Stranded, Day 5:
Tuesday; Labor Day is over and the world resumes its normal activities. The happy merry workers at Dominion Motors GMC return to work and we get to sit in their waiting room, drink their coffee, watch their TV, use their internet, and use their restrooms (washrooms here in Canada…).
There is no word on the truck. They have run their diagnostics and sent the data to technical support in Detroit. Maybe they will hear back today or tomorrow; for now it looks like a blown engine; the normal fix for this is a complete engine replacement. We might be here for awhile…
So we did some sight-seeing and checked out the local artisans; first, we went to Thunder Oak Cheese Farm:
The Thunder Oak Cheese Farm specializes in Gouda cheese, and all things Dutch:
We tasted their cheeses and even cheese curds; Lynda wanted some Komijne Kaas, and they have it! Also some dropjes…
Around mid-day we visited The Persian Man; “he” or “it” is located within Bennett’s Bakery. Apparently Persians are a “Thunder Bay Specialty”. But I’m all, “What’s a Persian?”
A Persian is an oval-shaped, cinnamon-bun-like sweet roll with a sweet, pink icing made of either raspberries or strawberries. It is credited to have originated at Bennett’s Bakery in, and remains particular to, Thunder Bay. It is sometimes confused with a Pershing or a Persian bun which are regional items in parts of the United States but are a completely different baked good made with doughnut batter as opposed to being a sweet roll. So there!
It happens that we are “camped” right around the corner from Bennett’s Bakery; also, Syd, an employee of the GMC dealer where we are camped, stopped by on Saturday and gave us a gift certificate to have Persians at The Persian Man at Bennett’s Bakery. Around the corner.
So we walked around the corner to The Persian Man at Bennett’s Bakery, and had coffee and Persians. It was interesting…
Later in the afternoon we walked around the corner to Dawson Trail Craft Brewery. We tasted 4 very nice craft beers and chatted with the owner about what it’s like to be a craft brewery in Thunder Bay. While it is a small town (108,000), there is only one other brewery, no distilleries, and there are no wineries or wine tasting rooms… So while this sort of craft/artisanal business hasn’t really caught on here on the north shore, it is an up and coming thing, and they are optimistic…
Since we still haven’t heard anything about the truck’s prognosis, and since our time here is seemingly endless, we did two things:
- We planned to go to Wisconsin in our rental car to see the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings that had always been on our itinerary for this week…
- We went to dinner at our favorite Thunder Bay restaurant, Bistro One. The fact that we have a favorite restaurant tells us we have already been here way too long; we have a standing reservation for every Tuesday night…
After dinner we turned in early; tomorrow is a 10 hour drive across the border and through Minnesota, into Wisconsin, down to the town of Spring Green.
And a not too awful time was had by all.
Adventures in the Villa 