Day 5 – Thunder Bay Area
Today we did a variety of things but let me finish off last night. Aly and I went out to a restaurant called Gargoyles that was recommended by our good friend Roy Sherman. It is a downtown bar and grill but upscale. We enjoyed a great dinner, some refreshments and music by a quite good jazz quartet with I young girl singing 3 songs – she made a good effort but she was not a powerful singer.
Silvia went of to a party at her boss’ house (Aly dropped her off before we went to supper). When we finished dinner we went back to Aly and Silvia’s place and watched the movie 3-10 to Yuma while we waited for Silvia’s call to be rescued from the party. It turned out she really enjoyed it and Aly and I went to pick her up after the movie – around 12:30 a.m. The party was at this neat house on Lake Superior. The owners were great people and welcomed us in. I had a glass of wine and spent the evening talking to a guy that went to Guelph U the same time Pat and I did and used to ride motorcycles. He was a bit under the influence but it was fun talking to him. We got home around 2 a.m. which meant a late start this morning.
In the morning, I decided to make one last effort to get some warmer clothes for the ride home and headed up to the Harley dealer while Aly did my laundry (with hers of course). Unfortunately the dealer was closed for the holiday so I will make do with what I have.
Terry Fox Memorial
When I got back and while our clothes were in the dryer, Aly and I headed off to the Terry Fox memorial. This is where Terry’s Marathon of Hope for Cancer Research ended when his cancer returned and he had to head home to B.C. for more treatments which as we know were unsuccessful. To this point he had run 3,339 miles from St. Johns Newfoundland on one good leg. The view of Lake Superior from this vantage point is fantastic.
When we got back and while Aly finished the laundry (what a girl), I took Silvia for her first ever motorcycle ride and she loved it. It was a beautiful day for a tour.
After lunch we headed out to Kakebeka Fall. It is quite a spectacular waterfalls about 35 km west of Thunder Bay. The water of the Kaministiquia River cascades over the edge of the precambrian shield, dropping 39 meters to the canyon below.
- Kaministiquia River
Kakebeka Falls
After spending about an hour here, we grabbed some ice cream and then headed off to check out a river tubing adventure that the girls wanted to do tomorrow. Unfortunately it was closed for the weekend or the season – we are not sure which.
Mt. McKay Casts Its Shadow
We headed back into the city and grabbed Mr. Subs for supper before heading off to Mt. McKay. This rock outcrop is on the Fort William First Nation lands and towers 1000 meters above Thunder Bay. We drove up to a lookout that is 1/2 way up and provides a fantastic view of the city. We had planned to do sunset and see the city lights but the sun set behind the mountain. We could see a bit of it but not what we had hoped for. We did want to do a hike. We heard there was a trail up the mountain from the lookout. We found a trail head and walked for a ways and then had to climb straight up. The slope got pretty steep and the shale scree was precarious so we eventually abandoned the climb. I was concerned about the difficult climb down in the dark.
Aly & Silvia Climbing Mt. McKay
I later found out as I am writing this that we did not have the right trail and that I could have downloaded the waypoints for the correct trail into my GPS. GRRRRRR.
The girls did feel a sense of pride having ventured to the brink and back again.
We checked out the memorial to the elders which was a female and male elder carved from a tree. At first we were not sure they were not both female but then the clothes, the hands and the butts helped us to determine who was who.
Elder's Memorial - Mt. McKay
The female elder had some good junk in her trunk!
The day was a great way to finish my stay in T-Bay. I head out home tomorrow. The morning temperature is expected to be around freezing but it will warm up. I will wait until the frost is off the roads before I leave.
Thanks to Aly and Silvia for making my stay so special.
Bye for now.
The Dynamic Duo at Mt. McKay
Sounds like a good time in T-Bay. We had 2 miserable weather-wise days at the cottage but still had a nice time with Kristen and Chris. Will and I got up Friday by 6pm and had a nice sunny evening on the dock. Then the foul weather started that night. Cold, strong north wind, and rain/spitting most of the time. We kept the fire going and played cards. We also ate the traditional cold weather cottage meals: French onion soup and did my first beer butt chicken on Saturday night. I will have to make it for you, so good. We departed around 3pm yesterday and, as always, had a beautiful ride home. Will says we always have a sunny ride home, and I am pretty sure with my luck, he is right. It was only 15 degrees and windy out, so I took comfort that it only looked nice. Will is off at a gig today and I am doing my traditional moping-around-the-house-on-Labour-Day routine. Nice to read about your travels. Say hi to Aly for me.
What a bunch of party people! I was envious of your sight-seeing tours. T Bay sounds like a good place to visit in warmer weather. Despite the lack of warmth, it sounds like you had clearer weather than we had down here. It has been rainy and overcast most of the weekend. I’ve gotten lots of cleaning done and some school stuff as well (don’t want to overdo it!).
It’ll be nice to have you home Hun – it’s been really quiet around here. It will also be nice to have Aly home next weekend. T-Bay has certainly been a good place for adventures!
Have a careful ride, Hun!