This entry will include two days ~ traveling to Owen Sound to visit with Sharon's cousins, and seeing the Bruce Peninsula.


We left Grand Bend, Ont. and drove up the Lake Huron coast. As we drove, again, there were many farms. We came across a sign for "Bayfield Berry Farm" so we decided to buy some berries. Turning down a country road, we came to the berry farm. It was fabulous, we had to have some hot berry cobbler and coffee. After a tight turn-around in their small parking lot, we got back on the road to Owen Sound.


Early afternoon, we pulled into Harrison Park, which is a park operated by the town of Owen Sound. It was a very nice campground and our campsite backed up to a little creek. After we set up the trailer and had a light lunch, we got ready to go visit with Sharon's Dad's cousin who lived right outside the town limits. After finding the right mailbox on the highway, we turned into their driveway and drove about 500 feet through the woods to get to the house. Carl and Sue Hagedorn met us. Carl raises sheep, which he has bred to be small and multi-colored. They are raised to be pets. No wonder he was so proud to take us out to the pasture to show us his prized sheep. They were so cute! Talk about the "sheep knowing the shepherd's voice"! As soon as the sheep heard Carl calling them, they came running. Of course, having a bucket of corn helps too!



While we were admiring the sheep, Carl and Sue's two children arrived, Mark and Janet. It was nice to meet them. Sharon was 15 years old the last time she had seen her dad's cousins. On the way back from the pasture, we came across an old International pickup truck that Janet was driving. Pretty cool!



We went out to dinner with Carl and Sue at a very nice restaurant in Owen Sound before calling it a night. I was pretty exhausted by the time we returned home to the park.

The next day, our goal was to tour the whole Bruce Peninsula ~ which is only 50 miles long, but there is a lot to see! We headed north and drove the entire length of the peninsula and would start our tour from the top. The town of Tobermory is at the very northern tip of the peninsula and is a fishing town. There is also a ferry that calls Tobermory from South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island, Ont. The ferry is a "shortcut" that motorists and pedestrians can take the ferry, instead of driving all the way around the Georgian Bay to reach the Greater Toronto - Niagara area. Being at the very tip of the peninsula, there is a lighthouse at Tobermory, called Little Tub Lighthouse. We viewed the lighthouse from the docks of a tour company that operates tour boats, as well as rents kyaks and paddle boards.



As we traveled southward there are many turnoffs the main highway that we could take to see more lakes, lighthouses and parks. It was really a nice time ~ and it was sunny and warm (very different from yesterday). We stopped at a hiking trail on the Georgian Bay side that Sharon and Arlene wanted to take to a rock formation called the Grotto. It is an inlet that has beautiful blue water and interesting formations in the cliffs. They hiked for about 30 minutes to view the Grotto and take some pictures.



After they returned, we went on to Cabot Head Lighthouse also on the Georgian Bay side of the Peninsula. After parking, we walked down a driveway to the lighthouse through the forest. The lighthouse is open to the public, so Sharon and Arlene went into the lighthouse while I remained outside with Roxie (of course, no dogs allowed!). But the grounds were beautiful and interesting. They had several interesting displays, one of which is the ship wrecks that had occurred around the peninsula. The other display described how the glacial ice that carved out the Niagara Falls area made "ribs" along the landscape" where local ecosystems have established themselves. Some of these ecosystems support some species of birds, ferns, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, 'vascular plants and orchids found nowhere else. From the lighthouse grounds, we had a great view of the beach and the Georgian Bay.





Unfortunately, there was too much to see and too little time to see it. We had only seen the Bruce Peninsula National Park, but there was much more to be seen. This is one place that we will have to return to!!!