Loony Knoll Adventure

Last time a party of Knottwoodians visited Loony Knoll in Canada, winter held the land in its icy grip. THIS time, they visited in JULY, arriving to grey Northern skies. Almost immediately, they were entertained on the long seventeen-hour drive from Toronto airport by uniquely Canadian vistas...

...not to mention uniquely Canadian architecture... Isobel Hanbro! STOP that!

...such as this charming church in Belle Vallee, built entirely with local stone! Izzy, WILL you get out of there?

"We knew we were truly far North when we had to stop for a MOOSE... Watch OUT!

...ironically enough, RIGHT before this "Moose Crossing" sign... Hmmm... he looks strangely *familiar*...

Hundreds of miles of solemn black spruce (the Canadian North's biggest export) sailed by... NOOO! Isobel, you *DIDN'T*!

And although the logging trucks of winter had now disappeared, Northern pulp mills still belched forth their fiendish smoke... Logging is a sad fact of Canada...

Sometimes we found ourselves passing through small, spunky towns with Indian names... We wish we knew what they meant!

...but mostly we drove through mile after mile of spectacular but lonely rock cuttings... Spectacular!

...which opened out into scenic, lake-dotted panoramic vistas... Ooooh!

At LAST we came to the shores of Lake Superior, a vast inland freshwater sea... How beautiful!

We drove along its shores for literally hours and hours... Unearthly!

We knew we were nearing Thunder Bay at last when we began to pass all the Amethyst mines! They really look PURPLE!

We stopped at one, and General Hanbro was particularly pleased to get a WONDERFUL shot of his lovely grand-daughter Isobel sitting on an amethyst-laden boulder...... She looks SO like her MOTHER...

...though he was a teeny bit LESS pleased when he caught her trying to take it WITH her..." Cost the general $975 Canadian dollars!

At long last, we passed the ghostly form of The Sleeping Giant, a famous island right in the mouth of Thunder Bay! His slumbering form was hard to see, lost in the silvery mist... Can you make out it's body?

...But soon, even Thunder Bay was left FAR behind as we drove on into the night..." How unearthly!

(Will they EVER get to Loony Knoll?)

Return to Directory Page
(image supplied by www.freefoto.com)