Canada Day Fireworks in Timmins

Posted byAbPosted inADHD, adoption, FASD, Ontario, outdoors, Parenting, summer, travelTags:, , , , , ,

We kicked off T’s summer with our annual family roadtrip and headed back to Northern Ontario.

I planned this 7-day trip in April. As the days grew closer, the excitement was palatable in our home.

On our first day, on Monday, we drove 4 hours from Toronto to Sudbury, making a pitstop at Killarney.

We arrived during a thunderstorm, so our plans for a hike were kiboshed and we headed to Sudbury.

The weather cleared, so we visited the Big Nickel. The only other time we were here was in 2020. What a difference 5 years makes in T’s height!

We then enjoyed a hike at Kivi Park, where we saw a wishing tree. I made a wish related to family.

On Day 2, we drove 4 hours from Sudbury to Shania Twain’s hometown in Timmins.

We made stops along the way, including a hike along scenic Onaping Falls and AY Jackson Lookout.

T is in his element in the outdoors. The rockier the hike, the better for our aspiring parkour artist.

Nature is so healing for all of us.

We hiked past a shatter cone, “a rare geological feature only known to form in the bedrock beneath meteorite impact craters or underground nuclear explosions.”

T thought it was very cool!

We arrived at Timmins in the mid afternoon and relaxed at our hotel. The hubby took T swimming at the pool while I napped.

In the evening, we joined hundred of locals and visitors at Gillies Lake for Canada Day fireworks.

It felt special enjoying this holiday away from home but also within our province.

We explored the Timmins area on Day 3, including a hike along Grassy River to High Falls.

The sound of waterfalls cleanses my mind…

… and so does an unexpected peck on the cheek from an overstimulated child who knows he’s getting on his Papa’s last nerve.

I am so grateful we have these roadtrip traditions to look forward to as a family.

Summers are short, so we pack them in with memories.

On Day 4, on Thursday, we headed off from Timmins to Wawa, to explore beautiful Lake Superior Provincial Park.

48 thoughts on “Canada Day Fireworks in Timmins”

  1. Pingback: Exploring the Beauty of Lake Superior Provincial Park – My Life With T

  4. You find the most beautiful places to see Ab! I never heard of a wishing tree and that shatter cone is so interesting, I have never seen one before. What are you feeding that boy? He is going to be taller than you if he keeps growing up like that.

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    1. Thanks Diane. We are lucky to find inspiration and beauty wherever we go. 💕 Yes, he’ll hit puberty and his growth spurt in the near future and I sure hope he’ll be taller than me! 🥰

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    1. Thank you, LaDonna. It was wonderful to be away together in nature. The context of the kiss was after T irritated and got on my last nerve. And it worked! 😆 Hope you had a nice 4th of July! 🇺🇸🇨🇦

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    1. Thanks Margie! We had a lot of fun and got back Saturday night. 😊 Sad it’s over but so many happy memories. I had previously mentioned to you our interest in North Bay. That was our original plan from Timmins but my heart drew me the other way towards Lake Superior. And it was lovely. North Bay will be another summer!

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  8. From the story and the photos, I can tell that this trip did provide you with much needed healing. Nature really is the best place to do exactly that. And how cool that you stumbled upon a shatter cone! The nerd in me loves that shot and the story behind how it was created.

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    1. Thanks Bama. It was a very nice trip and nature truly is so healing. 🥰 We’re very blessed with great outdoors in Canada. The shatter cone was very cool to learn about and it’s awe inspiring to think of what nature is capable of too!

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    1. We were lucky to have hiked so many beautiful trails and falls this past week. There’s an ever better one coming up that I’ll share soon. 🥰 And yes, I hear you about the fear of falling in. I had to hike with a firm stick this time.

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  10. That pic of the two of you at the end of this post…be still my heart! Thanks for taking us along…couldn’t agree more about the healing power of nature. Sending big hugs to all! 🥰💕🥰

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    1. Thanks Vickie. It was an amazing roadtrip. We got back late last night. Miss it already but thankful for the healing memories. 🥰 And that photo, by the way, was unexpected after he was getting on my last nerve. These kids know how to get to us!

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  11. Sounds like a great start to your Northern Ontario road trip! I didn’t realize how close Timmins is to Wawa. You’re giving me ideas!! Bummer that the thunderstorm interfered with your plans to hike in Killarney, but sounds like you had a great back up plan. We haven’t been to Kivi Park yet. I’m also intrigued to visit the shatter cone. It’s crazy how much T has grown! He’s so tall! Love his ghostbusters shirt by the way. Hope you’re enjoying your time at Lake Superior Provincial Park!

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    1. Thanks Linda. 😊 We got back close to midnight last night and miss it already but it was a really great trip. Lake Superior was just amazing and beautiful and will share photos and stories soon.

      I love that 4 hours is considered close for you. 😂 But in all seriousness, the time flies by as there are lovely trails along the way. There’s a substantially difficult hike called the Osprey Heights Trail en route from Timmins to Wawa that I could not convince the hubby to do, so we had to skip it. It’s something that might intrigue you and K.

      We’re considering doing a fall trip to Algoma to watch the fall colours and take a chance on potentially catching the Northern Lights. 🙏

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      1. Welcome back! Glad to hear your road trip was amazing. Looking forward to hearing more about it. Agreed, time goes by quickly when you’re having fun and making a few stops along the drive. Is the Osprey Heights Trail the one at Halfway Lake Provincial Park?

        I’d love to take the Agawa Canyon Train in the fall someday, largely for the fall foliage. But now that you mentioned Northern Lights, that’s another good reason to go to Algoma!

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      2. My mom and a colleague separately did the Agawa train and raved about the fall foliage experience. 🙂

        Yes, I think Osprey is the one at Halfway Lake!

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      3. I knew the name of the trail sounded familiar. We hiked Osprey Heights in 2021 when we took a road trip to visit a bunch of new provincial parks, including Halfway Lake. I remember it being a highlight of our visit to that park.

        And good to know that you’ve heard amazing things about the Agawa Canyon train tour during the fall. I’m not sure our little one would do so well in confined spaces these days. All she wants to do is run around. I’m guessing that doesn’t change anytime soon!

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  13. Incredibly beautiful nature. I love the shatter cone. I’ve never seen one of those. And the soothing sounds of a waterfall. Yes, nature is so healing. I love that you clearly are passing along your appreciation of nature and all your province has to offer to your budding parkour artist. 🙂 Enjoy the rest of your trip!

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    1. Thanks Wynne. We were so blessed with good weather and nature. I have a trunk full of sticks now collected by T, the hubby and I. It reminds me of your collection of sticks and rocks from your adventures with the kids. 🥰

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    1. Thanks Jane. Northern Ontario is so beautiful and I recommend a trip one day from NB if you are able to do so. So much to see and at a leisurely pace. 🥰

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  15. Sometimes vacations turn out to be more about the “getting there” than actually experiencing all that is involved in that process and just taking time. Love how you incorporate stops to recharge and put T in his element Ab! Just WOW on the scenery and that shatter cone! Never heard of that before and now I have a new “thing” to ask my geologist daughter about. I love getting her take on interesting formations.

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    1. Thanks Deb. You are so right. In the long quiet drives, I reflected on what I enjoy so much about roadtrips – which inspired a future post idea – and so much of it is the “getting there” part as you said. The mundane and the quiet become so special.

      We were quite impressed and grateful for the nature stops we encountered along the way. Please do ask your daughter about the shatter cone. We were lucky that an older adult who passed by us explained to us what it was. Otherwise we would not have thought anything more of it!

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      1. She had no info on the shatter cone Ab, but her guess was the formation might have been formed by a lava bomb during some sort of very intense eruption given the igneous nature of the stone. She was pretty impressed to say the least 🙂

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      2. Thanks Deb! I learned a new term thanks to you and your daughter: lava bomb! Which is so cool sounding. I’ll share this with T too. 😊 She’s right about igneous rock, another recent term I learned thanks to grade 4 geography homework. 😂

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  16. Wow, Ab, what an amazing post. Such a well planned journey through some very beautiful places in your country that I had no idea even existed. It was nice how you were able to adapt and modify plans when nature didn’t cooperate and there was always something else to look forward to. T really does seem to thrive in natural settings and it brings out the best in him, while creating lovely experiences for the whole family. I had a little guy in my class who was kind and loving and smart . All of the children loved him but he would get frustrated at time and would act out because he was almost totally non verbal. We had one day a week of school totally outside besides just recess and hikes, and that when he came fully engaged. I took lots of pictures to show his family. He immediately would run through the woods smiling and laughing, hugging the trees, playing, climbing, etc. He engaged the whole class and even the ones who weren’t used to playing outside joined in. He was such a gift to all of us!

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    1. Thanks Beth! I thought about you briefly on a later part of our trip when we encountered a young couple from Michigan! Turns out we were close to the Michigan border during our later stops!

      Canada has so many beautiful places. While Ontario doesn’t have the big mountains of Western Canada, the beauty stands out in its own special way. You should plan a visit. We love Americans here (just not your orange “leader” 😆).

      It’s interesting to hear your story about the one day a week of outdoor school. Our family psychologist recently made me aware we have a school that’s completely done outdoor – called outdoor schooling. And of course, our conservative government recently cut the program. 😔 Very sad that these specialized programs for our most vulnerable kids are often the first to be cut. Because I agree with you, it can be so magical.

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      1. yes, I love Canada and will surely let you know, (warn you), if I’m going to be close. I went to Toronto for my honeymoon and later when I was divorced, the first man I seriously dated lived in Ottawa and then Toronto. It’s such a beautiful country. Yes, outdoor school really was so beneficial for so many reasons and some schools in the states have embraced it full time as well.

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