The Travels of the Agnew Family

What a great day --- the weather was perfect, the company was great, the last spot on the Explore the Bruce Passport was punched and 17 geocaches were found. What more could you ask for?

Ed, Zaph and I left home at 9am and drove to Rob and Ellen's cottage in Sauble Beach loading into their hatch back. Much more comfortable for everyone when Zaph gets to sit in the back.


Rob and Ellen didn't know about the look out on Sidney Bay Road (stop #3 on Explore the Bruce). So, we stopped there and happily found the geocache that had eluded Ed and myself the week before.


Pulled into Lion's Head just after noon. Saw this nice looking restaurant with a deck where Zaph could sit with us and enjoyed a wonderful lunch.


It had been a lot of years since Rob and Ellen had stopped in Lion's Head and they were surprised to see the changes that had occurred. There's a beautiful harbor with a nice sandy beach. Just the perfect spot for a little dip to cool off.




It was much rockier on the other side of the marina but still an OK spot for a swim. At least Zaph thought so.


Lighthouse in Lion's Head.


Not quite sure what these guys were doing, but pretty sure it had something to do with sailing.


Finally made it to Tobermory. The ferry was late so we got to see the cars load and the ferry depart. One of these days Ed, Zaph and I will be on the ferry.


Tobermory is at the top end of the Bruce Pennisula and is home to the ferry that goes to Manitoulin Island. There is a harbor and a number of shops and restaurants. We didn't get to town till just before 4pm so didn't have a lot of time to explore.


Big Tub Lighthouse just outside of Tobermory --- there were three geocaches in the short distance from town to the lighthouse.


Trying to figure out how to go swimming one last time.

One the drive back to the cottage we stopped at a number of geocaches --- a couple were by a mountain bike / hiking trail, another in a picnic rest area that was much larger than we expected, a couple in rock walls, one in a sink hole area, another marking the halfway point between the equator. Finally made it back to the cottage around 8:15. Ed, Zaph and I arrived home around 11:30. Now that was a full day.

After months of waiting, Ed's new camera finally arrived. It's not that much different from his older cameras but this one does video as well as still photos. Should keep him busy and out of trouble for months while he learns the intricacies of the camera.

We had a half a day with no plans, a new camera and our Exploring the Bruce Passport begging us to finish the route. What were we to do but head north to the Bruce Peninsula. The GPS always tries to the take the fastest or shortest route to the destination but I always enjoy driving different routes when time allows, so I was armed with my Back Roads Map Book. Staring at the map I discovered that Ontario has Ghost Towns and we were driving near the ghost town of "Malcolm". Didn't quite meet my expectations of a ghost town as there were no abandoned buildings to be explored, just a cemetery and some markers.


There were a few homes in the area but no buildings indicating a community was once here.


Next stop the Chesley Community Park --- a nice spot for a picnic lunch. Sorry Zaph, no time for a swim.


Stop #3 on Explore the Bruce is this lovely look out on Sidney Bay Road on the way to Cape Croker. Ed was happy, he was able to punch his passport and find a geocache, though a bit sad when we couldn't find the 2nd geocache.


The little parkette is privately owned and is on an Indian Reservation. There were a number of picnic tables a trail and a couple of totem poles even though I don't believe tribes from Ontario carved totem poles.

Stop #2 on Explore the Bruce was by the gates to the Greig's Cave. As neither of us felt like paying to "explore the caves" (maybe another day) we drove back to Wiarton with ice cream cones dancing in our heads.


Didn't find ice cream but did find frozen raspberry lemonade, yum! Wiarton is a pretty spot.

When John and Carol were visiting we saw men doing maintenance on a wind turbine. Ed only had a wide angle lens with him so this was our photo:


John had a zoom lens and got this photo:

Not sure what the men were doing up there but the one thing I know for sure is I wouldn't go up there. Thanks for e-mailing me the photo John.

My sister (Carol), brother-in-law (Darryl) and great-niece (Sarah) arrived yesterday from Texas. The trip north was primarily to visit Darryl's mom and Carol's and my mom. The side trip to our house was to show Sarah where Ed, Zaphod and I live.

This morning Darryl drove to Toronto to his mother's house and Sarah and Carol spent the day with us. Carol, Sarah, Zaph and I drove to the beach in Kincardine. I left my camera at home so "Carol, thanks for the photos".


Sarah modified the ball fetch game --- she swam out holding Zaph's ball, so he swam out with her. Eventually, Sarah would throw the ball and the two of them would swim back to shore.


I think this little guy is 12 weeks old --- it was his first time on the beach.

Resting.....






The lighthouse in Kincardine

An hours drive brought us to Elora where we met my mother and brother for dinner. As my mom rarely gets her three children together we took some family photos.


Sarah and Oma


Carol, Sarah and Oma


Ed, Frances and Sarah


David, my mother, Carol and Frances

John, Carol and Cait left for home this morning, so it's very quiet in the house. Zaph is catching up on some sleep and I did a lot of laundry. It's so hot outside that even towels dried in just over an hour and we turned on the A/C.

One of Cait's presents to Zaph was matching Snoopy bandannas --- just too cute.

Had a quiet day today as Carol had a relapse of the cold she thought she had gotten rid of before coming to visit. We spent some time mapping out our trip to Arizona next winter and Ed took John out to see all of the local points of interest ... Home Hardware, Canadian Tire, the drive in Theatre, the local airport .... etc.

As usual Zaph was spoiled on his birthday. First there were the presents, then a few hours on the beach, shared a blizzard with his mom and finally his own hamburger for dinner. Not a bad day for a dog.


Cait couldn't figure out what was taking Zaph so long to open his presents so she decided to help him out.


Nice moose.


Waiting somewhat impatiently to leave for the beach.


Cait just loves the water and the sand.


so does Zaph.






Drove home from Kincardine via Sauble Beach as we wanted to show John and Carol the area. We stopped at this wind farm to try and figure out what the two men were doing in some kind of cage at the tip of one of the propellers of the wind turbine. The person at the Bruce Nuclear information center thought it was some type of maintenance. We all agreed, none of us wanted that job.


A view of the bridge in Southampton.

Cait, John and Carol arrived on Tuesday for a visit. One of the objectives of the visit was to go to Seaforth and see the town where John's grandfather was born and great grandfather or was it great great grand father immigrated to from Scotland.


Looking down the main street of Seaforth.


John had inherited some old family photos. One of the photos was of several family members standing in front of the family's grocery store. A stop at the town hall found one of the town's historians who took a break from her job to help John find what was once the family grocery store.


After visiting a golf course for a very nice lunch and a visit to two cemeteries the last resting place for several members of the Robb family was found. It was a little disconcerting seeing a marker for a "John Robb".


Zaph found the backseat a little crowded as he had to share the space, so he found a way to get more room plus enjoy the cool air from the vents.


On the drive home we passed a wind farm.

It was off to Sauble Beach again. Ed, Zaph and Rob took our car and headed off first --- they had electrical work to do. Ellen and I left about a half hour later as we were planning to stop at the Southampton Craft Show. This show is held on the first Thursday of July and has been for the past 43 years. It is a juried show so only selected vendors can attend. People come from far and wide to attend the show --- parking was scarce ... we ended up a couple of blocks away.


My friend Donna and her mother come from Burlington (a 3 hour drive) to sell at the show. They told us that they left at 3am. The show runs from 10am to 7pm so I'm guessing that with packing up and the drive home they'll be lucky to be home by midnight. Now that's a long day. Donna makes cute little things out of walnuts and thistles, as well as dried flowers.



Lots of interesting things to see both inside and outside of the arena. There were lots of baby things, some canine attire, preserves, wood turnings, pottery and much more.

The boys worked hard on Thursday and Friday morning. Rob was happy when the new light switch for the outdoor light was installed and the light switch for the kitchen was moved from behind the refrigerator and put somewhere more accessible and additional outlets were installed in the kitchen. It doesn't take a lot to make Rob happy. Zaph on the other hand was happy to head to the beach Thursday afternoon for his swim. The water was so calm, Zaph stayed in the lake chasing his stick for over an hour. Friday morning Zaph took Ellen and I for walk about town. After about 45 minutes of walking Zaph was starting to get thirsty .... I noticed a elderly gentleman watering his garden so I decided to stop to see if Zaph could get a drink from the hose. The man said that he had a dog bowl and went in the house returning with his wife and a bowl of water for Zaph. What a nice couple.


Friday afternoon was geocache time. Ed was happy as he passed the 200 mark for geocaches found. This one was aptly named "a duck out of water".


I think this is the Sauble River on the outskirts of Sauble Beach.


While Ed was off looking for another geocache Zaph enjoyed another view of the river --- he was probably trying to figure out how to get to the river and go swimming. As it was very hot we gave up with the geocaching after an hour or so and headed for the beach. The five of us spent about an hour floating about in the lake. What a great way to cool off.


In the evening we decided to have our evening coffee down at the Two Chicks Cafe.


As luck would have it, there was live entertainment. Danielle Todd from Guelph Ontario and Greg Bryne from Sydney Australia were preforming. Thought they were great.

After a busy few days, Ed and I spent Canada Day hanging around the house chilling out.