My cousins and I checked out Manitoulin Island a couple of years ago – it was nice, but I didn’t really know it, so I found it, well, fine.  Just fine.  (Granted, we were in small towns in Northern Ontario on a Sunday/Monday with many a closed shop, so I may not have given it a fair chance.)

Well this time, we inadvertently headed in a different direction after getting off the ferry, and my oh my, what a beautiful island!  The shale & sand beaches at Providence Bay are stunning, and the town of Gore Bay is an absolute delight.  The highlights?  Mutchmor Art Centre in Providence Bay and Purvis Fish & Chips in Gore Bay.  Oh, and the white-tailed deer wandering the streets of the town.

We were staying at a lovely Harvest Host farm (Farmer Ted’s) and ended up buying several of his photographic greeting cards and some jams & jellies.

Bridal Veil Falls was closed due to high waters (bummer), but the views along the east coast of the island were spectacular.  An absolutely delish pear pizza and pear salad lunch at The Dockside more than made up for the fact that the one restaurant I had been anticipating (North 46) only serves its Indigenous menu in the evenings.

I feel I may have unintentionally shortchanged my cousins.  Oh dear.

A great sail on the glass-bottomed boat out over the sunken ships and past Flower Pot Island.  I remember Flower Pot from my childhood, and my sisters and I would swear the island was absolutely littered in sea stacks (flower pots), but it turns out there are only two.  But those two are truly magnificent, as is the shoreline around them.  As I said, a great sail – a lovely afternoon.

The next morning we were to get on the Chi Cheemaun Ferry.  We arrived early, chatted up the ferry staff and headed to the main check-in booth.  Everything was fine: we were in good time, the propane tank was regulation and turned off, and the head count was correct.  Just one tiny hitch: I had booked the ferry for the following day.  Oh dear.  How unlike me (shut up).

But I’m telling you – it pays to be friendly to staff, receptionists, clerks, attendants, crew, etc…  Our new buddy Steve did some clicking on his computer and – voilà – we have a spot on the next boat.  Yay!!!

I was a little tense about driving on and driving off the boat, but it truly was straightforward – no problems at all. 

Lovely sail across to Manitoulin – the Chi Cheemaun is a very nice ferry.

Heading up the Bruce Peninsula.  In the 70s my family camped near beautiful Lion’s Head.  When my sister heard I would be heading that way she suggested I visit her friend, a painter who has her own gallery in Lion’s Head.  Okay, sounds good; I like galleries.

Sibling #2 may have mentioned the gallery more than once, so it really seemed like a good idea.  We plugged the address into Google and off we went.   BN did not want me to turn down the narrow lane towards the gallery, but I blithely assured her we would be fine – my sister would never send me anywhere inaccessible.  Yeah, right.

The lane was getting narrower and narrower, with the shrubs and tree branches scraping more and more.  We started watching for a driveway to turn around in, but they were all short, narrow, and at a <90° angle. Then an oncoming car – crap.  The driver was very understanding as she squeaked by, with me mouthing, “I’m so sorry!” through the windshield.  We passed Laura’s friend’s gallery with no discernible driveway (stupid gallery), and continued on.  Finally we reached the end where, thank heavens, there was a wider gravelly area.  BN hopped out and directed me in a 17-point turn, and then climbed backed in and we headed back the way we came, praying there would be no oncoming cars.  She actually said, as we re-passed the gallery, “Did you still want to stop and go in?”  I just gave her a look, and we carried on.

I will get even with my sister.  Someday.

This morning was an early start – on Saturday my friend BN, who is joining me for the first two weeks of the trip, brought over a bunch of her gear, and some food.  Dear God, the food!  My fridge and freezer are each jam-packed, and there’s at least 3 grocery bags of dry goods on the dining room table.  Okay, that’s great – it’s good to be well prepared.  But then yesterday she texted me to ask if I liked sauerkraut.  Yes, as a matter of fact I do, but that’s not the point.  My question is – where on earth are we going to put it?  Sauerkraut? We already have more chicken, salmon, rice, and celery than you can shake a stick at. Seriously, this woman could train survivalists on how to stock their bunkers.

But back to our get-away this morning – we aimed for a 9am departure and we did it.  That was due to the fact that both of us were up before 5am – we were exhausted before we even started.

Beautiful day, beautiful drive.  Port Elgin was cute but as it was a Monday – pretty much everything was closed.  On to Southampton – great lunch at Minh’s Vietnamese, then some shopping.

Red Bay Campground – the host was probably the chattiest campground staffer we’d ever met – lovely lady, but after 20 minutes of idle chatter, we both wanted to get to the bathroom.

BN spent three years in an RV across North America, but she seems to have forgotten how to get into an over-cab bed (‘nuff said on that subject – thank goodness there were no photos!).

I leave tomorrow, coming back at Thanksgiving.  Did a run-through of the house with my nephews, explaining the quirks of the house (don’t over-crank the casement windows, be gentle with the re-cycling bins under the sink, remember to empty the clippings-catcher in the lawn mower).

I’ve stored away most of my clothes and toiletries and told them they can eat and drink anything they want (except my wine!).

Finished the ironing, and watered my planters at 11pm. 

Tomorrow is an early start. Oh boy.

This is not quite as dramatic a move as the relocation to Orkney was, but I am still moving out of this house, and I have tenants moving in.

Later this week I leave for a three-month tour of eastern Canada, getting home at Thanksgiving.  Rather than leave the house empty, two of my nephews are moving in.  So as well as booking all my stays in 5 different provinces for the next 13 weeks, I am packing enough clothing and gear to get me through a hot Ontario summer and a cool Maritime fall, AND getting the house ready for the boys.  Never a dull moment.

(This all would probably have easier had I not spent last night sitting drinking wine with the neighbours until the wee hours of the morning.)

The last night of our vacation was the Saturday before Canada Day. Mid-afternoon I received a text from the campground (they do that now – you get texts reminding you of the upcoming hay ride, or the ice cream sundaes at the shop, or a volleyball game) letting us know that the fireworks display would start just across the campgound from our site at 9:15.

At ten past nine we climbed into the driver’s & passenger’s seats and settled in. I thought it would be two starbursts, a burning schoolhouse, and a handful of sparklers. But it was quite impressive – a 20+ minute display of professional fireworks.

What a terrific send-off for our last day.

There was a time, a very brief time, where two friends and I considered all buying a motorhome together, and travelling North America (all of us, plus two large dogs and a cat).  Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed, and they bought the RV themselves while I was in Scotland, and the two of them had a great time.

I am seeing first hand just how much better two travelling together is than three, at least in an RV.  My sisters and I are very close, and we’re certainly not getting on each other’s’ nerves this week (well I say that, but for all I know I’m driving the two of them crazy), but it is cosy.  The youngest was landed with the dining table and benches as her bed (the lot of the youngest), and she has to take down and put up her bed twice a day.  Her bedding gets piled on my bed, until we have to pull in the slide, when everything then has to be re-adjusted (I think that’s how I lost my new earbuds).  Middle sister has the over-cab bed behind a little curtain, which at least involves no daily set up or take down. But she does have to climb up and down every time she wants something, and all her clothes, books, etc.. are just piled up at one end of her bed. So she has to scrabble through piles every time she wants something. There’s hooks for two towels in the bathroom, but we’re three people, so one bath towel is hanging from a cupboard handle.  There are shoes everywhere.  And whoever is last out in the morning gets the crappy lawnchair. 

I’m not complaining, not at all.  I’m simply realising that while three sisters for 8 days is a minor inconvenience, three friends for two years could have been a tad awkward.

Having said all that, I would have loved to have had at least one trip in their beautiful Class A.  As it was, I got to see it on its last day before being sold.

I grew up (at least part of my childhood) in Kingston and I remember the 1,000 Islands very well (I even did a project about them in Grade 5).  Yesterday we did a boat tour of the islands, and it was much as I remember: beautiful islands and isles with granite hills and huge trees; marinas with an insane number of boats; and some of the most amazing ‘cottages’ I have ever seen – perfect weather, smooth sailing, and a prime seat on the upper deck.

And, unlike another three-hour tour, we made it back safe & sound and on time, to Gananoque in time to pick up some desserts at the Pistachio Café.

In our down time, middle sister did a lot of crosswords, I did a lot of sudoku, and my youngest sister did a lot of pencil sketches. I was very impressed with her drawing of Boldt Castle’s power station.

She did a number of drawings from the trip – I liked her seagull, but she wasn’t so sure – you can see them on Instagram @ mandywebsterart

We grew up staying at KOAs in our family’s 19’ Citation trailer.  Camping purists sneer at them but I don’t care – they’re clean, they’re accessible, they’re convenient, and often they’re quite lovely.  And as my sisters noted, they’re now much fancier than in the 70s!  I’ve stayed here before and would stay again.

(I’m sitting typing this at 8:30 in the morning – in my line of sight there is a row of five rigs (trailers & motorhomes) and almost simultaneously, five men stepped out (one from each unit), all dressed in what must be the older-man’s camping uniform (light coloured t-shirt & dark pants or shorts), and starting hooking up and unhooking things.  It’s like a little ritual.) *30 minutes later: almost like a choreographed dance, each one pulled out of their site, one-by-one, about 3 minutes apart – I hope to achieve that level of RV-zen some day.

And, now that I think of it, yesterday afternoon at around 5pm a large pick-up truck with a company logo of some sort on the side and a back-up beep-beep alert pulled into the little parking area across from us, and four guys in work clothes and hi-viz vests got out.  At first I assumed they worked here, but then I saw them walk off towards a trailer.  Didn’t give it much more thought until this morning, when I saw them pile into the truck (still work gear & hi-viz) and drive off the campground.  Do you suppose they are a work crew, and they live in a trailer & share park expenses while they’re on a job?  More to come . . .