these were taken last month on our very last hike before winter.
we don’t want to stop the hikes through winter – we’re just hoping to get some good deals after boxing day for some snow shoes.
pretty wet lands
hobbes loves the fresh air
changing colours of the meadow - still beautiful
chaeli stood where some deer had pressed the tall grass down
trail leading us back home
on the road to thunder bay
we always stop to see the goose in wawa
one of our many stops from sault ste marie and thunder bay is wawa. we learned soon after arriving that they were taking down this goose after 50 years of it being a major landmark in this small town of 3,200 people. they are hoping to raise enough money for a new one. we bought a pin for chaeli’s collection – proceeds of the pin goes towards the project.
national monument of grand portage
during our stay in thunder bay, we took a day trip with my SIL, BIL, niece and nephew to minnesotta. we first stopped in grand portage – a national park – and visited a historical site where they replicated what use to be vital fur trading post and anishinaabeg ojibwe heritage.
my baby nephew
docked boat
there was this lovely long dock extending from the national monument area. we took a walk down to the very end and all the time, i was so tempted to reach down and feel the water. of course, it was fairly high above the surface but i managed to find this bottom landing which brought me closer.
here’s chaeli posing with my niece as they hunted down rocks at grand marais.
after leaving grand marais, my niece and nephew fell fast asleep so my SIL/BIL decided to just head home. doug, chaeli, hobbes and i stopped along the shores across from five mile rock (a wee island five miles from grand marais). it was a good spot to let hobbes go off leash. and for him to take a sip from the cold waters of lake superior.
at the end of our week in thunder bay, we all went to neys, a provincial park midway between thunder bay and sault ste marie. this was also a historical location. at the east end, called prisoner’s cover, they use to keep a prisoner war camp of WWII. apparently, high-end german officers were held captive here. and as bad as a war camp sounded, they weren’t treated so poorly (so long as they cooperated). after the war ended, some of them even returned to canada to live.
the new trailer we inherited
some old timber boats sitting on top of an inactive volcano
back at the rouge again, only this time was at a more southern part of this vast park (which will, from what i just learned, become a national park). the hike took us a little over an hour and could have been much longer had we took another side trail which looped back to the main trail.
but because there were some up and down climbs, both chaeli and hobbes were getting pooped.
beautiful and diverse scenery, though. will definitely be going back!
most of the trail was beside the river
some green life taking up the spotlight
smaller part of the rouge river
i’ve been on vacation since last tuesday evening. and as we’re nearing the end of our july long weekend, i’m wishing for just one more day off.
it’s been a fun pack five days.
some best friends, ada and hoa, stopped by tuesday night for dinner – they were on their way from vancouver to welland for the dragon boat nationals. ada happened to have a lecture at UofT (btw, it’s so cool to have a friend who does university lectures – i wonder if one of these days, i can attend? how wicked would that be?)
that was the kickstart of mine’s and chaeli’s long-long-extended-weekend. doug had to work on the thursday but was able to get off early so we could go for the dog park and consume yummy sushi and japanese food at our favourite korean-run-japanese restaurant. it’s the best of two worlds – we get both kimchi and sushi.
the rest of our mini-vacation included chinese lunch with my parents, two trips to the dog park down at the beach, another dog park out west plus yet another one up north, lots of ice cream, swinning at my parents’ community centre (well, doug and chaeli went swimming – i use to go when it was salt water, but now they’ve added chemicals and i’m allergic to that), bbq steaks at my parents’ place, movies on netflix, fireworks, picnics at the beach and lots of sunshine!
we only bummed around thursday morning – since doug was at work.
the highlight was visiting fort york on canada day (free admission for that day only) which is a historical site the british built for protection from the invasion of americans in 1813. this site was what started the progression of our city. i hadn’t been back to it since my grade six 3-day trip. all i remember was dressing up in period costume, eating food made like it was made back in the early 1800′s and sleeping in the bunkers where the soldiers use to sleep.
kind of creepy when you think about it.
chaeli had a blast – especially as there were some special events during that day. one of my fave was actually a shadow puppet put on by a performing arts community of the first nations. the music had a spell on me – quite powerful and beautiful.
front gates of fort york with toronto in the backdrop
flag raising ceremony
chaeli helping out in the kitchen
rifle demonstration
view from inside a window in the mess building
at the east end of downtown, there’s this magnificent dog park along the beach. 2.5 arces of sand, water, trees and trails. our furried, four-pawed friends can run free here. and it’s certainly a favourite of ours. simply because it gives us so much peace.
and hobbes certainly does not mind either.
we just got back from a country weekend getaway – friends of ours invited us to stay with them in a town two hours away from here.
they live on a fairly large property with the backyard leading to a forest – cross the dirt road and we also were greeted by a river.
they had over 70 maple trees on their property tapped, saving a couple to tap when chaeli got there, just so they could show her how it was done. i thought that was pretty special. even if you go to a very rustic maple syrup farm, the trees are already tapped and collecting the sap. so for chaeli to see the production happen from start to finish was very cool. in fact, it was cool for me because i had never seen that myself!
they gave us a huge jar of syrup to take home with us – we’re very lucky. store bought maple syrup is heaven. local maple syrup is even better. but this jar? it comes with memories of the whole, entire weekend which we will always remember for years to come.
on top of all that, we were pampered with good food and wine, which even a daily cocktail as the sun started to set. i got a chance to try a grasshopper for the very first time. i know it’s quite a dated cocktail but i’ve always wanted to know what it tastes like – damn good!
both chaeli and hobbes got a lot of fresh air. hobbes went nuts because we let him off leash pretty much the whole time. he’s now sleeping after going non-stop for the past couple of days.
what a great way to end our march break.
we figured that today might be the last fall day we have time for a good hike – plus we wanted to take advantage of the dry mornng/afternoon as rain has already started to fall here in the evening.
this was also part of the bruce trail. and i chose it because of two things: 1) it’s part of an iroquois, historical land where archaeological digs came up with an old indian village – they resurected it in order to create a time-piece museum; 2) the end of the trail loops around a small lake that is of an interesting phenomenon – according to the bruce trail site:
It is a unique geological time capsule where a curious phenomenon occurs. The lake is meromictic, so deep for its surface area that the lower levels of water are never disturbed by wind or temperature changes. Without an annual turnover of water, there is little oxygen present in its depths, and therefore minimal bacterial breakdown. Layers of sediment build up and provide an accurate record of the human and natural history that has surrounded the lake since it formed. Corn pollen discovered in the sediments on the bottom of the lake made researchers aware of a fifteenth-century Indian village buried under the ploughed field to the north of the lake.
our hike lasted about 2 hrs – a bit longer then we had planned. but we could not move too quickly becuase chaeli is still getting use to trekking along rocky paths, which basically encompassed the first half of our hike.
we brought hobbes because he matches the colour of the leaves
amazing caves along the way
here is the small, but beautiful crawford lake
traditional longhouse of the iroquois indian village
chaeli examining a deer skin
chaeli all pooped on the way home
chaeli wasn't the only one tired - hobbes was totally out!
full album found here: crawford lake – bruce trail
and so this is hockley valley:
hockley valley
hockley valley
and this is hobbes on the way to our hike:
where are we going?
we’re now just chilling out before making our wedding anniversary dinner – steaks, potatos, brussell sprouts with thick bacon cubes and of course, red wine. afterwards, it’s popcorn and dvds.
here’s the rest of the photos from today:
last weekend, we went back to the rouge valley. i think it’s becoming our ‘go-to place’ whenever we want a quick-fix hike. it’s just 10 minutes away and the types of trails are both beautiful and different from one another.
the trail – the whole distance to and back was about 1.5 hrs.
just a touch of autumn colours started to appear.
interesting leaning tree overhanging the valley.
next weekend is our canadian thanksgiving weekend. chaeli is staying over at my parents’ place for a sleep over so doug and i can celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary with a streneous hike along hockley valley (part of the bruce trail). i’ll pack a picnic so we can munch and enjoy the view on top.
i’m hoping the weather will be good enough for us to go. it’s not something i want to do in the rain because some of the rocky climbs can be slippery and dangerous in wet weather. it’s also a perfect opportunity for us to go alone without chaeli. not because i don’t want her there but it’s too advanced for a young kid. hopefully, when she’s older, though, she’ll join us.
i haven’t done the hockley valley trail in over ten years but i remember it being quite a tough hike. it was porbably on my top three tough hikes ever (first being up a mountain in thailand through a rain forest; 2nd is a tie with hockley valley – the trails from point lobos state park of northern california… but i don’t know if it was that hard or if it was because i was hiking while recovering from a respiratory bug).
anyway – with all the working out i’ve been doing, i’m really curious as to see how i’ll fair with hockley.
doug normally does not get a holiday off – unless he books the entire week off for vacation. which sucks – it totally cuts in on our family days of summer.
but miraculously, because they needed a special favour from him, they gave him today off. which meant we finally got a chance to have a holiday together.
we wasted no time in planning. without much effort, we found a close-by provincial park to check out for the day. it was only 30 minutes away and we may book a night or two of fall camping (it's so close – it would be easy to just head there after the end of friday's workday and stay until sunday morning).
i woke up at my regular 5:30 am time to do an hour and a half of yoga (p90x yoga-x). not too long after i finished, everyone else woke up. we were out the door by 9 am.
we spent the morning hiking a couple of the trails and then found a nice shady area for a picnic lunch. after some leisure rest time, we headed over to the beach and remained there until it was time to pack up and head back home.
i got in a nice nap on the beach. can't beat that!
happy canada day!
