Day 4...Our Cross Canada Tour.... East to West

Day 4 Of Our Westward Journey
(Photo: Shania Twain Centre in Timmins Ontario.)
We journeyed today through western Ontario. The scenery has changed, green forests, swampy land teaming with wildlife and rocks and boulders with such beautiful colors.

Richard and I couldn’t help but notice all the inukshuks on so many of the rock cliffs.
An inukshuk is a stone landmark used as a milestone or directional marker and to show where there was a caches of food, good places to hunt or fish, by the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic. The Arctic Circle is dominated by permafrost and has very few landmarks by which to travel, so inukshuks were erected to aid those who followed across the barren tundra. The word inukshuk means “likeness of person,” strength, leadership, motivation and the spirit of persistence of the Inuit people who live and flourish in Northern Canada, one of the worlds harshest environments. A note of interest; in July of 2005 Canadian Military personnel erected an inukshuk on Hans Island as a symbol and marker in Canada’s longstanding disput with Denmark over the small arctic island.
I tried to get a picture of one, but couldn’t get stopped. The road was narrow with no shoulders to pull off and too much traffic. I’ll try again on our way back. Much of the landmass in northern Ontario is First Nations Reservations.

Out of the middle of nowhere there was a little Visitor Information Centre. We stopped and talked to the young girl who was most knowledgeable and friendly. She gave us a lot of information to consider going to see in the area as well as good campsite to stay at.

Just a few kilometers down the road in Iroquois Falls, we pulled into Cameron’s Beach Campground on Big Nellie Lake. What a beautiful site. We pulled into our site overlooking the Lake, and decided to stay for two nights.

When checking in we had a great chat with the owners Gary and Bonnie Cameron, third generation owners. Gary told us his family had roots in Fredericton, N.B. If you would like to check out this campground go to www.travel.to/cameronbeach

After getting the registration looked after and a light lunch we headed for Timmons Ontario, just a one-hour drive south. There we toured the Shania Twain Centre. It was most impressive. We came upon two large doors that said ENTER for the show, so we did. When we got in, the doors closed behind us, it was quite dark inside, and we couldn’t reopen them. We were the only ones in there. Gee, how are we going to get out of here? The room was a small replica of a live show stage with a huge screen complete with benches to sit on. I said to Richard that they must be going to show a video, but nothing was happening. Richard spotted two more doors at the back of the room and headed for them to see if he could get out. There on the door was a notice to inform us there was a five minute delay before the show, we sat down and relaxed and waited for the show to begin.

It was neat to see the costumes she wore during her performances now on display at the centre. From the live concert simulations to her memorabilia, glimpses back to her early days, some backstage concert experiences to tributes from her fans, it was all very impressive. It was very plain to see why the people of Timmins Ontario are very proud of their very own star, Shania Twain. If you’d like to learn more about Shania Twain check out her web site at www.shaniatwaincentre.com

The day was getting on and we were looking forward to a good nights sleep and made our way back to our campsite.