departure: 08.50, temp: 8c
after breakfast with leslie and tom, we were back on the road. it was a cool but sunny start to the day. we stopped for gas and timmies at espanola (wink to victoria), and rolled on towards sault ste marie (aka “the soo”), enjoying the riot of fall colours along the way. as it was saturday, there were farmers markets open through mennonite country. the best of the autumn leaves were just west of the soo, with blazing reds, fiery oranges, and glittering golds. we stopped at the shops at pancake bay to pick up smoked lake trout and wild rice. just west of there, we were treated to awesome views of lake superior putting on a show of spectacular force and colour. the bay is fairly shallow: whitecaps were whipping out to the horizon, and waves were crashing against the rocks. the sky was littered with white and grey clouds, and the sun forced its way through to light up patchworks on the water.
i have traveled to many places, and there is nowhere more beautiful than the north shore of lake superior on a bright autumn day. we continued westward, into lake superior provincial park, for more photo ops. we pulled into the parking area at sand river, expecting to have a short walk to see the waterfall, but instead we were treated to our first proper wildlife sighting of the trip (wink to rebecca: how lucky was this!; wink to tobias: you missed out!).
the family was in the car! so, no walk to the falls then… we had a few more opportunities for photos at katherine’s cove and old woman’s bay. the highway cuts inland at wawa (wink to val) and we pushed through the final three hours of the day’s drive. the stretch from marathon to terrace bay is a great twisting hilly road, made more adventurous by the fact that we were driving directly into the setting sun in prime hours for moose sightings. so we were both on full alert – but no moose on the road this time. there was, however, moose on the table when we got to my parents’ house, in the form of moose stew for dinner – yummy! had a visit with extended family (mum & dad, aunt cher & uncle dave, uncle david, sister shan), and friends tamara & terry dropped in too. after a long day, i was too knackered to figure out how to upload video to make this post, so it had to wait until morning.
arrival: 19.00, high temp: 11c, traveled: 836km