Ontario: Thunder Bay to Niagara-on-the-Lake

After an introduction to our Road Trip 2022 that said we would be driving from Vancouver across Canada, it doesn’t seem right that the first location-specific post starts at about the 3,000-kilometre mark. For us, everything before then was quick family visits (Vancouver), business/medical appointments (Calgary) or ground that we’d covered before and we were just anxious to get through it all and onto new discoveries.

Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay was just an overnight stop for us at a kind Boondockers Welcome property. But when we asked our host about an evening walk they sent us to this park and viewpoint for a wonderful first look at Lake Superior.

Wawa

The drive from Thunder Bay to Wawa was pretty, with pleasant stops along the way. We planned to spend two nights in Wawa because our Harvest Host allowed their visitors to stay more than the program-prescribed one night. We took our time and had fun visiting the sites in the area, but found we were done and ready to move on by the afternoon. So we rejigged our plan and headed off to our next stop.

Georgian Bay

We expected to be delighted by the Georgian Bay area on Lake Huron, and we were. We moved around it slowly, staying one night in several places, including a craft brewery, a sugar shack (maple syrup operation), and a peaceful spiritual garden (all Harvest Host locations), as well as one night at Killbear Provincial Park. We even hopped on a “three-hour cruise” in Parry Sound, which we would highly recommend as a great way to get out into some of the 30,000 islands that are in this very ocean-like environment. Georgian Bay truly left us awed.

Niagara-on-the-Lake

We had visited Niagara Falls before so decided to skip it this time (as beautiful as it is–don’t skip it if you haven’t been!), but we had never stopped at Niagara-on-the-Lake. We were really glad we did as it turned out to be a beautiful, historic, flower-filled village.

This seems like a good place to stop this post since our next location will be across an international border as we head south into the United States of America.

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TripBits

Parry Sound Island Queen cruise: $55/adult

Camping programs

• Harvest Hosts: A camping membership program that provides access to a network of wineries, farms, breweries, museums and other unique attractions that invite self-contained recreational vehicle owners to visit and stay overnight. No charge to stay but suggested purchase or donation of at least $20. If you are interested in joining, please consider using our affiliate link.
• Boondockers Welcome: A camping membership program where host homeowners (usually recreational vehicle owners as well) invite other self-contained RVers to stay on their property for one or more nights. Stays are free though hosts may offer connections for a fee. Boondockers Welcome was recently purchased by Harvest Hosts so there is now a combined membership to belong to both organizations.
• Thousand Trails: A camping membership program that we have belonged to for decades since many family members are also members. All but one campground are in the USA.

Stays

• Cultus Lake, BC: Cultus Lake Thousand Trails (member, $0)
• Sicamous, BC: North Cider Harvest Host (suggested $20 purchase for all Harvest Host locations)
• Calgary, AB: Calgary West Campground ($48)
• Regina, SK: Cedar Creek Gardens Harvest Host
• Winnipeg, MB: Stone Angel Brewing Harvest Host
• Thunder Bay, ON: In the Bay Boondockers Welcome ($0)
• Wawa, ON: Algoma Highlands Wild Blueberry Farm and Winery Harvest Host
• Blind River, ON: Blind River riverside parking area ($0)
• Parry Sound, ON: Killbear Provincial Park ($53.68)
• Parry Sound, ON: Trestle Brewing Company Harvest Host
• Kemble, ON: Miners’ Maple Products Harvest Host
• Wiarton, ON: Rural Rootz Harvest Host