WE GO ON A HOLIDAY: DAY ONE

I'm going to take you back in time because it took me a while to get this holiday stuff together. So, here we go to Tuesday of last week when we went on our first real holiday for many moons.  It was great fun but it already seems like a distant memory. I guess holidays are like that.
I'll start with the first day in this post, and continue later. It's only three days - don't worry.

TUES 10 OCT 2011 2:50pm Well, here we are on Pelee Island, the southern most bit of inhabited land in Canada, on the level of northern California (approx. 500km. north of San Francisco), full of rare and endangered species, and some fine beach glass. We've already hit the beach and collected a couple of pocket-fulls of the stuff.

We got to the ferry nice and early driving through the night under a brilliant full moon. A lot of Hydro workers were crossing. They are going to cut up brush and so forth. Also on this trip were tractors and wagons. They go and collect the harvest, mostly soy beans, and take it back to the mainland.

Pelee Island ferry terminal

The Jiimaan

Staging area for vehicles.

In the harbour was a disgusting layer of scum. I asked the guy in the cafeteria how long the trip was and he said an hour and a half if they didn't get slowed down by the scum. Then he went on about how it could be mutating into some kind of sea monster. It's that bad. And all the way over you could see yellow and green film on the water.

Colourful water.

But, other than that, it was a good trip; we both enjoy a ferry ride.  Watched part of a film about the island, then the lady beside me said, after waking up, “I've never been here before!” And we said neither have we. She grew up in Washington State and has remarried to a man in the Ottawa Valley.

Jiimaan's twin stacks.

Promenade deck.

The first thing you see off the boat is the little Town Hall and museum, which is supposed to be good. Maybe on a rainy day we can go see that.

Then we drove about 9 km. along the shoreline to our little cottage at Bayview Cottages owned by Zane Hooper a former ferry boat operator. When the gov't tried to make him hire a First Mate, after many years without one, he sold the boat. It's in the Bahamas now.

The cottage itself is charming. Just what you would expect from a little cottage on an island. You bring your own food and bedding but everything else is supplied.  Former tenants have left little souvenirs around like painted stones, fossils and shells. There are two big rooms and a bathroom. Lot's of nice old cottage furniture. There's a double bed, a strongly built bunk-bed, and a fold-out cot. Lot's of good old magazines including a 1994 Canadian Geographic not even out of it's plastic wrap. It becomes almost a superstitious thing not to be the first to open it. Also a supply of board games like Sorry, Monopoly and Risk, all well played over many years.

Home away from home.

Hoosier cupboard & propane stove.

It's a short walk to the cliff and down the steps to the beach. It's very pebbly so the little pieces of glass are harder to see than on our sandy beach. Didn't stop us from spotting a goodly number, though.

Our first days catch.

9:00pm We drove around the whole island, stopping at a few places to take photos and look for glass. Our beach by the cottage seems to be the best by far for glass. Unless someone else is in the same game, which is very possible. There is quite a big area of sanctuary and the roads are all thin and tree lined, often not paved or lined with hydro poles. There is very little traffic and everyone drives slowly since there's nowhere to rush to.

The Stoneman - named by the Pelee public school students.

Log house built around 1835 and being restored by present owners.

Lake Henry- one of two wetland areas left on the island.

Lake Henry

Abandoned community. Showing the typical roads.

Abandoned marina.

Sun goes slowly down over our first day.

 We came home when it got too dark to see, watched the sun go down for a long time. Had a really tasty turkey and vegetable dinner. Both of us are dragging from the early start. Tomorrow we will go explores again. Unfortunately the bakery which everyone raves about and is within walking distance is closed for the season. There are a couple of restaurants open and an LCBO, which is always good.