North Bay. Allan’s home town. A place that holds memories from one block to the next. We started the trip at Tilden Lake where Allan lived for 3 years in a small cabin with his parents. If we had a boat, we would have gone up for a closer look. But Allan reminisced from the boat launch where we stayed that night.
I reminisced too. I remembered the days when no one took my picture while I was still in bed.
We spent time with Allan’s long-time friends Bob and Sue and also with Craig and Linda.
We visited Allan’s childhood home and spoke to the current owners who kept a sample of the original wallpaper archived. His parents bought this double lot with the little brown-coloured house in the middle in the early 50’s for $5000, then added the taupe house to the right of it.
Sunset Beach was the place to swim, fish and hang out with friends.
One scavenger hunt we went on was the hunt to find the final resting place of one of the Dionne quintuplets. They were a huge Canadian story in 1934 and unfortunately turned the girls into a circus show. Allan’s father Don de la Plante wrote an article that appeared as part of Pierre Burton’s book about the girls. Allan even went with his dad to Emilie's funeral with Pierre Burton in 1954 when he was 9.
This was the house that the Ontario government built to raise them.
We happened upon Von Doelers Ranch while we were hunting for the trail to the Talon Chutes. Von Doelers Ranch trains groups to ride and to cut cattle.
It was a little piece of country paradise.
...Except for the bull who wanted to run Allan down.
Allan decided that we needed to boat into the chutes. It was one of the few times I had been on a boat and I was a bit nervous. But Allan knew exactly what to do. This was one of Allan’s favorite sites. He and his friend George had paddled this route and portaged with their kayaks many times. It was a rocky climb up and down slippery rocks. And while it was still pretty dry when we set out, it was raining hard for our ride back.
The next day was a little trip into town. We ate at a pub that had once been a high-end Chinese restaurant owned by Eddy Eng, one of the best shooters and one of Allan’s colleagues. All in all, a great home town visit!
Comments