Skip to main content

Honeymoon But With Kids: Oh, Canada - A Day at Pancake Bay

The last time we were in Sault Ste. Marie we didn't have our passports. This time we came prepared.
 
But first a stop to see the Soo Locks. 

We loved watching the boats come through last time. We just knew the kids would love it. Oh, wait.

Theo even wore his vintage shirt for the occasion. 


Theo liked watching the big boat come through the lock, but Meadow was B-O-R-E-D.

She wanted to keep reading in the car.

The kids had had enough of ship watching and were ready to move on. 

To get into Canada you have to show proof of Covid vaccination. I would suggest getting the ArriveCAN app and upload everything ahead of time. It makes getting in much quicker. 

Unless you're a little guy like Theo. Then you can enter without vaccination.




I searched and searched on Google Maps for somewhere to eat in Sault Ste Marie, Canada. Georgie's Shwarma seemed like the winner.

I think this was the best meal of our trip. 

I could totally go for this, like right now.

It was worth crossing the border for. 

10/10. I'd do it again.

Earlier this summer, Blake bought a 1970's Lake Superior history guide at the Three Lakes book sale. I borrowed it for our trip and found a lot of interesting information and points of interest in the book. Sadly the Ranwick Uranium Mine doesn't seem to be open anymore. 

You don't say...

After driving along the Canadian Lake Superior shore for a good hour or so, we arrived at Pancake Bay Provincial Park. Then I got pulled over for driving too fast in the very, very long camp road. Luckily they gave me a pass for a being an American.

Yay, we finally found thimbleberries. 

That brightened my mood.

The thing you do at Pancake Bay, besides driving exceedingly slow, is go to the beach.


The pancake-shaped bay wasn't too cold. 



Meadow and I are always the first to go in, Theo stays at the shore and Scott takes his time getting in. 

Theo's all about playing in the sand.


After being up here I wish we had done the whole Lake Superior Circle Tour. Someday..

The kids wanted s'mores so we headed back to a gift shop market area. 

Agawa Crafts and the Canadian Carver. There were signs for this place lining the highway on the way up. It's a very small version of Wall Drug. They also had a very scientific weather station

Theo chose his souvenir here. A wood keychain with his name and a little wooden box. 

The canadian carver had some skills.

The kids wanted a picture with the giant bear before we explored a less interesting gift shop.

We aren't fire people but we had to do it for one night on this trip. 

We did bring our pudgie pie maker. We really should use this thing more. 

I had this down to a science.

We skipped on buying graham crackers and chocolates and used our knockoff Fudge Stripes cookies instead. 

Before bed a little walk to the bathroom where we met this toad.

Day 9

We got up and had a quick breakfast before heading back to the UP.

Hot chocolate and oatmeal.


A real life Canada Yew. These shrubby ground-hemlocks used to be common in Wisconsin and other Upper Midwest Northwoods. Our mismanagement of deer herds stateside have made them nearly extinct back in the states.

Before heading out of the park we were able to recycle our used fuel tank. I wish the state parks in Minnesota had these. 

We stopped for the self-described "world famous apple fritters" at The Voyageurs' General Store a few kilometers down the road.

Wow, mama. These were super fresh and honest to god, world class.

Best I ever had. 


Thanks Canada for our short but sweet trip. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Northwoods Mother's Day

My mom had texted me last week asking if we wanted to go to the cottage for Mother's Day. Scott didn't have any work on Monday so we headed there for the weekend. I was able to get off work a little early so we didn't have to get there so late.  Driving through Lindstrom Scott wanted to get donuts at the bakery. We didn't have any cash so we settled on ice cream at the Cotton Candy Ice Cream Shop  in Center City. About 20 minutes before we got to the cottage Meadow threw up all her milk. Soaking herself and her carseat. She never threw up like this before. It was kind of scary. She kept asking for milk. I guess I should've known better.

RV Spring Break: Minneapolis to South Carolina

Another Spring Break can only mean one thing these days: Campervan Spring Break. Well scratch the campervan this time around. Get in the RV we're driving to Florida.   You know we love our road trips. Last summer, a few months after our first Campervan Spring Break , Theo said he wanted to go on another campervan trip. I asked where and he said to Florida. Never thought we'd be a spring break in Florida family, but here we are. But first we had to get to Elkhart, Indiana to pick up our RV. Instead of driving or flying we took the Amtrak Borealis service down to Chicago for the first leg of our journey.   We were a little nervous that our train would be cancelled. Just three days earlier all the Borealis trains were found to have corrosion. They had moved routes via the bus. Thankfully they had replacement trains by the time of our departure.  As you can tell Meadow is super excited to be cooped up in an RV with us for a week or so.   There's no assigned seats so you ...

Backcountry Camping with Kids in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Day 1  Back in May I stumbled upon Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I had no idea there was a National Park in North Dakota and that it was the northern end of the Badlands. Usually our summer vacations coincide with Scott's work trips. Since he didn't have any this summer I thought we should take advantage of actually taking a vacation. What, my workcations are always classics? I suppose a second real vacation this year wouldn't hurt. We definitely have more time than normal. As long as we took Covid-19  precautions and avoided people. We finally settled on a time to go. Blake joined us so we borrowed our dad's van so we could ride together. Scott had just driven from Michigan the day before. Blake had met my parents in Wisconsin to get the van and then drove from Duluth to pick us up. I offered to drive since I literally only drive twice a month.  I was still pretty tired from a long drive home. Since we were near Fergus Falls we had to stop by the abandoned state ho...