Aug. 28th: Day 9

The tent site was sandy so we had a nice comfortable sleep and the morning turned sunny as we packed up. We were headed for Thunder Bay. We were kind of excited since it was the first major population center of the trip and we really needed to wash the smoke and sweat out of our clothes and access some internet.

We stopped along the way to hike a section of the Casque Isles trail which was supposed to be pretty spectacular and this first lookout over the gorge was admittedly a little breath-taking. After that though, it was literally and figuratively downhill. 

We clomped down a trail that seemed to be mainly used by ATVs only to arrive at a beach-side parking lot. We back tracked to a fork in the trail, chose door number 2 and soon we were on a beach.

It was okay and Vinnie had a swim but ... meh.

The drive into Thunder Bay was amazing with grand vistas of islands and mountains but for some reason we didn't take any pictures. We continued to not take pictures for the next 3 days so I'll give a brief account.

 We had booked three nights  in a cabin at Rose Valley Lodge outside the city. Way outside, it turned out. It is described on its' web site as a serene retreat with gourmet dining. What it looked like as we pulled in was a slightly shabby farm house with a trampoline and an inflatable pool on the lawn. Around these were scattered various bicycles, a lawnmower and other assorted hillbilly crap.

Artists' rendering.

We looked at each other and backed out of the drive way. We confirmed that it was indeed the place and pulled back in and tentatively got out of the car. Out of the house comes this dude in a yellowed t-shirt, shorts, white socks and Birkenstocks.

Artists' rendering.


 He had an unplaceable accent (turns out to be Swiss) and did nothing to make us feel better until he led us around a willow tree, through a tall grass meadow to this little alpine style log cabin. It was really nice inside an we were super relieved. We busted out the wine and watched a couple of Mad Men episodes.



Artists' rendering.