A Journey Through Ontario - Home to Over 250,000 Lakes

Road tripping across Canada last Summer was EPIC! It was a leisurely trip as we had no real time constraints but, we still needed to work from the road. We drifted from province to province in search of beautiful places and interesting things to do. Here's a look at our time in Ontario.

 
After leaving Manitoba, we arrived in Ontario. We were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the place. We drove past a tremendous amount of lakes. From the car window, I admired cute little cottages built on tiny rock islands. And trees all the way to water as they say. It’s the type of place that made me want to buy a piece of land, build a cabin and retreat from the world.

Our first stop in Ontario was at Rainbow Falls Provincial Park. We camped here for a week. After weeks of short stays along the way, we felt the need to stop and recharge. We couldn't have chosen a better spot. The campground was right on Lake Superior. We spent our days floating on the lake, swimming out to private islands and doing short hikes in the local area. This little island was an easy swim from the campground.

<sup>Lake Superior

Nearby Aguasabon Falls and Gorge

Campsite Office</sup>
 
We visited Toronto next and immediately fell in love with the city. As soon as we drove through the downtown area, we both knew we wanted to spend some quality time here. It had such a great vibe. And lucky for us, we had a friend living in the city who was happy to play tour guide. We also had another good friend come over from Australia to visit us. And boy was it nice to see some familiar faces. We enjoyed an awesome baseball game, watched some live music, took a trip out to Toronto Island and visited some really great food markets.

<sup>City Skyline From Toronto Island

Local Torontonian

Blue Jays Baseball Game

City Skyline From Polson Pier

Takoyaki at Night Market</sup>

Next up was Niagara Falls. I didn't have high expectations for this place but I actually loved it. It's one of those places that can be appreciated purely because of its size and power. Yeah it's touristy but it's a massive waterfall. Over 2.5 million litres of water flows over Horeshoe Falls each second. That's pretty insane.

<sup>Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls</sup>
You can safely stand right on the edge of the falls, go behind them and go to the bottom of them. We spent our time there being crazy tourists. We purchased an adventure pass which allowed us to ride the Hornblower boat to the base of Horseshoe Falls, along with a few other attractions. It was a fun day. My drenched camera didn't seem to think so though.

<sup>Rainbow at Niagara Falls

Horseshoe Falls

American Falls & Bridal Veil Falls

Bottom of Horeshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls</sup>

Bruce Peninsula National Park was another stop we made in Ontario. Or what I like to call “The Mediterranean of Canada.” It’s hard to believe the surrounding water is a lake. It totally looks like the ocean. It's a little (or a lot) colder than the waters in the South of France, but it sure is beautiful. Check out my full write up on Bruce Peninsula National Park HERE. We were lucky enough to catch a partial solar eclipse while we were visiting the park too. A moment to remember for sure.

^{Bruce Peninsula National Park}

Our last stop in Ontario was Ottawa, Canada's capital. We stayed for a couple of nights. One evening, we watched the Northern Lights show at Parliament Hill. It's a sound and light show that's projected onto the Centre Block building in the Summer. It tells the story of Canada's history and milestones. It was actually quite impressive. Plus it was free!

^{Centre Block, Parliament Hill}

Ontario was such a surprising province. It's nice to visit a place with no expectations. All I had really heard about Ontario was that it takes days to drive across. I’m glad we took a few weeks to fully explore the areas we visited.

In saying that though, it could take a lifetime to discover it all!