I woke up early to check emails, go to work, and more importantly, get the free breakfast from downstairs. Hohyun woke up a bit later and after he got ready, we decided to slowly start seeing the tourist attractions of Thunder Bay.

#1: Centennial Park

He decided to come here first since it was close to where we were staying and was the best thing out of his list that we could do on my lunch break. It had a cool gate-like thing that we drove through into the parking lot and thankfully, there weren’t that many bugs. The weather was also sunny and relatively clear, which was better than the day before. We walked through this wooden village-like area and walked along the river to under a bridge, then we turned around. There were these really nice old train tracks along the side of the trail too. On our way out, I decided to stop at the bridge right next to the parking lot to take a few aerial shots.

Afterwards, we got Subway for lunch (coupons), went to the general store to quickly pick up some postcards, and went back to the hotel so I could take a couple meetings in the afternoon. My colleagues were really nice and spent time asking how we were doing and we caught them up on the trip so far. We continued exploring Thunder Bay after.

#2: Centennial Conservatory

Unfortunately, due to Covid, the inside of the conservatory was not open for visitors but there was this really nice rock garden outside that we walked through for a bit.

#3: International Friendship Gardens

I was surprised by the size of these gardens and by what countries decided to participate in the gardens. We parked the car on the side of the street and went around trying to guess which monument belonged to each country. The gardens were split into 2 sides with one side comprising of some countries in Europe and the other side comprising of some countries in Asia.

The gardens also had “gates” at the front indicating the entrance, which I found really cool. I had never seen anything of the sort before. There were many ponds, displays, benches, picnic tables, and walking paths throughout the gardens. Right before we left, an aeroplane flew by pretty close to the gardens and we realized shortly after that we were next to the airport.

#4: Mount McKay

We wanted to try and get to the top of it (or at least hike a bit of it) but we weren’t able to find any trailhead that allowed us to do so. We ended up driving around and ended up on a side road in a First Nations reserve to get us as close to the base as possible. I was really glad the weather was nice because it made the views of the mountain more epic.

#5: Fort William Historic Park

We found out as soon as we got there that it was under construction so we turned around.

#6: Kakabeka Falls

We had originally intended to see this on our way to Dryden the next day (since it was on the way), but since everything we wanted to see was closed, we decided to just go there. This was only 20 minutes out of Thunder Bay and was one of the highlights of Thunder Bay for me.

There weren’t many cars in the parking lot, which was great because we didn’t have to waste time finding parking. We immediately ran to the falls by following the sound of rushing water. There was a boardwalk path leading to the falls and I was immediately greeted by the falls halfway down the path.

The falls were majestic. I don’t really know another way to describe it. We spent so much time taking pictures and just taking it all in. I pulled out my drone to get a few shots/video and met another guy and his group of friends flying one too. As the drone was landing, it cut my finger, which caused me to bleed on the platform looking at the falls. We immediately ran back to the car so I could get a band-aid.

After this, we went back to the falls so I could take more drone shots. There was a bridge at the top that I wanted to go on to get a glimpse of the falls from a different angle.

We left since we were hungry and went to Prospector’s Burger Barn again (the exact same meal as the day before). We also got water at Walmart before heading back to the hotel and changing into our workout clothes.

I wanted to work out next to the Terry Fox Memorial that day, so we headed there. On our way into Thunder Bay, I noticed a sign on the side of the highway marking Terry’s last kilometre and wanted to go there to take a picture. We had gone earlier in the day when the weather was foggier, and even with the clearer weather, it still took us 3 tries to find it and was definitely worth the drive. I felt like I was standing on history.

At the memorial, we didn’t want to be too close to the statue in order not to disturb others who were paying their respects. We hoped to be able to see the view at the lookout, but the weather got too foggy again for that to happen. There was an area of picnic tables that no one was using near-ish the memorial, so we set up there and worked out.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel, showered, ate and watched Superstore. As I was eating, I spent some time journaling the day’s events. Hohyun suggested that we watch The National to stay informed about Canadian news since we were driving across the country. I thought it was a great idea, and this kind of became like a nightly tradition (eat dinner and watch the news).

From looking at the next day’s destination (Dryden), the length of the drive, and the things to do there, we decided that we could sleep in until we absolutely had to check out. It was nice going to bed without having to set an alarm.