October 1, 2004 –

Drove into Sudbury this morning and with some fancy navigating on Deb’s part found our way to Dynamic Earth (the Big Nickel). They were doing a lot of road construction, and the place was almost impossible to get to. The boys seemed to love their experience underground and seeing what mining was like. Being the only kids on the tour – they were able to help pack holes with dynamite for the explosion, and operate the remote controls on the automated mining equipment. The amount of re-vitalization of the vegetation that they have done around Sudbury is surprising (they have planted about 4 million trees).   Sure looked different than the “moonscape” that Pat remembered as a kid. However, the big smoke stacks still stand out against the skyline.

We continue down the road to Perry Sound – and made a brief stop to look around this picturesque community. We ended up staying the night at a KOA about 10 minutes out of town. Would have been a very beautiful and quiet site had it not been that there was a competitive Quad race preparing to their race and meet the next day. The campground was full of big motor homes pulling shop trailers with three or more Quads in them. They were for the most part very quiet and respectful coming back into the campground at 11:00 PM after their opening night social.

The area around the campground was full of a variety of trees – all at different stages of changing colour. Mickey and Keelan collected a number of leaves and made a collage of all the different colours that they found on our 1/2 hour walk.

October 2, 2004 –

Woke up to rain this morning – which meant that we got a little damp packing up camp. This is our first morning where the weather has not been cooperative – however it cleared up by noon and turned into a nice day.

We stopped at one of the big roadside gas stations and service centers for gas. Ended up grabbing a bite at a huge McDonalds (4 levels with lots of different seating sections) – our first fast food meal for the trip.

Sue and Andy Sutherland have invited us to their place in Paris, Ontario. We had a wonderful spot to plug in our rig – just beside their old barn and were very comfortable. They have a big house – with more than enough room for us to stay in – in fact the guest room and bathroom that they offered is bigger than our motor home. However we like the fact that we know where everything is in the motor home – and feel like less of an intrusion. Had a wonderful visit – and the boys and their two girls (Sarah and Jennifer) got along really well – and now it seems like the third generation of the Boyle / Hadley clan are going to become friends as well.

 

October 3, 2004

Mick and Keelan stayed behind with the Sutherland girls and played for the day – flying kites, etc. while Deb and Pat went into Cambridge to do some looking around at a flea market (picking up some used books as we seem to have a lot of time in the evening to read). Spent the rest of the day just relaxing and visiting.

October 4, 2004 –

Today was a full day in Niagara Falls. We spent the day walking around the falls and the tourist traps in the area. Went on the walk behind the falls – but the cable car was not running due to the high winds. We decided not to go on the Maid of the Mist (boat) due to how cool it was – and figured that we got wet enough behind the falls.

After finishing with the falls themselves, we walked through the tourist traps (capitalism at its best) like the Hark Rock Cafe, Haunted Houses, Amusement Arcades, MGM, Hershey’s, Wax Museums, and Ripley’s. Kids did a couple of rides at one arcade – but were general satisfied to just walk and look around.

In the afternoon we drove down to Niagara on the Lake and through the estate wineries. Found a great little Chinese buffet to eat at (away from the tourist area) that was both reasonable and had good food. By the time we got back to the falls – it was dark and the falls were all lit up in ever changing light patterns. Although the kids were initially not keen in staying this long – they said seeing it at night was the best part. Pulled back into the Sutherlands driveway about 10:30 that night – and Keelan had fallen asleep on the way home … too much walking I guess.

October 5, 2004 –

Mickey and Mom decided to stay in Paris today and have a lazy day – while Keelan and Dad went off to Toronto to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Just about didn’t make it as we had a car spin out of control. It started of behind the Suzuki and did one complete revolution as it passed us (Dad had seen it occurring in the rear view mirror and had taken efforts to avoid the car) and then two revolutions before it ended up in front and on the side of the road. Four lanes of traffic and she didn’t touch a soul. She and we were very lucky.

The Hockey Hall of fame was great – and Keelan managed to score a couple of goals playing against a video image of Eddie Balfour. He also tied his hand at announcing some classic replays and doing video editing.

Throughout the trip – Keelan was a great little navigator – watching for signs – and turn-offs. Despite everything that Keelan saw and how much he wanted to see the Hockey Hall of Fame – his main concern was to get home in time to play with the girls.

October 6, 2004 –

We headed off on a road trip today – with no particular plan. Ended up traveling through Ingersoll – home of the world record for making the largest cheese – 7000 lbs. Went through their little community museum – where the kids learned all about cheese making. From there we headed down through Tillsenberg and Delhi – tobacco country and the home town of “Uncle Frank”. Most of the tobacco was off the fields – but the kids were able to see some of the plants and drying kilns. The area seems to be moving over to more ginseng production than tobacco.

October 7, 2004 –

Time to load up the motor home and move on again. We will be hooking up with the Hadley / Sutherland clan for Thanksgiving in Ottawa – but are taking a couple of days in Kingston first. We ended up driving down Hwy 401 through Toronto and on to Kingston. Stopped into the Pickering Nuclear Plant for a tour – but after having the security guard escort us to a back lot (area big enough to park our rig) and then give us a ride to the Info Centre – we and he discovered that it was closed due to a special Ontario Power Employee function … media coverage and all. So, we continued back down the 401 to the Darlington Nuclear Plant – which is smaller than Pickering. However we were able to get a bit of a tour and some information on nuclear generation for the kids. Darlington and Ontario Power do a real nice public relations job, building a park like setting around the facility and highlighting all the wildlife in the area. There are hiking and biking trails – and baseball diamonds and soccer pitches placed in beautifully treed settings – all surrounding the Nuclear Plant.

Found a great campground just outside of Kingston. We seemed to be the only travelers at this time – but there are probably 100 permanent trailers here. The campground had several big ponds and was beside a large lake (part of the Rideau Canal Network). As a result there were all types of ducks and geese wandering around the campground – most of which seemed to never leave – and were very possessive of their areas. Seems like a pretty nice spot – so we will probably stay here a few days and use this as a base of operations.   It is also the first time we have been able to use our “Passport America” camping membership – therefore costs are half price from the posted rates.