Oct. 17th - Waterfalls and Run-downs.

After the windstorm we awoke to an overcast sky and the waves still pounding into the shore. I was the first one out of the tent this morning while Morgan tried to clear the sleepiness from his eyes. We packed up and rode out between rain showers, both of our legs sore from hiking the day before. Morgan was feeling under the weather this morning so I offered to do the driving. Our first stop was Ouimet Canyon. We made it all the way there and then decided a nap was needed. Eventually we woke up and decided to just continue on the road. The sights were beautiful today. Rolling hills, almost mountain-like, with views of the turquoise water of Lake Superior. I don't know what it is, but the lake is a different color here. It is much more bright, not like the grey/navy tones that come out in Duluth. Along the shore there are many islands with cliffs slicing into the nearly arctic water. We also saw waterfalls! Lots of them. We stopped at the Rainbow Falls Provincial Park and Aguasabon Falls for some nice hikes and beautiful views.

Since Morgan and I left the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park at 9:30 this morning we had beers and good food on our minds. It has been a couple of days since we had a nice meal inside of an actual building. Not that the meals we make in the woods aren't delicious, but we were looking forward to something a bit more comforting, like not eating outside with 30mph winds and trying to block pine needles from falling in our orzo, and that we felt was money well spent. Anyways, as we drove along the sloping hills of the shoreline we began to realize that we might have slim pickings for this type of thing. We came through the first town, Nipigon, where there were a couple of restaurants. One was a Chinese and Canadian food restaurant while the other was a Pizza Hut. We decided to go on and see if we could find something in the next town. It was almost the same thing. Only this time there was a Pizza Hut, Subway, and Robin's Donuts. As good as donuts for dinner sounded we moved along.

 

As we drove through these towns situated between the water and rocky hillsides we began to get a little glimpse of how the people here live. The houses are very run down and, really, there aren't many things for the residents to do. Nearly everything is closed down. The cities look as though the waves of economy have come through and drowned them. This reminded us of many cities in the U.S. that are going through the same economic difficulties, especially those that we drove through in Wyoming last spring. While sitting here at the Brews & Cues restaurant in Marathon, ON(yes, we found a place... sort of... at least they have internet?) I am not sure if the people here are enjoying living a simpler life or if they are fighting just to survive. I'm sure it is a bit of both.