A Big Lake, the Sleeping Giant and a Marathon of Hope

Otto and Pam were right when the said they were early risers and we were greeted with fresh coffee and tea and although the offer of fresh breakfast was tempting we headed on our way by 6.30. This was always going to be the longest day's driving and as it was all new to both of us we wanted to enjoy it.


Gordon Lightfoot is justifiably one of Canada's finest singers and the song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" mentions the big lake they call Gitche Gumee. Wickipedia writes The Ojibwe call the lake Gichigami, meaning "big water." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the name as "Gitche Gumee" in The Song of Hiawatha, as did Gordon Lightfoot in his song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The first French explorers approaching the great inland sea by way of the Ottawa River and Lake Huron during the 17th century referred to their discovery as le lac superieur. Properly translated, the expression means "Upper Lake," that is, the lake above Lake Huron. The lake was also called Lac Tracy by 17th century Jesuit missionaries.^[6] The English, upon taking control of the region from the French in the 1760's, following the French and Indian War, anglicized the lake's name to Superior, "on account of its being superior in magnitude to any of the lakes on that vast continent."^[7] 

^{Nothing that is read, heard or sung truly says how big this lake is. Travelling along it and looking at it I may as well have been looking out at the ocean from the balcony at Narooma Surf Club. It's huge!!} 

^{We drove along Lake Superior's northern shore for 9 hours to get to Thunder Bay and the scenery was stunning!} 

^{To have a lake you need water and we crossed numerous rivers and streams and it would have been easy to make this a 4 day trip..... And yes the water temperature was felt and YES it was very cold!!!}

^{We'd heard that the Wawa Goose had been taken down for repairs but we were pleased to find it was still standing and looking as big as it has always been!!}

^{On we went and we came to one of Canada's iconic sculptures of one of Canada's most revered figures. Terry Fox is a person who's journey truly inspired a nation.}

^{Our accommodation in Thunder Bay was the Prince Arthur Waterfront Hotel and it was aptly named. But more importantly it gave us a great view of the Sleeping Giant.} 

 

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