Land of the Sleeping Giant

Okay, so here are the photos of my recent sojourn to Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Thunder Bay is known as the Land of the Sleeping Giant and this photo of him was taken from Crescent Park on High Street. You can see the calm harbour in the foreground with the rough waters of Lake Superior behind the breakwater.

This pic is what you see on the right side of the Port of Thunder Bay. It's rare to look out over the harbour and not see a freighter.

I spent many years of my childhood in this city which is a combination of the Port Arthur and Fort William. I remember when the twin cities amalgamated back in the late '60s.

I was in Thunder Bay to visit my mom and my other relatives. My mom's parents were both from Finland and came to Canada as young adults. Thunder Bay has a huge Finn population and one night, we went out for supper at the Finlandia Club where Finnish cooking is their specialty.

From left to right:

Torsti (Mom's hubby)

Mary (my mom)
Uncle Paul (Mom's bro)

Nancy (my cousin)

One night, we went to visit my brother Johnny and Cathy. Squeeky - I know I said I'd use the other photo but finally decided on this one since everyone was smiling and looking at the camera.

It was the last Sunday in Sept and we decided to go for a walk. This is the walk my mom and Torsti make every few days on a regular basis although they've been told to never walk it alone. It's 2.5 mls from the Finnish senior's housing complex they live in to Tim Horton's and back again. They've been told never to walk it alone, due to dangers posed both by 'bad' people and wolves that frequent the area feeding on the deer population. (Yikes!)

Here is the route:

We went down the road...I'm not sure what Nancy's doing...

I followed Uncle Paul, Mom and Nancy over the bridge.

There had been a heavy rain the day before and the water under the bridge flowed fast. Here you see it head under the hwy. To the left is the pedestrian tunnel under the highway.

This is the tunnel under Hwy 11/17 which is also known as the TransCanada Highway No. 1.

It was weird walking in the tunnel because you have no sense that freightliners, logging trucks and countless other vehicles are crossing over your head.

Or was it that I was so used to them, I wasn't aware of them?

I'm sure you've heard the expression 'The Light at the End of the Tunnel' well...here it is...

Walking along the path with the fast flowing water gurgling alongside.

These Mountain Ash berries were still attached to the branch but they hung in the water - bobbing along with the flow.

It was Sep 28th and plants were completing their cycle all over the place, but these Forget-me-Nots were still flowering.