Sudbury

Three days later, we reached the city of Sudbury, Ontario located at 46° 30’ N and 80° 58’ W.  Sudbury has a similar population to St. Catharines, with a population of 157, 857 and a population density of 49.3/km². It felt kind of weird being in a town with a moderate population compared to being in the cities with large populations like Halifax and Montreal. Sudbury, which is located in the Boreal Shield ecozone, was built on the Canadian Shield and there is lots of exposed rock and lakes. Sudbury has around 330 lakes within its city boundaries! After we had checked into our hotel, we decided to stretch our legs out, since we had been driving for hours, to play mini golf at  Dinosaur Valley Mini Golf. The Mini golf area was huge! There was 54 different holes and 6 different courses, it had taken almost 2 hours to finish the entire course. While at the gold course, I was freezing cold. Sudbury is the farthest north city that we have been to so far, and I was just wearing a T-shirt and shorts.  The average summer time temperature in Sudbury is around 13°C, while the average winter temperature is -20°C. There is also not very much precipitation with an annual average of 400mm.

The next day we had a big breakfest buffet at our hotel, which was scrumptious.  We then decided that we would take a cruise of one of the hundreds of lakes in Sudbury. We took the Cortina Cruise, which was a group boat tour around Ramsey Lake. I got to see a unique view of Sudbury and see some  huge lakeside house that were beautiful. Furthermore, during the cruise I was able to drive the boat for a certain period of time, with the help of the captain of course! The rest of the cruise, I spent relaxing, while listening to the soft jazz music playing in the background. The cruise was the most relaxing and entertaining part of the whole cross canada trip so far. Next, we went to the  Sudbury Center North, which is a science center. I have been to the Science Center in Toronto before, but to be honest, I enjoyed The Sudbury Center North. The Science center is a very hands-on museum, where you are encouraged to touch, ask questions and make observations. There are also numerous novelties throughout the museum, such as the INCO Cavern, a large tunnel that you must walk through to get to the actual museum, which is designed to look and feel like you are walking through a real underground tunnel.
After that, we went to the Big Nickel to see the giant nickel and to take the underground tour of the mines in Sudbury. Sudbury is the center of Canada's largest mining region, which produces much of the world's nickel and large amounts of copper, platinum, gold, silver, cobalt, and sulfur. Most of Sudbury's population works in the mining industry for their living. From the underground tour I saw how mining requires alot of work and physical labour. I now know that I do not want to persue the job of a miner when I grow up.

Sadly, we had to leave another great city again. As we drove away from Sudbury, I looked back and caught a glimpse of the nearby national park of Georgian Bay Islands National Park of Canada. Once I got Sudbury out of my mind, I was looking forward to visiting Edmonton.