Oh Canada..

After spending three fabulous days at Mackinac Island, where we biked, ate, shopped
and of course spent time at the Starbucks we are now in the
North Channel of Canada in northern Lake Huron.The fort at Mac Is. was
very interesting. Built by the British during the revolutionary War,
the US got it when the war was over only to have it taken back by the
Brits as the first act of aggression during the the War of 1812.
"Aggression" is a bit of a loose term. Seems that after we got
the fort back at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, the Brits
built a new one on their territory 20 miles up the bay to keep an eye

on us. When the War of 1812 was declared, the Brits in their fort
heard about it first and set sail with a couple hundred Red Coats and
500 of their Indian friends under the cover of darkness and surprised
the 60 colonists soldiers who forthrightly surrendered before a shot
was fired. Seems that this particular fort never did work very well,
but it is beautiful in the summer.
We took a horse carriage ride up to The Grand Hotel all dressed in our
going to meeting clothes and were taken for another ride. "We
only have 5 course gourmet menu at dinner and you get it all for $75 a
person." Well, let it just be said that there was no love in those
tidbits, a good idea that would have embarrassed Applebees. Learning to
pay attention to Trip Advisor from now on!
Currently we are at dock in Little Current in the North Channel of
Canada. We have spent the last four nights at anchor off of various
Bays on the southern portion of the Channel and off of the Island
Manatoulin. The first night we were got in late to Meldrum Bay, had
dinner on board and dingied ashore to the Inn on the hill. We thought
we would see about coffee and dessert. What a treat, French owners who
served fresh made apple pie with the most succulent ice cream all
consumed in the comfort of the Inn's living room while surfing the
net.
Next off to Gore Bay where we were treated to a great grocery store-they let you take their cart to the marina and they take care of getting
it back from the ship's store where we replenished supplies and purchased our Canadian burgee (flown as a courtesy while visiting this
country).