Tue. Sept. 13-Wed. Sept. 14 Awenda Provincial Park: The next morning dawned cool and perfectly clear. Both couples ate breakfast in respective campers, and then closed up camp to be on the road by 10:00. We had cereal with raspberries and had no problems getting cleaned up. Highway 21 hugs the Lake Huron coastline and passes through pleasant farm country with very little traffic. There was, however, a lot of construction along the way that held us up frequently. We passed through Goderich, which had suffered a lot of visible tornado damaged just a few weeks ago. Many of its lovely old buildings will need new roofs and windows because of the storms. At Pine River we pulled into the Pine River Cheese Cooperative and bought some of their products, but were disappointed to find out that they had no curds because of a fire they had had this summer. Along the way the sunny skies and temperatures in the low seventies gave way to clouds, a few hit-or-miss showers and dropping temperatures. At Southampton we stopped at The Lighthouse for a late lunch. Our original plan had been to continue up a little way into the Bruce Peninsula to visit Sauble Falls Provincial Park and hike into the falls. However, we had driven for nearly 3 hours and weren’t halfway to our next campground so we reluctantly decided to go east on 21 to Highway 26. We checked out a small maritime and rail museum in Owen Sound and passed by The Blue Mountains before going north towards Midland and Penetanguishene, ending up at Awenda Provincial Park. This campground of 325 sites is way out on the tip of the peninsula, sticking out into the Georgian Bay in the “30,000 Island” area. The office gave us adjoining sites, 95 & 96, and then realized that ours wasn’t an electric site, but we can go several days without electricity so it wasn’t a problem. We each got set up and then Marv & I made a big tossed salad that we took over to Macks’ trailer to have with Ross’s smoked chicken. Tired from all the driving, we called it an early night and went back to our camper to read and finish setting up. The skies cleared again overnight and the temperature got down to 52°, but we stayed snug and cozy. The next morning we all had bacon and eggs in our trailer for breakfast. Then everyone (including Jake, the Dog) piled into our truck to do some exploring. Marv headed around nearby Farlain Lake and then down to the shore of Severn Sound. A quick stop at a Farmer’s Market netted us some local sweet corn, apples, & peaches and Marv and I split a yummy Date Bar. We traveled slowly through the town of Penetanguishene and into Midland as our trusty GPS took us to Sainte Marie among the Hurons. This historical village is a replica of the Jesuit Mission that was in the same place for approximately 10 years in the 1640s. From our trip to this area in 1979 I remembered the tale of the martyred Jesuits who were killed by the warring Iroquois. I’m not sure if the rebuilt village was here then or not but we were happy to get the chance to visit it now. After visiting their museum and watching an interpretive film about the Mission, the wall of the theater opened on to the front gate of the village and we walked in with our Audio Tour Wands in h and to immerse ourselves in what life was like long ago. It is very well done and we learned much in the nearly 3 hours we spent at Sainte Marie among the Hurons. Although it is late in the season, they still had a handful of people in period clothing to talk to us about what we were seeing and help it come alive for us. When we finished at 2:00 or so we opted to have lunch right there at their restaurant, where we could sit out on the patio and enjoy the warm but waning sunshine. Clouds were once again filling the sky and some of them looked threatening and the temperature never got much above the mid sixties. Our next planned stop was at the Wye Nature Preserve, where their most prominent feature is a large flock of Trumpeter Swans. But when we found out that it would cost over $8.50 to visit, we all agreed we didn’t think we had the energy to do it justice and instead voted to return to the Park to see its beaches. We were sorry that the historic naval base at Discovery Harbour, which Marv & I had visited on our previous visit to the area, was closed for the season, because Ross, particularly, would have really enjoyed it. But we knew that Jake would be happy to pay a visit to the Pet Beach at the park. We hiked a ways into the beach, stopping along the way to read interpretive signs and gaze across the water to nearby Giants Tomb Island, where a metal structure and a small light are all that remain of the lighthouse that used to stand sentinel over the tricky waterway. Jake was a bit put-off by the crashing waves and so he didn’t spend much time in the water. So we soon returned to our campsites. Ross & Pat chose to rest awhile in their trailer while Marv & I hiked around the camping loop to see the handful of other campers in Hawk campground. Then he built a fire and the Macks came over for brauts cooked over that fire. Just as we got things started, however, it began to rain. The men managed to cook the brauts while Pat & I set up in our camper and I cooked the corn on the cob in there. We ate indoors but then the rain let up enough for us to all go out and make S’mores over the fire. After three quick games of Banagrams in our camper, they returned to theirs in a light sprinkle. Marv did the dishes while I added to the Blog and then we read a bit before going to bed with the sound of rain drops dripping from the trees above onto the camper roof. With the temperature already down to 51 degrees it was likely to be another snuggly night.
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