Ontario is the most populous province in Canada and second largest by total area. With over 250,000 lakes (claiming far more than Minnesota with 10,000 lakes) these contain one-fifth of the world’s fresh water. It’s a multicultural province, with a significant portion of its population being immigrants from around the world, concentrated mostly in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas.

We arrived back in Canada with a stop at Sault Ste Marie. We had just missed seeing a ship clear the locks and we were not inclined to wait a few hours for the next one so we headed on to Sudbury for one night before making Toronto a four-night stop.

Toronto was one of Joe’s former haunts, residing there in the mid 70s with his girlfriend, Dottie Hewson. They are still good friends and I can happily confirm she is one of my favorites, too. She organized a complimentary round of golf for my birthday.

After an enjoyable few days of beautiful weather in Toronto we continued east through Ontario following the Thousand Islands Parkway next to the St Lawrence River. A French flavor is beginning to take root as we near Quebec.

We detour the Thousand Islands to visit Ottawa. It’s the capital of the province of Ontario and Canada itself. With a population of just over one million it is large enough to offer plenty of arts, culture, universities, and recreation but small enough to feel uncrowded. It seems to be a very liveable city, except maybe in winter…brrr!

Our route from St Ignace to Toronto followed by Toronto to Montreal