DAY 36 - "What's a calzone?"

Sudbury or, The Sud, was a good place to get in and out of.

We did have a surprisingly amazing meal at an Italian joint called Respect is Burning, but we had to walk through an absolute zombie apocalypse to get there.

Suspiciously deserted streets, boarded up storefronts, teens literally jumping on top of a parked van in the distance, danger waiting to pounce around every corner... All kinds of nope.

We zig-zagged our way around the leper colony and found this restaurant to be bustling inside.

So odd...but so good! Homemade rigatoni, meatballs, ravioli, tagliatelle, salmon, broccoli rabe...

A Twilight Zone win!

The next morning, we hit the road early and less than ten minutes later made our first stop at...The Big Nickel.

Oh, yes, we did.

The world’s largest coin, Sudbury’s Big Nickel is a replica of a 1951 commemorative five-cent-piece. With its 29’-3” diameter, it’s roughly 64,607,747 times the size of its namesake!

In the photo, Steven is holding a normal five-cent piece, for scale. You’re welcome.

And for those who feel the pain, this is indeed a 12-sided coin, not a model made in SketchUp...

Nancy said The Big Nickel was silly, but I think she meant “essential”.

Satisfied to our core, we jumped back on the road and enjoyed a somewhat drastic change of scenery from tedious agricultural lands to beautiful rivers and bays, with white water lilies speckled on dark ponds, and waterfalls in every canyon.

We had entered Lake Superior country on the Canadian Shield; the topography just gorgeous.

Lunchtime found us at a place called Voyageur’s Lodge...mostly because the two other places we tried had both closed years ago... And it’s a good thing they did because Voyageur’s is famous for its apple fritters.

The place was right on the water, had a killer bacon cheeseburger complete with a crowned 17 branded into the bun (we are driving on highway 17 North and everyone here is very proud of that), and OMG, the apple fritter was to. die. for.

David purchased one to save for breakfast the next day, LOL. It didn’t last five minutes. Shoulda bought a dozen.

Pressing on, we reached The Drifter’s Inn, in Terrace Bay, and found a bar adjacent to a laundromat as the road trip God’s gazed gently and kindly upon us once more.

We blended with the locals, sipped local Slate Island IPA’s, shared stories, and played darts before retreating to our bizarre, two-bedroom, fisherman’s nest of a hotel room.

Tomorrow, we continue west...eh!

DAY 37