Haliburton

Friday, Day 17
9:10 PM
Written in Timmins, Ont.,
after spending the week in Haliburton.



Haliburton, its highlands and its lake, as seen from lookout at Skyline Park

 

We just spent seven days beautiful days near Haliburton, Ont., a small town set in hilly cottage country. You know you live in a nice place if its main industry is tourism: your backyard is everyone else's vacation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where`s Waldo?
Hint: try looking above one of the wheels.

 

A restored train parked in town has been a favourite climbing haunt for my brother and me for as long as I can remember. This time we figured out how to climb into the underbelly of the engine...

A strange new world opened up before us, forming a veritable jungle gym of crisscrossing bars, bolts and platforms. It made for a sort of spelunking experience which would not have been appreciated by the particularly claustrophobic. But we had fun.

Another amazing thing about this country is the canoeing. These scenes are from a river we paddled that extends from the lake right in town.

Falling Star Night

Sunday, Day 12
Acreage near Haliburton, Ontario

The moon had already risen low over the pine trees when I, my brother and (with some convincing) my dad got up to watch a scheduled meteorite shower. With city lights miles away, the stars apparently felt that it the area above us was a safe place to hold a huge gathering. I hadn't known that you could fit so many stars in one place!

As we watched, seeing one slip from its place every so often and trail fire across the sky, the conversation went something like this...

In Toledo: What Dad Calls 'Adventure'

Friday, Day 10

Written from McDonalds in Orillia, Ontario
8:55 PM Eastern Time

 I just made my dad's elbow bleed, but I really didn't mean to. We pulled over here so that he could nap after our looong day on the road, but when I went back to the van to get this laptop he jumped awake and sustained minor injuries. Sorry, Dad.

The Golden Arches are once again maple leaf-studded

 

But now that I have my laptop, I should probably get talking about what happened today...

Evacuated from the Twilight Zone

The Creation Museum is a wonderful place during the day. Carefully designed, multimedia exhibits reveal what happens when the church and culture abandon the Bible, challenging Christians to holdfast to God’s unchanging word over what anybody else says. The scenes you encounter grow more and more exquisite as you walk through the displays, with waterfalls, life-scale depictions and even interactive animatronic characters around every bend.

 

 

But in the dark, with the displays dimmed and the screens paused, with recorded voices echoing and with alarm lights flashing, you can imagine that the museum experience grows considerably different. How would I know? Heh, heh.

Kissing Camels in Kentucky

Wednesday, Day 8

Camel hair leaves a terrible aftertaste.

 

I wouldn't know this--although I might have guessed it--except we met an incredibly amicable dromedary at the Creation Museum today. The curly-bearded beasty came right over to our group and let us pet it like a horse. Mom insisted I kiss it (a few trips ago I started a collection of such photo opps, including kissing a 10-foot boa, a baby alligator and a small sea turtle. As to why, I haven't the slightest.) but kept missing it on camera. Hence: aftertaste. Nevertheless, meeting a camel up-close--and having it knock my hat off--was definitely a highlight of my trip.

But to start at the beginning...

As we crossed the Ohio river into Kentucky, the brown water, the tall, vine-covered trees and the misty, forested hills gave me a definite "jungle" impression. Or maybe I just spent too long at the Rainforest Café a couple days ago.

Airborne: my brother`s favourite part of the day was the 3 hour zipline tour

 After we arrived at the museum, to our utter amazement we discovered friends of ours, also vacationing in the US, had picked the very same destination and visiting dates!

 

Three States Later...

Tuesday, Day 7

Farmland scenery in Wisconsin,
made of gently rolling hills and scattered forests

 

If we were to close our eyes right now, I’m sure we would still see an illusion of glowing white highway stripes zipping past us. Now don’t get me wrong—I like long days on the road, personally. And this is no exception: we left Minnesota just after 6:00 AM this morning, rolled our way across the states of Wisconsin and Illinois, and now are still on the highway at the time of this writing: 9:16 PM, Indiana. (Our crossing another time zone accounts for one of those hours. Various stops at box stores, gas stations and cheese factories accounts for a couple more.)

 

 

Over the course of the day we watched the scenery change
from the undulating landscape of Wisconsin...

Indiana so far seems fairly flat. Like Alberta, only with more trees. Above, the wide gray sky, hanging low over the cornfields, is growing darker and darker. The glow of my laptop has become the brightest light source in sight, save for the fluorescent road signs beside us and the taillights of the semis ahead. But dark though it may be, we still have another 20 minutes to go before reaching our hotel!

 

...To the perfectly horizontal horizons of Indiana

Well, we’re almost at Indianapolis now, and this screen is becoming blindingly bright. So I better pack up. Thanks for travelling with us! Good night for now; we’ll see you bright and early for the trek into Kentucky tomorrow. ;)

 

Sunset in the Twin Cities

Tuesday, Day 7

 

When we first pulled into Minneapolis after days on the road, I admit that I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself for three whole days in one place. But my brother and I were saying this morning as we walked a lap around the block under the sunrise how we we’re going to be sorry to leave this place. It’s been a full weekend!

 Before we go—we’ve got to be out of here by 6:00AM—let me share with you these cities we’ve just begun to know: the Twin Cities, as we saw them.