Day 24 - Travelling to Sudbury

Originally are plan was to stay 3 nights in Sault Ste Marie then drive to Ottawa straight.  But the more we researched the more we realized we could not do the almost 9 hour drive to Ottawa in one day.  We needed to have a night's stay somewhere along the way.

So this morning we got up and enjoyed breakfast and then we were on the road by 10 am.

We travelled to Fort St. Joseph's National Historic Site, another Parks Canada Historical Site.  Our family pass we purchased in Manitoba allowed us free entry to the Visitors Center. It is just east of Sault Ste. Marie and is at the Southern tip of St. Joseph's Island.  

The role of Fort St. Joseph played a big role in the war of 1812. A communique arrived with news that the United States had declared war on Britain.  Since Fort St. Joseph was vulnerable to attack, Captain Roberts decided to go on the offensive.  The mission was to capture the nearby American fot on Mackinac Island, where the garrison of 60 men were still unaware of that war had been declare.  

An alliance of 45 British soldiers, 200 voyageurs (Metis and French) and over 1000 First Nation warriors assembled here and set out on the night of July 16th.  The next day they had two cannons on the heights above Fort Mackinac aimed at the American's powder magazine.  The shocked and outnumbered Americans surrendered. 

Later the Canadians (but they were not known as Canadians then, they were British) lost the fort back to the Americans and set up a fort on Drummond Island to the East. But later after surveying, that island was reverted to the United States and the Canadians left.  

Later the Americans burned Fort St. Joseph in 1814.  

Today there are only remains of the fort and the surrounding buildings.  

The land you see in the distance is the United States - in fact my phone binged that I was picking up an American cell tower and could incur roaming fees. 

I dipped my foot into the lake!  It was darn cold! 

Of course since the fort was under British rule the British flag is flying

In all we spent about an hour here and then we were back on the road.

Today's driving is not far but it sure feels it.  Must be a mental thing.  The 8 hours of driving twice this week did not feel as long as this 400 km route.  

Arriving into Sudbury we spot the huge nickle and we head there to take a picture.

We arrive at our hotel right downtown Sudbury and we are cranky. We unload the car and we just take an hour to rest and regroup until we head out for dinner.

Here is our scavenger hunt list today:

• Moose
• Deer
• Hitchhiker
• Eagle/Hawk
• Licence plates from every Province in Canada - but you can not count the province you are in.  So if we see an Alberta plate in BC then it counts, but not if we are in Alberta. British Columbia  Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Yukon, and North West Territory
• Skunk - saw a dead one
• Sheep
• Beaver
• Goslings
• Buffalo
• Goat
• Owl
• Bear
• Loon
• Crane
• Prairie Dog
• Fisherman fishing
• Canoe
• Hummingbird
• Antique car on the road
• Old VW Bug
• Car broken down on the side of the road
• Helicopter on the ground
• Airplane on the ground
• Speeding ticket- hopefully not our own
• Ambulance with sirens on
• Dump truck
• Line painting crew at work
• Mail delivery person walking their route
• Cruise Ship 
• Coyote 
• RCMP officer
• Hop on Hop off Bus
• Sea Glass
• Lobster

If you have any items you think we should add to our scavenger hunt list, let us know.

So Today's Stats 
Driving distance today 400 k
Total distance 6560 km