Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

It was raining pretty hard with we left Dryden yesterday, but by noon, the weather had cleared significantly. It was a nice drive to Thunder Bay, although the scenery was pretty much the same for the entire journey. We drove through evergreen and deciduous forest on both sides of the road for most of the day.

As time passes, we're seeing more fall color, including some red.

Also, we passed into the Eastern time zone, which really makes us feel as if we're getting somewhere.

Thus far, we have driven about 2,700 miles, or 4374 kilometers, if you're of that persuasion.

As we approached Thunder Bay, the terrain began to change. We'd round corners and find ourselves above it all.

So many of you told us to stop off at Kakabeka Falls, we decided we had to see what all the fuss was about.

In a word: Wow! It was big!

The Falls are 40 meters high and a result of the flow of the Kaministiquia River. You can read more about them right here. And they were LOUD! Here's a little video so you can listen. If you can't see the video, then click right here.

There was a very nice viewing platform that allowed us to see it at different spots along the river.

We could even cross over a bridge and get above the falls.

From the other side, it looks like this. You can see the bridge in the upper left-hand corner of the image below.

From the opposite side, it was possible to see the steep cliffs. There were birds nesting there as well.

And speaking of steep cliffs, I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you all the ways you could die out here. Please keep your arms and hands inside the vehicle at all times.

We spent about an hour there, and then moved on toward Thunder Bay, just about 40 km away from here. Along the way, we saw the first barns of the day.

As we approached our KOA for the night, we got our first glimpse (this trip, anyway) of Lake Superior. You can barely see it above the trees and below the mountains in the image below.

And I've badmouthed KOA so much that I figure I should also say when they're doing a good job. We've stayed at this KOA in Thunder Bay one other time. Since then, they've done some work on the place, and it's pretty nice! The man in the office seemed determined to give us an upgraded site. At first, he suggested a nice patio site, but there was no sewer. I needed it to wash a load of clothes. As he took us to our assigned site, he remembered a patio site with full hook-ups and he took us there. Very nice, indeed, and he seemed very pleased with himself for remembering it. We were pleased too.

Now, it's important that you understand the sleeping arrangements in the fifth wheel. It's been raining so much that we've brought in the little quilt from the catio and placed it on the chair beside the catio window. Sadie has staked out that spot for her morning nap. The kitties need morning naps because they've spent the night keeping all of us on high alert.

You might recall from our trip last spring that there are now two kitty cubbies in the cabinet above our couch.

The kitties like this area, and for whatever reason, it makes them feel secure. Fast forward to this trip, and Sadie is such a seasoned traveler (and so focused on escape) that she can't be bothered with silly cubbies any more. She's abandoned them to Smitty's usage full time, and so we've closed the cubby on the right.

But then, the other morning, we were looking for Smitty, and I got an idea that he might have decided to use the right cubby for his private bedroom. When I opened it up...sure enough.

Also, I need to back way up to Warren, Manitoba, to tell you that I attempted to cut down our favorite recipe for Original Plum Torte into a dessert for two, and it worked!

It was so yummy, and now I don't feel so bad about leaving behind our plum tree still loaded with unripened plums. We found these at a grocery store in Manitoba, and so it seemed like the right thing to do. I cut the original recipe from the New York Times by about one-third, and then baked it in a 6-inch cake pan. Here's my recipe:

                      

Original Plum Torte for Two

Recipe adapted from Marian Burros

Serves 2     

1/4 cup  sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup unbleached flour -- sifted

1/4 teaspoon (heaping) baking powder

pinch salt

1 egg -- lightly beaten

6 plum halves

Sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon for topping

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 6-inch cake pan with butter and flour and line with parchment paper.

Cream the sugar and butter in a bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and eggs and beat well. 

Spoon the batter into prepared cake pan. Place the plum halves skin side up on top of the batter. Sprinkle lightly with sugar and lemon juice, depending on the sweetness of the fruit. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, depending on how much you like cinnamon. Bake 45 minutes, approximately. 

Remove and cool; refrigerate or freeze if desired. Or cool to lukewarm and serve plain or with whipped cream.

So there was that...and then last night I tried out my new smallish Dutch oven purchased especially for this trip. We love our soups and stews in winter, and I miss cooking them when we're traveling. I brought along a pork roast from home and tried this recipe for Peruvian Pork Stew with Chiles, Lime, and Apples published recently in the NY Times. My own image wasn't very good, and so I swiped this one off the internet:

(image source)

It was delicious, and it worked out pretty well. It took about 3 hours to prepare, and I started it right away when we arrived at our site. It was ready to eat well before we keeled over from starvation. I had to make a few adjustments to the recipe. For one thing, I made just half. I used Golden Delicious apples and forgot to peel them. Oh well...it didn't matter at all. Also, I was unable to find ancho chiles along the way, and so I substituted one tablespoon of chili powder. Also, my cilantro wasn't looking very good, and so I substituted about 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin right into the pot. A few of the commenters online thought the recipe was bland, and so I also added two cloves of coarsely chopped garlic. Finally, we didn't eat ours over rice, but instead plopped a dollop of reduced-fat sour cream on top. It was so tasty...not at all bland, and we both agreed I shouldn't change a thing when I made it in the future. I'd still like to try it with the ancho chiles, however.

Okay, so as I'm writing this, we're considering whether to move on to our next destination of White River, Ontario, or whether to stay here another day. We said we'd let the weather be our determining factor, and the morning is looking pretty good. You'll just have to wait until my next post to find out the exciting conclusion to this story.