Drive hrough Ontario
 

We are planning a family drive to Alaska for next summer. Planning to enter Canada at Niagara Falls (1 night); then take the ferry at Tobermory and up to Sault Ste Marie (1 night); and then drive along Lake Superior to Thunder Bay (1 night). Any comments on this itinery?

Looking for lodging advice and any stops we should consider along the way. We like sightseeing and wildlife. Also, anything that might be of interest to teenage girls.

Thanks

As enchanting as teenage girls (can be), I do not envy your having to entertain multiples of them all the way to Alaska!

Don't know where you're from, but do realize that the drive from Seattle to Anchorage is just less than the drive from New York City to Seattle.

In the neck of the woods you mention, I'd just haul a** with the goal of getting those girls to the mall in Edmonton for at least an overnight stay and two full days of shopping/browsing. (This mall isn't like any they'll have 'back home')

From there it is maybe 250 miles to the start of the Alaska Highway.

And when you get to Whitehorse... it is home to the only McDonald's for hundreds and hundreds of miles around, so the teens will have to go there.

Again, in eastern Canada it is important to just make tracks... so as to reduce the stresses on the later part of the trip.

Where are you starting from?

If we know that, we can suggest, here and on other threads you've started, things that are different.

At/near Niagara Falls there's Niagara on the Lake, which is a Stockbridge-like tourist town with excdellen theatre the girls, and you, might enjoy. Look for The Shaw Festival on Google.

And a fudge store ont he main street.

African Lion Safari near Hamilton / Cambridge is a great place.

FRom there to Tobermory, there's nice scenery and a boat cruise on the lakes is beautiful; either from Gravenhurt, Port Carling, or Parry Sound.

But you'll see more trees and rocks that you've ever imagined for the next five hundred miles.

BAK

My principal comment is that two days to get from Niagara Falls to Thunder Bay is two long days of driving. You won't have time to stop to see much en route.

I would stop at Tobermory for a night and take the first ferry in the morning.

You say you're staying 1 night in Niagara, then heading up to Sault Ste Marie through Tobermory for your next night? That's a big day drive. Close to a 5 hour drive from Niagara to Tobermory, and if you're taking the ferry you probably want to reserve ahead which means being in line an hour early (or lose reservation). The ferry ride to the Manitoulin is 2 hours, and the drive from there to the Soo is probably at least 4 hours. That adds up to a good 12 hours minimum.

To fit in some sightseeing and wildlife - spend a night or 2 in Tobermory. Nearby Bruce Peninsual National Park has beautiful hiking trails along the Niagara Escarpment overlooking Georgian Bay. Also adjacent is Fathom Five National Park - glass-bottom boats tour over shipwrecks, or drop you on Flowerpot Island with its spectacular rock formations. The general area has good birdwatching, lots of small animals, deer are possible, and I've seen bear in the region a couple of times. Tobermory is a cute little town with a number of interesting shops and several cafes and restaurants (specialty is local whitefish and chips).
Sault Ste Marie has a hotel on the waterfront, I think a Holiday Inn. You can walk to downtown restaurants from there. About an hour beyond the Soo you'll drive through Lake Superior Provincial Park which has wonderful scenery and good wildlife opportunities with excellent nature and hiking trails (also saw a bear there last summer). Near Thunder Bay is very nice Sleeping Giant Provincial Park and the smaller Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park. But your itinerary doesn't leave much time for wildlife or sightseeing.

One thing about the drive north of Superior is that there's a real surfeit of over-the-air radio stations between the Sault and Thunder Bay. If you don't have a satellite radio system, make sure to bring lots of tunes

I would hardly describe the availability of radio stations between the Sault and Thunder Bay as a surfeit. In fact, quite the opposite; there is a paucity of stations, or in plain English, a scarcity.

D'oh! :D

What laverendrye said! So much for appearing intelligent!

If you're going through Manitoulin Island, be sure to stop at the Mounted Animal Nature Trail - it's the only place where Grandma and the kids can see Silence of the Lambs. You'll never see anything else like this guaranteed.