August 17, 2012
DAY 1
First thing this morning we finished loading the car, which not to our surprise I packed to many clothes (hey, its hard to narrow down what to wear!) so we had to leave a few items behind (guess I’m not doing laundry because the detergent was one of the items). Then we had breakfast with a few family and friends before hitting the road. We drove from London to Tobermory, which the Tim Horton’s along the way were beneficial for pit stops. We didn’t really stop along the way except for washroom breaks, but some of the towns were quite quaint.
Solly is SO excited for the ferry!You have to arrive for the ferry 60 minutes in advance, which is a long wait, but once on the ferry the view is beautiful. The ferry ride is 1 hour and 45mins. We grabbed coffee and diet pop on the boat, which was not cheap. When walking to the front of the boat the wind is so strong you have to really push forward and not let it knock you over. Solly got awesome pictures of Cove Island Lighthouse, with the waves crashing on the rock face. Lake Huron is quite wavy and when in side I was getting a little seasick, it was better to be on the open deck even if it was really cold. We roamed the boat for a bit then just sat and enjoyed the view. The water crashing against the front of the boat was sometimes so big it would spray everyone who was staying there watching. We also broke into the bag of trail mix Nancy Shaver-Leforte gave us. Unfortunately, we didn’t keep it closed till day 3 like she predicted.
Cove Island Lighthouse Wind is strong and cool on the deck of the boat
When getting off the ferry, the drive across Manitoulin Island is quick and to get to the mainland you take the swing bridge north. On the main land, driving north on Hwy 6, it is insanely windy, but the view is freaking awesome. It’s hard to stay focused on the road, when you so badly watch to check out the giant rocks surrounding you. I had thought Espanol was closer than in actuality, which convinced me we were going in the wrong direction. We were suppose to be heading to Le Cloche Provincial Park, but the directions that google maps gave us sent us to a reserve. When I ran inside a store to ask about the park he said it didn’t exist. But then I asked if there was any local camping and he told me to head towards the waterfront. There was no “campgrounds”, but there was an unsupervised beach with picnic tables and another tent set up on it. We drove a bit longer, than decided lets just camp on the beach, we don’t have to pay and the view is awesome. Now we are relaxing, enjoying the waves crashing on the beach and eating Solly’s homemade lamb chili in the tent with a bottle of Pinot Grigio.
The Gun shot marks, made Solly sleep with a bat in the tent! No one is around and the beach is unsupervised, lets just camp here!