We needed to get away at least once before our trip to Gaspé later this month so we headed north to Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park. It’s a bit strange to go to a park that would have been tent-camping territory for decades. Do we really need the campervan for this kind of a trip? Probably not, but hey, we have it and we will use it as much as we can. It will help with the dog situation, and the old bones as well.

Can you tell that we are in the in between mode of shedding the rugged outdoors people that rough it (and admittedly, looks down on those bringing their TVs to Algonquin Park), and sliding slowly into the identity of “the hell with roughing it, let’s just go have fun”. The only drawback is that we can’t really take the canoe, and sadly the kayak that we ordered from Amazon is not here yet. We figured that if we really wanted to we could slide the canoe in through the back and drive with it sticking out a couple of feet, but it may not be such a good idea…

We set out for a 2-nighter with the intent of testing everything out in preparation for our longer trip to Gaspé as we are still not 100% sure about the solar/batteries situation and the water pump.

Emma, the navigator is liking her new perch (more about that in the next post).

Sturgeon Bay is in the Georgian Bay Archipelago about 2.5 hours north of us – a small provincial park that draws mostly anglers. It’s wasn’t too busy and we had our very own rock crop.

A perfect set up to sip wine and watch the the fishermen return as the sun sets over the bay.

The weather is getting cold and it’s a perfect opportunity to test the heater. We turned the heater on in the morning and it took just a few minutes for the van to warm up. It is a bit on the loud side, so sleeping with it on may be challenging. We were very happy with the water heater and the quick supply of hot water, but the water pump concerns us as it kicks in every few minutes even if we are not running any water. We are keeping it off when we don’t use the water until we figure out if this is normal. At home we are on well water and the pump would come on only when using water or if it loses pressure because of a leak (this happened when we had a leak in the barn). This should apply here as well.

We were way too far into the drive when we realized that we forgot the French press at home. This has the potential to ruin our weekend, but not to worry, we made cowboy coffee and it was really good. Crisis averted.

Sturgeon Bay has limited hiking and the next day we chose to drive to the French River area and spend the day there. We hiked to Recollet Falls, an easy hike along the rim of the river to the falls. Perhaps the water were very low because although the area was very pretty, I wouldn’t really call it falls…more like rapids maybe?

Still, it was a nice hike with lovely scenery this was the only wildlife encountered the whole trip.

Got back to the campsite in time to start preparing dinner (and have another glass of wine while we wait for the sun to set)

both fish and the corn were amazing. The fish marinated in basil oil and Thai curry and the corn soaked in water before roasting on the hot coals.

The van looks so inviting at night with lights on…

Some sights on the way back: a ghost tavern

Inukchuks in southern Ontario. I wonder what possesses vacationers to erect these along the Highway 69 corridor. And how do they get on top of these rocks? Do they just stop on the side of the highway?

We stopped in Parry Sound for a short hike along the shore. Can you see the van aprked in the background?

The rugged terrain was a bit hard on Emma’s feet, but luckily she could cool them paws in the water!

A Tom Thompson and Group of Seven tribute on the shores of Georgian Bay in Parry Sound. Such a creative idea and kind of makes me want to sit here and paint.

I’m not sure what’s going on, but we have this craving fro fish and chips. This time we stopped at Lake Rosseau in Muskoka at Crossroads. It was pretty good, but these restaurant stops inflate our budget. We’ll try and control ourselves better next time…but the fish…

And I get only water? Whaaat?

Good bye Muskoka and your giant, magnificent chairs! (and mosquitoes…)

What we love in the van so far:

• the counter extension: it made a huge difference. sets up in seconds, enough space for food prep and drying dishes. No need for food-related musical chair.
• The baskets that we added above the beds double as bedside table. Especially useful if setting up the king size bed.
• The newly opened kitchen cabinet is great, but we still need to figure out how and where to store stuff.
• The king size bed is very comfortable (especially if you are sharing your bed with a dog. We are not sure if in cold nights having the bed set up will affect the efficiency of the heater as it will then be under the extra board.
• The window covering for the front windows work great and are very easy to set up, take down, and store.

What we don’t love in the van so far:

• The fire alarm is way too sensitive and since it’s located almost right over the stove it goes off almost every time you cook anything. We end up disconnecting it, which is bad practice…
• The microwave is really frustrating, or maybe we just don’t know how to use it. Since you need the inverter to use it, it basically resets every time we turn the inverter on then we need to set up the time before we can reuse it.
• The water pump still kicks in when there is no water running and we spotted a small leak. We are in the process of getting an appointment for service. more about that in a future post.

BY THE NUMBERS:

• Distance: 763 km
• Average fuel consumption: 6.8 km/l (16 mpg) – not so great
• Cost (gas, camping, and eating out): $303.21
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