As we leave St Ignace and head further north up through the Upper Peninsular I have to admit to feeling mixed emotions. So sad to think we are a month out of the end of our amazing adventure, yet so excited to get back to Lindsay to see, hold and cuddle the little people.
It seemed so fitting that for the country I call the “Land of Bridges”, that again the border crossing was another bridge. As we crossed the bridge over into Canada at Sault Ste. Marie I stared down on the massive locks (The Soo Locks) built in 1855 that help ships overcome a height difference of 21 feet between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Apparently they are the largest and one of the busiest waterway traffic systems in the world.
As I looked down from the bridge at not only the locks but the two cities of Sault Ste. Marie I wandered how confusing it was for the citizens when half of the city is Canadian and the other half are American. It was one city up until 1812 when the Canadian and United States border was established, so I guess they have had plenty of time to get use to it. But think about it, if you lived in one country and worked in another country, 5 minutes down the road. How confusing is that.
I now fully understand why this part of the world attracts so many visitors at this time of the year as every mile as we travelled further north the colours all around us were becoming richer and deeper. It seemed with every corner you turn there was a WOW moment. Just stunning. The yellows, oranges, golds, reds, and the rusty/pinky/scarlett colour that is so hard to explain all intermingled with the green firs. You really could believe you were in a magical land. My thought was, this path was paved so magically at this time of the year as it is the path leading to the magical land where Santa lives.
Our campground for the night was at Spragge, Ontario on the banks of the Serpent River. The weather has not been so nice the last few days. Along with the campground being in the process of packing up for the winter, it all seemed a little drab. Our thoughts of exploring the area for the afternoon didn’t happen either, as all this town consisted of was a car dealership, a diner across the road and the Campground which also doubled as the town store. So not a lot to see around here apart from soaking up the beautiful colours along the Serpent River.
We woke the next morning to the sun shining and the day heating up from the low single figures. With the sun shinning and the sky blue and clear the colours on the surrounding hill sides popped even more.
Driving further north through miles and miles of colour, certainly did feel like we had fallen in to a tapestry of colour. As with the day before, with every corner we turned it felt like we experienced another wow moment. Even the little towns we drove through were dressed up like fairy tale places with all the trees and their leaves painting them so beautifully and not to forget all the halloween decorations starting to appear.
We arrived a little over awed by it all at our campground on the shore of Lake Nipissing in the town of North Bay. This was a over night stop and after discovering this place, and as we sat on the lake edge and watched the sun setting over the lake we wished we had more time to explore.
But early the next day we headed off, down through more miles and miles of colour till we reached Lindsay, Ontario. I can’t really explain the beauty and the depth of the fall colours and neither can the photos do justice to the incredible expanse of the area the colour blanket covers. This as our 4th day of travelling through this scenery and we really have only skirted around the edge of this magical part of the world.
With our arrival back in Lindsay, it felt like we had done a complete circle from when we left here back in April.
The joy of spending time with family and seeing the littlest ones. The smiles and hugs, the ability to hold a little hand, or cuddle a sleepy baby. To share the joy of the first wiggle turning into a crawl. That little face at the window as you arrive. All these and more will make it hard to leave here again.
