Up the Bruce!

We headed out for a long weekend up in the Bruce Peninsula, having rented a cottage to meet Keith and Ashley "in the middle". After enjoying a nearly five-hour drive up the Lake Huron coast, we arrived at our cottage in the Red Bay area and settled in for the weekend.

Friday morning, we headed out early and drove to Lion's Head, where we tackled the Lion's Head Lookout hike. Known to be moderately challenging terrain, the unseasonable heat and humidity kicked in to make it considerably more strenuous. We made it over slippery rock and root to the main lookout in about an hour and a half. The way back was considerably slower, as it got hotter and fatigue also factored in. By the time we got back to the car, we had nearly reached the limit of our four-hour parking.

After exploring Sauble Beach and Sauble Falls, we returned to the cottage before walking up the road for a lovely dinner at Red Bay Lodge.

On Saturday, the four of us set off to explore the backroads from Wiarton and northwards up the eastern shore. We stopped at Spirit Rock Conservation Area to check out the ruins of The Corran, and the cool spiral staircase in the rock that led us down to the beach below.

We drove out through the Neyaashiinigmiing reserve and on to the Cape Croker lighthouse, at the end of the road jutting out into Georgian Bay. Retracing our steps, we made a stop in Hope Bay to savour the beach. 

We journeyed into Lion's Head proper for a delicious lunch at The Taste Kitchen, before heading back south to explore Greig's Caves. This was also a bit of a tough hike, with the hills and humidity again plaguing our steps. Stunning area though and well worth the effort.....and filming location for 1981's "Quest for Fire"!

With our remaining strength, we continued north as far as Cape Chin, before calling it a day and heading back for the cottage. After a nice meal and some down time, we made the short walk over to Red Bay beach to soak up the sunset.

On Sunday morning, we hung in at the cottage and then had an excellent late breakfast at The Lighthouse in Southampton, before parting ways for our respective roads home. The stunning weather persisted as it had for the entire weekend, and after a pleasant cruise back down the shore we arrived home around dinner to some needy felines.

Starting the hike to Lion's Head Lookout

A humid hike amongst the rocks and roots!

Well worth the walk!

The Lion's Head

So blue!

Sauble Falls

Jane returns to her teenage stomping grounds!

The Corran ruins at Spirit Rock Conservation Area

Spirit Rock Spiral

Georgian Bay shoreline

Cape Croker Lighthouse

Another walk in the woods!

Greig's Caves

Spelunked!

St. Margaret's Chapel in Cape Chin

Lake Huron sunset

The aptly named Red Bay!

Summer Roundup

I'm a little behind on my summer fun reporting - it's been busy! 

We got tickets to see one of our favourite comedians in July at the casino in Windsor - he's not for everyone, but Anthony Jeselnik is hilariously dark! Unfortunately, no pictures allowed within the venue - so all I can show is the theatre before the show....and the Detroit skyline afterwards!

Jane made time in between art shows to boil up a batch of dill pickles, after ordering pickling cukes from Raymont's, as we were running low and demand was high among friends and family. Twenty jars of Kosher Dills should tide everyone over for another year.

In mid-August, we ventured to London on a Friday night for an outdoor concert at a new and promising venue along Hyde Park, in behind a well-known local pub. The Trews acoustic trio was playing, along with unknown opener Dueling Pianos. There were rumoured to also be local breweries and food trucks lined up for what was supposed to be a three-day festival, though we were only attending the one night.

After checking into our motel by the 401, we met John and Julie and friends at the venue.  We even paid for "premium" seats, which meant actual chairs at a folding table, rather than standing around in the grass. All told, our group occupied most of the table of ten. I even tried a few of the local beers. The venue was small and intimate, with likely less than a thousand people in total hanging out in a field.

Dueling Pianos turned out to be two highly energetic and entertaining sisters from out West, who took requests from the crowd and played songs from a wide variety of genres with some humour. They were also just a few feet away from our table.

The Trews took the stage and brought their A-game as always - this was my 11th time seeing them live. 

They covered a range of their more acoustic-friendly tunes from many albums old and new. A memorable highlight was a train passing through on nearby tracks during an attempted sing-along, something The Trews acknowledged does not happen at too many shows!

After they wrapped their set and a few encores, the Dueling Pianos came back out to wind down the evening with a few more requests. We headed back to the motel with Jane at the wheel, and after an altogether pleasant evening, we had an early lunch with Dave on Saturday morning before heading for home.

Awaiting Anthony Jeselnik

Detroit across the river from the Casino

In a bit of a pickle....

Delicious Dills!

Great seats at an outdoor venue at Hyde Park

Dueling Pianos to open the show

The Trews acoustic trio!

Our vantage

Great show!

More Dueling Pianos to close out the night!