"Don't go to Flint!"

When I mentioned to several people that I had a friend in Flint, Michigan, who I'd like to meet up with, everyone without fail all said, "Don't go to Flint." "It's a terrible place."

Yeah, well, I wanted meet up with Teri Henderson, so we went to Flint, Michigan.

And...

We had the best time ever!

I contacted Teri from our hotel in Davison, just outside Flint, the day before and arranged to meet her in a small shop called Stir The Imagination.

We foud our way to the shop the next morning, but Teri had been held up by her car breaking down. As we waited, we talked to Rhonda, the shop owner, and before we knew it, Geoff was off on a fishing trip [he caught a bass] with Rhonda's husband, Darryl, and I was in the shop having a lovely healing done by Becky Johns.

We stayed the next couple of nights with Rhonda and Darryl. Geoff got to go to Detroit to see a baseball match between the Detroit Tigers and the Pittsburg Pirates at the Tigers Stadium in Detroit. The Tigers won.

Geoff said that despite its reputation, the area of Detroit they were in looked a lovely clean city. We could also say the same about Flint. There were parts of Flint we only drove through, but didn't stop. They were run down and shabby. Unemployment and the downturn of the economy has taken a huge toll on places like Flint. It made us feel really lucky to live in Australia.

Teri and I in Stir The Imagination. It was wonderful to catch up and spend a day just talking.

Flint's main street looks amazing with its arches all lit up at night. The main street is all paved in bricks!

 And check out this amazing weather ball that lights up in different colours to tell you what the next day will bring. I can't remember the whole poem that goes with it - I'll ask Rhonda and then post the whole thing here later. The first part goes: When the weather ball is red, warmer weather lies ahead. That was true. We had amazing weather!

We took a day trip from Flint up to Muskegan to see Lake Michigan. More picture postcard stuff.

You would swear, would you not, that I was standing in the sea? That's Lake Michigan. And it was COLD! Glacier lake. Brrrr! There were people swimming in that!

 The sand dunes are being revigitated so they'll be like they were originally. It's very pretty.

A walk through the woods from the "beach".

We were shopping for caps and t-shirts when a couple of Flint's finest came in for their daily shoe shine. Very nice guys, quietly spoken and ready for a laugh or two, but you wouldn't want to tangle with either of these two.

Eventually, as in Benton and Brentford, we had to leave our new friends and venture onward across this great country. Photographs really do not do this place justice. The grand scale of the scenery, the colours, the wildflowers, the smells, it is all breathtaking. 

Spring time is definitely the best time of the year to explore this vast countryside. We've struck a few gray days, but very little rain. Now the days are getting warmer and the nights very pleasant. Yes, definitely come over here in late spring to early summer.

Port Honey & Port Severn

 While taking a quick look around Ontario, we drove up to Port Honey and Port Severn. Such pretty little places along the lake shores. Everywhere we looked, it was like a picture post card. I even stopped taking photos after a while. It is impossible to capture everything. No camera would do the scenery justice anyway. It really is like you see in books and on TV.

The colours are amazing. The birds and wildlife is amazing. So different to ours. Even the common, every day nuisance animals up here are beautiful to me. I've fallen in love with squirrels, chipmonks, red winged blackbirds, and my favourite so far, the turkey vultures. Yep. I love them. They are so graceful and powerful. Such a beautiful bird.

Here's some more scenery from around Port Severn to keep you amazed, and hopefully, just a little jealous!

 The water looked blue from a distance, but up close when you peer down into it, it is quite dark. Almost black. This is due to tannins in the water.

There were heaps of these pretty little islands all over the place. All the bigger ones had houses on them. Imagine owning your own island. Unreal.

A Day in Toronto

Instead of driving to Toronto, we took the train and walked and took public transport. Mostly we walked! This is what we saw...

 The grand station of Toronto

 Us in front of the famous needle.

We're on our way up to the top for lunch.

Colourful statues of woodpeckers climb poles right in front of the needle.

They were doing a lot of construction at the base of the CN Tower [the Needle].

They're building a huge aquarium there. It will be spectacular when finished. Maybe we'll have to come back and see it.

 It was such a clear day, we had all these lovely views from the restearant as it slowly revolved.

There were two of these little drawings on the windows. I thought it was cute. Yes, that's the sky as the background.

Squirrels! I finally got some photos of these cute little creatures.

 Yeah, I know they're technically vermin, but.... they're sooooo cute!

 Kings College of Ontario.

 King Edward VII

New glass buildings stand beside the old buildings in this city.

 The old parts of Ontario.

This stunning building is the Royal Ontario Museum. 

We spent most of the day in there just looking at the exhibits. We didn't see it all.

See how the old museum seems to have been swallowed by the new, glass structure? On the inside it is wonderful. You walk around the old building and suddenly you are in the new building. They have preserved all the old building inside the new one. Quite stunning to see.

Now... About That Apple...

Yeah, about that apple...

I kid you not. This is how it happened.

We were driving along and it was near lunch time so we decided to pull up at a farm where they sold apples and advertised country baking. 

We got talking to the very nice lady who usually does the baking - Sandy. It so happened that Sandy had a sister and brother-in-law who ran a diner just down the road. Sandy gave us a couple of apples each and we were on our way. 

We went down to the diner for lunch. And... got talking to the peope who ran it - Sandy's sister and  brother-in-law. Before we knew it, they'd phoned their other sister and brother-in-law in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, and there we were - on the way to Canada to stay at these people's house.

We stayed at Jim and Nany's place in Brantford, Ontario for a few days. We were absolutely blown away by their hospitality. It was amazing.

Using Brantford as our base, we went to Toronto for a day on the train to look around and then on other small day trips around the state of Ontario. 

Wow! We still couldn't get over how wonderful these people were. They took us into their own house and treated us like part of their family. It was great!

 The Canadian Border on the Niagara River

 We waited in line, had our passports

stamped and that was it.

   

We were in Canada.

This is a part of Jim and Nancy's back garden. I'm envious. I want a back yard that looks like this too.

I'd even volunteer to mow the lawn.

 

When we took a drive from Jim's place we were surprised to see so many little roadside shops selling tobacco and fireworks.


The above picture was taken at a place called Ohswekan in Ontario where we stopped for a genuine chilidog at a roadside stop. The native Americans on this reservation obviously know how to have fun on July 4!

I think this grand old church in Brantford could do with a new advertising manager. I'm not sure this would entice me through the door.

I couldn't resist a picture of this. A Williams at Williams. Well, I found it amusing.

We went out to dinner with Jim's family for Mother's Day here.

 I ordered a waffle. This is what I got. Yummmmmm! I think I could get used to these Canadian waffle things.

Everything Has A History

After our carousel ride we drove into the next town, Clarence. The old motel we stayed at, ASA Ransom House, used to be the home of the founding father of Clarence and his family. The people had restored it and added on to it so it was quite a large, but still olde worlde charming, boarding house. Everyone was treated like royalty there. We could not believe the rooms! 

 Old fashioned luxury at an affordabe price

 We were even given a cheese and fruit platter to welcome us.

 Remains of the old stone walls and bridge of an old railway in the hotel grounds.