Road Trip Aug 2019 - Canada

From Fairfax, VA we went north toward the Niagara Falls area - Williamsville NY - to be exact.

We stayed with long time friends Jon and Barbara.  It was great to spend the evening with them and to catch up.

They're retired also and have three daughters who are married with lots of grandkids.  They are involved in their church and quite active in their local pickleball scene.

Our visit was too short, but then again, it was great to spend a little time with them.  We left early the next morning and made our way across the QEW./Lewiston-Queenston Bridge.  We were prepared for a busy time but instead it was early and Civic Holiday Weekend in Canada and the traffic had not picked up yet.

Going through Toronto was not too bad and we continued north toward North Bay before taking the turn to Rutherglen and Talon Lake where our friends Jeff and Tiffany have a cabin.  We parked our truck near the campground office and called Jeff, who arrived a few minutes later in his pontoon boat.

Their cabin is only accessible by water and we loaded a few things on the boat and were off to the cabin!

 Its a great location among 4-5 other cabins and buildings owned by them, Tiffany's brother and Jeff and Cheryl who live a couple hours away in Canada.

It was fun just hanging out and talking, relaxing and enjoying a great couple of days.  Jeff and Tiffany have 4 kids, three of whom are still teenagers.  The youngest two girls were there with us along with there three kids, and we all had a nice time relaxing.

They played board games in the evening, or read or put together puzzles.

One night we had a campfire.  A couple of days they rode across the lake a ways and anchored the boat for some fishing and swimming.  They have a jet ski and the kids hopped on that pulling a raft.  It was great fun and against all odds I caught a couple of small mouth bass.

It was great fun and relaxing and a perfect few days.

Once again and all too quickly it was time to say goodbye and Jeff taxied us over early in the morning to our truck and returned to the cabin for a few more days.

It was early in the morning and the rains came as we drove into North Bay for some fuel and got some ice.  We traveled south and east in the direction of Detroit.  We were going to Petrolia, Ontario to see Meghan's parents Marg and Bill.

Jeff and Tiffany told us about Weber's Charbroiled hamburgers on Highway 11.  We drove right by it, so decided to stop for lunch.

By now the rain had mostly stopped and we got there before the crowds.  We were eating under an umbrella at a table while the folks were starting to line up.  The burgers were the best in Canada and a real treat.  Glad we stopped.

Next, we travelled on to the Sarnia/Petrolia area and a couple of days with Marg and Bill.  We had another fabulous time with them, having seen them in March when then were returned from their winters stay in and came to see us in Virginia.

Bill had a golf tournament on Friday so Marg, Pam and I hung out and went over to the waterfront near Sarnia to Skeeter Barlow's for dinner.  I tried pickerel and vegetables with a baked potato.  It was  fantastic.  Don't know that I've ever had that fish, but it was great.

Somehow I missed taking a picture of us so I snagged this off the restaurant web site.

Pam opted for pasta in a mushroom and shrimp sauce which was good also. Bill was still at his golf tournament later finding out that he had prime rib.

Saturday morning Bill and I played a round of golf at the local golf club in Petrolia. It was a great day for golf and we had some fun.  In between all the rest of the round, we each hit a couple of good shots.  We had dinner back at their place and then went to a local play.  It was great!

The comedy was "the New Canadian Curling Club".  It was entertaining and very well done.

 The local theater is the Victoria Playhouse Petrolia (VPP) and every summer they fill the seats with local theater goers who enjoy great music and acting.

The facility retains the old architecture of the early 20th century and has been completed renovated recently.  It was originally built in the 1889 in the midst of the region's oil boom.  It is a great facility and a perfect setting for the evening.

The next morning we left early, made a quick stop at Tim Horton's in town for coffee and some Tim Bits and made our way about 20 miles over to the Blue Water Bridge/border crossing back into the U.S.A.

Our week in Canada was filled with great memories of friends and all we hoped for this trip.  Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!