Falcon Lake

There were a few things that we were so grateful to have for this trip: 1) Our car – a Ford Flex, super roomy, with multiple sunroofs for scenic viewing; 2) Our ice-less cooler – it plugged into the lighter plug and kept our food fresh and cold all day and night – which resulted in several yummy sandwich picnics; 3) Pasta salad in a bag – I precooked a pound of pasta before we left and divided it up into four Ziploc bags…mixed in some tuna, celery and mayo and voila! Pasta salad!!; 4) Satellite radio – always a tune available and no endless scanning… The Canadian Top 150 for 150, on The Verge, entertained us with great Canadian music from different decades and

several artist interviews. But what we were most thankful for, at this point, was the roof installed cargo bag I bought at Canadian Tire, in Thunder Bay! This freed up even more room in the Flex and made it easier to unpack our gear when we set up camp.

On this day, we drove through the rest of Ontario. It was a fairly uneventful drive. Sadie remembered the McDonalds in Dryden the most; at the drive-thru we picked up one of the ugliest black bugs we’d ever seen. It looked like a cross of a big black fly and a cricket with very long antennae. These antennae actually came in handy to pluck the thing off my shirt and fling it out the window!

It was exciting to cross the border to Manitoba; what an accomplishment to drive through northern Ontario and reach a province none of us had been to before!

Not far from the border, we arrived at Falcon Lake Campground, in Whiteshell Provincial Park. This was quite the little resort! It had a huge sandy beach, a shopping center with snack bars, fun souvenirs, and other handy amenities. Brie and Lily had a fun swim in the lake; their crazy antics were always hilarious to watch. Sadie didn’t go in the water; she was too afraid of the zebra mussels (traumatized by the activity book we were given by the Park Office).

We left the beach to get ice cream and took turns shopping. Brie battled mosquitoes and hung out with Chip in the courtyard. Lily karate-chopped her ice cream cone onto the bench... Apparently, there was too much ice cream on her cone, and she was trying to get rid of some of it when it all fell off and landed on the bench; which then ended up being a cool snack for Chip. This was going on while Sadie and I tried on bathing suits. She didn't find one she liked, but we may have found her a nice mate (just the right height, soft fur and super cuddly)! This was definitely a place we would visit again.