In which we finally explain all our adventures on the North Shore and our expotition takes us to the birthplace of Winnie the Pooh

So here, finally is the story of our travels in Canada. I (Exploding Poptart) write you now from inside our car as we are parked on the boarding area for the ferry, scheduled to leave half an hour hence. What a long strange trip it's been since we left the US. First of all, that drive up scenic route 61 is extremely beautiful. We were rested and ready to head to Canada. We knew we had 3 days of driving to reach South Baymouth and the Ferry, so we decided to get some extra miles on this first day.

We made it as far as Rossport, which is a former fishing village that had fallen on hard times and turned itself into an upscale rest spot recreational travelers and boaters. We were staying in the historic Rossport Inn, perported to be established about 150 years ago. Our cell phones had been out of service for some time, so there was no way to make a reservation except to drive up and see. The Inn had one small cabin free for us, so small that when we inflated nick's small air mattress, there was no room to walk around it. It was without TV or internet, but very sweet and situated with a few other cabins on a large field with wildflowers and inviting chairs. A group of bikers had the next 2 cabins and cooked up dinner on their hibachi overlooking the lake. We had a view of the local docks, just over the railroad tracks where a train whistled as it roared right by the Inn every couple of hours during the night. We settled in and took a walk across the railroad tracks to the lake, and a quick swing over to the towns one store- a gift shop in a historic garage, which was closed.

Favorite quote from Rossport:
Papercup Mixmaster: Oh my God, look at the size of that bug on the windshield!
Exploding Poptart: Do you want me to take a picture of it?

Because the sun sets so late, we started dinner after 8:00 and still finished a late dinner even before sunset. The dinner was served just to guests, very sweet and elegant and homey and expensive. We rigged up a way to connect the Playstation to Nick's portable DVD Player (Thanks Nonnie!) and even in our little cabin the boys could play Lego Starwars. I tried to do some yoga in the field out back, but the mosquitoes were everywhere (I think I still have a dozen red itchy spots on my neck from that night). The proprietor offered to let me use the barn up the hill, and I pictured hay and livestock, but ended up doing yoga between lawn mowers and outboard motors.

The sun was bright and beautiful the next morning, and I ran through the whole of town twice. Finding only one other restaurant in town, that also looked sweet, elegant and pricey, we hit the road and continued our way around Lake Superior. We ended up stopping in Terrace Bay for breakfast, and after a few false starts were able to get some eggs at the Red Dog Inn (Absolutely No Dogs Allowed). The character of the whole day of driving was much the same- rural country wiht a lake-based economy (tourism, fishing, paper mills) Long distances between towns, hard to enjoy "hunters and fisher's paradise" from the road. The highlight of the drive was our visit to White River- home of Winnie the Pooh. This confused us, because isn't Pooh from England? Read the story for yourself. We later stopped to see a water fall not too far off the road, but the mosquitoes and the drizzly weather drove us quickly back into our car.

We were, at this point, a little tired of road-side diner favorites: hamburgers, BLT, mash and gravy. And each of us had at one point or another expressed existential angst about the whole journey. We decided to just plow through this part of our journey, and headed for Soult Ste Marie. We ended up at this crazy hotel called "The Water tower" with a heated indoor pool, hot tub, wading pool (into which fell a faux water fall) and an outdoor whirlpool (with a waterfall and fountain surrounding for ambiance). The place was new and cushy, and they even had a special "kids check-in" with stairs leading up to the lobby desk. And yet for some reason we went out to see the town. We had some dinner at the dock-side restaurant, but aside from some boats and cool scuplture by the library, we couldn't find any there there, so we came back to the hotel. THis is when we found out that our wifi was so weak we had to walk the laptop down to the lobby to blog and make travel plans. Much less fun than writing and editing and editing in the privacy of your own room. So we spent much of the rest of the evening in the very cool pool room (me n Wuggy Norple that is, Papercup Mixmaster was trying to get caught up on the world of baseball...).

Before bed I ordered breakfast to the room. It seemed cool and no one in Canada has the continental breakfast we were taking for granted in the states. It's really weird though to be expecting a stranger at 9:00 am, and to wonder if you have to tidy up for the room service lady. We decided to make tracks again that day (Canada Day, July 1) and make it all the way to South Baymouth so that we could get on the ferry the next morning. More cracked linolium and BLTs for lunch.

Eventually we crossed the swinging bridge to Manitoulin Island, which is a really cool collection of islands where many first nations have a strong presence. We headed all the way to the bottom of the island, where we had found a motel right next to the ferry station. We checked in at the gift shop counter, and were given our key to our "loft" which turned out to be an efficnency apartment on top of a garage, with a balcony overlooking the lake. We took a long walk to a restaurant that was highly recommended, to find all your favorite mashed potato dishes served in a clean spare newly painted space. The food was clearly made with extra care, but was still the same menu, and sitting in a pool of butter. Wuggy Norple had been at the end of his rope since we arrived in town after 2 days of marathon driving, and we all had trouble making it through dinner. Papercup Mixmaster put a "loony" in the jukebox, and the management turned it down when someone complained. When we finally got back to the motel, we set Wuggy Norple up with his Lego Starwars, and Papercup Mixmaster and I sat out in the evening air and talked about how we were discouraged, and how it didn't really feel like a vacation sometimes, because really were were mostly just trying to get to our new home in New York. It was nice to just be there on the balcony looking out at the water and talking. After a little Playstation-Yoga-Balcony photography, we went to bed early in hopes that since we could not get a reservation on the ferry, we could be among the first in line for the 1:30 ferry if we arrived before the 9:10 ferry left. We got there before even 9:00, which I thought was crazy, but they waved us right into line. Papercup Mixmaster had to stay with the car until the 9:10 ferry left, while Wuggy Norple and I found a playground at the marina, but then we just parked there in line and went off to breakfast. The morning was filled with warm sun, friendly people and the sweetness of a very small town with no national chain businesses. We had such a lovely time we only had a few moments to take advantage of the free wifi which is, I believe, where we began.