Ontario stats:
-1893.4 km of cycling
-114.75 km/ day on days cycled
-mom and dad visited!
-dad did 200 km
-Canada's worst highways
-1 full after bite container
-2 cans of bug spray
-2040 songs listened to + one 7 hr audio book
-2 cans of sunscreen
-2 sunglasses
-1 book
-1.5 days off
-18 days total
Interesting facts:
-Ojibwa legend states that when the daughter of an Ojibwa chief heard of an imminent attack from a Sioux tribe she pretended to be lost and purposely stumbled into the incoming tribe. She bargained for her life saying she would lead them to her camp in exchange for them not killing her. She was placed at the front of the canoe and led it over the falls sacrificing herself in order to save her community.
-Lake Superior is the third largest fresh water lake in the world. This massive body of water seriously influences weather and climate in the area. You will feel cool breezes off of the lake before you see it. Locals claim that water from Lake Superior is potable. The surface area of Lake Superior is 82,413 kilometres, and it has an average depth of 147 meters.
-On November 10, 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank suddenly without any distress signals. All 29 crew members perished. Legend states that Lake Superior seldom gives up its dead. Bacteria normally feed on a sunken decaying body creating gas that makes the body buoyant after about a week. The lake’s cold water inhibits bacteria growth causing bodies to sink to the bottom and never resurface.
-White River is famous for being the birthplace of Winnie the Pooh. In 1914, troops from Winnipeg were being transported to eastern Canada for World War One. When the train stopped at White River, a lieutenant bought the small cub and named her Winnipeg for his hometown. The bear traveled with the brigade to Britain until they headed to battle in France. Winnie was sent to the London Zoo, where he became the inspiration of author A.A. Milne who penned the now world-famous Winnie the Pooh stories.
The name Espanola (outside Sudbury) is attributed to a story about an Ojibwa tribe raiding a village far to the south and returning with a white woman who spoke Spanish. She married a chief and taught her children to speak Spanish. When French Voyageurs came to the area they heard some of the people speaking Spanish and remarked, “Espagnole.” It was later anglicized to become Espanola. The name was also given to the river in the area. Espanola is largely a forestry town. Camping is available in Espanola at Lake Aspey Resort, just south of town.
In 1855, Bytown was given the name Ottawa after the resident Odawa First Nations People. In 1857, Queen Victoria was asked to choose a common capital for the Province of Canada. Surprisingly, she chose Ottawa which was at the time a logging town. It was far from Upper Canada’s major centres of Québec City and Montréal as well as distant from Lower Canada’s major centres of Kingston and Toronto. This made Ottawa a compromise between the two sections of Canada. Also, Ottawa was surrounded by dense forest making it hard to attack over land, while the Ottawa River and Rideau Canal eased transport to both the east and west. In 1858, the Queen officially named Ottawa the capital of Canada.
