Lake Simcoe to Orillia

We left the protected canal near Lock#41 early this morning to cross Lake Simcoe.   Lake Simcoe has a treacherous reputation for bad weather and we tried to get across before it “woke up”.  The sky was very gray, with winds not yet at their peak and waves of 1 or 2 feet.  It was not a great travel day, but we didn’t want to spend the day next to the cement wall and it was only a two-hour trip up the lake.  So Dennis drove through the waves as they built to 3 feet and I tried to distract myself by reading downstairs.   Occasionally the shifting furniture and falling books etc. distracted me even further.  But we made it into Orillia before noon and got a spot in a nice marina.

We would recommend Port Orillia to others – it is new and well built with floating docks, nice clean showers and only one block from the nicest grocery store we have seen in months.   The downtown streets are busy and active and full of nice shops, coffee shops, restaurants, music store, a used book store and the Orillia Opera House.  We especially liked the Mariposa Market, which held Apple Annie’s fudge store and an incredible bakery. 

Street art included large planter boxes - each very unique and created by different artists.  Around the marina there are sculptures of sailboats, also decorated by individual artists.  It’s a very attractive city even in a drizzling rain.   In spite of the rain we had a nice day, but glad to spend a lot of it on a good dock.

Sailboat Art

Mermaids in Canada

Semi-permanent street art