Good-bye to the Chi-Cheemaun

 After watching the ship load down by the bow, we hurried  along the dock to the stern to watch them cast off the lines.  In spite of sailing on it to Manitoulin many times in the past, we had never had the chance to watch the ship sail away from Tobermory.  It brought back lots of memories!

The

Lines for a ship this size are serious steel hausers; they have to watch that no-one gets hurt.

And then all of a sudden, the ship beside us was moving - fast!

The ship reversed out into the bay while the bow was closing as it went.

Turning to the left as it moved, we watched the bow slowly close.

By the time it had turned the bow was closed.  We remember being on the ship and hearing the bow close with a big clang.  And off the stern the propellers churned the water as it shifted from reverse to forward

And then the Chi-Cheemaun sailed away into the distance, taking our memories with it, for this year at least.

The Chi-Chemaun

It might strike you as odd since we've ridden the Chi-Cheemaun many times (in the distant past), but when you travel on the ship, you don't get to see it from the outside!  This was our chance, so I scooted back around the popular 'Little Tub' harbour, and found the path leading through to the ferry docks.  They were just about to start loading, but I rode around the back of the vehicle lines and on toward the ship.

I finally got to where I could see the ship, but I was still separated from it by a wide parking lot.  I had waited for the off-loading cars to pass, and the loading vehicles were behind me.

I crossed that wide parking lot, and looked for a way beyond.  At this point Mrs. F.G. joined me and we moved closer.  You can see the beautiful artwork on the ship from here.

You can see the full ship here, from the low stern at the left to the raised bow at the right.  This is a 'drive-on-drive-off ferry, where cars load into the bow and leave via the stern once they reach Manitoulin Island, and the reverse for the return trip.

The Chi-Cheemaun is known for its giant decal illustrations; yes these are decals, not paint.  Even the smoke stack is painted in indigenous patterns.  The name 'Chi-Cheemaun' itself means 'big canoe' in Ojibwe and was suggested by Donald Keeshig of Neyaashiinigmiing, known in the past as Cape Croker.

The artwork on the Chi-Cheemaun is in the Woodland style of indigenous art, with its bright colours and dark outlines.  This iconic style of painting was developed by Norval Morrisseau based on hearing legends told by the elders.

The explosions of colour on the bow of the ship has become the iconic image of the Chi-Cheemaun.  This is actully a picture of the ship loading; you can just see the outline of the roof of a dark car entering the hold of the ship.

I've always wondered what the view from the bridge would be like.  I presume the Captain was looking down on me here.

And I leave you with yet another selfie from this our very successful trip to Tobermory.

Revisiting the Harbour

We were out of the van in a flash, and headed out to revisit the little harbour we've been to so many times in the past, if not recently.  I remember this as a harbour of fishing tugs, slowly being overtaken by pleasure boats, but in more recent years tour boats and diving boats have proliferated.

The 'NorLight' was clearly a dive boat, with the space in the stern for a few divers to gather.

I think the 'Dawn Light' is a tour boat, with closed in cabin space for the tourists if it gets rough.

Across the way were two boats of the Blue Heron Cruises, a company that runs popular cruises out to Flowerpot Island.  I'm sure they are totally occupied in the summer!

I wandered down the south edge of the harbour to find new floating docks extending outwards, for smaller craft and more diving boats.  At that point I was stopped by inaccessible docks.

But I watched a moment as four guys in the first boat on the left were preparing for a dive trip, adjusting gear and making sure they were ready.

At this point it's worth saying a bit about the national park.  There are actually two national parks in this area, the Bruce Peninsula National Park and the Fathom Five National Marine Park.  The latter is known for its many shipwrecks, hence the dive boats I'm mentioning.  Diving on those shipwrecks is very popular! 

The former is based on the mainland, but includes sections of shoreline on both the east and west coasts of the peninsula, the east with its spectacular cliffs overlooking Georgian Bay, and the west with its sandy shoreline dropping very gently into Lake Huron.  The Grotto, a cave on the east shore is so popular that reservations are required, just to walk out there - though I've been there probably 20 times, usually leading groups of students back in the years before its popularity exploded!

Talking about the national park, this is the sort of improvements I noticed, clean permanent porta-potties, though they're certainly not accessible!

After exploring the docks I ventured up the street above.  It's now a one-way street, so I was comfortable dodging traffic.  I won't bother you with the numerous tacky (and inaccessible) stores, but I was interested in this one, a place I remember as Mrs. Belrose's boarding house.  I stayed here in an upstairs bedroom as a teenager once I could drive up here myself.  As I recall Mrs. Belrose was a widow who rented out rooms to make a living.

I soon made it to the cairn that marks the northern terminus of the Bruce Trail.  You can see I successfully reached the end of the trail in my wheelchair!

Then Mrs. F.G. saw the Chi-Cheemaun (the 'big canoe') above the buildings on the far side of the harbour.  Having had a cottage on Manitoulin for a few years when our kids were young, we've travelled on the ferry many times.  Just seeing it brought back great memories.  We turned back immediately and headed to the far side of the little harbour to watch.

A Grand Adventure - Tobermory!

Last week one day we headed out for a grand day-long adventure - we drove to Tobermory!  Mrs. F.G. first mentioned the idea on the day when we drove to Petrel Point, back in the spring.  It's nearly a three hour drive, so she was the one who would have to do all the work, but we've been there many times in the distant past, and have wonderful memories of crossing to Manitoulin with our kids back in the day....  This is the first of several posts.

It was a glorious day, clear and sunny without a cloud in the sky.  Here we've dropping down into the Keefer Creek valley.

Soon we were dropping down the long hill into Owen Sound.

Through Owen Sound with a stop at Tim Horton's of course, then it was up the diagonal stretch to Hepworth, passing Suntrail, the best place to buy a kayak around here, along with other outdoor adventure stuff.

I thought we'd see a bit more fall colour, but this was the brightest tree we saw; beyond Wiarton it was really rather dull!

We drove through Wiarton and after that it was pretty well a very long straight highway up the Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula.

The middle of the peninsula is an ancient glacial lakebed, so it's entirely flat.  Unfortunately it's a stretch of highway known for speeding as well.

There was a plan for a large wind farm up here, but they only got as far as three towers before public objections halted the work.

After stopping for lunch at a restaurant we know along the way, we finally dropped down into the 'Little Tub', the popular harbour in Tobermory.  This was the view out the front window as we parked the car; it felt like coming home.  I think I was first here when I was 14!

The Corn Maze

 Before we got to the corn maze, we needed to check out the gourds and squash too.  Mrs. F.G. picked up a few of these.  Then we hit the corn maze.  Believe it or not, neither of us had ever been through a corn maze before, just a sunflower maze!  So it was fun!

These were just little gourds, used mainly for fall decorations.

But these were squash for cooking.  Known as 'Heart of Gold', these are like Acorn squash.

The tractor was just for decoration, but it did tempt us over closer to the corn maze.

And there was a big welcoming picture frame, except I ended up in the shadow.

And then we disappeared into the maze.

Here I am.  It was fun, but the bumps were a little uncomfortable, so we didn't explore every corner!

And the corn was way over my head!

At this point we needed to pay for our haul, so we skipped the Tic Tac Toe and headed home.

Hope you've all had a Happy Thanksgiving ( at least here in Canada).

We met our son and DIL at a restaurant in Owen Sound, saving Mrs. F.G. the cooking.

 

 

Morrison's Pumpkin Farm

 A week ago we drove over to Morrison Pumpkin Farm just south of Collingwood. It was a perfect day, bright and sunny and remarkably warm for October!  There were both lots of pumpkins and a corn maze.  And it was easy to get around in my wheelchair, if a little uncomfortable at times.

There were plenty of the classic big orange pumpkins, perfect for Hallowe'en, all spread out on wagons waiting for customers.  Of course one of these came home with us.

There were lots of other colour variations too.

There warty pumpkins and green pumpkins.

And there were tables full of small pumpkins.  Quite a few of these came home with us too.

I was interested to discover that Morrison Pumpkin Farm has a conservation easement on it, registered with the Ontario Farmland trust.  This is an organization that I started while still at the University of Guelph.  It has been promoting easements as a vehicle for preserving farmland ever since.  With Collingwood looming almost within sight up the road, it seemed very appropriate here.

The Last Day of Summer

We've been enjoying a very late summer warm spell.  Indeed, the past four days have been hot! - definitely felt like summer.  It was up to 26°C!  Then today it dropped to 12° and it feels really chilly.  But yesterday I rode down to the harbour as I often do, and just felt like I was soaking it all in, to save until next spring arrives.

I started out riding down the Collingwood Street hill, beside the overgrown fence covered in wild grapevine turning bright yellow.  It is fall after all, even though yesterday was the last day of summer.

Around the corner there was a bright yellow tree, though I haven't seen much red yet.

I made it down to the harbour and watched our resident pair of Mute Swans swim slowly away from me.

Heading west I did find hints of reddish/orange leaves up in a Sugar Maple.

And there, coming aliong

And there, coming along the sidewalk, was a dog in a wheelchair, managing quite well too!  I've seen pictures of this, but I've !never seen a real live disabled dog!

And across the street was a prize-winning scarecrow, built with an upside-down wheelbarrow as the base, the handles stuck down in a pair of rubber boots.  Yes, that's a very realistic looking crow sitting on its right arm.  Best I've seen yet!  And with that I think summer has left us!