Summer Holiday Part 1

On today's post I will be sharing the first four days of our summer holiday. Then I'll recap the rest on Wednesday and Thursday.

We left our house last Thursday (the 22nd) bright and early, before 5:00 am.  That is our preferred way of doing things as you can get a lot of road behind you before things get busy and the kids can sort of sleep for the first few hours. 

This was the map for our entire trip.  It is amazing you can drive that far and still be in Ontario.  We can drive East and got through three provinces in the same amount of time. This was our final destination. 

We stopped for a few minutes in Parry Sound to eat our breakfast (egg sandwich bagels made that morning at home), for Q to get dressed, and to take a little break from driving. 

Pretty grey morning

Then Dave drove for a few more hours to Beharriell Park where we ate our packed lunch.  It was a  few minutes off the main highway but worth it so we could play on the beach for a few minutes. 

Dave washed the sand off the boys' feet and then carried them both back to the picnic table so they could be dried off before getting back into the car.

Then I drove to the rest of the day to our hotel in Wawa.  I guess it was a long time because the Volvo gave me this message a couple of times.

We had made really good time so we were able to stop into Old Woman Bay for a beach break.  It was gorgeous!

We got some ice cream cones and a few other provisions at Young's General Store and then went to visit the big goose.  This view was so pretty.

Mining culture in Wawa!

Our humble abode in Wawa, the Beaver Motel.  We ordered some pizza and ate it at the picnic tables at our hotel and then got to bed early.

On the road the next day before 5:00 am with a quick stop at Tim Horton's for coffee.

Our breakfast stop was Marathon, we just pulled over to a service station off the highway and ate our Tim Horton's.  

Then Q fell asleep for the next part of the drive.

More beautiful views that cannot be properly captured while driving. 

Silliness

We stopped outside of Thunder Bay to visit the Terry Fox Memorial.  It is a beautiful site and a great place to stop for a bite to eat, appreciate Terry Fox, and the views.  I was thoughtful on the highway as we approached the site knowing that it was here that Terry ran his last miles. 

We stopped in Thunder Bay to get our groceries and eat our lunch and then onto the last leg of our trip to Hyatt's Manion Lake Camp.  It is about three and a half hours west of Thunder Bay.  

After we pulled in and got settled on in our cabin (#3 for those that know), we broke out the fishing rods and took a dip off of our dock.

Over to the main lodge for supper.  This is my family so we get invited to hang out with them, but regular guests keep to their own cabins.  The decor here is unreal! Lots of creatures around. 

The kids did a bit more swimming.

The next morning was slightly grey, but we did a bit of fishing off the dock.  Cedar, the dog, was a big hit with the boys and she hung out with us a lot.

This is the stone on the ground at the foot of the dock.  I thought these colours would be something that would inspire Sarah Richardson to do an entire room. 

It rained a bit in the morning but then cleared up so we could go out fishing.

Dave and E getting their fishing rods ready.

Then we got into our boats. 

Dave's parents made the trip with us (in their own car, hence their non-appearance during the road trip portion of this post).

Ready to go!

We were having a fish fry that night so we all had to catch our own fish for dinner.  This was E's first fish that he caught ever.  He was pretty proud.

But it's a Northern Pike so we threw it back, not best for eating in the summertime.

Q was getting bored so I went back to shore with him.

E went out with the girls (Alex and Allison) and they taught him how to jig, he caught a few fish!

He ever made the Photo of the Day on the Hyatt's Camp website

I had caught my fish earlier in the day, a big bass. Since it was our first fish of the day I thought it was a walleye, oops!! But we still cut it up and ate it for supper.

The whole gang enjoying our fish fry. Too bad the lighting was going the wrong way.

Kids "table"

A beautiful evening on the lake.  We got to bed pretty early after a full day.