ON OUR WAY AGAIN - MAY 6TH 2015

Wednesday May 6th 2015                          149861

We didn't have too many days to count between trips this time around.

Another few good days ahead of us, according to the weather forecast, so we are on our way to MacGregor Point again.  Always fun and not far to travel.   Not that it matters how far we travel.

Really nice bright sunny day and ready to leave home about 9.45 am.

Quiet, easy drive to the park.

This time we were lucky enough to be able to get site #36.  We have never had this site, as it is usually one of the first to go.  It really is a fabulous site and actually on the bank of the Turtle pond.

We didn't go directly to our site after checking in, we headed straight to the Tower Trail.  This trail is 5 km from our site, so we often walk this one either when we arrive or when we are leaving.  That way we drive to the trail and don't have to walk an extra 10 km on top of the 4 km trail.

Apparently snakes are really liked here.  We have already seen one, but it was swimming around the pond.

The weather was just right for walking. and we always enjoy this trail, which, once again consists of...........

Boardwalk...........

And grass.

Then there is the view from the tower.

We did see a few species of ducks and could hear a few different bird calls.  But today there wasn't that much to actually see at the tower.  However, it is always interesting.

Then we made our way along the trail to the Bird Blind.  That is very interesting when there are a lot of birds, ducks and geese there.  Once in the Blind, the birds cannot see us.  Today we only saw a pair of Red Winged Blackbirds and another snake that was busy swimming.

So on our way again along the trail where we saw a few more ducks, a solitary frog and the usual Blue Jays and Robins.

It was a great walk and a good way to start this little trip.

Now time to set up home for the next few days, and time for lunch after a nice walk in the sunshine.

Lucky enough to get a room with a view!

As you can see we are right on the bank of the Turtle Pond.

Almost a shame to go for a walk. it is so pretty,  so we just relaxed there for a while.

About 3.30 pm we decided it was time to explore the Turtle Pond from the other side of the pond, which is our usual walk around here on the boardwalk.  There were several turtles still sunning themselves.  This guy was the closest and had the log to itself.
Today there was no sign of any Chick A Dees
or Squirrels.

From the boardwalk we could just see
El Campista in the trees across from the boardwalk.

Could not believe what we saw next - a huge ice jam still on Lake Huron.  To us that seems very late in the season to see the ice.  But - maybe, or maybe not.

The lake was very cold, very clean and clear.

Back onto the Huron Trail to see if there still as many frogs there.

There were not so many, but those that were there were enjoying the sunshine,  just as we were.

Then time to head back to our site.

We did get a visit from the friendly, hungry chipmunk, and a squirrel, who was chased away very quickly by the chipmunk.

It was still very nice outside for late afternoon, so that was where we stayed until my Chef got to work.

As the sun went down a little it turned considerably cooler so we got the camp fire going.  Which did very well.

I was just looking around the area when "I Spied" something I thought Mike should try to guess on.

I am sure you all remember playing "I Spy" when you were kids.

Well I told Mike "I Spy something beginning with B H".  After several guesses and some time past he gave up.

As you can now see, there was a lovely Bird House in the tree right next to out Fire Pit.

We have never had a site with it's own Bird House.  I am hoping Mike can make a similar one for our yard when he gets home.

I did manage to get a picture of the sun setting.  This time taken from the bank of the Turtle Pond.

Although we come to this park quite often, so far this has been one of the best trips, thanks to the great site.

Can't wait to see what we find tomorrow.

Night, night.




Thursday May 7th 2015.
The day is looking very good.  Brilliant sunshine and just a slight breeze.

We had visitors hanging around for breakfast today, squirrels, chipmunks, robins, chickadees blue jays and a pair of white throated sparrows.

However, not everyone wanted their picture taken.

This is part of the board walk that goes around the turtle pond, taken from our site.

Time for a walk.

Today we decided we would take The Deer Run Bike Trail, minus the bikes!

It is a very easy trail to follow, with some sunny areas and some shady areas.  It covers almost all of the park, with many areas where you can get onto other trails if you wish.

Due to all the snow and ice this past winter and  the few heavy rain storms we have encountered since then, some of the trail was still quite soft and muddy.  However, there were not any parts of the trail completely washed out, as there were on April 15th, when we were here.


We didn't see any deer.  In fact we didn't see any animals, just a few Blue Jays and Robins.

Got back to our camp site about an hour and half later.  So probably done about 5km walk.  The weather still great, sunny and slight breeze.

After lunch I caught up on some reading while relaxing in the sunshine.

About 4 p.m. we decided we had been relaxing and lazy for too long, so we wandered the trails towards sunset point.  Where I am pleased to inform you that the ice was no longer visible on this part of Lake Huron.  However, the breeze off the lake was still very cool.

Headed to Huron Fringe Trail next to see if there were any frogs there today.  Yes! The frogs were visible and loud.

Still several frogs lazing in the sunshine.

Then, bonus, right on the top of the pond lazing among the weeds we saw a very large snapping turtle.  I think it is probably the biggest one we have seen around here.

It was not at all bothered by us on the boardwalk.  It just stayed there snoozing in the sunshine.  Probably a good thing!

From there we made our way around the turtle pond.   This time there were not any squirrels, turtles, chickadees or frogs.  So we went back to our site.

There we were greeted by this friendly little squirrel, who was waiting for a few treats.

No to be done out of any treats, our friendly chipmunk joined in the party.

It had been a very nice warm sunny day, and lucky for us the evening remained fairly warm too.

The fire was excellent again.

And the sun set, once again, over the lake and pond,  followed by the end of another fabulous day at MacGregor Point.










Friday May 8th 2015                                                                    149955

Still sunny and warm, however the forecast is for storms to roll in later this afternoon.  We are hoping it will be late afternoon for the storms, as today we are heading home.  With such good weather we were in no hurry to pack up.  We just relaxed and took our time.

Left Port Elgin about 12.45 pm and stopped along the Saugeen Rive near Paisley for lunch.

It really was a very pleasant area to stop for a while.

Arrived back in Durham about 2.15 pm.

This has been a really enjoyable break, and we are now looking forward to the next one.


150040.

 

 

 

ROAD TRIP

Wednesday April 29th 2015                                       149198


Today we are heading to Rodeau Provincial Park, near Chatham, Ontario.  We have not camped around this area before, so should prove interesting.

We left Durham about 9.30 a.m. in sunshine.

Very quiet on the roads today.  As you all know we do try to stay off any major highways.

Travelled through some of West Grey, Wellington, Perth, Middlesex and Elgin Counties.  Went through the small town of Wartburg.  Not a bad little town, despite its undesirable name.

The areas of Perth we travelled through were mainly farmland,  and it occurred to us that Perth County had declared April 29th 2015 to be their County Manure Day.  I will say no more, except, we do not have any sinus problems at this time!

Took a drive through St. Mary's.  Now that was a good looking place.  We really enjoyed that.   Then just meandered along the country roads to Rondeau Park.

Still sunny when we got set up on site #15, at about 1.15 p.m.    However, there was a cool breeze.                               149475

This is a very well laid out park.  One side of the park is on Rondeau Bay, while the other side is on Lake Erie.   Consequently it was like being on an Island.

Most sites here were slightly different to what we are used to.  Although good size sites, there were not so many trees.

After lunch we made our way to Rondeau Bay, where we needed our winter jackets.  If only we had bought them with us.  The wind off the bay was quite cold.

From the Bay we headed towards  South Point Trail, which turned out to be quite sheltered, making for a far more comfortable walk.  A very easy trail to follow too.

Then we headed on to The Spice Bush Trail, which turned out to be very interesting,  consisting of a regular walking trail. 

And several board walk trails.

This trail is know as the Carolinian Forest area, and is riddled with many different species of wild flowers, ferns and fungi.

Although it was a little early to see many of the flowers in bloom, there were a few beginning to appear.

The Trillium was just coming into bloom.

There is also a good amount of swamp area on this trail.

       

At the end of the trail the walk continued along Bennet Avenue, where even more Trillium lined the edge of the road.

That led us to Lakeshore Road where there were many lovely cottages and properties.    

 


We really liked this log one.   Although a lot of work had been done to and around this cottage you could still see some of the original logs.  It was really very impressive.

It was quite a long walk but we finally found beach access #10 and were lucky enough to walk a very quiet beach in brilliant sunshine, heading in the direction of our camp site.

After a total of about two and half hours hiking we made it back to our site safe and sound and ready for some relaxation and a bevvy.

It had turned out to be a fun afternoon and very interesting walk.

A great BBQ Supper and a good campfire for the evening, completed the end of, once again, a very enjoyable day.  









Thursday April 30th 2015.

Beautiful bright sunny morning, however, the forecast is for 60% rain showers today.  So we had to have breakfast and hit the trails as quickly as we could.

The first trail we got on was The Harrison Trail.  We were only doing a portion of this trail to get us onto The Black Oak Trail.

The Harrison Trail runs almost the length of the Park and is 8 km in length, one way.   Then naturally a further 8 km to get back.

It was a very well groomed trail and made for very easy walking.

The Black Oak Trail was several km along the Harrison Trail.

The Black Oak Trail was a 1.5 km loop, and renowned for the amount of song birds hat frequent the area.  It was a rugged narrow trail, but fairly easy to get around.

Although not a lot of different song birds out there today, we did see Blue Jays, Cardinals, Robins, Sparrows, Red Winged Blackbirds and several different types of Finches.  Who moved so quickly it was too difficult to try to identify them.  We did get to see a Flicker and a pair of very large birds, who had a nest at the top of an extremely large, tall tree.  They did resemble an Eagle, but we do not know if they actually were Eagles.

We did find a very interesting tree that had been hit by lightening and was actually in two separate pieces, and looking very charred.

After the Black Oak Trail we got back onto the Harrison Trail.  This portion of the trail had many bends in it.  It did seem strange to see this sign on a trail.   It did remain to be a very well groomed trail though.


Then we headed to the Lake Erie Shore again.

Not far along the beach it got extremely windy and cold.   It was once again several kilometers before we could make our way onto the roadway, and escape some of the high cold winds.  It was a better walk once on the roadway, back to our site.

Lunch time, about 1.30 pm, when we got back, and also time to relax.  Lucky for us the rain had held off.

However, the rain started about 3.30 pm.  Not heavy rain, but it made it cool enough to sit inside for a while.  The rain showers continued for a couple of hours.

The rain did not deter the animals at all.  A couple of rabbits were running around the site opposite us, a deer wandered around the bush at the back of our camper and a cheeky raccoon came around to see what could be salvaged.  Too bad there were so many raindrops racing down the windows.  We couldn't get any pictures.

By dinner time the rain had stopped and it had dried up nicely, so after dinner we managed to sit around the camp fi9re, where it felt even warmer than it did the night before.  
By 10 pm the night sky had cleared and a few stars and bright moon were visible.

OK, another really wonderful day!

Friday May 1st 2015                                      149475                         

WOW, woke to lovely bright sunny day, and definitely considerably warmer than yesterday.  Too bad we are heading home today.  This happens so often the day we are leaving.  It turns out to be beautiful and we wish we were staying.  However, no problem we can return whenever we wish.

Sat out in the sunshine after breakfast enjoying the sounds of so many birds.  I guess the rain yesterday bought all the birds out today to enjoy the sunshine.

Chipmunks and squirrels were running around while we ate breakfast.  We've got used to BBQ breakfast again right now so we hope the weather will allow us to do this when we get home. 

Finally time to head out.  We decided to stop in St Thomas for a while.  It was an interesting town.  The down town was quite large and vibrant.  Very good to see that.

So on our way again.  This time heading towards Stratford for lunch.  We have always enjoyed Stratford and haven't been there for several years.    As it turned out today was not the best time to visit.  The weather was excellent but the Theatres were extremely busy, making parking along the Avon River virtually impossible.   So we had our lunch a little further up steam.   No swans or ducks to be seen here.  Regardless, it was still fun.

From there we drove into Guelph to visit with friends, Bernie and Karla.  Unfortunately Bernie was working but Karla was home so we had a really good visit with Karla.  We hadn't seen them  in almost a year.

Then of course, road time again.  This time the destination was to be Durham.  As is often said, it is not the destination that is always exciting, it is getting there.

It was a good drive too.  In fact the whole drive, for the day was really good.

To make a perfect ending to a perfect trip we stopped at Riverside Fish N Chips in Durham to collect our supper.  I can assure you this is always delicious.

Now counting the days leading to the next trip.  See you then!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

APRIL 2015. MAC GREGOR POINT PROVINCIAL PARK.

Tuesday April 14th 2015.

It felt as if spring would never arrive this year.

As you can see the build up of ice on the Saugeen River near McGowan Falls in Durham was quite the sight.  This shot was taken on March 18th 2015.

We have just lived through the coldest winter we have experienced  living in this fabulous country since our arrival in 1973.

Many communities near by us have had to run their taps 24/7 from January through to the end of this month of April, to help prevent frozen  and burst pipes or water mains.  A great number of people went without water in their homes for several weeks.  We were lucky, and just had the odd morning where there was no water, and a few heaters helped the thaw along its way.

We checked the weather forecast last week and it sounded good for a trip to MacGregor Point for a couple of days before the rain hit up on us again.   Yes, after extreme cold we were blessed with a week of rain, more snow and  the odd thunderstorm.  Oh yes, I almost forgot, there were a few nice sunny cold days thrown in there,  heaven.   You gotta love that Mother Nature! 

So here we are April 14th and all packed up heading to MacGregor Point in brilliant, warm sunshine.                                                                                                                                148686

Thankfully an uneventful drive to the park.

No one else was camping in this area right at this time, so we had the pick of any site we wished.

We took #8.  We like this one because there is a lot of sunshine there, and luckily the forecast is for that beautiful sunshine.  It was so nice we even managed to sit outside with lunch where it really was nice and warm.

After lunch we made our way towards the Turtle Pond.  

It was unbelievably clear water and as it was warm we counted as many as 16 turtles sunning themselves on the fallen logs. 

I do not remember if we have ever seen so many turtles lazing in the sunshine at one time before.

This guys was just swimming towards the log for an afternoon nap.   

You can see how clear the water in the pond is.

From the turtle pond we wandered the Old Shore Road Trail.   As you can see there was still a fair amount of snow on the trail.

The lake itself had a good amount of ice still on it.   Consequently it was quite cool along the edge of the lake.

Near Sunset Point we encountered  a large "flock" of Canada Geese (not sure if it is a flock or gaggle of Canada Geese - anyway we saw them).  They too were busy sunning themselves.

It was not too easy to get close to them, they kept moving to another area of the ice.  This was the best I could do.

There really was an icy breeze off the lake so we wandered the trail  inland  a little where it was more sheltered.  Heading towards the Huron Fringe Trail.  Still snow here too.

We wandered along the boardwalk and the nearer we got to the water the louder we could hear what we thought to be a great number of birds.

However, there were no birds to be seen, but the water was alive with frogs.  We had never seen or heard so many frogs calling at the same time.  

It was fascinating to both watch and hear.

After such a fun walk we started to head back to our site and along the boardwalk we were greeted by this friendly little red squirrel.

We got back to #8 with some time to spare to relax in the sunshine for the remainder of the afternoon.

Dinner was a pleasure! 
 
Finally, my Chef woke up from hibernation, after a very cold winter, and cooked a delicious  BBQ dinner.

The rest of the evening was spent around the campfire, toasty warm, listening to the ball game and telling our usual stories.

Great first day of camping in 2015.  It felt good to be back.


WEDNESDAY APRIL 15TH.
Nice to wake to bright sunshine, especially after a very cool night.

A very shy squirrel snuck around to see if it could join us, as a guest, for our first BBQ breakfast of this camping season.  No luck for the squirrel, but breakfast was a huge success and set us up for an invigorating day of hiking the trails.

Although bright and sunny, the wind had quite the icy bite to it.  We were glad to have put on extra layers.

It was, once again, amazing to see the difference a day makes when it comes to ice on the lake.

Today the ice was a lot closer to the shore and it was really making the breeze quite cool.   Luckily the sun helped with some warmth.

We walked along the board walk towards Merganser Cove, and like the turtle pond, the water was very clear.

As you can see there were turtles here sunning themselves too.

There were no Mergansers to be found at the cove, just a good deal more ice on the lake.

We enjoyed the walk back heading along the Deer Run Trail.

However, there were no Deer today, just a huge puddle right across the trail.   We had to back track a way and get onto the road for a short distance before being able to rejoin the trail.

Managed to stay on the trail right back to our site., where we rewarded ourselves with a beverage and lunch.

Although cool out we were able to sit outside until we were ready to hit the trail again.

From the trail we headed for the turtle pond once again. 

This time the Chick-a-dees were waiting for us.  I am sure they always know we have sunflower seeds for them.

Today there were no turtles to be found.  Guess it was a little too cool for them.

As you can see, still a beautiful day.

From there we decided to head to the Fringe Trail again to see how many frogs we could see today.

Along the shore line we could see the ice had moved in further towards the shore than it was this morning.

There were no frog to be seen in the area we had seen them all yesterday.

However, we could hear a good number of frogs further along from where they were yesterday.

These frogs today looked completely different to what we had seen previously.

Slightly different one again.

The wind began to get quite cold off the lake so we headed back to camp to light the campfire.

Another good BBQ and relaxing evening, cozy warm around the fire.

So far this trip has been a lot of fun.  The forecast for tomorrow is for rain late afternoon, so time for us to return home again.


THURSDAY APRIL 16TH 2015.                                                                          148756

Pleased to say it wasn't quite so cold last night, and in fact it felt considerably warmer outside this morning.

Today a Chipmunk wished to join us for breakfast.  One again - no luck for the chipmunk.

We were all  packed up ready to leave by about 11 a.m.

Stopped in Port Elgin for a while, then on to Owen Sound.

It had turned into a really nice day.  Now wondering if we should have stayed another day.

Decided to have a picnic lunch in Owen Sound where the Chi-Cheemaun docks for the winter.
Always a nice spot to stop by.

Then off to the homestead.           148858

We really enjoyed this trip.  It seemed to take far too long to arrive.

It was still really nice out when we had unpacked so we walked through our park, Durham Conservation Area.

The Saugeen river was flowing very well over McGowan Falls.

Truly, a great way to end a great trip.

Hopefully we can hit the road again very soon.