Oh Look! Ouimet Canyon! (Pronounced O Luk! We-Met Kan-Yun!)

Saturday morning, Krystal and I took the liberty of leaving at 8:30 for our adventures north of the border. We made good time getting to the border, and equally good time getting to Thunder Bay. We found Wunderbars and Smarties for Andy and Lisa (Krystal's brother/sister-in-law, respectively), and started driving towards Ouimet Canyon, a nice little provincial park my folks told me about. Everything was going well, and we even stopped at the Terry Fox Memorial Wayside. If you haven't heard of Terry Fox before, his story is absolutely amazing. Here's a link to more info about him: http://www.terryfoxrun.org/english/about%20terry%20fox/default.asp?s=1

His wayside was as nice a wayside stop you could ever hope to find. It had a memorial, and a fantastic view of Sleeping Giant (picture to follow). Impressed as we were, we trudged on, ever hopeful to find the canyon. We kept going in the right direction, on the right road, armed with only our wits and a free map from the now-legendary Terry Fox Wayside. After awhile, we a saw a sign for Ouimet Canyon Road, but I passed it up, fully believing it would loop around like it did in the map on the brochure. Well, it didn't. We ended up in Darion, and I manned up and stopped to ask for directions. Turns out we were about 5 miles too far to the east, and as we headed back in the right direction, we began to notice all sorts of signs for Ouimet Canyon--but only on that side of the road. Apparently it's beyond the comprehension of the Canadian Park Board that anyone would approach the park from the west. But it didn't matter, because eventually, we found the road, and the park, and it was wonderful. The canyon is approximately 100 meters deep at its deepest point, and its sides are steep and awe-inspiring. The park has two lookout platforms that extend over the canyon itself, and Krystal and I both made ourselves walk out to the edge. It was absolutely still and quiet, with the occasional bird song, and one could still see Lake Superior from our viewing platform. I could have sat there forever, but we had to keep moving, as it was in the high 80s, even as far north as we were. We finished our hike, and headed into Thunder Bay itself to explore.

Turns out there's not much to see in Thunder Bay. We stopped at a bookstore, and being as we were absolutely dead tired, we got coffee, then began the trek back to Two Harbors. Stopping at the border again, we were greeted by an utterly cheerless fellow who ushered us through rather quickly, and we were on our way to Grand Marais for dinner. We settled on Sven and Ole's. Granted, I am fully aware that S & O's is about as touristy a place as you can get, but it still has good pizza, dangit!

After dinner, we started up again, and began the hunt for some black-eyed susans. They are plentiful along Highway 61, but I never have gotten up the nerve to stop and take some from the side of the road. I guess it's the goody-goody in me. Anyway, that night I decided to break my resolution. We drove by a lot of flowers, but every time I saw them, there was no good place to stop. This became a game for Krystal, as she'd yell, "There's some!", but we couldn't stop, and she'd have a good laugh. Eventually, I found a wide patch of the road, and sent Krystal out to pick some flowers up. Naturally, she failed to see why she should be the only one to get them, and I reluctantly left the van (by the way, we had the parents' minivan--slick, huh?). We got some black-eyed-susans, stuck them in a water bottle, and continued on our way.

Now, when we were planning this trip, we were both told tons of places I should take Krystal, as she hadn't previously been up to the North Shore. We passed several of these places on the way back to Two Harbors, but we were so both absolutely beat, we didn't want to do any walking. As a result, when we saw the Cross River Falls, which just so happens to be right by a wayside stop, it was the perfect breather. We happened upon a couple that was absorbed in throwing objects in the falls north of the bridge, then running across both lanes of traffic to see what became of said objects. I guess if that's what you can do for entertainment in a small town, more power to ya. We made it home safely, and settled in for the night.

Sunday morning went as I described in the last blog, and with a good nap under out belts, it was time to go home. On the way out of Two Harbors, we stopped at the cemetary, and paid our respects to my grandma--it was the first time I had seen her gravestone since she passed away last March. We left the hard-earned black-eyed susans with her, and headed out of town. Since we had no timetable, I thought it'd be fantastic if we took the slightly longer route south through Wisconsin on state highway 35. This was going well until we hit Danbury, where we were informed the road was closed, and we needed to take a detour. "No problem," we thought. "What's a little detour?" we wondered. Turns out Wisconsin's DOT's idea of a detour involves going 70 miles out of your way. We went through Minong, Spooner, Shell Lake, Turtle Lake, all nice places, but all places I wish we didn't have to go through. Long story short, we managed to make what should be a 3 hour drive into a 5 hour one. We got home safe, and had a great time, but if you're reading this, and you work for the Wisconsin DOT, well....
My mom always told me if I don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all.