Monday- Wed July 12-14

On Monday we left Algonquin to head up the Georgian bay a couple of hours . Parry Sound is an old logging terminus from the days when the Canadian shield provided much of England's timber, It is also the best access point to the "thirty thousand islands". We planned to get in Mon eve and scout the area.Then do a museum and take a three hour cruise on Tues. I misread the brochure so we "missed the boat", and decided we'd do the museum on Tues aft, and the cruise on Wed morn before we left.
The museum is typical of so many community museums we see in small towns. Liz calls them "the towns attic". They are typically very small, charging a nominal fee, this one $2 each, and are very interesting. This one continued on with the story we had just seen in Algonquin's logging museum but included more info on loading the ships with timbers. Parry Sound was also a steamship terminal in the 1800's, and the story of steamship travel, Georgian Bay light houses, and some pretty tragic steamship catastrophes was told, with models, and artifacts. Liz found a replica of a three wheeled speedster, a device her grandfather once used to get around in Cass West Virginia. This museum was better than some we've seen, with some thought and humor built into some displays showing early cottage life on the islands. Next door was a tower to give you a glimpse of the islands. On Wednesday, we went on the cruise. The Island Queen is built to carry over 500 passengers,but for our cruise I doubt they had 100. It was very pleasant. The trip took us by many of the islands, and some beautiful homes, and some quaint little cottages.Most of the geology of this area is granite Canadian Shield, and is the root of a long gone mountain system. Often the granite cliffs run right down to the water.
The boat,which only drew 6' passed through the "hole in the wall", this narrow passage. This feat will seem more surprising when you compare the size of the boat. Note the people in back for scale.