Sat., Sept. 10—Mon. Sept. 12 The Pinery Provincial Park: Ross and Pat planned to arrive at our house during the MSU/Florida Atlantic football game. But as they left Valparaiso, they discovered they had no brakes on their fifth wheel. So Ross spent about three hours repairing it before getting underway. Ken & Jen ate “their” dinner at our house, along with Thelma, who had hoped to see Ross and Pat. But eventually they did arrive and we chatted while keeping one eye on the US Open Tennis semi-finals and the other on the Michigan/Notre Dame football game, both on mute. We got to bed and Sunday morning we went to Edgewood to sing and hear our new interim pastor preach for the first time, while Ross & Pat went to All Saints Episcopal church, where they found one elder who recognized him as June Mack’s son, after all these years. We got on the road by about 1:00 with a quick stop for gas ($3.59 a gallon) and lunch at McDonald’s. We made our way to the Blue Water Bridge and crossed into Canada without incident. At the Welcome Center we got a booklet called “The Blue Water Tour” which leads the traveler clockwise around the Georgian Bay, going up the Bruce Peninsula and taking the ferry across at Tobermorey. Both the Macks and the Dunns had already been to that area, so we chose to go counter clockwise and circle across the top of Lake Huron and come back through Sault Ste. Marie. So from Sarnia we headed north along the Lake Huron Coast. The Pinery Provincial Park is about an hour north of Sarnia, on the shore of Lake Huron. It has over 1200 campsites on a large track of land, with beaches and sand dunes reminiscent of the east shore of Lake Michigan. Although it had been full over the weekend, like in the States, there remained only a few campers, nearly all retirement age. They gave us campsites 1 & 5 with electricity just over the dunes from the shore. There was one campsite in-between us but it worked just fine. Ross & Pat grilled hamburgers for dinner to which we added baked beans and potato salad. After dinner Marv & I tried to walk over to the lake in time for the sunset but found that we missed most of it and had to settle for the color remaining in the sky. As we walked back to our camper the nearly full moon was rising and bathing the whole campground in its light. We got to bed early and slept well with temperatures in the low sixties. Monday dawned clear and sunny. We took our chairs and our coffee to Ross & Pat’s campsite, where Ross made wild blueberry pancakes for everyone. Most of the morning was wiled away, chatting and sipping coffee, sitting in the sunshine. At nearly noon, Marv and I took our bikes to ride around our camping loop (just over a mile) and out to the main drive, taking it to its end about half a mile away. Leaving the bikes in the parking lot we walked into the beach where I found the water to be just perfect—cool and refreshing. Vowing to go to the “Dog Beach” with Jake, Ross & Pat’s golden doodle, for a swim we headed back to the campers. Ross made us Reuben Paninis for lunch. He wanted a nap and Pat wanted to go to town to fill up their truck with diesel. So Marv and I opted to go with her to Grand Bend for gas and groceries. When we returned about 3:00 we all piled in their truck and drove to the one beach in the park where they allow dogs. Along the drive we saw a large flock of wild turkeys. At the sandy beach Jake and I went swimming, Marv dipped in briefly and Ross & Pat got their feet wet. But by then our eighty degree, sunny day was cooling off and a big thunderstorm was building in from the southwest. Reluctantly, we headed back to the truck and as we drove back to the campers it began to rain. We all hurried to close windows while the skies opened up. During a lull in the rain, Ross & Pat came down for happy hour, which we began outside but eventually moved into our camper because of the heavy rain. Marv managed to grill salmon steaks under the awning and we had those with couscous and marinated veggie salad. Ross & Pat headed back to their camper right after dinner, leaving us to read until about 10:00. Marv went to get a shower and realized that the full moon was out and the skies had cleared so we headed back to the beach to enjoy a romantic walk in the moonlight. The breeze was mild and the moon was very bright as we strolled along the sand. Marv took a few pictures before we headed back to bed in the camper with the temperature in the mid-fifties.
No comments:
Post a Comment