Cyprus Lake, Bruce Peninsula National Park of Canada

We left after my ball hockey game a week ago Tuesday (which now seems like ages ago) and arrived pretty late in Barrie at my sistar’s to drop off the dog. After a fairly long drive we arrived in the Tobermory region. It is quite nice here. Lots to do, hiking, biking, kayaking…. Upon arrving I could already tell we weren’t going to have enough time here to do everything we want to. We stopped in Hepworth at SunTrail to get a second kayak. It is a nice store, tons of outdoor gear, helpful staff.

We eventually made it to Bruce Peninsula National Park of Canada…it is a 5km drive in. It seemed like the longest 5km ever. In spite of being tired we forced ourselves to bike around the park. It is a beautiful rugged, dare I say Canadian looking area. We stopped at Cyprus Lake along one of park trails. A narrow but long beach with clear warm water and a sandy bottom. Awesome. The Bruce Trail also runs along the coast and connects with some of the park trails. The Bruce ran into ‘the Grotto…’ it was a interesting open cave right on the shoreline. The whole coast has the ‘northern Canadian painting character’ that has been replicated by tons of artists.

Thursday was pretty busy. We were eager to get kayaking – strangely… it was difficult to find a place to put the kayaks in the water on the Huron side near Hay Bay. (We were told Hay Bay would be a good area to go since it was fairly calm) Eventually we paid to put in at a local campground. The water in the bay was (as predicted) calm but as we got close to the edge of the bay it become much rougher. I felt pretty strange – even had touch of vertigo – which is an unsettling feeling when you are in the middle of a bay in a kayak. Gawd. Fortunately it passed and we toured around the west edge of the bay. After kayaking we drove into Tobermory and walked around.

There are all kinds of shops, we walked in a few art galleries as well. We rarely agree on art but we did on Thursday. We found a striking piece of a wind sweep tree in metal encased in a small piece of flag stone from the area. It is very evocative the area. We loved it. It came home with us. After our unexpected art winfall we grabbed some fish and chips. We watched a gull sit on the business beside the restaurant and wait for patrons to leave, it would then swoop down and raid whatever was leftover. It was a curious plan for a gull. When we were done eating we returned to the campsite for the evening. Disappointingly, it was starting to cloud over and rain. Bah. In spite of the crappy weather we chilled out near the fire with a few drinks. We played our first game of Gin Rummy together. Super Awesome Dave defeated whatever by 50 points. *flex* The fire was pretty small and didn’t cast much light on the campsite. Suddenly B. screamed… she claimed to have seen a raccoon. (I didn’t) and she said it hissed at her… (I heard nothing) *cough* I think this might become an x-file.

Friday was a driving day as we returned to Oro-Medonte. We stopped in Lion’s Head for ‘breakfast’. We wanted eggs and bacon but couldn’t find an ‘all-day’ breakfast place. *frown* It was crazy how busy the small towns in the area were. Gridlock in Owen Sound! Wiarton! Unreal… We stopped to get a pie at Fernwood Farm Market and ended up getting white chocolate raspberry scones which somehow fell from heaven and were for sale there. Amazing! We spent the rest of the afternoon at my sister’s.

The drive to Killaloe from Orillia seemed much quicker. It was pretty uneventful… even passing through Algonquin park. We did stop near Dwight for more baked goods however, Hell, it is vacation. *grin* … I’ll post Round Lake soonish. Just got home from a 5.5 hour drive. I’m bagged.