May 19th - Sudbury to Algonquin Park

We left Sudbury at about 9.30am and drove a few miles south to the renowned science museum, Science North.

Science North is a museum built on 4 floors and specialises in interactive displays. It is ideal for young children. As we went in we were greeted by a group of life size animated dinosaurs, that were very realistic.

Further on in the museum on the third floor was this effective demonstration to show how weight can be distributed. Here I am on  a bed of nails being raised up by four inch nails!

There was a very interesting display of animals and insects. Here is Bob 'enjoying the moment' when he held a Chilean Rose Hair tarantula!!

A close up of Bob's 'little furry friend'.

We spent about an hour at Science North and then started our 250 kms drive due south to the Algonquin Park. The weather today has been wonderful and we drove along good dual carriageway and then single track roads in sunshine.Around 1pm we decided to stop for a snack lunch at Parry Sound, a small town on the shore of Georgian Bay, on the eastern edge of Lake Huron.

We had a good bowl of New England clam chowder at the Bay Street Cafe, sitting on the outside porch overlooking the water and the float planes coming into the landing dock. It was a lovely way to spend half an hour.

As we drove out of Parry Sound I saw a self serve car wash and, as the car hadn't been washed once since the beginning of the trip, I decided to 'give it a go'. Here is a photo Wendy took to prove I did!.

The remainder of the drive to the Algonquin Lakeside Inn was through very pretty wooded country with one vivid blue lake after another.

We arrived at the motel around 3pm. It is on the banks of the Oxtongue Lake. Our room is just off the left hand edge of this photo.

The motel is about 7 kms from the park entrance and after unpacking we drove a short way in to the park to see if we could see any animals. The park has moose, beaver, wolves, black bears and many species of birds. The only road that runs through the park, Highway 60, is just inside the park on its southern edge. The rest of this huge park is a true wilderness with a few trails and miles and miles of rivers and streams that are used for kayaking and fishing. The park is 7,630 sq.kms, which is bigger than the State of Delaware. It was established in 1893 and has 2,456 lakes.

We were unlucky not to see any moose, as they are often seen near the road at this time of year licking the salt that was used during the winter to keep the road clear.. In fact, when we got back, Bob and Thelma showed us their close-up photos of a bull moose that they had seen as they drove through the park. I'll post Bob's photos in the next posting.

We stopped at Ragged Falls car park and took the short walk to the falls. Apart from being bitten by swarms of mosquitoes it was a lovely place to see and take photos. The first is looking up at the falls from below. The second the river above the falls and the third looking down from the top.

We drove back to our motel and met the others and then went to a local restaurant for very good meal. We learnt from two locals, eating at the next table, that in June the G8 Summit is being held at a resort very near to our motel, Deerhurst.. Apparently huge numbers of security people have been preparing the resort for the summit and we were told of extraordinary security measures being taken. Having stayed here, will give us an 'added dimension' when we see the news reports of the summit in June.

Tomorrow we have a day in the park, whilst Kenny, Bob and Thelma go fishing on one of the lakes just outside the park. Hopefully, I'll be able to post some photos of their success!