First off, I need to explain how this trip came to fruition… My friend Evelyn asked me if there was any place I’d like to travel and I said back to Canada since my last and first time we flew in for work to Calgary and that was the only place we visited. So, she suggested we hit an AA meeting in Canada in November, and I came back with how about we visit the Niagara Falls in October with hopes of seeing some good fall foliage, and hit one then and there? And she was in!
We planned to drive there through Canada and then on the way back through lower Michigan. Because we wanted to experience as much of Canada as possible.
We headed out Thursday the 15th right around 5 a.m. and went up through the UP to Sault Ste Marie. A good portion of the start was dark, until we got just north of Green Bay and our first stop was for gas, caffeine and bathroom break in Escanaba. There were still some really good fall colors up through the UP and when we arrived at Border Patrol/Customs in Sault Ste Marie it wasn’t busy at all. However, the gal at the booth gave us a yellow slip and told us we needed to get checked in and declared in the building. So we parked and proceeded. The guy at the counter asked us various questions, some much the same as she did. Then I asked him why we were singled out since not everyone had to come in and see him, and he said we have the authority to choose whomever we want. Hah! Grump! I kind of thought we might not receive too many warm welcomes entering into and in Canada at some points thanks to Trump, and there was our very first one. Actually most of the people working at the Border Patrol/Customs were pretty decent and we crossed them six times total.
The views were so spectacular on Hwy 17 east out of Sault Ste Marie with lots of rock formations and not all the same types of rocks. We tried finding out what mountains they were, but it turned out to be more of a ridge or range. I also mentioned it was probably part of the Niagara Escarpment, hence it runs through our area all the way through the UP and duh… to Niagara Falls. Which we believe was part of it, including the Opeongo Hills.
We decided to make a lunch stop in Bruce Mines at Bobbers and that was an excellent choice. Nice local diner with some really cool nautical paintings on the ceiling.
Then we off on Hwy 17 east to Sudburry where we took Hwy 69 south and then some 400 numbered highways around Toronto and by the time we got close to Toronto, we finally seen some civilization as it was very desolate along 17, including part of a reservation with minimal housing and most looking to need some pretty major improvements. It was also dark by the time we arrived to Toronto and we eventually took QEW to Niagara Falls and arrived at our hotel in Canada at the Falls around 10-10:30, but headed over to Burger King for Evelyn before checking in and I just bought a bag of chips at the hotel. We agreed to meet sometime somewhat early the next day and go for breakfast at an iHop near by to plan our one full day of adventures.
With the help of some maps and flyers from the hotel, we planned our day during breakfast on Friday morning. Our first stop was to visit Maple Leaf Place for a tour of maple syrup production, but it was just videos and a small production display with lots of different syrups on display, a huge gift shop and free flights of maple syrup and chocolates made with the syrup. We spent quite a bit of time there before leaving.
Then it we went to check out the Nikola Tesla Monument along River Road, but it wasn’t even there and looked to recently been dug up. So, we found a place to park and hoofed it along the river walk to take in the Falls from the Canada side and it for sure is the best for viewing them. I got a couple of really good panoramic shots of them, including Horseshoe Falls.
From there we ventured to the Skyview gift shop and I found a really nice sweatshirt and some trinket gifts, but we did not pay to go up to take in the view from the top.
Then it was onto the border to check out the US side, but not without a stop at the Duty Free store and then when headed out after parking at the state park. Evelyn wanted to check out the visitors center and their gift shop, but I was done with shopping as I had what I wanted and I am a terrible window shopper, so I told her I was going to venture out to the walk along the river and falls. When she was done shopping she met up with me and we walked over to the overlook, and then we drove over to Goat Island and walked a lot there. One spot got you right up next to the US Falls and with the wind, we got a bit wet from the mist sprays. Who needs to go up close for that in a boat?! From there we hit the Duty Free store on the US side before crossing the border and the only other thing of interest was to hit the power plant on the Canada side, but it costs $30/each and we got a really good birds eye view of it from Goat Island. So we just headed back to the hotel with plans to freshen up and head out for dinner to an Italian place at the Casino.
We met up around 4:30-5 for that and when we got there, they were charging $35 just to park in the ramp. We did not want to do that and drove only a block and found My Cousin Vinny’s Italian restaurant which did not have paid parking. Even if this was a chain, neither of us had eaten at one so we were good with that. It turned out to be really good and the menu very similar to Olive Garden’s, and we shared a piece of cheesecake.
We talked about skipping the AA meeting earlier in the day since we had such a full day and I was really pooped yet with the super long drive the day before and minimal sleep the two nights before we left, including I really wanted to plan out the route home for tomorrow. However, Evelyn decided she was going to go to one at 7:30 and took a taxi to do so and I stayed awake until she got back so that I knew she arrived back safely and by that time got into a crime show that was about some bodies found near Lake Geneva around 2021 and I never heard about that. The night before was actually the first night without any pain in my knee or leg since I got the cortisone shot a week ago, and I was so stoked about that and oh so looking forward to another great night of pain free sleep.
Well, around 11:57 I was woken up by a strange noise that sounded like an alarm and I finally realized it was my room phone, but nobody was there when I answered. However, within a minute there was pounding at my door and it was Evelyn stating that she needed to go to the VA hospital in Buffalo because one of here incisions was leaking blood and yellow fluid. So, I told her I’d get dressed and we would head out. I actually noticed she was rubbing and twisting that side of her body a lot while we were waiting to cross back to Canada at the border earlier before dine. Turns out she had a blood blister with infection that seeped out through her stitches. We arrived at the VA ER around 12:30-1 and I eventually had to go to my car because the super hard chair in her ER room was killing my leg. They had already taken her for a CT scan at this point and she was sleeping right before I went to my car. It felt so good to sit in my car with the heated seat on my thigh and although I really wanted to sleep, I could not since I needed to stay alert for when she was released, which was around 5:45 a.m. I explained to her that although we planned on hitting the iHop again this morning before leaving to head back home, I really wanted to hit the road and find some place to eat along our way home. Probably gas station food because I did not want to try and get a little sleep making it even later to get home, and I did not want to drive in the dark again near the end of the day. So, that is what we did when we got back to the hotel… packed up, checked out and hit the road.
We took QEW again and then west on 403, 401 and 402 to Point Edward in Sarnia MI where we crossed the border for the 6th and last time. Not a one stamp after all of those border crossing and this guy wasn’t very pleasant either, and we were entering back into our own resident country. Go figure?!
We then headed west on 69/94 to Flint where we took 75 north all of the way to Mackinaw, but with a couple of fuel stops, one in Woodstock and the other Bridgeport where I also got a deli sandwich and caffeine. The colors in lower MI were phenomenal too! After crossing the Mackinaw bridge we were going to stop for fuel again at a place both of us had been to on separate trips on our own, but apparently we missed it and then I was worried I might not make it to the next place. However, luckily Naubinway was within range and that is where we stopped for our final fuel up.
