I spent a couple of rainy days in Sarnia, Ontario, tracking down some gravestones of my great-grandparents and stocking up on real Canadian peameal bacon. This is not the smoked ham stuff we get in the U.S. and call Canadian bacon. It is a very lean chunk of pork loin that has been brined in the refrigerator for 5-6 days in a mixture of salt water, maple syrup, pickling spices, and curing salt. You slice it (about 1/3 inch thick) and fry it gently in some butter, only 2-3 minutes on each side. You can make a sandwich of it or have it with eggs and toast in the morning. If you have never had the real stuff, check it out here. There are a lot of recipes for this meat, but I just use the boxed pickling spices, which result in a slightly sweet, but salty flavor, with tiny bit of clove and garlic taste. I also use a meat injector to make sure the brine gets all the way through the chunk of boneless pork loin. And don't cheat by not using real maple syrup. Yum!
On the way home, I had a lot of extra time, so stopped at this lighthouse in Port Huron, which is just across the St.Clair River from Sarnia.
Way back in the early 1800s, fur traders and explorers brought their goods down from Lake Superior through Lake Huron to this area where the lake narrows and the water from Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron all head for Detroit and on to Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
I spent a pleasant hour on a tour and visiting the gift shop, but not before trying to figure out if I was allowed to park on the road outside of the museum. Is my vehicle a truck or not? This is a constant puzzle for me, especially when it comes to parking and speed limits. My motorhome weighs very close to 15,000 pounds and is built on a Ford medium-duty truck chassis, similar to the chassis used for a lot of delivery and other commercial trucks.
Lots of store or mall parking lots have "No Trucks" signs, and a lot of residential roads do not allow through trucks. However, over the years, I have decided that most of the time, my vehicle is NOT the kind of truck they mean. In this case, just about 100' down the road behind me, there was a sign that specified semi-trucks, and there was a big manufacturing plant of some sort, so I just stuck my handicap permit in my window and parked here!!
Very nice sign!
The old garage is now a gift shop.
These buildings are not the original ones on this site from the early 1800s. These were built around WWII. The lighthouse is original, however.
This is one of the smaller Fresnel lenses. It replaced an older oil lamp, and was subsequently replaced by one using LED bulbs. Most ships really do not need lighthouses as much as they originally did, but it is nice to see one still operating.
I have climbed the steps of a lot of lighthouses, including the one at Cape Hatteras, which is the tallest in the U.S. and the Ponce de Leon lighthouse just south of Daytona Beach. Today, however, I decided to not bother.
I am on my way for a night's stay in Lapeer and then on my way to a graduation party in Traverse and the annual Cherry Festival!
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