May 21 - Leamington, ON

First - let us apologize for not updating the blog for almost two weeks. 

No real excuse, except we have been having too much fun, and been too exhausted at the end of the day to update.  So now it's time to make up for lost time...

A bright sunny morning with temperatures in the mid-teens greeted us on our departure from Niagara.  Our route today is to travel upstream along the Canadian side of the Niagara River up the Niagara Parkway to Fort Erie, and then travel on side roads for as long as reasonable until we arrive at Leamington - the gateway to Point Pelee National Park (the southernmost point in mainland Canada).  

After a beautiful morning drive, as planned, we decided it was top-down weather as we wound our way along Lake Erie.  Unfortunately, that didn't last long as we ran into a large fog bank as we neared Port Burwell.  We put up the top, and continued on our way and then, much to our surprise, as we entered Port Burwell, we were shocked to see a 300 foot long submarine, up on shore on blocks!   Apparently, the Federal Government has decided this will be the site of the Canadian cold war, and somehow, the HMCS Ojiwa represents this...  I'm still a bit confused by this...  But you can check it out on the 'net'...

Lunch was a VERY reasonable $17.00 - which was a great relief from the Niagara Falls' standard lunch price of $75.00 (with a beer each included).

About 4:30 we reached the Tomato Capital of Canada (and the gateway to Point Pelee), Leamington.

We made our way to the Point Pelee Park, and after paying (the rather hefty fee of $15.00 to enter for a day permit)  we slowly made our way to the end of the point, and then walked the short 1/4 mile trail to the end of the point.  Then we slowly wound our way out of the park with a few stops for pictures.

Then after a delicious dinner of fried yellow perch (a delicacy of Lake Erie) we drove to the B&B we were staying in overnight.

The B&B that we were booked into was called 'Bound to Please', which may seem innocuous, but that name, coupled with a copy of 'Shades of Grey' in our room, left us wondering about the mixed message of a homey, comfortable B&B with an odd name...

Mileage to date: 6,189 kms.

Gas in Defiance, OH: $3.87/gal. = $1.12/litre Cdn