Holiday Weekend at Talon Lake

We left Parry Sound KOA about 10:30 AM and had an easy 100 mile drive to Talon Lake Campground and Marina outside of Rutherglen, Ontario.  The campground is about 20 miles south of North Bay.  Our friends, Jeff and Tiffany should be arriving this evening.

The weather here in Canada the last couple of weeks has been great.  It continued into the weekend here and we enjoyed getting used to our new surroundings.

We are right near the lake and can hear boaters come and go.  If we walk a 100 yards we can get some pretty good views of the lake.

The big news after we got set up was that we have no TV reception.  Imagine that ~ camping and we have to dispense with our sports channels.  No TV or golf for a few days.  How will we make it?  

Actually, it is quite nice not to be watching so much TV.  We enjoyed the afternoon and evening which and all pulled out some good books to read.  It was warm and sunny and no bugs....  Pam and Kelly went for a walk over to the other campground nearby and I took a snooze in the sun.

We had dinner outside and watched other campers arrive in the campground.  Down where we are there six or of us.  

The upper part of the campground there are 20 or 30 seasonal campers.  To our surprise a couple from Virginia and another from Vermont parked near us.  Both didn't know each other but had recently spent time in Montana before crossing the border at Ste St Marie.

As you can see from the other RV's there are many ways to do this.  We have one trailer, two pop-ups,  2 class C motor homes and our coach at the campsite.  It is interesting to see the variety.

It was a perfect evening for a campfire and we had some more smorz!

Ed, ever the entertaining and lovable dog, spent a few minutes doing the jiggy wiggles and scratched his back on the grass.  Who doesn't like a good back scratch now and then?  aaahhhh

This looks like it will be a great place to stay for a few days and the weather is supposed to be good while we are here.  Hope you are having a great weekend and summer.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  

I wonder how many Followers will we pick up this weekend....?

Hiking and Christmas in July

A highlight from yesterday was meeting Canadiens Rick and Marie

They have been here about a week and are from the Sudbury area which is a little north of here.  They have been RVing for years.  They took a 3 month trip last year west to Vancouver and then east from Washington over to North Dakota and back home.  They will be going to Fort Meyers, Florida this winter for 5 months and are seriously considering full-timing.

We talked for a while and they had a few questions.  When people talk about full-timing, I always refer them to RV-Dreams.com and have them read about Howard and Linda's story.  Howard has done a fabulous job with lots of information for those that are considering full-timing.  We found (and continue to find) it to be a wealth of useful information.

Earlier, Pam, Kelly and I spent some time on the Fitness Trail that winds through Parry Sound.  It was overcast but a very pleasant afternoon for a hike.  We started out not far from the marina.

Not sure what kind of berries these were but they are very common here.

This bridge was built in 1915 and is way up there.  We took the foot bridge not far from it.

Down near the marina and harbor there were some more flowers and markers along the way.

The trail went along the bay and near the Stockey Centre and the Bobby Orr Museum.

It was a nice hike and we may continue the trail at the point we turned around on another day.

Back at the campground we got ready for the big 'Christmas in July' happenings.  I pulled out the lights from our storage in the basement.  With Kelly's help those got hung.

She added the stringers and bows to the front.

Then we waited for Santa.  About 7:30 PM he came out of the woods shouting 'Ho Ho Ho' and led the dog parade through the campground.  It was a great turnout!

A little later, I spotted him on the wagon with a lot of folks who joined him for a ride around the campground.

There were more campers who joined in the fun and also put out decorations.

As I was walking around taking pictures, I stopped and took one of Dean and Donna's campsite.  They decorated their rig and ATV which added to the atmosphere.  

It was a fun day ~ thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Hope you are having a great weekend.

Not so busy Friday

It rained all day yesterday so we didn't feel like doing much.  Mostly we read and read and read.
A little after 9:00 AM, Don came over and dumped our tanks.  What a great service!

Don is the owner of the KOA here in Parry Sound and he didn't think the 'free' service was a big deal.  He said, "We can't have campsites with full hookups, so just sign up when you need your tanks dumped and we will come around and do it."

I like the idea and especially like the fact that he doesn't charge extra for it.  The prices here are among he highest we have paid anywhere, so it is nice that dumping isn't an added charge.  Don has been the owner for seven years and he said it has been interesting.  Seems like a hard way to make a living.  It's one thing to be a workamper, quite another being the owner.  Right now he said he was dealing with kids plugging toilets with reems of toilet paper....

About mid afternoon, the drizzly rain let up and Pam and I drove over to the truck stop/fast food/information center.

It had Lick's Hamburgers, DQ and Tim Horton's.  

And we found our information center.

We were looking for some ideas on how to spend a few days in Toronto next month.  No luck on that one, but the lady said maybe we'd find something in Northbay.  We will be near there next weekend.

After dinner of chicken and dumplings, we went into town to check out the Canadian Tire store.  It is a little like a Wal-Mart.  This one had a lot of camping gear which we checked out.  Next it was over to McDonald's for some ice cream.  And then downtown to see what was happening at the harbor on a Friday nite.  Not much...

So we returned to the Roadrunner and prepared for tomorrow.  Saturday is 'Christmas in July' at the campground here.  We got our decorations out and will put them up on Saturday morning.

That was it for us on a slow Friday.  Hope your weekend is a great one.  And thanks for viewing ~ and thanks in advance to you future Followers!

A No-Camera Cruise

I was really looking forward to our 3- Hour Outer Island Wilderness Cruise on the Island Queen yesterday out of the harbor in Parry Sound.  I charged up my camera battery and made sure it was all set.  Too bad I didn't check the memory card.  No card, no pictures...ugh! * To my surprise, the first picture I took gave me an error message and when I looked I saw I had left the card back in the Roadrunner still in the card reader.

Have you ever done that??

After I got over that realization, I was determined to enjoy the cruise anyway.  Which I did.  We all (Pam and Kelly and I) did.

*photo taken from Kelly's iPhone

We arrived at the marina at 12:25 PM for a 1:00 PM cruise and there was already a long line to board.  It is a big boat (seating 550) so we were able to find a good seat on the second deck.  We wanted to get one on top but they filled pretty quickly.

A couple of weeks ago, we took a cruise on a vessel in Tobermory.   This one was considerably bigger (and the largest sightseeing cruise ship) and the ride was a lot smoother.  The first thing I noticed was the water.  This is not the crystal clear waters of Lake Huron.  It is the dark waters of Georgian Bay.

We followed the green route.  The cruise started out of the harbor and went past the Stockey Center and Bobby Orr Hall of Fame, then past the Canadian Coast Guard Base.  The base is one of the largest on the Great Lakes and is home to helicopters, boats and ice breakers.

Each spring, over 100,000 tons of salt is shipped from Goderich and Windsor and off loaded at the Salt Dock near Parry Sound (#3 on the map).  The salt is used for winter treatment on roads throughout northern Ontario.

There are many islands nearby and the big ship went slowly through some pretty narrow straits.  Many of the small islands are owned and provide a great setting for a cottage:

*taken from Kelly's iPhone

This cottage was about the most expensive looking house we saw.  It was a beautiful structure.

We went past the Big Sound, Hole in the Wall, and Depot Harbour as we went in a counter clockwise route on the cruise.  We passed Palestine Island (#8) where Irving Berlin vacationed many times.  At the end of the cruise, we went under swing bridge.

It was built in the 1800's to connect the mainland with Depot Harbour on Parry Island.   The cruise ship blew its horn signaling we were approaching and the bridge master stopped traffic and swung the bridge around to let our ship through.  The Wilderness Cruise was well worth it and a great way to spend the afternoon.

After the cruise, we returned home for dinner and cooked chicken on the grill.  It was a nice evening, so we all went on a walk through the nearby woods on an ATV trail.

Earlier in the day  we heard chainsaws and found out what they were working on:

The trail came out of the woods 30 yards from the Roadrunner:

Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles!

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The Great Bobby Orr

Bobby Orr was born and raised in Parry Sound and yesterday we went to the museum that bears his name.  It is co-located with the Charles W. Stockey Centre for the Performing Arts down on Bay Street across from the marina.

It is really a beautiful setting for the Centre and Museum.

I learned a lot about the sport of hockey and the impact Bobby Orr had on it.  He started playing at age four and went up through the ranks of the local hockey clubs and into the minor leagues before playing most of his career with the Boston Bruins.

He is ranked 1st all-time among defensemen in scoring and is considered one of the best hockey players ever.  He led the Boston Bruins to two National Hockey League Stanley Cup Championships in 1970 and 1972.

He won the Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and Outstanding Player of the Playoffs and League Leading Scorer honors.  He retired in 1978 due to knee injuries at the age of 31 and was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame in 1979.

The museum was a great collection of artifacts, pictures and information about his life and his accomplishments in hockey.  Within his museum he established a Bobby Orr Hall of Fame to recognize people in the region and acknowledge their achievements in Canada sports which I thought was pretty cool.

The museum also has a couple of interactive, hands-on hockey rinks for visitors to try.  It was really strange for me and I imagine it would be similar to someone picking up a golf club for the first time.  I had no sense of how to hold the hockey stick nor how to take a swipe at the puck.

He also has a community center named after him is quite an icon in Canada.  He participated in the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Vancouver this past winter carrying the Olympic flag.

After our time in the museum, we did some grocery shopping and went back to the Roadrunner at our KOA park campsite.  Earlier in the day I went for a lengthy run through the woods and was ready for some reading.  I continued with The National Dream before it was time for dinner.  We watched rookie sensation Stephen Strasburg as the Nationals beat the Reds 8-5.

That was our day in Parry Sound ~ thanks for viewing!

Tuesday in Parry Sound

First, we want to acknowledge our newest Followers:

Sandra

Rodney

Kay Davis

Thanks for joining us!  We appreciate it and look forward to your comments!

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Pam and I went into Parry Sound to mail some things to Adam while Kelly was finishing up her beauty sleep.  Parry Sound is a great little tourist town.  It is not too big but seems to have everything.  It has the special small town, well manicured, type of look-and-feel that makes it inviting ~ like a place you'd like to visit.

Parry Sound is on the eastern shore of the Georgian Bay about 145 miles north of Toronto.  It has almost 6,000 residents and is popular spot for South Ontario visitors.  It is also home to the worlds deepest natural freshwater port.

Near the Post Office we spotted a craft and farmer's market and went back to the Roadrunner to get Kelly.  While we were at it, we had lunch and returned to the city park.  Adjacent to the park is the old firestation

and the public library.

I stopped an talked with Wendel Messer who is an author.  His book The Conquest of Canada caught my eye and we talked.  He agreed to a picture and I said I'd mention him on the Roadrunner Chronicles.

I thought there were quite a few booths for a middle of the week event.  After that we walked around town for a while and checked out a few stores.

I noticed there is a Don Cherry Sports Bar in town.  I don't know that much about Canadian hockey but I recognized him as commentator during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Then we went down to the boat docks and marina

The Island Queen was just leaving port for an afternoon cruise around Parry Island.

We also stopped in the office of the Georgian Bay Airways which has an adjacent gift and ice cream shop.   While we were there, one of the planes taxied out into the harbor and took off.

Later, we grilled fish for dinner, ate outside on the picnic table and had tea while we sat around and enjoyed the evening.  It was an interesting day in Parry Sound and we are liking our stay here.

Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles.  And thanks for the comments!