Barrie to Orillia

Day #648; Loop Miles to Date = 7,622

After the weekend in Barrie, we made our way to Orillia. Barrie was a great stop, not often frequented by Loopers. We enjoyed our time here, and would recommend this departure from the most traveled route to others...it was a nice stop.

The city of Barrie commissioned a local artist to produce 2 large metal sculptures...this one is called Spirit Catcher, and is probably about 4 stories tall.



A second one, just called The Dragon, was also commissioned, but somehow the city ran out of money before they could pay for it. So, the artist took it home with him and had it in his yard for a couple of years. Finally, he got tired of it in his yard and ended up donating it to the city...go figure.

Not something that you get to see every day...one of those car/boats. We never saw it actually driving on land, but it was really inefficient while in the water...a concept that has been around for 50 years or more, but it somehow never really took off.

Our trip to Orillia was rather uneventful. Most of the journey was just crossing Lake Simcoe from southwest to north...about a 27 mile day. No locks to go through, and the day was rather gray, with a smattering of rain. We are here in Orillia for 3 days now, and the highlight for us is that our friends on Corkscrew finally caught up with us! It's great to have everyone back together...and the 3 boats will now spend the next month or so enjoying the Georgian Bay and North Channel. Good times ahead!