We drove through Massachusetts on our way to Manitoulin Island and finally received the vehicle inspection sticker. I now officially own a car that I am allowed to drive across the country!
We went to Walmart and Home Depot and bought lots of equipment for our trip, including a mattress, a cooler, storage boxes, a dash camera, a phone holder, and a gas cooker.
For our first night in the van, we chose to sleep in the parking lot of a visitors center near Albany. It was right next to a river and had quite a few people during the evening. We didn’t have curtains in our van yet and were a little uncomfortable with the people.
After a not-so-great first night, we woke up early and continued driving. We visited Niagara Falls and then crossed the border to Canada. On our way to Cheltenham Badlands, there were lots of snapping turtles on the edge of the road. The Badlands were a little disappointing because they closed all trails due to muddy conditions.
We slept at a Camping place in Owen Sound, which lies next to Lake Huron near Toronto.
The following day, we took the early 2-hour ferry to Manitoulin Island. Vinz was very excited about the breakfast buffet on the ferry. When we arrived, we first drove to Misery Bay and went on a 2-hour hike along the coast. In the afternoon, we drove to a place where there were supposed to be many fossils. We spent an hour searching and found a nice snail fossil and a Rugosa Coral (identified for us by a Reddit user).
We slept at the parking of the Cup and Saucer trail, which is the most popular trail on Manitoulin Island. The next morning, we woke up early and took the trail up to a stone platform with a beautiful view over the island.
We left Manitoulin Island that afternoon and continued our trip along Lake Superior.