The side of Superior we never knew

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Testing the homeschool waters, overdosing on togetherness and living on beans on toast while longing occasionally for the queen-sized comfort of home, we discover that Lake Superior in September (left) is truly a superior experience. (Being a southern Ontario dunce I thought it would be cold up here. Duhhh. It's, like, totally hot man.) We’ve pitched the tent in a to-die-for campground – this one is Pukaskwa National Park - and run to the beach to cool off. It seems each beach is more gloriously deserted than the last, and I figure that's because the start of the Canadian school year looms and everyone else is at WalMart stocking up on school supplies. Poor buggers…How lucky are we that our classroom is a beach, a forest, a tent, a picnic table?

Night school's the right school

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Academic maneouvres in the dark
Ontario's Manitoulin Island is not only an awesome place to visit, it proves a great spot to test-drive our hastily prepared homeschool curriculum and to get crackin’ on my hopefully-soon-to-be-published book. The fact that we’re outside at night only adds to the novelty . . . and although it's not clear how this laptop-by-firelight thing is going to work, I'm hoping it'll give me a creative kickstart. (Just after this photo was taken, I kicked my husband’s ass in Scrabble, which is an utterly satisfying albeit rare feat and surely a step in the right direction. )

FYI, a summer evening in Ontario with no bugs being about as rare as a bear that doesn’t actually shit in the woods, we can hardly believe our luck. Manitoulin rocks. Maybe we’ll stay forever.

Oh yeah, um, no can do. Still have 5,000km to go to get to Vancouver. Must keep this gig rolling…. Next stop Lake Superior.

It's fun to be Farquhar

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Mmmmm, Manitoulin ...
For every mom out there who dares forge her own way - when all around her are the suburban ideals of keeping up and conforming - there are a zillion others who will consistently say, “I’d love to do this or that but I can’t because of the kids.” And that, ladies, in a word, is crap!

Long-haul adventure travel mightn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I think it’s fair to say that a lot of moms - including formerly free-spirited, fun-seeking, travelling types - tend to avoid going anywhere with their munchkins because they think it’ll be no fun at all. Too hard. Too tedious. Too just-not-worth-it. I’m hoping I can prove them wrong.

It's not that a change in parenting tactics has to involve a “me-first” attitude shift, but perhaps when mom takes a chunk of time to do the travelling she’s always wanted to do - while learning to ignore her inner June Cleaver a bit more often – the family can actually learn to play along.

Our own driving-camping-flying adventure began a few months ago in Ontario, in late August, as we said goodbye to those we love and caught the ferry to Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in the world. There, we discovered it’s a whole of fun to be a Farquhar.

Most people think a Farquhar is a nasty lord from Shrek, so unless you happen to be familiar with your Scottish clans, you too might have trouble with the name. Not so on Manitoulin where the author’s family – pictured above, Farquhars all – lapped up the fame by association