Best Things To Do & Eat In Thunder Bay Ontario

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Meggan: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the travel mug podcast hey Jenn! I'm really excited to talk about today's destination somewhere. I've never been, but you have a lot of experience dun dun dun... Thunder bay, Ontario. I know, very exciting. And we have mentioned it before. We should say this back on our classic and underrated Canadian destinations.

That was a while back though. And we are heading towards spring. There's so much to do in thunder bay. So we wanted to do like a bit of a deeper dive because it really is so much to do there. So I know you've had lots of experience. So tell us about your. Your travels to thunder bay.

Jenn: Yeah. So I've been there four times.

uh, My best friend moved there in 2012. So this is why I've been to thunder bay so many times I'm not just like obsessed with it. I've gone in October. I've gone in March I've gone in August and I've gone in December. So I've covered every season. And I have to say August was really the time to go

When I was there in December. We did almost nothing because it was so cold. So. Yeah, even the ski Hills weren't open. It was like minus 30. So it was, it was not ideal, but summer is beautiful. And there's a lot of things I want to talk about. So let's dive in. And the first thing I want to talk about is Mount Mckay.

So you actually really see this as you're flying in, I guess, depending on what side of the plane it's on, but it's it's very. Obvious in the city kind of looms large. So it's 500 feet. You drive up to like a scenic look off. It has a picnic area and then displays by the Fort William first nations.

It has a short but very challenging hike because it is like straight up.

Meggan: We're so good for those.

Jenn: It's a. Yeah, but once you get up there, you have amazing views kind of over the whole city. It's one of my favorite hikes in thunder bay. It's just really, really nice to kind of get that vantage point over the city.

It does cost $10 per vehicle. And yeah, I mean, you can cycle up to you that it's like $2 or if you walk, it's like $2, but $10 well spent in my opinion,

Meggan: Right. And since there is light and there's somewhere you haven't been,

Jenn: but it's on my list.

Meggan: Yes. And I I wanted to dive into it too, because it sounded a lot to me like fortress of Louisbourg and Nova Scotia. So I thought that that connection was really cool. And it is yes, like you mentioned, Fort William, historical park. So it's a popular cultural attraction draws in folks from all over north America and in the 18 hundreds and really beyond it was the inland headquarters of the Northwest company, which actually rivaled Hudson's bay company, which I thought was a really cool fact.

It was a major center for commerce and played a large role in economic and political development of north America. I'm just like, wow, go area! History of the fort obviously runs really deep and there are more than 40 historical buildings were actually reconstructed in the 1970s and eighties, which again, really drew that parallel.

Um, I wanted to quote this cause I thought it was cool. According to their website "A reconstructed Fort William was seen as an opportunity to celebrate our cultural heritage. I was also envisioned as the cornerstone of a burgeoning regional tourism industry" because obviously this brings a lot of people to the area and a stimulus of economic growth in the Northwestern Ontario region.

So today it's a piece of cultural heritage ensuring we don't forget the past. We all know how important it is to, to remember that where we came from. Importance of honoring this country's indigenous peoples and at different times a year, that has thought this was cool too. They actually have day camps.

They have festivals, artists and workshops and team building activities where I suppose corporate companies can go and take their people there. And so, yeah, I thought it was a really neat place. And I'd like to see it as in contrast to Louisbourg as well.

Jenn: Yeah, I definitely want to go there. And it's funny I don't even, I don't know if my best friend has been there and she lives there cause she's never like mentioned it, but I feel like it's probably only on like the summer trip that that would have been like a real option to do. Hopefully next time. The next place I want to talk about is the thunder bay conservatory and it is absolutely probably my favorite place in thunder bay to go. We didn't make it there on the last of my last trip, which I'm really sad about. But it's Thunder Bay Centennial botanical conservatory, it's like a tropical Oasis in the city. And so it's all inside. There's like tropical plants, there's a little walking path.

You can take like a coffee or whatever there's benches. You can kind of just sit and enjoy the plants. And there's a little water feature in the middle. And so that's, I think why I liked it so much at the times that I visited in like the winter is like, it's warm in there and it's just like a really nice, I, I can imagine if you lived in thunder bay and you go through the winter, so they go through that, that would be a really good place to go for. Like your mental health, your kind of tropical vibe. It is free, but I would definitely consider if you go leaving a donation because I follow them on Facebook, the friends of thunder bay conservatory, and they've had a lot of trouble staying open sometimes. And I really don't want that city to lose that place because it's just. So nice. So definitely leave a donation. If you go.

Meggan: I read there somewhere similar to, I don't know if you and Ryan did when you were in Montreal, but there were somewhere very similar to that conservatory, but botanical one in Montreal reminded me a lot of that.

Jenn: Yeah. Yeah. We did that when we were in Montreal in like 2013, I think it was so, yeah, definitely similar, smaller in Thunder Bay still nice.

Meggan: Yes, definitely.

Jenn: All right. So let's talk about some outdoor hike-y waterfall things, because there's actually a lot of those in Thunder bay. So the first one is Kakabeka falls the Niagara of the north. If you want to call it. Um, It's the second, it's the second highest waterfall in Ontario. So there you have it. It's in Kakabeka falls, provincial park lots of hiking trails, varying difficulty. You can visit it any time of year. They do cross-country skiing in the winter. It's really, really nice.

You know, you can go for a little while or you can go for a long while. It's a really good place to spend the afternoon. I really like going there. It's a bit out of thunder bay. It's a short drive, but it's not right in the city. I definitely recommend stopping at shake shop on your way by for an ice cream,

Meggan: as one would

Jenn: obviously

Meggan: Hello?.

Jenn: So the next I want to talk about is cascades. And it's like more right in, in the city rather than kind of outside the city. It has about five and a half kilometers of trails, and it's a really quiet kind of walk in the woods type of vibe.

And then there's kind of like this cascading waterfall. So it's not your drop-off waterfall like Kakabeka is, but it's just kind of like a cascading falls, lots of like flat rocks to sit on, to bring a little picnic. And it's just a really nice area. And it's usually like, quiet. Like there's not usually other people around you just see me.

Yeah. It's, it's a nice walk. And then the last one kind of. Well, not really the last one, but they'll have fun at outdoors. The is marina parks. So it's on lake superior superior, right? So thunder bay is really weird to me cause it has like this coastal oceany vibe, but it's a giant salt water lake, it's very bizarre.

But they're really, they have a really, really nice waterfront area on lake superior. It's open year, round year long. It has a board walk it has a skateboard park and art center, a splash pad or a skating rink, depending on the time of year. There was someone skating. The last time I was there on the waterfront and it was like snowing a blizzard.

They're starting to just close their, her.

It's really funny. It's, it's a really good place to kind of like grab a coffee or an ice cream and just kind of wander along and you get really nice views of the sleeping giant and of.

For shopping cause you gotta be shopping it definitely right at Bay and Algoma. So those are two streets that kind of intersect there. There's some really cool unique shops there. I picked up a christmas ornament. I'm at a shop around there the last time. And there's, there's really cute, like kitchen store that has a bunch of different kitchen things.

And so, yes, those are kind of my favorite things that are mostly right in the city. So we're going to move a little bit outside the city for a minute and talk about somewhere else. I haven't been.

Meggan: I know, and now somewhere else I want to go just what I needed, more places I needed to go. So this one is the amethyst mine, so like literally if you've ever wanted to dig for amethyst and I mean, once revered as the jewel of the gods, and it is the official gemstone of Ontario this is your chance to do it. So you visited the amethyst mine $10. A person kids under five are free. You are provided with pails digging tools and running water.

And you really don't need to crack anything open to find amethyst. It's just there. You simply lucky you. And then what you find you pay $4 per pound for of amethyst. So I want to go June 1st, usually until October 1st, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The website has a lot of really great information. So check it out.

I'm really want to go there and dig for amethyst, which is not something I've ever said before.

Jenn: Not a sentence you thought you would be uttering. I, yeah, I haven't been there and I, I only just learned about this. I don't know, probably, I mean before my last trip, but they were definitely closed in the blizzard and minus 30 of December.

So I didn't get to do it. It's definitely on my list for the next time, because it sounds like a lot of fun. And also a little bit outside the city is the Terry Fox Memorial. So you may or may not know that just outside thunder bay is where Terry Fox's marathon of hope came to it untimely and due to his condition.

So there's a Memorial and like a visitor center. It's kind of it alongside the highway where you'd be coming in from like the west from. Like Winnipeg into the city. So yeah. Visitor's center washrooms Memorial. It's a nice Memorial. I know I was reading that. It's been like vandalized before, so because nothing is sacred secret

Meggan: and that is a true Canadian hero right there. Terry Fox.

Jenn: Yes. But it's a nice place to stop, especially if you're driving in from that way. And I, I think it's worth driving. out that way as definitely. Yeah. So sleeping giant you can't talk about thunder bay without talking about the sleeping giant. So there's a lot of legends about the formation of the sleeping giant.

One Ojibwa legend says that the giant is Nanabijou the spirit of the deep sea water who was turned to stone when the location of a silver mine was disclosed to white men. So it looks, it's a rock formation that looks like a giant that is sleeping. On it's back. It's very cool.

I think we've posted it on our social media before when we did the Canadian classic episode, but I'm definitely posted again because it is a really cool formation. So you can see it from many parts of the city, but it is a provincial park and you can go and hike it and camp and all of those things.

I haven't been out there cause it is quite a drive from the city. Cause you have to go all the way around the lake. But yeah, it looks, it looks really cool from the waterfront and I'd like to go explore it.

Meggan: Oh, cool. Yeah, that'd be cool.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: I mean, we've worked out, we've hiked. We've camped dove for amethyst. Now we need to eat.

Jenn: Now we need to eat. I love eating. The first place I want to talk about is thunder Oak. Which we discovered on my first trip to thunder bay. So you can actually go out to where they make the cheese and buy cheese from them. They make glue gluten. Oh my God. They think Gouda cheese. They make all kinds of different flavors of Gouda with different add ins I've tried a lot of them. They're all delicious. They also make like Cajun cheese curds. Oh, so good. Like I know we just eat them out of the bag

anyway. Yeah. You can also buy their cheese at a lot of the local grocery stores as well. If you're not going to make it out to thunder oak cause it is a little, little bit of a drive, but not too far.

Okay. Then next is like thunder bay classic food and it's called a Persian.

Meggan: Does that say, eat a Persian? Like they want you to eat a person?

Jenn: Not a person, but it is a yeast donuts slash cinnamon roll that has like a Berry pink frosting. And I know it sounds really weird and it took me until the, my fourth visit to thunder bay to actually try them.

And it is delicious.

I mean, I don't know why. I think the pink frosting threw me off before, but it is super delicious. It was created in the 1940s by bennet's bakery in thunder bay, and it is named after a guy whose last name was Pershing.

Meggan: Okay.

Jenn: So they have, you know, changed it to Persian. Cause Pershing is hard to say. I think that the words. Yeah, so you can get them at grocery stores. But you can go to Persian man to get the most authentic experience. Cause that's the big

Meggan: So persian Man is the name of the restaurant like bakery.

Jenn: Yeah. It's actually Bennet's bakery where it was. Where it was created, but they've kind of branded under Persian man, because that's, you know why people are going there.

If they have other baked goods that look delicious, but I only eat Persians

Meggan: dear listener. I'm not gonna lie that on our document. It says, eat a Persian. And I thought that was the name of the restaurant or the bakery. And someone calls a bakery, eat a Persian. So I'm really glad that we've sorted this out.

That Persian is a thing. And you were just suggesting that people eat one.

Jenn: They're delicious.

Meggan: Eat a Persian and

I'm not going Thunder Bay. I'm sorry. I just sounds delightful. And I'm definitely going to eat a Persian.

Here we go.

Jenn: The next spot. I just discovered on my last trip and it's called El Tres we didn't eat here, which I'm really sad cause it had a delicious looking, a Mexican theme menu. They had really good drinks in margarita.

So I have to say, go for the drinks. Probably the food is really good, but we had dinner before we went out drinks. So. I know, I mean, my dinner was also good, but we can't eat all of the things.

And speaking of dinner for delicious dinner, with a view, definitely checkout anchor and, or it's in a hotel on the waterfront, I think a Delta hotel. But I don't know. It's like a brand new hotel. It's really nice. They had sleeping giant beaver deck, beer, cheese that they serve as soft pretzels. So sleeping giant. Beaver deck. I don't know. I think it's a beer. Yeah. Sleeping your cheese sauce. It has a, like a beer. I'm like that's a brewery in town.

Yeah, it was super, super delicious. I think my best friend and I ate the mini pretzels with the beer, cheese dip, and then we barely, I don't know. I don't think Sarah ate any of her entre I think she brought her

Meggan: cheese sauce and a soft pretzel.

Jenn: I know, like it was so. So good. And I mean, sadly, when we went, it was dark outside, so we didn't really get, it was also a snow storm. So, you know, we didn't get to the views, but it's funny at thunder bay, speaking of restaurants, just patios are not really like a thing.

They're like, yeah. I found that really weird. The time then they went in the summer, I was like, let's go, like, eat on a patio. And she was like, they're just not. They're not here. Like patios is just not part of culture.

Meggan: That's crazy. I love the patio.

Jenn: I know we ate at an Indian restaurant with a patio, but she was like, this is the only one.

Very, very strange.

Meggan: Well, I guess, do what you want. Thunder bay.

Jenn: All right. Well, you can consider that the first of the fun facts before Megan shares the ones that she found,

Meggan: Bit of a lame fact, but we call it anyway, but the rest of them are fun. So fun facts on thunder bay, people coming at you. So Thunder Bay as you've mentioned is on the shores of the world's largest freshwater lake lake superior. Now I'm not good with my great Lakes peter can show you on a map. He gets it right in jeopardy every time I'm like, sure. It's on the shore of lake superior. We're going to believe that I believe that yes. Thunder bay receives I was really shocked by this twenty one hundred and twenty one hours. Very specific of sunshine a year, which equals 305 days. It is the sunniest city in Eastern Canada.

Jenn: I have a hard time calling that Eastern Canada, but sure,

Meggan: me too. But the Ontario's like to do that and consider themselves in the east, but I was shocked by that amount of sunlight.

Jenn: Yeah. They have a lot of sunny days and. I can't. I mean, I've been there when it's snowing, but I don't remember many, like rainy days. It's not like, and it's really dry. Like the air is really dry, like visiting in the winter. It was like all of the

Meggan: They must get their like moisture in the ground from all the frigging snow, they get.

I don't know. So you had mentioned this earlier, too, where you alluded to it. There are two ski Hills there Mount Baldy and Loch Lomond or the moon. I don't know. I'm not Scottish. And they're both about 20 minutes outside of town. They're both run by local families. And I also read, although I couldn't figure out which it was that Ontario has the second highest ski hill.

No Thunder Bay has the second highest ski hill in Ontario. And I couldn't figure out if it was Mount Baldy or Loch Lomond. It's one of those

Jenn: interesting, yeah, my best friend snowboards. I think most of the time they go to Loch Lomand, but I haven't been there cause I, I don't do those things.

Meggan: I think we've established we're indoor people.

The city's actually most popular of course, for its wilderness setting and nature related tourist attractions. And there's about 75 kilometers of multi-use recreational trails. I didn't know this fact either, which I loved implemented. They implemented seasonal time shifts in 1908, which was eight years before Germany declared themselves as the first country to partake in daylight savings time.

So they were already doing it. That's why they got some sunshine there. He cheated early. And then finally for our last fun fact on Thunder Bay at Fort William and port Arthur actually amalgamated in 1970 to make up the city that is now thunder bay. Yes. These actually were like really interesting things I never would have known about thunder bay.

So it's

Jenn: and people laugh at me, but I'm like, I'm going up to thunder bay on vacation, but like I have genuinely enjoyed each time.

Meggan: Even if we're not like snowboarding or whatever people we do, like a good hike. We like to be outdoors. We like a waterfront. I mean, we'd like a patio, but that's fine. And then there's lots of like, sounds like really good to have the amethyst mine really good things to do there.

Yeah. Yes. I think it deserves some love and thunder.

I'm doing this whole episode. Love

Jenn: all the love

yeah. So that's all we have this week. Thank you so much for listening to the travel mug podcast. As always, you can find us on our website, travel mug, podcast.com. Facebook Instagram at the travel mug podcast. You can support the show by buying us a coffee and you'll get access to some fun stuff like bloopers should there might be from the recording of this episode,

Meggan: 50 or so.

Jenn: And please consider leaving us a review on apple podcasts or Spotify and sharing the show with a travel loving pal. I'll talk to you soon. Bye.