A short distance further on we came to the memorial to Terry Fox. Readers of the blog might remember that when we were in the Rockies we stopped at a viewing point overlooking Mount Terry Fox. The mountain had been named after Terry who had died while attempting to run across Canada raising money for cancer care. Terry had lost one leg to cancer and became a celebrity for his incredible courage running the equivalent of a marathon every day. He started in Newfoundland and hoped to reach Vancouver but sadly he only managed to get to Thunder Bay, where his cancer forced him to stop and he died soon after at the age of 23.
The memorial to him overlooks Thunder Bay and the statue of him faces west, his ultimate aim. It was a very moving tribute to a courageous Canadian.
The cars parked at the Terry Fox memorial gardens, with the statue just visible between the trees behind Kenny's Jeep.
The drive today took us along the northern shores of Lake Superior. It was another great drive. Great vistas at each and every bend as we had the lake on our right and the forests and smaller lakes on our left. Below are a selection of photos from the first 200kms of our drive until we reached the town of Marathon.
Above Marathon was a very strange building with a large flat roof that looked like a gigantic helipad. We learnt this evening from the owner of the restaurant where we had our evening meal that it is a satellite communication station.
We continued our drive in bright sunshine when we saw our third black bear on the left hand side of the road. It was a baby bear and as we stopped it ran back into the woods so we weren't able to get a photo. Such a shame!
Ever since we have been in Ontario we have seen these signs warning drivers about speeding. This one shows the fines for exceeding the limit of 90kph by 20, 30 and 40kph. Another sign warns that if you exceed the limit by 50kph you will be fined $10,000 and your car confiscated!!!!
We reached our overnight stop of Wawa at about 4pm, after a drive of just under 500kms. The owner of the motel gave us a map of the area and told us about two waterfalls about 10kms south of us. The road leading to the falls was on 'good fast gravel'. I took this photo of Bob's Landcruiser on the gravel in front of us.
We then drove down to Sandy Beach on Lake Superior. What a great place it was. It reminded me of West Beach, Littlehampton, Sussex where the sand dunes are being saved from erosion in exactly the same way they are doing here, by planting marran grass!
Here I am with one of my many girl friends!!
At the beach was an information display which included this list of facts about Lake Superior. Just click on the photo and it will enlarge and enable you to read it. Lake Superior is 'superior' in every sense of the word!!
We reached the first falls, Silver Falls where I took this photo.
We drove on to the second falls but because the dam on the river above the falls was closed, there was no water flowing! A big disappointment to us all.
We then went to 'downtown' Wawa. The name comes from the native word for 'wild goose'. As you drive in to the town there is this giant Canada Goose statue. Not sure I would have a statue to the Canada Goose that is such a pest in the UK!
This evening we are eating in a local restaurant run by a couple who come from the Caribbean and tomorrow we continue our drive down the eastern shores of the lake and then cross the border into the US at Sault Ste. Marie.
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