“Where are we going today?” Ask the kids.
“East!” We reply.
We’ve been pushing hard since Manitoba. We spent a few lovely days visiting family in Winnipeg and then made a straight shot to Ontario. Ontario is BIG. So BIG! And we had a bunch of friends and family to visit along the way. We’ve done so much in the last few weeks that I don’t even know where to start writing about it. I could write 10 blog posts and still have more to say. But since time is precious and Wifi limited, I’ll need to satisfy your curious soul by giving an overview of our amazing time crossing the most populated province in Canada, Ontario!
We landed in Kenora, Ontario the day before Canada Day. All the campgrounds, of course, were fully booked (and we don’t like booking in advance because we tend to fly by the seats of our pants). We cozied up to about 30 other campers in the Walmart parking lot. 🙂
We enjoyed celebrating Canada Day in the charming town of Kenora, taking in the festivities during the morning, lounging at the beach in the afternoon, and then returning to our luxury Walmart camping spot in the evening.
Northern Ontario was super beautiful. The landscape is forested rolling hills with thousands of lakes dotting the landscape. Hardly anyone lives up there, the towns are small and they are few and far between. Waterfalls were our lunchtime stopping grounds.
In Sault St. Marie we were welcomed into our friend’s home (and driveway). Thank you Kirk Family!
We even got to drive through a small section of Ontario with an Amish community. We were ever so greatful to stop at a roadside veggie stand here. We filled up on veggies, fruit, and baked goods for a fraction of what it would cost in a grocery store. Our first local food of the summer. Yay!
We started to really take advantage of our Harvest Hosts membership in Ontario. Harvest Hosts is a membership program for self-contained RVers to stay at participating farms, wineries, breweries, and museums. The RVers call the day before to make sure the host has room, and they are invited to stay for free with the understanding that the RVers will purchase something. So far we have purchased U-pick raspberries, homemade sausages and bacon, many bottles of wine, and a visit to a museum. Quite the deal!
We planned our trip to Niagara Falls to coincide with meeting up with our dear friends the Bovenzi family. It was so fun to meet up with friends from back home. What a treat! Oh, and Niagara Falls was pretty cool too.
We then accepted an invite from the Goodkey Family whom we met at the Family Adventure Summit to come and stay with them for a night. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo but our families hit it off (we liked them A LOT!) and we can’t wait to hang with them more at the Summit in October in Mexico.
We spent a lovely few days on Wolfe Island visiting the Miller family whom we first met in Malaysia and then lived with in Thailand. The Miller family are some of our traveling besties. We love these people and are excited to spend an entire month with them in Mexico this fall!
And of course, no visit to Ontario is complete without a visit to our nation’s capital, Ottawa. We would have liked to explore it more except that it was so stinking hot out! We walked around parliament and then headed to the Science and Technology Center for some air-conditioned fun.
Budget Saving Tip: Get a one year pass to your local science center and then you can use your membership to get in for free to Science Centers all over North America! So far we have used our passes to get in free to two centers in Winnipeg and one in Ottawa.
After Ottawa, we were welcomed with open arms by our relatives outside of Cornwall. We had a lesson in hospitality from our Aunt and Uncle who were so incredibly kind and generous. We had so much fun hanging out with them, seeing the sites, and exploring the places where Mike grew up, that we stayed for four days! And….wah… I didn’t snap a photo. Yeah, I’m a sucky blogger. Bwahahaha.
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