Lake Superior trip

Pre-Covid our plan was to circumnavigate the Great Lakes.  Sounds ambitious and it was, but the lakes are so important to life in this part of Canada and we have seen part of all of them but never all at once. Border shutdowns put an end to that plan, and even though the borders have now re-opened it is surprising how tenuous that still feels. Crossing the border has always been simple, more of a nuisance than anything else, but now feels like such an obstacle that we would prefer to remain in Canada unless necessary.

As a compromise we decided to do what is undoubtedly the most iconic Canadian part, the north shores of Lakes Huron and Superior. It will be like spending some quality time with the Group of Seven. Although we have several Group of Seven prints in our house (apparently 11 in total) we took a trip to the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg as part of our preparations for our trip. They have an extensive collection of Group of Seven paintings, plus Tom Thomson and other Canadian art, in a beautiful setting. They also have the cabin that Tom Thomson used to paint in Toronto, and surprisingly a small cemetery with 6 of the original artists buried there complete with granite headstones.

We have our maps and apps ready and the trip planned out, heading to Tobermory on the first day in order to take the Chi Cheemaun ferry to Manitoulin Island and start out trip that way, rather than up the 400 which is the route we take regularly to the cottage. Then on to Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay, both places I have passed through on the drive out West but have never actually explored. It should be fun!