Bruce Peninsula National Park
After a lazy Tuesday morning, our Wednesday started early with a 7:30 departure time to get to Bruce Peninsula National Park at 8:00, when our four-hour parking pass started. We arrived to a fairy empty parking lot and began our first hike, a moderate-rated trail from the parking lot to the Georgian Bay via Horse Lake. When we reached the Bay, we snagged photos at several rocky shorelines and traversed the difficult-rated hike to the popular Grotto site.
We walked Joy and Eilidh about halfway back to the car on an easy-rated trail before Amanda, Noah, Emmie, and I hiked another difficult-rated trail to Boulder Beach via Murr Lake. We snagged some additional photos and hiked along more rocks along the craggy coastline. In total, we hiked close to 5 miles before exiting the park after 11:00.
Little Tub Sub & Smokehouse
Everyone was hungry for lunch, which was at a sub shop in Tobermory, the northern-most spot on the peninsula. The menu was a mix of hot and cold subs with an additional chalkboard dedicated to a menu of Mac and cheese and smoked meats, which were only available past 3:00 p.m. Amanda and I had subs from the “Classics” list, the kids all had variations of grilled cheese sandwiches, and Joy went with the economical sausage egg muffin from their breakfast list.
Big Tub Lighthouse
From there, we made the short drive to the Big Tub Lighthouse, which was not open to the public and paled in comparison to the Imperial lighthouses we’d visited earlier on our trip. Nonetheless, we took a few photos and bounced around on the rocks for a few minutes before we went to the City Center to spend some time before our afternoon boat ride.
Tobermory
We had a little difficulty parking, but we found a decent street-side spot that was close to a variety of shops, including the best-rated ice cream place I could find in the city. While the ice cream wasn’t particularly memorable, I appreciated that their single scoops were less than $4.00, and everyone in the family at least tried a single scoop. We visited the shops and made use of the city’s excellent public washrooms before boarding our private boat tour from Fathom Five Fishing.
Flowerpot Island & Grotto Boat Tour
Our captain Mike offered a short and informative introduction to his small boat with some dry humor mixed in. To start the 90-minute boat ride, Noah and I took front seats while the girls faced each other in the back. Stops on our short-but-fun journey included Flowerpot Island and the Grotto, which we had hiked to earlier in the day. We stayed on the boat the entire time, enjoyed some fast speeds through the water, and took in the pristine waters of the Georgian Bay from a new vantage point. I think it was everyone’s favorite part of the trip.
We stopped at the Foodland for more groceries. Eilidh also picked out a notebook and markers.
The girls went snorkeling every night at our Ontario home.
Amanda and Emmie took the shortest of kayak rides. Unfortunately, it was windy enough that the water was a little choppier than ideal.
Joy and I were up past sunset to work more on the Butter puzzle.