Orillia Ontario – The Port of Orillia Marina (Port #120) ; Aug 4,5

Aug 4 – Sat
On Saturday August 4th, we headed from the Sunset Cove in Bolsover to the Port of Orillia Ontario.
The trip was only 27 miles & 5 Locks, but we violated our rule of not travelling on Saturday or Sunday.

The Saturday travel turned out to be, as expected, very slow & very crowded with lots of boat traffic.

We spent most of the day slowly going thru the 5 Locks with 4 large Looper boats jammed into the relatively small lock.

There was also a lot of boats locking thru in the opposite direction, so at every lock we had 4 large boats moving northwest & 4-6 medium boats moving southeast.

Somewhere between Lock #37 & Lock #39, we came across this strange phone booth.

Towards the end of the day, we had the final 3 Locks for the day “back-back-back” within less than a 1 mile span. Locks #39,40, &41 leading to Lake Simcoe. They were again, all in a pretty narrow canal.

Once we were free of Lock #41 and hit Lake Simcoe, it was about 1 pm on a Saturday and we wanted to try to beat the Saturday afternoon crowd into the marina, so we opened up the throttles and did 20mph across Lake Simcoe, and arrived about 2pm.

We were lucky because Lake Simcoe has the reputation for getting whipped up pretty quickly. There are even warning signs at the end of the canal when entering into Lake Simcoe, to “Be aware of rapidly changing weather forecasts”.
On this day, Lake Simcoe was calm as a little kitten.

We arrived at the Port of Orillia about 2pm.
Our attempts to “beat the crowd” did not materialize as we had hoped.

By 3pm we were docked, hooked up, and having some George M. Tiddy’s with the local Canadian party boaters on the dock right next to our slip.

Later that night, we had drinks on the aft deck with new Looper Pals – Gypsea (Mike & Patsy Kelly) out of Carefree Arizona. They purchased their boat & will cross their wake in St Petersburgh Florida.

Later in the evening, we were joined by other Loopers Endless Loop (Mike & Jayne) and  potential future Loopers Awelon-Y-Mor (Neils & Doris).
We had drinks on Gettin’ Looped & watched a seaplane land and enter the marina (pretty cool).

We ended the night with a group dinner at an Irish place called FIONN’s.
It was a very fun night with great people.

Aug 5 – Sunday 
I started the day with a groggy head from the party the night before with the Loopers.
Took a shower, then began my special day.
It was Birthday #60 for yours truly.

The day was an on-going treat of well wishes from a bunch of my co-workers, friends & family.

I am not a Facebook follower, but I love Facebook on this one day each year !
I received a bunch of Facebook birthday wishes that all brought back great memories & brought a smile to my face. Many wishes from co-workers that I have not seen in a long time, and many of whom follow the blog.
Dave Zalewski, Chris Vrabel, John Vanderen, Beth Tyler, Dave Mienko, Pete Varma, John Nelson, Bill Gondert, Jeff Foor, Lori Scheller, Sean Mahoney, Chris Stoker, Dawn Waack, Mark Houy, Dellet Silorey, Kathy Serre, Michelle Kline, Joe/Sue Emmet, Al Kaumeheiwa, Larry Taulbee, Brian Szalk, Linda Spragg, Rick Spragg, Dave Tucker, Tom Pawluk, Tim Packard, Bruce Hinman, Hank Stewart, Michele Altizer, Adam Silorey, Daryl Clasen, Jeremy Altizer, Debbie Brink, Doug Watson, Robbin Carson, Bill Rohr, Tim Blocker, Gary Lock.

I also had some direct text wishes – Dave Noffert, Ron Grobbel, Lori & Jerry Scheller, Michelle & Ron Kline, Sister Brenda (#2) & Joe – (5 texts), Pat & Jenny Haggerty, Sarah DeMars, Michelle Kline, Shannon Knight, Aunt Sharon, Eric Deloney, &  Jake Baldwin.

I also received some personal Bday phone calls – Uncle Wayne & Aunt Betty, Sister Paula (#4) & Michael-singing, Ashley & Dave-singing, Dave & Ginger Hinman , Jerry & Deena Luck-singing, Dan & Megan-singing, Brother Ken (#3), Aunt Angie, and Dave & Carol Vrabel singing Happy BD with piano accompaniment.

Hopefully I did not forget anybody.
If I did , I am really sorry.
I just wanted to recognize everyone above for taking a few minutes out of their day to give well wishes, it is quite humbling.

Here is how we spent my 60th Birthday !
We spent part of the late morning/early afternoon walking around the city of Orillia Ontario. It is a nice medium sized downtown. Their most famous attraction is the Mariposa Market Bakery.
My eyes were aglow with all the possibilities of culinary delight !
Nellie said no, you are 60 now and your metabolism will slow down, you can’t eat like you use to.
So I resisted temptation !

The city is also big-time into street art, featuring small Sailboats, decorated Chairs, and decorated Maple Leafs. Seems like they could have settled on just 1 theme ???

In the afternoon we celebrated with a very laid-back birthday, under the shade tree watchin’ people, kids playing, & boats coming in/out of the marina & boat launch.
Pretty darn nice way to spend the day.

My brother Kenny does a lot of fishing here at Lake Simcoe. It’s supposed to be the hot-bed of perch fishing. I asked the locals & the girls at the marina desk. They all agreed that Orillia is the hot-bed of perch fishing, but they all also agreed that they did not know anywhere in town where one could buy a birthday perch dinner.

So we ended up at a place called Studabakers.
It was so-so.
Nellie had ribs, I had an exciting chicken wrap.

After dinner we went to the Sunday night Big Bands at the Aqua Theatre on the lake. It was a nice way to end the night.

But wait, the BIRTHDAY was not over.
On the walk back home we saw an Ice Cream joint named Sweet Dreams.
They had MANY flavors.
I usually go for something with caramel or butterscotch.
Today I tried this one.

yuck, should have stuck with the caramel or butterscotch !

It was a great Birthday Day.
But let’s face it – for me & Nellie every day of the last year has felt like a Birthday or Christmas !
We are very thankful people.

That’s all from Orillia Ontario.

Next Stop
Port Severn Ontario & The famed Big Chute Railway Lock (you will hear all about this in the next post).