Sudbury to Ottawa...
More interesting facts about Sudbury...
Sudbury is the location of a major meteor strike, which has embedded a rich concentration of metals in the ground. This area (very visible on satellite and aerial photos) is now known as the Sudbury Basin. Copper was first discovered by a CPR blacksmith in 1883, and the region was first deforested for its lumber and then plucked bare by prospectors. Nickel is key for manufacturing stainless steel, and copper is essential for conducting electricity. Once nickel was discovered and extracted, the fumes from the refining process caused heavy "acid rain" in the region, killing off many of the remaining vegetation, making the region so barren that I the 1960's NASA used it as a stand-in for the moon in their astronaut training.
The "Superstack" at Copper Cliff to the west of Sudbury, is 381 metres (1250 feet) high, was completed in 1972 to disperse the pollutants into the upper atmosphere. It is Canada's second tallest structure, behind only the CN Tower. Since then, the Sudbury Region has begun a program of land reclamation & reforestation, and remediation and de-acidification of nearby lakes. Since the 1990s, the waste gases going into the Superstack were processed to remove 90 % of the sulphur dioxide, with further improvements in emissions reduction planned.
On the road again heading for Ottawa. We left behind the trees and rock and began to see more rolling hillsides and farms, interspersed with lakes and rivers of various sizes.
Gassed up just before Deep River and chatted with a couple, a few years older than us, from Martha's Vineyard who were heading west. The woman told us they had talked about buying a motorcycle and going on a trip like ours but that they had just never got around to doing it. Makes me glad we decided to just do it!!!
Passed through Mattawa and though we didn't stop I did manage to snap a few pictures of large carved statues that dotted the town.
Our next stop for a break and bit of exploring was in the town of Pembroke. Lots of old buildings but like small towns everywhere the downtown had lots of empty storefronts...kind of makes one sad to see it. The town is known for the 30 murals painted on buildings throughout the town. We wandered around taking photos of them and thought we'd share a few of our favorites...
Time to gear up again and hit the road for Ottawa as we had told my Aunt Kay we would be there for supper. Took us a bit longer than planned as Harry's GPS girlfriend wouldn't cooperate in taking down the address for Kay and Gerry...think she was jealous that Harry was taking me to the nation's capital for visiting and touring and would be leaving her and the bike parked for a couple of days!
Like every place we have visited, it's road construction season in Ottawa so after a few wrong turns we arrived at Kay's and Gerry's. They live right in downtown Ottawa and have booked us a guest room in their condo so that was lovely of them. We cleaned up and then joined them for happy hour and a delicious supper of baked potatoes, barbecue chicken and ribs, yellow beans and pea pods, salad and homemade apple pie...all courtesy of Aunt Kay who is 93 years young! She and Gerry are good role models about how to stay fully engaged with the world no matter a person's age. It was such fun to hear their great stories and see how they tease and still have so much fun with each other. They certainly are gracious and generous hosts. Looking forward to more time with them tomorrow after we do some exploring by foot and bus in this intriguing city.
Til tomorrow...
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