Day 41 – City frog, country frog

After a fairly lengthy morning swim and submerged confab at the campground for Mike and me — it was stinkin’ hot by 8am — we packed up the trailer and headed to the bustling Kenora farmers’ market on the shores of Lake of the Woods. Although there wasn’t a lot of produce on sale — onions, fresh herbs, and leafy greens with a few slender carrots and beets were the extent of it — it was a very vibrant place to be. It felt like the entire town was out in the big tent by the water, meandering down the aisles of handmade jewelry, soaps, honey and preserves, glass decorations, meats, quilts and knitting.

We sat in the coolness of a friendly coffee shop with some icy drinks and watched the town pass for a while before heading down highway 17 to our lunch stop at Busters Barbeque in Vermilion Bay. One whole wall is a testament to its award-winning blueberry barbecue sauce — prize ribbons overlap above pyramids of the sauce itself. It’s a hearty room, with lightning quick service and big rolls of paper towel on each table to help with the remnants of barbecue sauce. My ‘mini-rack’ of ribs came with four ribs moderately slathered in barbecue sauce, with homemade baked beans and potato salad. Options include cornbread, coleslaw, fries, tater tots, and sweet potato fries. Bogdan had the brisket sandwich, and Alexe the plain old hamburger, which she said was delicious. With two kinds of homemade iced tea on the menu, it was the perfect choice for a delicious and filling lunch to keep us going til Ignace.

We set up camp at Sandbar Lake provincial park, which, along with two miles of sandy beach, comes with a prodigious assortment of biting insects. We were forced to go to sleep early — the lights were attracting so many bugs even our electric killing racquettes weren’t up to the task! Prior to that discovery, Bogdan sprayed himself down with probably a whole can of Off! and headed off to test the waters with his borrowed tackle box, part of the provincial park Tackle Share/OFAH program. Happy as a clam, he came home with a nicely cleaned and filleted walleye courtesy of the DIY fish cleaning station.

Tomorrow — Blueberry pancakes with the Silver Tops in Ignace! And… all the way to Pickle Lake.

Photo by Alexandra Sawicki

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