Mississauga to Cornwall, Ontario.
Cold this morning. It was 38 when I left the hotel. Brrr. It did warm up during the day, but not above the mid-to-late 40s, and its 20 degrees at the moment, as I write this in the evening. Like I said, brrr.
I’m very aware, and sort of bummed out, that my journey, is nearing the end (for now). But, despite that, and despite the cooler weather today, I had another nice day, a bright and crisp day painted with autumn scenes and colors. Even though I had decided to take the central highway all the way through to Cornwall, Ontario, my destination for the day, I instead split the driving between the 401 highway and route 2 and other local roads, which made for a longer driving day, but also took me alongside or near Lake Ontario for much of the way and through some lovely, autumn shrouded towns along the way. I got onto 401 and stayed with it for a while, and then got off and traveled route 2, the coast road, for a way, before getting back onto 401, and did this repeatedly until arriving in Cornwall around 7 pm, in the pitch dark. It was a good day.
Before heading out of town, I first visited the Mississauga waterfront and found a lovely and well-developed lakefront area, with multiple small parks, an 8 mile long waterfront trail, which is part of the 470 mile Lake Ontario waterfront trail, a yacht club and marina, and great views of Lake Ontario (and Toronto in the not too far distance).
When I said Toronto was nearby, I didn’t realize just how nearby. Mississauga actually borders on Toronto. As I drove around the waterfront area, I very quickly passed a sign telling me I was now in Toronto.
Then it was time to get on the road, with a few hours driving, and about 300 miles, ahead. I headed onto 401, but soon got off in order to avoid the dullness of these interstates and to instead follow local roads near to or along Lake Ontario, to the south. Most of the day, I juggled between driving sections of 401 and driving sections of route 2, through towns like Oshawa, Port Hope, Cobourg, Kingston, and Gananoque, before finally reaching Cornwall, near the U.S. Border.
I headed for McLaughlin Bay, off route 2, which looked nice, wand was, and took a two mile walk along the Beaton Path trail, one of a number of trails right off the Lake Ontario lake shore. I did, in fact, walk off the Beaton Path.
The day’s drive was really beautiful, passing through postcard views all day as I drove route 2 through lovely small (and not so small) towns that line the coastal area, some right on Lake Ontario and some just a few miles north of the lake, with autumn colors everywhere.
Like northern Michigan, the area, and especially at this time of year, very much puts me in mind of New England. I saw many nice homes and scenes, many of which deserved a photograph.
Unlike the other small towns I drove through along route 2, Kingston is relatively large, with a population of about 133,000. In 2019, Bev and I, with Marilyn, Alan, Hilary, and Claudio, drove from Niagara to Quebec, and stayed one night in Kingston, which we found to be rather drab and run down. It’s too bad we didn’t do more of what I did today, though, as driving through it today, it seems like a rather vibrant and picturesque place, and a nice place to visit.
And that was about it. A nice, almost final day on the road. Here in Cornwall, Ontario, this is actually the final night I’ll be staying in a hotel room on this journey. Tomorrow, Rachel and Jimmy, and Anna and Lance, in Burlington, Vermont. Now to bed.
Interestingly, I’ve been sleeping much better the past few weeks, although I often wake up a couple of times during the night. This is usually due to some pain from my right shoulder, which is a problem, but I fall back asleep quickly, and other than that, sleep soundly until I wake up, which is later than usual… more like between 6-8 am, rather than between 5-6. I wonder if that’s because these hotel rooms have blackout curtains so keep the room dark. I guess I’ll find out once I’m home.