Back in the USA

It is now fall here in Michigan!  The trees have more colour and it was close to freezing overnight - about 9C now midmorning.  We had a lovely time in Toronto with our friends and with Chris.  More on that below when I paste in an entry I wrote a few days ago on the word processor - first chance to get on the internet with the laptop since then.  Here is the word entry - I had added pics to it but they are not transferring to this blog - %&^*!!!

We are on the road again after a lovely visit with our friends and with Chris in Toronto.    Thursday morning,  Ingrid, Walt, Shon and I went for a before-breakfast bike ride along Lake Ontario to the Rouge River estuary then inland to a lovely coffee shop for breakfast before riding back to Walt and Ingrid’s house in Scarborough.  That afternoon, Shon and I took the GO train into Toronto’s downtown then caught the passenger ferry across to the Toronto Islands.  These islands in Lake Ontario are a green refuge adjacent to the city.  The western part is occupied by the Toronto city airport; the central island is parkland with an amusement park and beaches and the eastern islands are a vibrant residential community with many older ‘cottages’,  some newer ones and canal like passages and bridges between the islands.  A delightful way to spend a warm September afternoon.

Toronto skyline from Central Island

   That evening, we met Chris and his friends for a Blue Jays baseball game – a good way to spend an evening and have a visit. The teams provided good entertainment with home runs, diving catches, broken bats (one hit a manager in the Blue Jays dugout), stolen bases and at least one double play – and the Blue Jays won!  The dome’s roof was open for an excellent view of the CN Tower next door.

I know their hats are not set at a cool angle but I wanted to see their faces for the photo - sorry, guys!

Yesterday, after Shon and Walt met Chris for breakfast, they drove up to Lake Simcoe to the family cottage at Lagoon City; Ingrid and I made our way up there in time for lunch.  We played 9 holes of golf on a picturesque course abutting the Trent –Severn waterway in the afternoon then enjoyed a clear, star-studded evening at their cottage.  This morning, we went for a long bike ride in the Ontario countryside around Lake Simcoe.  It was tough to pull ourselves away from their great hospitality but we hit the road mid-afternoon and are now in Craigleith Provincial Park on Georgian Bay (part of Lake Huron), near the largest ski resort in Ontario (Blue Mountain).  The rocky shores here are interesting flat shale rocks, mined in the late 1850s for their oil.  Lovely sunset this evening, too.

Lake Michigan on a windy day

And now we are back to the Michigan entry - after Craigleith, we drove to Owen Sound, west to Southampton for a picnic on their pretty waterfront (Lake Huron) and south to Ipperwash Beach area for the night.  We awoke yesterday morning to a very windy downpour - large waves on Lake Huron made it look just like an ocean.  These truly are Great Lakes!!  We had a lovely visit with my daughter in law's parents at their place on the lake near Sarnia.  Mid-afternoon, we crossed over the bridge into Michigan and headed north up the peninsula between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.  Time to say good-bye and head off to explore Tawas State Park nearby.

Lake Huron at Tawas State Park. I had a lovely bird watching walk here while Shon made our lunch.