After 3,000 km, I'm back

I was away the past two weeks on a family vacation. We drove to my parents' in southwest Manitoba for week one and then to Thunder Bay and Duluth in week two. In total, we traveled 3,000 km. No wonder my kids were squirrelly. 

Rocks were a major theme. During week one, we went to the Rock Shop in Souris, skipped stones in Chain Lakes, and brought home my grandmas old rock polisher to shine up a bunch of agates my dad gave to the kids. Then in week two, we went to an amethyst mine north of Thunder Bay, then picked up a few litres of lake-smoothed rocks from the beaches at Grand Marais, Minnesota (top photo) and beside our hotel in Duluth's Canal Park. I loved these pebble beaches. They are a geologists dream. As for me, I skipped stones to my heart's content while watching sailboats and big lake freighters.

A little lesson in agritourism

While driving from Thunder Bay to Duluth, we stopped at Thunder Oak Cheese Farm about 15 minutes south of Thunder Bay. The family farm makes its own gouda cheese in the fashion Margaret Schep, the farm’s matriarch, learned while growing up in the Netherlands. The Schep farm also has a small retail counter and viewing area. I watched while Margaret’s son Walter, who runs the cheese side of the business, curdled the milk solids, drained the whey, then pressed the curds into round cheese molds. Once the rounds are formed, they sit in a vat of brine for a few days before going into a cooler for aging. While Walter worked, Margaret (bottom photo) gave a short explanation of the process from our side of the glass.

This window into the cheesemaking process gives the farm a chance to market itself as a tourist destination, bringing people into their retail shop. They make cheese three days a week, always at the same time, and they advertise this time in tourist books. It seems to work. In the half-hour we were there, at least a dozen others came and went. 

So what makes this a tourist stop? Simple. It’s the invitation. The Schep family invites people to come watch as they go about their business of making cheese. It helps that the Scheps are the only family dairy in Ontario making gouda, but any farm can come up with a hook. My wife was the one who suggested we visit the farm, and we bought $30 worth of cheese that we would not have bought otherwise. The woman in line ahead of me spent $90.