We took a little ride. (Day 2 - Toronto to Sudbury)

Thursday morning, we woke up, showered, packed, and got ready to leave our hotel pretty quickly. Our hotel did not offer complimentary breakfast, which was OK because neither of us was particularly hungry that morning. We took the 400 north for a bit, passing Canada's Wonderland just north of our hotel. We left the 400 at exit 137 and followed Lower Big Chute Road to the 12/Trans-Canada Highway to Coldwater Road, which led us into Coldwater. We gassed up at a PetroCanada. Our first Canadian fill-up cost us $23, which was only about $4 more than a fill-up in the U.S.

The view from our hotel room. In the distance (left) is Toronto.

And with the crazy zoom on Chris' camera, there's the CN Tower in Toronto!

Canada's Wonderland had TONS of coaster tracks!

North 400 to Sudbury, please!

I present to you...a Canadian barn!

Approaching Coldwater.

122.9 was the best price I saw for petrol while we were in Canada.

Filling the Connie with Canadian petrol from PetroCanada!

The town of Coldwater.

A creek in Coldwater...but it has nothing to do with Coldwater Creek Clothing.

Coming out of Coldwater, we joined up with Upper Big Chute Road which took us to and through the Muskoka Lakes. The scenery through the lakes was stunning. I'll tell you right now that the pictures I took pale in comparison to the real thing. The lakes, the cottages, the rocks...they were all gorgeous. I did my best to capture the scenery, but I know, when I look at my pictures, that my memories of those areas are more vivid than the photographs will ever be.

A few more Canadian barns...

This part of Canada smelled like a giant Balsam & Cedar Yankee Candle...it was amazing!

R Doug has his own road in Canada?

"Cottage Watch" is the community watch program at the lakes; these signs are all over!

When we first rounded the corner, we weren't quite sure what we were looking at when we saw this!

Then we realized it was moving this boat through the Big Chute!

Waiting for the all-clear!

There they go into the lake!

I took this random shot as we passed by this lake and it wound up being one of my favorite photos from the entire trip!

Upper Big Chute Road eventually turned into White Falls Road and led us back to the 400. We hopped back on the 400 north for a little bit and exited onto route 38 which took us through the Wahta Mohawk Territory, a Mohawk First Nation reserve. This area, and most of the area we'd ridden through on Upper Big Chute/White Falls Road, was an excellent example of the Canadian Shield. Route 38 eventually ended at route 169 in Bala, the cranberry capital of Ontario. Here, we stopped to take a few pictures of Gaunt Bay and the falls that Bala Bay creates as it feeds Gaunt Bay.

Turn here for the historical plaque...

...and here's the historical plaque.

Our Concours looks lonely in the parking lot for the historical plaque and the falls.

It was about 11 AM when we stopped in Bala and we were getting hungry at this point. We consulted our GPS to see what was there in town, but didn't see much so we decided to press on to Parry Sound for lunch.

The checkerboard background of the directional arrows was quite curious!

I LOVED this barn!!!

Coming into Parry Sound - Jewel of the 30,000 islands.

We found the Bay Street Cafe along the water for a nice lunch.

There's the Connie's butt poking out in the parking lot!

We had a really nice lunch at the Bay Street Cafe. Chris got the special of the day - the Canadian burger, which had cheddar cheese and peameal bacon on it. I got the pickerel filet sandwich. Both of our sandwiches came with French fries, which we were quick to dip in Canadian Heinz ketchup! After lunch, we walked down to check out the two float planes that were docked nearby.

Chris' burger with peameal bacon.

My pickerel.

Chris watched this sea gull gobble down this fish!

Once we left Parry Sound, we continued north on route 400 until it ended. We then proceeded north on route 69 into Sudbury, our destination for the evening.

Our hotel for the night was the Hampton Inn in Sudbury. I used some of my Hilton Honors points combined with $40 to book our room...not too shabby! The hotel was quite nice; Hampton Inns typically are! Once we were checked-in and showered, we walked across the street to Canadian Tire (which sells more than tires, by the way) so Chris could buy a metric tape measure. After our successful shopping trip, we walked to Pluckers Wings & Things for dinner. That's where we discovered "whistle berries." The menu stated that sandwiches came with buckeye chips and the choice of cole slaw or homemade whistle berries. We were intrigued, so we asked our server who explained, "They're baked beans...get it? Whistle berries?" Ha-ha-ha!!!

After dinner, we ducked back into Canadian Tire to buy a bottle of Diet Coke before we returned to the hotel. We checked out the hotel pool, but the water wasn't particularly warm so we decided to skip a swim that night. 

When we returned to the room, we found that Chili had settled in already and was surfing ST.N trying to keep up on all of the happenings!

Silly Chili!

Our "on the road time" for Day 2 was about six hours and we traveled approximately 409 kilometers (254 miles). 

Stay tuned for Day 3...