Bon Bon Chocolates
As soon as we left the hotel, I broke out the twelve-pack of Bon Bon Bon chocolates I’d purchased the day before in Detroit’s midtown neighborhood. Made in Michigan, these individually-packaged chocolates were incredibly pretty and charming to eat. We did a first round of sampling as an appetizer to breakfast, and the chocolates received rave reviews.
Unique McDonald’s Sign
Before the trip, I did some research to see if there were any unique McDonald’s restaurants close to our route in Michigan. I was happy to find that one of only 12 1950s-era single arch signs was intact in the city of Warren, just outside of Detroit, and generally on the way to Canada. Eilidh was the only one who wanted to get out of the car and pose with me in front of the unique sign. Emmie had hotcakes and sausage, Eilidh ordered her go-to McGriddle, I had the limited-time honey bacon egg and cheese biscuit, and Amanda had a single hashbrown.
Drive to Canada
Our second, shorter day of driving went much more smoothly than Friday, and we managed to stay on schedule in Michigan and after crossing the Canadian border and entering Ontario. We had a solid 20 minutes to explore a Sobey’s grocery store and immediately find some fun foods to purchase to snack on in the car and throughout the remainder of our trip.
Emmie found giant Dr. Pepper-flavored freeze pops, which we later purchased.
Point Clark Lighthouse
We arrived on time for our 12:00 tour of Point Clark Lighthouse, one of 6 Imperial-style lighthouses constructed in the mid-1800s. Built primarily of limestone and granite, the interior of the structure maintains a consistent width to the top, but the thickness of the walls decreases as the building gets taller to achieve its angled cylindrical shape. Unlike some other lighthouses we visited, there were no open-air vantage points at the top. Rather, we stood inside a glass viewpoint that was warm and could sometimes get very, very warm depending on outside temperatures.
We had a few minutes to explore the shore by the Point Clark Lighthouse before our tour began.
McDonald’s Canada
We doubled down on McDonald’s with lunch at a Canadian outpost of the ubiquitous fast food restaurant in nearby Kincardine. Much of their menu mirrors what is in the United States, but we managed to order a number of unique items. I liked my quarter-pounder BLT, which unsurprisingly was composed of a hamburger patty topped with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. Amanda and Joy each had full-size chicken wraps, with different flavors and bigger sizes than the U.S. snack wraps. The only part of our order that was a little disappointing was Eilidh’s poutine, where the curds and gravy made the Fries unfortunately soggy.
Chantry Island Lighthouse
We doubled down on Imperial Lighthouses, with a 3:00 p.m. tour of the Chantry Island Lighthouse near Port Elgin, where we were spending the night. The lighthouse itself was pretty much the same as we saw in Port Clark: limestone and granite painted white with walls that get thinner as the lighthouse gets taller. While both tours had a refined script, there was much more depth and passion from the Chantry Island crew.
Our experience started with a 20-minute boat ride to the island, which sits about 1km off the town. This region of Lake Huron was especially prone to shipwrecks, and during the boat ride, we were presented with a map that showed the various accidents that had been documented in the nearby waters. (We had to reassure Eilidh that our boat would not be subject to this fate.) The boat was driven by Georgie with the tour content presented by Karen, both of whom were volunteers for the local history society. They were assisted by Mason, a paid high school summer intern.
We began our time on Chantry Island with a very, very detailed tour of the keeper’s dwelling. This building had been heavily restored around the turn of the century, and we were given details about both the restoration project and the lives of the lighthouse keepers who lived on the island until the lighthouse was fully automated in the 1950s. The first lighthouse keeper and his wife had 11 children. It’s difficult to imagine how crowded the house could be and the challenges presented by living on this island, which was inaccessible from the mainland during Ontario’s harshest winter months.
We were then led on a tour to the top of the lighthouse, with Mason (the high school student) providing facts on each level to break up the climb. He did an impressive job sharing tidbits on each level, though the information felt a little redundant given the similarities to the lighthouse in Point Clark. We had photos taken at the top and on the boat ride back to commemorate the visit. Because the island is a bird sanctuary, visitors are only allowed as part of these boat tours. Given they’re offered only three times a day and only during the summer, it feels like we were part of a unique Ontario experience.
Gerry’s Fries
At times, our lighthouse tour felt like an advertisement for Gerry’s Fries, a place that both Georgia and Karen raved about and was visible from our boat tour. The kids decided they’d rather hang out at our Port Elgin hotel, so Joy, Amanda, and I made the short drive to Gerry’s. The fries were good, but didn’t quite reach our expectations after hearing the rave reviews from our tour guides. I enjoyed my hot dog and will give it 3-of-5 stars should I get to entering it in my new hot dog journal.
South Pizza and Pizza Hut
After popping in a few Port Elgin grocery stores, Joy waited with Noah for pizza from a local spot called South Pizza. He took it back to the hotel and shared it with Eilidh. They ate it all, but he only gave it a 13-of-20 rating. Emmie and I drove to the local Walmart and then decided to pick up Pizza Hut for her dinner; the chicken alfredo was comparable to the United States, and we tried an order of Garlicky Hut Bites, which were tasty but pretty much just chopped up breadsticks.
Our order was ready on-time, and the Pizza Hut lived up to its high Google rating, a departure from the typical experience in Iowa and the US.