Here we are zip lining in Renfrew, ON. We had a blast, it is just a new facility and very inexpensive so I decided to give it a try.  Another customer was just finishing as I was getting suited up and Barry decided that it looked like fun and away we went.  There were 3 sections of the course which totaled almost a kilometer of zipping.  You know what they say, "When is the last time you did something for the first time!" 

                           

We had a lovely visit with Lucy and Mark.  Lucy is Barry's first cousin, they met for the first time at Sherran's wedding about 10 years ago.  We got along famously and really enjoyed the area where they have their fifth wheel, we saw loons, turtles, catfish, red winged blackbirds and a baby robin.  We met a set of friends that had cruised in the Caribbean for a number of years so exchanged sailorly yarns. From Renfrew we drove across to the middle of the east shore of Lake Huron and visited our old buddies from Tungsten days, the Crawfords.  

From left to right, Val, Pat, me Crystal, Hank and Bailey 

Pat had retired from working at the Sifto Salt Mine in Goderich, but went back to work 3 years later and is now working 2 weeks in and 2 out at a mine in Northern Saskatchewan.  They have a lovely home and their daughter Crystal, aka Toad, married a local farmer and is living the life of a farmer's wife about 20 minutes away from her parents.  Toad and Hank have about 280 head of sheep and they grow corn, soy beans and hay.  I was astonished at how all the barn animals got along, the cat below tolerating getting put in it's place by a duck.  I don't know isn't that pretty demeaning for a cat!?!

The view from the ferry when leaving Toblemory. 

We headed north from Goderich and took a ferry from Toblemory to Manitoulin Island across Lake Huron where Georgian Bay narrows.  It cut off a lot of driving but with the time spent waiting for the ferry, we may have gotten their faster if we had driven.  Ontario is a huge province and we drove and drove and ended up a 12 hour day at the wheel with about 1100 kilometers to go until we reached the Manitoba border.  We tented on the north shore of Lake Superior and walked along a lovely sand beach that was on fresh water. We actually saw two moose on this trip, on while driving through Algonquin Park, the other north of Lake Huron.  

The view across Lake Superior, the mark on the left side of the picture is a squashed Canadian bug
on our  windshield we are glad we could get rid of one, there are millions and they bite, and then itch and itch. 

Our last stop in Ontario was at Lee and Sarah Berry's place near Eagle Lake, which is between Dryden and Kenora, ON. They had a lovely home on the lake shore, a two story 3 bedroom home with a gazebo, their own private dock with a storage hut/fish shack at the lake's edge.  They retired from Yellowknife a couple of years after we did and we spent the evening catching up and reminiscing about track meets in our past and people that we knew in Yellowknife.  In Ontario we visited five sets of friends and family and enjoyed every minute of it.  Isn't it grand to be able to take the time in our lives to renew acquaintances and make new ones. We are now visiting my Mom and hope to stay in Winnipeg for about 2 weeks.  We have past the longitudinal center of Canada so we are now closer to the west coast than the east one.

I hope everyone in Canada enjoys a wonderful Canada Day and for those of our Canadian buddies still sailing in other countries, invite your friends over, fly your Canadian flag high and have a party.  Last year we were in Mauritius with Tagish, Cat Mousses and Erica celebrating in style.