Our Excursion Through the Shield - Day 10

By JOHN LILIES & LANA CARBON

NOVEMBER 10TH, 2019

[John] We knew we would be in Thunder Bay for only a few days but that did not make it any easier to leave. Each time I leave this place, a part of my heart stays behind. I love being able to visit but it is always so hard to leave this place and these people behind. Kim, Tina, Nia, and Sia are such important people in our lives that it was particularly difficult to drive away on this day, having so enjoyed our stay and exploring so much with Kim.

Alas, our time came to depart and our first stop was only five-to-seven minutes from the hotel. Sia had insisted that we stop at a little coffee shop called The Persian Man, to experience a seriously sweet treat called a Persian. I suspect that for most people this pastry would taste sweet but as Lana and I have cut out 95% of processed sugar and desserts from our lives, this novelty was extra intense for us. The Persian is a sweet cinnamon pastry doughnut with a sort of strawberry flavoured cream icing.

It kind of tastes like a pumped up soft cinnamon bun. It was really yummy but it was oh so sugary. Lana managed two or three bites and left me to handle the rest.

[Lana] WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! THAT WAS REALLY GOOD! THAT WAS REALLY GOOD! THAT WAS REALLY GOOD!! MIGHT BE A BIT SWEET BUT IT’S TASTY! IT WAS A GOOD CALL TO STOP HERE! I THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE MORE! I THINK I'M DONE! Okay I Think I'm Crashing Now. Okay I'm just gonna... I'm just gonna... zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[John] Yeah. That. I finished it, but not without the sugar sweats after. I was grateful for the super strong coffee to counteract the sweet taste. Having said all of that, when in the Thunder Bay area, if you enjoy a sweet treat, we highly recommend visiting The Persian Man and tasting this unique dessert. This is so coveted in the area, I was amazed that despite my previous visits no one had told me about it until this trip. It was worth the sugar rush and I do wish that we could have them in the city so we could share the experience.

With sugar and caffeine speeding through our veins, we pulled out and began our trip back across the province; our final destination for this day was Cochrane, Ontario. Originally, the plan had been to drive to Kapuskasing (approximately six-and-a-half to seven hours east of Thunder Bay) but due to serious flooding in some of the remote First Nations communities north of Kapuskasing, the residents from those towns had been flown into Kapuskasing and surrounding areas to stay indefinitely. Hence, while in Thunder Bay we had received a call from our Kapuskasing hotel, telling us they had cancelled our reservation because they could no longer accommodate us. They helped us find the last room available in the area, but shortly after booking it we decided to cancel and instead we moved our overnight plans slightly further east to Cochrane (about another hour-and-a-half east of Kapuskasing), where there was a little more availability. A little, not much.

[Lana] I did feel bad for the victims of the flooding and it also showed us how fortunate we could be to find a room with only a couple of days' notice.

[John] Yes, this was definitely not something we had anticipated but we were grateful to find a room and know we would have a safe and secure roof over our heads for a night after a long drive. I could only imagine what it would be like to be forced from my town for an indefinite time and have to live in a hotel hundreds of kilometres away - and on average it happens every year.

So, upon leaving Thunder Bay our original plan had been to stop at Ouimet Canyon - a place that Kim had introduced me to some years ago and I instantly fell in love with it. However, as we mentioned in our previous installment, road construction and an unreliable detour forced us to defer this plan to our next trip. Instead, we made our way towards Nipigon, enjoying the ride and keeping a lookout for interesting things along the way.

[John] One of the roadside attractions we were specifically looking for before reaching Nipigon, was a wildlife mural in Dorion. We didn't know exactly where to find it, which should not surprise you by now, so we turned onto the one road (we think it was the main road) where we thought we may find it but guess what?!? No mural.

While finalizing this article, we happened upon this notice from the Dorion website. We were actually looking for something completely unrelated, so we laughed a bit when we saw this.

[John] So, we decided to continue on to Nipigon to revisit La Luna Café and hopefully show them our sassy deer photos.

La Luna was closed.

[Lana] Probably for the best - I would have made him pay an exorbitant fee for our sassy deer photos and he never would have sold that original sassy deer photo again. (Just teasing!)

[John] So, we walked around and took a couple of more photos and then hopped back in the car to top up Lucy's fuel tank and get ourselves some caffeine from the local Tim Horton's. We will visit La Luna again another time.

Our next goal was Beardmore. On the way, we passed Orient Bay / Lake Helen and the scenery was magnificent. It was hard to consider that we were driving east again, to make our way south and would be back in Toronto in just three more days.

[John] Arriving in Beardmore, our goal was to find the Giant Snowman. The Giant Snowman was really easy to find on the main strip and we even found a bonus Sasquatch! Ten points for Beardmore!

[Lana] At least! I'd give them 100! It is Sasquatch, after all.

[John] Moving on to Longlac, we went searching for the Coureurs de Bois (Canoe) which we found relatively easily, and a large horse statue which we did not locate (surprise!).

[John] From Longlac we travelled to Hearst. We briefly stopped for a stretch at the Pitopiko River rest stop and not long after continuing east from there... BEAR!

As we were driving along, I was noticing just how many uprooted trees there were on the north side of the road and just how dark the soil/root combination was. Suddenly, I saw a large, dark formation that I noted to be much darker and realized it was moving. "Bear!! There's a bear! It's a bear! Baby, there's a bear!"

Just west of Nagagami River, there was a large black bear grazing on the grassy narrow north of the highway - not right next to the road but close enough for us to take some zoomed-in photos from the car... until it noticed us and took a couple of steps towards the highway. The last thing we wanted was to be responsible for harm to an animal and/or human, so instead of risking harm to the bear should it continue to the road, we moved on and expressed our gratitude, wishing the bear a happy day as we headed to Hearst.

[Lana] This was the closest I'd ever been to a wild, free bear. Um... it was big... and I was glad for the distance between us. But it was very cool to see.

[John] When we sent the pictures to our TBay family, Kim and Tina both exclaimed that it looked like a very healthy bear. As they are familiar with bears up there, I understood this to mean we had an encounter with a significant fellow.

In Hearst we were searching for a display of two massive moose statues with two giant wolf statues. These were relatively easy to find as they were on the property of the tourist information centre. We first became aware of these sculptures a handful of years ago, when Ma, Pa, and Brother Carbon did a road trip through the area. Sadly, years later when we made it there, the wolves were gone. From the vague details we were able to gain from one of the employees at the centre, the wolves had possibly been removed for maintenance and repair but the employee wasn't too sure about them so it seemed to really be just a guess.

[Lana] I did email the town afterwards and the wolves were definitely out for regular maintenance at the time.

[John] We also found the giant saw we were looking for, and the big tin man. The tin man was not what I was expecting... it was a large tin man to be sure, but was really just a big tin hockey player on a store front.

[John] We had planned to check out Naja Trading Post Plus but you should know us well enough by now to know that the shop was closed when we got there. Like La Luna Café in Nipigon, the Naja Trading Post in Hearst is closed on Mondays.

After our little exploration of Hearst, we drove on to Kapuskasing. On the way, we stopped in Mattice to see the Voyageur of Mattice. Then we stopped in Opasatika for the big walleye statue.

[Lana] This will be a big shock for everybody... we found them both!!!

[John] Arriving in Kapuskasing, we were trying to locate Muskwa, the big bear statue. From our research, we were certain it was supposed to be at the information centre but we didn't find it there. We did, however, find the Passage Through Time display at the information centre. Kapuskasing was busy and there was a fair bit of road construction, which made driving around a bit awkward. Between that and fighting the clock to make another few finds before landing in Cochrane, we decided to push on and abandon the Kapuskasing exploration.

[John] We drove on to Moonbeam to find the UFO monument we were determined to visit. We happily found it easily, though sadly but not surprisingly, the information centre/gift shop was closed. Lana was so upset because he so badly wanted to get a proper Moonbeam UFO souvenir but he had to be satisfied with pictures looking in through the windows.

[Lana] This was supposed to be the highlight of the trip for all roadside attractions! And, while yes, the attraction itself was awesome, not one plush alien stuffed toy... not one extraterrestrial key chain... not one baseball cap with antennae... not even a UFO postcard... damn you, gift shop!!

Wait... do you think they were abducted?

[John] Probably.

Leaving behind the flying saucer, we made our way to Fauquier to find the giant groundhog, which looked a bit scary. We know it's supposed to be a groundhog but, well, maybe one of nightmares?

[Lana] Are you sure that was a groundhog? That looked like something that got hit by a nuclear attack!

[John] Well I wouldn't go quite that far...

[Lana] You should!

[John] From the groundhog of your deepest and scariest rodent night terrors, we travelled to Smooth Rock Falls to find the moose at the Moose Motel. We found it fairly easily but it had seen better days; it only had one antler. Smooth Rock must be a tough place to exist.

[John] And on to Cochrane, where we didn't realize we had booked a room at a wee motel. Not a big deal at all, it just wasn't what we'd expected. The motel was clean enough but the other guests were all seemingly a group and were chilling loudly with a lot of beer - for the entire evening. They were quite a rambunctious lot and not at all what we had thought we'd signed up for.

But, it was only one night and they did quiet down at a decent enough time. Though, it was a little unnerving when they were pounding around so loudly that we thought a couple of them would end up through our wall or into a window of our car. They were neither a coordinated nor graceful group of drunken men.

Closing out our day of (mis)adventures, we watched hockey as we settled for the night - me falling asleep relatively quickly from sheer exhaustion and Lana working furiously away on the laptop, uploading and organizing the many photos from the day. We were quite excited for our planned morning adventure.

Thanks for coming along with us, friends! Stay tuned for Day 11!

Our Excursion Through the Shield - Days 8 & 9

By JOHN LILIES & LANA CARBON

NOVEMBER 9TH, 2019

We're well delayed on getting this one out - we hope you can forgive us... 31 movies seems to take up a fair bit of time. But, now here's another installment from our May 2019 roadtrip series... 

Day 8 - Thunder Bay, May 25/19

[John] This was another great day of roaming around the area with Kim Gnarl as our personal chauffeur.

[Lana] And no... he wouldn't let me stop anyone to ask if they had any Grey Poupon.

[John] Ha. Poor you.

[Lana] That's okay... I don't like it anyway.

[John] Oy.

After meeting up at Kim's house and starting the day with a nice coffee, we headed to the Mount McKay (Animikii-wajiw) Scenic Lookout to take in another spectacular view.

[John] Situated on Fort William First Nation land, Animikii-wajiw is approximately 1,000 feet tall and half-way up is a wonderful viewing area. Here, we took in an incredible view of Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, and of course Sleeping Giant. We had an amazing view of clouds rolling in from the lake and honestly, I could have stood there for hours just breathing in the scenery. The energy and history in this area is palpable and it was really hard to leave. If we'd had time, I'd have loved a good hike on one of the trails here but after some time to take in the view and learn some of the history, we had to move on. I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that while this is a beautiful tourist lookout, it is truly a spiritual centre for the Ojibwe of Fort William First Nation.

[John] From Animikii-wajiw, we moved on to Chippewa Park which had a zoo that closed in 2017. Kim just wanted to show us the park and he pulled into where the zoo entrance still exists, while telling us about it closing down. The zoo was unable to get the necessary funding to keep the animals in a healthy state; city officials felt a zoo wasn't necessary for displaying caged animals, when it was already in northern Ontario where they were surrounded by wildlife one could see quite easily just by looking around. Thus, they felt that funding a zoo was not in the best interest of citizens or animals.

[Lana] There were some cool polar bear statues at the gate that were showing the wear of time and neglect. It's always sad to see an attraction fall by the way side. Hopefully there will still be places in this physical world for our youth to be able to see animals beyond the world of the media.

[John] This is where I disagree. I'm not a fan of zoos and I don't think they're really that necessary, especially because of the age of the internet. I think we can survive just fine by watching and researching online footage of animals anywhere in the world and if we want or need to experience them in person, we can travel to do so. I agree with the Thunder Bay officials who stated that there isn't a reason to keep bears and moose in a cage on the same land where they roam free.

After Chippewa Park we went to Fort William. This is a heritage museum, such as a pioneer village. We knew it was closed at the time, as a result of Mother Nature having had a rough spring. The museum management had to delay the season opening because the property wasn't yet safe for the public to visit. But, Kim drove us down to the gate so Lana could get whatever pictures might have been possible from there.

[Lana] We couldn't see much from where we sat, though I really appreciate Kim trying to get us there. We got some shots of the main building but without getting through the gate, there wasn't much we could do.

[John] Two of our roadside attractions were located here - a polar bear statue and a bald eagle statue. Kim had hoped that taking us to the gate would give us an opportunity to see them but alas, no such luck. These are two attractions we have to postpone until our next visit.

Moving on to Kakabeka Falls (Niagara of the North), we were able to enjoy an open dam that allowed the water to flow at full force. I had been there a couple of times before but the water was never flowing this freely, so this was a nice treat for us. We spent some time here, walking around and taking a lot of pictures. I have to say that I was really enjoying my time with my guy and my chosen brother. This day was truly a happy one for me.

[Lana] I love waterfalls and this was one of my favourites on the whole trip. They had a nice set-up so that you could view the falls and where you could take good pictures. As the water flowed around a huge rock protrusion, it made me forget about the people around me and allowed me to feel like I was alone and a part of nature.

[John] Um... gee... thanks? So happy we could help you forget about us being there with you.

[Lana] I did say I appreciated it...

[John] Ha, yes you did.

Here’s John taking in the beauty of Kakabeka.

[John] We continued on to a little pharmacy store gift shop for a couple of souvenirs for our loved ones and we helped Kim pick out a jacket on sale. (The jacket looked really cool on him and was such a good price!) Then, we drove up to a natural spring that Kim used to go to for water. He hadn't been there in ages, but it was still ready for us to fill our bottles with yummy, cold spring water. This was a real treat for me and Lana and saved us from having to buy another jug of water for the remainder of our trip.

[Lana] You don't realize how good water is until you drink some without a chemical taste in it.

[John] It was a bit nerve-wracking watching Kim and Lana navigate a rickety wooden plank path from the rough roadside over the tiny creek. It was only a few feet long but it wasn't stable and I just kept hoping that no one would roll an ankle or twist a knee in the process. I was so grateful when the guys finished up unscathed.

[Lana] I really don't know what John was worried about. We were all safe and sound and all was just fine.

[John] Guaranteed, if you and I had switched places, you would have been worrying about me on those planks.

[Lana] What's good for the goose is not always good for the gander.

[John] Yeah, yeah.

[Lana] *wink and a gun pose*

[John] Oh boy.

We returned Kim to his house so he could chill out for a bit and we went back to the hotel for a wee nap. I hadn't been feeling well and Lana was fighting a bad migraine so we decided on some rest before returning to the house for the Raptors game. When we woke up from our nap, sadly Lana was no better and had to opt for staying at the hotel while I went back to Kim's house for the game. This was an exciting night for our Raptors and ended up being the night that put them through to the finals. Kim's awesome wife, Tina, joined us for most of the game after she finished her work shift. Tina and Kim both do shift work and this week was one that Kim was off but Tina was working a lot, so we didn't get to see her too much. Enjoying the game with them was really fun and via text we were able to share our thoughts and excited proclamations with Lana (who was trying to watch what he could manage at the hotel), the bonus mommy who was watching back at home, and Kim's nephew in Toronto who was also intent on watching our Raps take the game.

[Lana] I was so sad! I so badly wanted to go and watch the game with everybody! I had never been a basketball fan and this year our Raps were changing this for me. (Yep... I jumped on the bandwagon.) But, I could barely keep my eyes open. The smallest amount of light just hurt so much, so I had to settle for laying there listening to the game, and trying to read the texts as they came in. I was texting back super brief answers which mostly consisted of, "Yay!" because the team was winning. Our Raps took that series that night.

[John] I, too, jumped on the Raptors bandwagon and that night, discovered a love for basketball - not just the Raptors - but basketball as a whole. I was looking forward to the finals and returned to the hotel flying high from the excitement. Poor Lana was feeling so out of it from his migraine but was so happy from the game that he was struggling... trying to contain his excitement so as not to worsen the pain but wanting so badly to celebrate the win that he couldn't settle properly. It took us a while, but we eventually fell into a good sleep for the night, looking forward to what our final day in Thunder Bay would bring but sad it would be our last day.

Day 9 - May 26/19

[John] Though Lana still wasn't at 100%, he pushed himself to join in on our last day with Kim and the gang.

Kim took us to the Botanical Conservatory where we got to check out some pretty plants and flowers. We had some fun goofing off there, and it was nice to see how much amethyst is incorporated into the rock structures. For those of you who may not know, the Thunder Bay region is well known for its amethyst; it is actually considered the heart of amethyst country up here. There is a significant amount of amethyst in Thunder Bay and along the north shore of Lake Superior. There are many amethyst mines in the area and backyards are not a bad place to find your gems when you live there. I love seeing it everywhere and in the Conservatory it added a special feeling to the place.

[Lana] Although my thumb is not exactly green - it is, in fact, more of a withered brown - I did find that the plants were very interesting and cool to look at. All the diverse species almost gave me a feeling as though I was walking through an ancient time just from the sheer size of some of the flora. In my head, I was totally hearing Pa Lilies explaining each one and how best to landscape them in his yard... "This type of soil... this type of lighting... oh it's way too cold for this one... I'm surprised this can grow here!"...

[John] Oh my gosh, he totally would have done that!! Love you, Dad!

[Lana] Love you too, Pa Lilies!

[John] This place was cool and we got to take some neat pictures of the different shapes and textures found in the plants. Maybe we also took some goofy pictures of each other.

[Lana] We wouldn't do that, would we?

[John] No, you're right. We took completely ridiculous pictures of each other.

We really did have a nice, relaxing time. There was a couple sitting on a bench in the Conservatory, that we came across as we were leaving, and it was the first time I realized how free some people feel now that marijuana is legal in Canada. Now, smoking weed is still illegal in non-smoking areas so they shouldn't have been enjoying their substance inside where they were, but they were not concerned about it and wow was it strong! It was nice to see them having a good time.

After our time at the Bontanical Conservatory, Kim drove us around town looking for our standard souvenir requirements. Unfortunately, Sundays in Thunder Bay mean that not much is open and so we were unable to find anything to carry home with us. However, we struck a deal with Kim - he was wanting a Toronto Raptors hat and so we agreed that we would send Raps gear for the family after we arrived back at home, and Kim would send us the Thunder Bay souvenirs we were looking for.

[Lana] Thinking that Thunder Bay is a hub of the north, I didn't think that it would be so difficult to find souvenirs even on a Sunday. Apparently, I was mistaken.

[John] Yes, I'm so accustomed to living in a city where everything is open all the time, I hadn't even considered that shops would be closed on a Sunday. Definitely a learning experience for me.

So, empty-handed but with a plan in place, we made our way back to Kim's house to meet up with the rest of the family for the remainder of the day.

Kim, Tina, Nia, and Sia were all around for our final afternoon and so we were able to have a little bit of down time with them. This was a nice way to end our time there, though it was the day that the black flies decided to emerge and thus some bites were received before we made it back to the hotel. Bites that lasted for quite a few weeks after, I might add... darn black flies.

Knowing we would have another early morning and a long, extended day of driving back across the province, we bid an early goodnight and settled in for a decent rest. It was really difficult for me to say our "see ya laters" to the gang but it is something I have come to accept.

While writing up these two days of travels, we realized that we neglected to mention a couple of the roadside attractions we saw on Day 7, so here is a little run-down of those...

There was a stone fence that Lana really wanted to see - a small stone wall that had animals built into it. Despite the fact that Kim doesn't get to travel much around the city because of his schedule, he still knew precisely where the wall was and took us straight there. Sure enough, it was what Lana was looking for and he took his pictures, though it was a struggle. We had to situate ourselves in the parking lot where the fence can be found, which meant facing the road to take photos and so, the pictures were not the best or easiest to manage.

Also, while driving to Mission Island Marsh, we crossed a little bridge that had on both sides of the bridge railing, hand-crafted iron fish. These were also tough to take pictures of but Kim did his best to slow down and safely give Lana time to get some shots. (Lana tends to do the majority of picture-taking, as I usually wait until the mood strikes me and I can get up close to the subject.)

[John] Some of the things we missed out on during this trip were Trowbridge Falls (the location made it tough on our way out of town with our timing, so that will be on the list for our next trip in), Ouimet Canyon (the main road was under construction and Kim advised us against the detour with our little car and not knowing the roads, so that one will definitely need to happen on our next trip), and we didn't find the Moose Hunters sculpture we had also been wanting.

[Lana] Maybe next time we go, the Sleeping Giant will be awake! The guy slept the entire time we were there!

[John] Judging from the stories, you wouldn’t want him awake.

Writing this article made us realize that we really don’t know the tales of Sleeping Giant, so Lana decided to do some research on it and other attractions in the area. Please click here to read that supplemental article.

Well friends… that’s it for this one. Stay tuned for when we leave Thunder Bay. Thank you for joining us!

[Lana] Nia made a quick visit to Toronto in August and brought with him the collectible goodies that Kim had promised us. We are thoroughly happy with them. Thanks TBay family!