Canada

Thurs, May 30

Today Canada!

That's about all that I had considered. We are going to drive to Canada today. I have my passport and that's all that I need.

What I didn't think of was that our phone service plans with Verizon only cover the US. And we are using the phone and IPAD for backup navigation. Our primary GPS navigation is the Garmin. Guess What? We don't have maps for Canada in the Garmin. So, within a very few miles after entering Canada, nothing's working right. All of a sudden we have to rely on paper maps. It's been a while and we have to revisit old technology.

Later I remember that we have a stand-alone program on the IPAD of Rand Mcnally GPS with maps of Canada, and we get along just fine.

Oh, and they post their speeds in kilometers/hour, so I am constantly looking down at the little numbers on the speedometer (which are real little) trying to make sure that I don't speed.

It takes a little getting used to, but I think I've got the hang of it.

We finally figure it out and call Verizon and get a little data coverage for Canada so at least we have access to the internet while here.  It will cost!

We drive up the west coast of Lake Huron to the little port town of Goderich (God-a-rich) and the Point Farms Provincial Park on Lake Huron.

Goderich Lighthouse on Lake Huron

Lake Huron

Sunset on Lake Huron

We settle into the campsite, get the motorhome set up and head back to Goderich for the afternoon. It's a nice little town right on the Lake – and they have a YMCA. So after touring the town and its waterfront, I go to the Y and Clara goes shopping. Afterward we have a nice dinner overlooking the lake and return to the campsite. Clara sets up in the swing and we are in for a nice, quiet, dark night in Canada.

Fri May 31

Rocky Point Provincial Park

This morning we left Point Farms Provincial Park and headed Southeast across this peninsula for about 5 hours to Rocky Point Provincial Park on Lake Erie. This is about 1 hour from the Niagara Falls area and we plan to drive the CRV there tomorrow.

This is a large, heavily wooded campground on a peninsula sticking out into Lake Erie. The shore is rocky, thus the name. Although we made reservations, it doesn't appear that was necessary, as there are many open sites. We just weren't sure what the situation might be. We found out today that the schools here are not out yet, therefore summer vacations haven't started.

At Rocky Point Campground and Lake Erie

We've gotten the bikes off the back of the car and have ridden around a bit this afternoon. Mostly we slept and read.

Sat, June 1

Today we got an early start for the hour drive to Niagara Falls (Canadian side). We have talked to a couple we met here in the park who are from that area and they had given us some idea of where to park, get a bus, what to see, etc and it was very helpful.

The American Falls on the left and Canadian Falls on the right

Frankly, I did not expect much. I have always heard of Niagara Falls, but expected a tourist trap. We were very pleasantly surprised. The falls are quite spectacular, and easily accessible. It was only about a couple hundred feet from where we parked until we were able to peer down on them.

The power of the water is tremendous

As advised, we immediately purchased tickets for the bus shuttle and a package of tickets to four of the popular attractions.

First we saw what someone referred to as a 4D movie about how the falls were formed. The theater was round with screens all the way around. I wondered why they gave us raincoats when we entered the theater, but it didn't take long to figure it out. As the movie progressed, there were a variety of water features, including fog, mist and rain that came along with the tilting movie screens. Quite interesting – reminds me of some of the rides in Florida.

Maid of the Mist approaches the Canadian Falls

Next we went to the “Maid of the Mist” boat trip up to the falls. This was another wet ride, but this one was the real thing. It is quite spectacular to ride up to near the base of the falls. It was impossible to keep entirely dry. In fact, as we approached the falls, it was like standing in a driving rain storm and the flimsy plastic raincoat became useless.

We were provided plastic raincoats, which lost their effectiveness quickly as the wind created in the gorge by the falls blew them over our heads

Maid of the Mist in the mist

An observation; as we had been told by the people we met in the RV park, there are mostly international visitors this time of year. We heard and saw just about every part of the world represented.

Niagara Falls is an international destination bringing together diverse cultures.  Here, Indians pass an Amish family resting on the wall.

Next, we started walking what we thought was going to be a short walk to the next attraction – a walk along the Class 6 rapids through the gorge. Turns out that the short walk ended up with hailing a taxi.

Class 6 rapids in the Niagara Gorge below the falls

The rapids are classified as the most treacherous, Class 6, the most dangerous category rating.

We ended the whirlwind tour for the day with a cable ride across “the whirlpool”. The river takes a 90 degree turn here, and over the millions of years, the river has carved out a large basin where it creates a huge whirlpool. The cable ride of about 15 minutes on this 99 year old attraction is shunned by many people as too dangerous, but we found it interesting.

All in all, the trip to Niagara falls was well worth the time. 

We headed back to Rocky Point to a quiet evening. The couple who had advised us on Niagara came by and we shared our adventures. They were very pleased that they had helped us have a fun day.

Sunday, June 2

It rained all night Saturday night. Sunday morning it seems that everything is covered in water.  I have to wade through several inches of standing water to disconnect the electric line to the motorhome - with some trepidation.  This ground must be of a clay material that does not soak up water very well. A lot of fields are covered in water.

And we head back to the USA, glad to be able to read the large numbers on the speedometer.