Cross Canada and Back, Part 54

Point Pelee National Park of Canada

29th, 30th and 31st of August 2011, days 106 to 108

We are at the southern most tip of Canada and Point Pelee National Park.

Leamington and with Point Pelee National Park in southern Ontario is the most southerly tip of Canada. Here we were as far south as Rome ,Italy, or Northern California.

Liz at Point Peele National Park of Canada

Liz close to the southern tip of Point Peele.

Point Pelee National Park was one of the very special places we visited on our cross country trip. We spent good two days exploring the park and one could spend weeks in it.

We walked the DeLaurier Homestead Trail and "Anders Footpath". Eunice Anders had a homestead in this area. That was very interesting.

Anders Footpath.... nice name!

Liz at the park entrance. Point Peele National Park of Canada.

 Before the 1930's the Point Pelee peninsula was a popular spot for cottages, homes, farms. and Sunday outings, before it became a park.

The way it use to look before it became a park.

Sun-baders on the beach prior to it becoming a park.

The properties were expropriated and the park created. The park staff ever since is trying to restore and maintain the original balance in the ecosystem. We are not so sure if that is possible. Some of the original natural plants and animals are not there anymore, so recreating is very difficult or impossible?

Great boardwalks.

So beautiful.

We walked at the Cattail Cafe site the Marsh Boardwalk. That is beautiful. So we decided to come back the next day and rent a canoe from here to see the marsh from the water.

The canoe trip was incredibly beautiful. Please do not miss that if you ever are down there. We paddled through Thiessen Channel to Lake Pond and West Cranberry Pond.

Don't miss the chance of paddling through this wonderful marsh.

These lily pads are huge.

The Lily pads and Lotus Flowers on Lake Pond were amazing. Further over in Carberry Pond we observed turtles and thousands of seabirds.

Lily Pads

A very shy turtle surfacing.

Reflections. Life is good!

The turtles were very shy and we kept our distance not to disturb them. Nobody else was on the ponds, We were the only ones paddling so far in. It was wonderful.

Toward one evening we ride the shuttle to the Tip Exhibit Area and walk from there on the Tip Trail to the most southerly tip of mainland Canada. We look across to Middle Island here in Lake Erie, the most southerly point in Canada.

Anders at the most southerly tip of mainland Canada.

Liz facing south on the most southerly tip of mainland Canada.

We must be too late to see the migrating Monarch Butterfly. The Monarch Butterflies are amazing creatures. If conditions are favourable they congregate here in fall in Point Pelee before they cross Lake Erie on their 3000 km journey south to the mountains of central Mexico.
Here is some more Monarch information.  It says:

      A female monarch lays its eggs (1) on a sprouted milkweed plant. The eggs hatch in four to five days producing tiny yellow, black and white banded larvae (caterpillars). These caterpillars (2) will feed solely on milkweed and eat enormous quantities because they are growing fast. They will grow to 2,700 times their original size in only two weeks, molting five times in the process. 

At three weeks old the caterpillar will enter the pupa stage (3) and gradually change into an emerald green case ringed with golden dots called a chrysalis (4). Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar rebuilds into an adult butterfly (5) which, at five weeks old, climbs out of the chrysalis (6) (7) head first. 

Its bright orange and black wings (8) (9) signal to predators, "Beware!" Why? Monarchs are what they eat! The milkweed's "milk" or white latex is both acidic and somewhat poisonous to many animals. Since a monarch cater-pillar feeds solely on milkweed, it absorbs these substances into its body and stores them throughout its life. Therefore, the monarch tastes awful to many of its predators.

In this Point Pelee National Park of Canada we both realize how fragile all our natural areas are. We should all step gently through nature. More pictures from Point Peele National Park of Canada here.

One day we drove from Leamington around the Windsor Peninsula. Just outside Leamington we we spotted semi-trucks with huge loads of tomatoes. In huge the fields they were harvesting tomatoes with what looks like small combines picking up the tomatoes from the ground.

Acres and acres of tomatoes

A truck hauling tomatoes to the plant.

The trucks went to a scale, test place ( taking a sample of the load), then preceded toward Heinz processing center. It was tomato harvest season. The tomatoes then are canned, stewed, made into sauces, and Ketchup.

Further along there were fields and fields of corn, beans, tomatoes, berries...... In rows and rows of greenhouses farmers were growing peppers, cantaloupes.....  Year around you can get fresh vegetables and berries here.

Amhurstburg on the Detroit River is an old Dutch town. Steeped in US /Canadian history it is an interesting place to visit.

Windsor Ontario, famous or not as a car manufacturing town has some growing pains. Chrysler and Fort motor companies provided for a long time job opportunities. But just like its US sister city Detroit across the river, a lot of things are continually changing in the car industry.

Liz in Winsdor Ontario looking across the Detroit River to Detroit, Michigan, USA.

Along the Detroit River it is beautiful. The city is knows as the city of Roses. The parks are full of interesting sculptures. But some parts of the city look lifeless and run down.

A bridge going across the Detroit River, boarder between Canada and USA.

Some pretty funky art in Windsor.

News from Windsor Star oscillates between positive and negative.

We continued our outing on the Windsor Peninsula on Hwy 2 along the coast of Lake St.Clair.
Between Lake Huron and Lake Erie lies Lake St. Clair. This shallow lake is part of the Great Lakes system, but is not considered one of the "Great Lakes". The farmers field around there were very well tended and looked after.

We see "solar farms" and on most home roofs solar panels, along this stretch of the road. The Ontario Hydro and the Ontario Government are really pushing alternative power, and here in southern Ontario with all the wind and sunshine it makes a lot of sense.

A lot of people took advantage of the incentives of installing alternative power.

Wind farms.

But not everybody thinks it is a good idea. Politicians and voters forever contest the validity of alternative powers.

In Chatham we headed south to Cedar Springs. We stopped in Wheatley ( our daughter-in-law's maiden name). This is a very pretty small town on Lake Erie

Town of Wheatley

Wheatley, The world's largest fresh water commercial fishing port.

"Wheatley is home, among other things, to the world's largest commercial freshwater fish fleet". According to the Small Craft Harbours Branch of the federal government, "approximately 300 commercial fishers catch yellow perch, pickerel (walleye), bass and smelt in 45 fishing tugs. The average length of these boats is 68 feet."

Fishing boats line the harbour.

Typical fishing boat.

Fishing boats by the Cavendish plant.

Back in Leamington we walked to " Freddy's Restaurant" , just around the corner from the campground. The food was great and service was good. We had Pickerel and Perch dinners and some good Ontario wine.

More pictures from this part of our trip here.

Here are some shortcuts to all the blogs from our Cross Canada Trip. Just hover over the number to see where it will take you

 1,    2,    3,     4,    5,    6,    7,    8,    9,   10

11,   12,  13,  14,  15,  16,  17,  18,  19,  20

21,   22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  28,  29,  29b

30,   31,  32,  33,  34,  35,  36,  37,  38,  39,

40,   41,  42,  43,  44,  45,  46,  47,  48,  49,

50,   51,  52,  53,  54,  55,  56,  57,  58,  59,

60,   61,  62,  63,  64,  65.

.