My goal for the day, after leaving Cathy and Stan in Ottawa, was to make a five and a half hour drive to New Liskeard, where I would stay in an Airbnb for the night. If I saw anything of interest along the way I'd pull over and check it out. The weather was gorgeous, and Bruno and I hummed along the road enjoying the countryside. After about three hours I pulled into a small place called Mattawa. It was picture perfect and I walked along the waterfront.
Traveling the Trans Canada means you have good roads but not many places to pull over safely and take photographs because the shoulders are oftentimes quite small. If I managed to see a pull off soon enough, I'd take advantage of it but those were few and far between. I did see lots of forest, rocky terrain, and many small lakes. It was beautiful but not great for my photo journal.
I arrived at Marcy's Bed and Breakfast to find that I had been upgraded to a room with its own bathroom. What a pleasant surprise! The local doctor, who usually occupied my room, decided to stay at the hospital that night. Honestly, each step along the way, I felt like I an angel was watching over me.
I have never had such a scrumptious and generous breakfast as I did there. All the guests gathered around a large table and Marcy dished up large servings of eggs, bacon, sausage, yogurt, toast, home-made preserves, and pancakes. I was stuffed and probably wouldn't need to eat again until suppertime!
After breakfast, I loaded up Bruno and mapped out my route to Hearst, about a five hour drive.
I was traveling through farm land and off to the side of the highway, in the distance, I saw a large red barn standing out among the flat brown fields. DETOUR! I followed the dusty gravel road until I finally reached the lone building. I rarely miss a chance to photograph old barns. I know eventually they will all disappear and become just a memory, part of our history.
My main stop on this leg of the journey was Cochrane. Fortuitously, I pulled into the small community to pay a bill and have a washroom break but discovered there was a Polar Bear Habitat. From the photos you will not get the full picture of what happens there but if you're interested please follow the link to find out all the marvelous work they do. The enclosure I saw is just a tiny part of the wandering habitat the bears have access to. It's an incredible study facility which helps scientists learn about, and support the wild polar bears in the arctic. While I was there, a field trip of elementary students was enthusiastically listening to one of the researchers, so there are lots of educational aspects to the centre also.
As part of the entrance fee, you can visit the heritage village located on the same property. Once again, the gods smiled on me. The sky threatened a huge storm but that did not happen until I had completed my walk.
Giant Mascot Statues
One of the things I found amusing, as I continued my drive over the next couple of days, was that each small community seemed to have a large statue on the highway, perhaps an invitation to explore their town. I'm sure a person could take a trip across the country devoted to visiting all of these. If I had the time and the money, I probably would!
Another day was over. I found somewhere to have supper, and then settled in to my motel for the night. Tomorrow - Thunder Bay, Ontario.
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