Canada is celebrating its 150th birthday and it may surprise you to know Ford Motor Company LTD has been around ALMOST as long. Ford has been getting Canadians on the road, and on epic road trips, for 114 years! When Ford Canada asked me if I wanted to take such a road trip, I quickly accepted. My family and I are huge fans of road trips, they are so relaxing and fit our laid back, take the time to explore, with no schedule, style of travel.
Ford challenged us to search for giants along Highway 11 in Northern Ontario. Our search started in North Bay, Ontario and finished at our weekend destination, Flood’s Landing Campground in Cochrane, Ontario. Ford loaned us a Ford F150 King Ranch to test drive on our giant hunting trip. My husband took the truck to his construction site and the trades who work for him insisted all meeting be held IN the King Ranch. My husband was eager to take the truck from job site to camp site.
Once we were on the road the search for giants began. Our research showed the Nibiising statue, who is a part of the Trail of the Whispering Giants, would be easy to spot at the corner of Hwy 11 and Hwy 17 but when we arrived we were greeted by an empty statue base and a closed information center. We were a bit disappointed and stopped in at the Holiday Inn located nearby to ask about the missing Nibiising. The staff was stumped as to where the landmark had disappeared to.
My next step, naturally, was to appeal to twitter and hope for an answer!
Alright #NorthBay where is the Nibiising statue hiding? The search for giants is hard.#TouristProblems #Gofurther150 cc @FordCanada pic.twitter.com/vqUmkhlVd2
— Shannon 🇨🇦 (@ShannsView) May 20, 2017
Sadly, twitter could not help in locating the statue. Luckily my new friend Ali, who manages the Holiday Inn, has a no quit attitude and solved the mystery. Ali texted her friend who happens to be on the city council and learned “he is in a storage unit being refurbished and stained and will be put back in one of the parks sometime this summer.”. Mystery solved! Thanks, Ali!!! Maybe I will catch a glimpse of Nibiising on my next visit.
We found these giants along Ontario’s Highway 11.
This giant Walleye is in front of Rock Pine Hotel and Restaurant in Marten River, Ontario. I asked the girls to climb into the back of the truck, notice the retractable step, and pretend they “caught the walleye” with their fishing rods. they looked at each other, looked at me, and laughed and laughed at me. Good times. Good times.
Miss Claybelt in New Liskeard was fancy looking in her scarf.
The girls were excited to see her and stretch their legs!
Earl the bison at Earlton RV was covered in Christmas lights, I bet he looks fabulous at night.
Earl stands 19 feet high and 27 feet long and weighs over 9 tons!
Here is Guy-Paul Treefall, who stands 20 feet tall, and is nicknamed the storyteller or in French, Le Raconteur in Iroquois Falls, Ontario. Also, he is not flipping the bird as many claim.
The last giant we found was Chimo the polar bear in the Town of Cochrane, Ontario.
Once we found all of the giants it was time to head to our camp site at Flood’s Landing Campsite in Cochrane, Ontario. The proud owners of Flood’s Landing, Michael and Wendy, were hands on and extremely welcoming hosts. They took care of everything we would need for our weekend. The camp site had experienced a micro burst storm the week before our arrival and they were in the midst of cleaning up. They kept apologizing for the “mess” but we did not notice any and thought they did a magnificent job of keeping the area clear and neat.
If you are into hunting, fishing or just enjoying the outdoors, you need to check out Flood’s Landing. Wendy and Michael will take really good care of you. You can tell they love what they do because it shows in how they treat their guests. BONUS: Miss T forgot her much loved teddy bear she has had for years. It slipped between the bed and the wall of our cabin. Wendy found him, packaged him up and sent him home via courier, and would not allow us to pay her!
Our stay in the Moose Shed was comfortable and not really camping. The cabin has a fridge, hot plate, a double bed, set of bunk beds, a dining table set, and a wardrobe. Comfortable and rustic. My kind of camping, you know, with sheets and heat!
The camp dogs were friendly.
The water. There was so much water from the spring thaw that the rapids could be heard from our cabin. Don and Miss G spent some quality time fishing together.
Flood’s Landing is so relaxing. There is NO cell phone service and I LOVED it. I loved seeing Miss T relax reading a book even more. It was so satisfying to disconnect from all electronics and connect with nature as a family. We had so much fun and are so eager to go back to Flood’s Landing.
Our adventures did not stop there!
Our giant hunting brought us to the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat. It’s all about the bears. The Polar Bear Habitat provides polar bears who are orphaned, rescued or moved from other facilities sanctuary and a habitat as close to their natural environment as possible. Seeing these giant beauties up close was a dream come true for all of us.
Look at that face! I just wanted to rub those ears!
There was enough room in the back seat of our Ford F150 King Ranch to safely take a polar bear home with us.
A big thank you to Ford Canada for facilitating this marvelous and unforgettable road trip! It is one we will always remember.
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Cathy Canton says
July 28, 2017 at 2:29 pmI absolutely loved loved following all your giant pics on social media. Such a fun trip and so many I didn’t know about. I also LOVE the Ford F150 King Ranch … I could definitely Go Further in that! Thanks for sharing your wonderful adventure Shannon.
Shannon says
July 28, 2017 at 2:50 pmThanks for stopping by Cathy! Massaging seats. Enough said.
Maya Fitzpatrick says
July 28, 2017 at 5:32 pmSo fun. Looks like you had a great adventure exploring in Ontario. Love your pics.
Jody Arsenault says
July 28, 2017 at 11:53 pmWhat a fun road trip! Those “giants” are great – and I’m sure that trip will be one for the memory books!
I love that you took a polar bear home with you 😉
Aimee Geroux says
July 29, 2017 at 7:30 amThat is way too funny about the missing statue. At least you found out where he is hiding. Sounds like such a fun road trip, definitely has inspired me to plan something fun like that for my girls!
Linda Cassidy says
July 29, 2017 at 11:12 amwhat an amazing trip. I got to see the Giant Moose in MooseJaw but I think I now want to try your Giant Trail. Thanks for sharing
Lynda Cook says
August 1, 2017 at 2:48 pmSounds like a great road trip and I would love to stay in those cabins, that is my kind of camping!!
Harry S says
August 1, 2017 at 4:13 pmFlood’s Landing is fantastic, need to go back soon.
Carole D says
August 1, 2017 at 10:36 pmSounds like a fun road trip, love seeing all the Giant photo!
June Donnelly says
August 2, 2017 at 9:17 amThis would be a fun road trip. Love the cabins!
Shannon says
August 2, 2017 at 9:32 amThey were perfect for this non-camper 🙂
kristen visser says
August 2, 2017 at 3:04 pmhow cool! and totally looks like that large bison is chillen on top of the truck lol. The place you stayed at looks so cozy. My kind of family outing (i am not a huge fan of camping) and no cell phone service would be different to go through BUT we all need a break from tech every now and then
Brandee H says
August 3, 2017 at 7:10 pmI am reading through this with an unbelievable desire to pack my son up and take off on a road trip!!! How long was your journey? I didn’t even know that the giants existed!
Shannon says
August 9, 2017 at 2:06 pmWe took off on our road trip on a Friday morning and made it home Monday evening. A fun filled long weekend. 🙂
Judy Cowan says
August 5, 2017 at 11:36 amWow looks like a great road trip, never knew about the “Giants” before. Will have to plan a trip up that way to check them out.
Theresa C. says
August 6, 2017 at 1:09 amIt’s fun that they have these “giants” in every province. I laughed when I read the part about your girls not wanting to ‘catch’ the walleye – we have good times just like that! ;p
kathy downey says
August 8, 2017 at 7:26 amI love a good road trip and i find you see so much,i have never been to Ontario but it looks looks interesting.Great photos!
Victoria Ess says
August 10, 2017 at 8:54 amThat sounds like such a fun idea!
Elizabeth Matthiesen says
August 27, 2017 at 3:58 pmWhat a great road trip and that’s my kind of camping these days too. 🙂 I especially liked the photo of Earl the bison where he’s standing on top of the truck! LOL
HEIDI C. says
August 28, 2017 at 1:20 ami haven’t seen these highlights in years! It would be fun to take my kids to see these one day.
kathy downey says
December 5, 2017 at 6:28 amI would love t o take a road trip to Ontario sometime,there certainly is lots to see
Tiff Cho says
December 6, 2017 at 11:47 pmWow looks like a great road trip,