should've to actually get a photo of one of these signs!

Mum and I decided we were due for another road trip and  did the Lake Superior Circle Tour.  Mum's been around a good part of it before, but I've never been that far north at all, and I'm pretty sure the US side was new to both of us.

I wrote some short snippets as we went along that combined turned into a very long blog post lol.  We'll see how many it turns into.   Some things that stood out to me:

- Sand River Trail in Lake Superior Provincial Park was my favourite of all the hikes we did, by a lot.  I really loved it, and it has motivated me to find some light hiking opportunities nearer to home.  

- Nature, especially when it involves water and no extra people, is 100% the fastest mental health reset possible for me.   I felt so much better SO quickly.

- Kakabeka Falls was stunning, relatively few people, and with a completely accessible trail.  100% worth a visit if you happen to be up there.

- Duluth has a disproportionate number of churches and also an entire aisle of bibles in the local Barnes & Nobel.   This terrified me but was also becoming a bit of a joke.  Other than that, it was a truly lovely and very hilly town (I like hills and mountains almost as much as water ;)).

- My grasp of geography is way off.   lol like I know logically that the Can/US border makes a dip down where I've lived most of my life, but I never really internalised how much of the US is significantly north of where I live.   Therefore it was really disconcerting that I could spend a day driving north and still be 10 minutes from the border (I'm looking at you Sault Ste Marie - also, don't ask how long it took me to figure out how to spell that having never seen it written, only spoken ;).   Of course, the border continued all the way up to Thunder Bay with us but it was SSM where the light went on for me.

-------

Okay - so...  The details as I wrote them along the way - this is the first couple days as we drove to Thunder Bay:

The drive to Sault St Marie was almost entirely in the rain.  I hadn’t ever really realized there were mini mountains up here (Mum more accurately defined them as "rolling hills" but I like mini-mountains) - it would’ve been nice if we could’ve actually seen them!

Mini-Mountains in the distance :)

Went for a walk to find dinner and to see the waterfront.  Kept it short cause of the rain, but was happy to get to see the Roberta Bondar park all of about a week after hearing her speak.  Incredibly impressive woman and - on top of it - a fabulous speaker.  If you ever get the chance to hear her, take it.  The park is less exciting, but the waterfront was nice and we had it to ourself due to the less perfect weather.

The boardwalk was really nicely done, if a little wet ;)

The other highlight of Sault Ste Marie was as we were leaving.  Just on the edge of town a juvenile moose randomly trotted out across the road.   I didn’t get a pic but still super excited to have seen him.  With sunrise super early and sunset super late this time of year, I really wasn’t expecting to get to see one.

Weather for Day 2 driving was just about perfect.

Next day rain was forecast all day but it didn’t happen!!!   Which was awesome cause it lead to one of my favourite parts of the trip.  

For the vast majority of our trip, there would be only one road on the map
and our directions would cover several hundred kms at a time - often just to stay on the same road at the next change.

So imagine how annoyed our GPS got when we *still* managed to go off-track at Sand River ;)

The drive was, of course, all kinds of stunning, and when we got to Lake Superior Provincial Park we went into the visitor centre where two super friendly and enthusiastic guides helped us determine where we should consider visiting - we got our day pass and some recommendations for appropriate-for-us trails and off we went.  

We got in a very short walk at the visitor's centre before getting back in the car.

The first one we did was Sand River (worth annoying the GPS for) and it was my favourite hike overall, by a lot.  The footing was entertaining (lots of rocks etc so not just a flat walk, but very clear trail) and the whole thing followed a river with many rapids and a water fall.  

The contrast of the rapids and the falls...

With the complete stillness, was incredible.

We did about half of it - which the visitor’s centre person had mentioned would take us to a waterfall and it did.  I loved that everything wasn’t blocked off - if you wanted to go out on the rocks, you could.  They suggested avoiding falling in ;).  Also - Mum is definitely braver than I when it comes to heights!   😂 

Getting the perfect shot :)

We didn’t see any other people; the only sounds were the river, the falls, and the birds.  And the weather was perfect. It was the single best mental health refresh in a long time.  

I sat and enjoyed the falls for a while before we headed back.
Even the rock I happened to sit on had a natural chair to it.

We did another hike very shortly after that that was flatter but not flat 😂 and by a marsh (Trapper's).  This one came w all the killer mosquitos.  

Mosquito-friendly habitat, yet still very pretty

It was a loop so we did the whole loop, and had we done it first I prob would’ve loved it.  But there was no comparison to the other one.  

Seriously stunning

So definitely glad we did it - even if just for the comparison of terrain.  But the first one was way more impressive.

Almost at the end of the loop at Trapper's

Before leaving the park we also stopped at the Old Woman.  We didn’t hike there, just looked around the beach a bit and took some pictures.  

Can you see the Old Woman's face on the right side of the hill?

Then continued on our way to Thunder Bay, which would be our home for the next few days.  

It's a Canadian thing.

On the way we saw not one but TWO giant geese and some amazing scenery.   Got a good laugh at signs that warned “don’t tailgate” when we literally couldn’t even see another car!

SO much of the drive was breathtakingly stunning.
And I really don't think there was much risk of tailgating ;) 

Draw what you see

So coloured pencil week is over and I’m back to my learning to sketch class which is phenomenally well put together BUT also horrendously boring at times.   It really is from scratch so there’s lots of shading circles to turn them into spheres and drawing apples etc.  And while I both 100% see the need and the reason for it, I also sometimes find it tediously boring.   Watched a YouTube the other day about a guy who spent 100 hours learning to draw “from scratch” (wife is a pro artist so he had a custom built program and pro coaching along the way) and I was mildly amused that he was just as bored as I was and had all the same exercises (although he started slightly better than I did - albeit not by much).  AND ended up really decent.  So I have hope.  He said about hour 30 it started to be less painful and about hour 60 it started to be enjoyable 😂 

So maybe there’s hope.  So far I’ve done:

YouTube (and book) Follow Along tutorials.  These were a good start and helped me get a feel for certain things, and, of course, instant gratification.  But they don’t help w actual learning.   Like the skills weren’t highly transferable to my own work.

Also - I want colour!   😂 so I did Coloured Pencil week which was awesome.  And then back down the YouTube rabbit hole cause it turns out there are a ton of artists who just teach colouring?!?!    Who knew?   So when I want “easy” learning I do one of those (I even bought a colouring book?!?) cause it’s helping me expand on coloured pencil week with layering, colour theory (I may or may not have also acquired a book for that), techniques, etc.

That, however, is also frustrating cause I can spend HOURS on something and work really hard on it and be mildly impressed w the outcome and still feel like it’s “just colouring”.  Sigh.  Baby steps.

So today I had gathered all my supplies, sat down, had done one of my drawing class exercises and was pleased w it, then one that was brutal but got better - in which I was pleased I made it less-bad 😂. So overall a pretty good mood.  But for the next section I needed my laptop which was upstairs.  And both Tucker and Nola were sleeping on me, so obviously I couldn’t move (completely trapped by a blanket being held down w a pet on either side).   I wasn’t quite ready to close up for the night but any and all reference material was out of reach :(

Except….  I mean, the whole point of this is to just draw right?   So while it’s fast and basic - I’m pretty happy w this beginner sketch of my sleeping critters from the viewpoint I had, with no how tos, measuring, or anything else.   I’d put it in the “5 min sketch” category (or maybe 10 cause there’s two critters).  Except that most of the sketches I’ve done from my 5 min sketches book take me 20-30 so yeah.  It’s not fast, but I enjoy it, and I’d argue this time both animals are reasonably recognizable :).  I’ll take the wins where I can find them!

When your tiny animals work together,
they can trap you using only a blanket!