August 16-24, 2003

We left our house in Muncie, Indiana at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 16^th. We were trying to leave earlier, but packing took more time than we thought it would! We drove up I69 through Michigan to Port Huron. During our drive, we didn’t encounter anyone who was having problems with their electricity due to the big power failure of the 14^th, which was something that we had been worried about. Shortly after leaving Tekonsha, MI, we encountered a huge thunderstorm, which poured copious amounts of rain upon us in a fairly short period of time; but by the time we reached Lansing, the skies had cleared quite a bit. Then we started going through construction zones…LOTS of them.

We finally reached Port Huron/Sarnia and crossed the border into Canada at 5:00 p.m. After taking some interesting side roads, we finally got onto Provincial Highway 21 and started north toward Paisley. After the hot, humid weather in Indiana, the cool breeze coming off Lake Huron was quite welcome!

We arrived at Judi’s around 10pm (after adjusting our watches to Eastern Time). The apartment across the hall from hers was not being used, and the landlady allowed us to stay there for our visit. Much thanks to the folks at Elora Soap!

While at Judi’s we did a lot of neat things. We met some friends, Kerry and Bill, who live by the Saugeen River just about a block from Judi. We also got to finally meet Judi’s son, Brian. The town is fairly old and has a wonderful downtown area…lots of beautiful old buildings and shops. We even had tea one afternoon at the Ivy Tea Room! I spent a lot of time in Elora Soap (gotta have that Flowers & Leaves Ointment!) and Jim Macnamara’s, a place that sells local art and other nifty things such as raw, polished, and tumbled stones and crystals. I LOVE stones. Kerry, Judi’s friend, worked there as well and we had a lot of fun talking about stones and crystals. Behind Macnamara’s was a small yard which had been filled top to bottom with an indescribably beautiful garden, which included a raised pool, a stream, crossover bridge, another pool with lilies growing in it, a hidden stone bench under a grape arbor, and fantastic metal and stone sculptures scattered here and there. There were flowers, bushes, and plants of all sizes and colours.

We also visited the beach at Southampton, a small town north of Port Elgin along Lake Huron. The water was beautiful. The beach was sandy and rocky, which (whew!) kept the kids from wading out TOO far! We collected some beautiful rocks and shells while we walked along the beach, and saw a couple of lighthouses. We also went to Port Elgin and saw a boat that belonged to Judi’s friend Bill.

One night we went kayaking. This was new for everyone in my family! I think we all really enjoyed it although the kids were nervous at first. Jesse, my 6-year-old, took to paddling like a…. well, fish to the water! He was literally paddling circles around us.

On our last night there, Judi treated us to a supper at Dos Rios Café, right next door to her apartment. It was awesome! Four courses of wonderful food that was prepared just for us. What more can you ask for?

We left Judi’s place Thursday morning and headed toward Cardinal. Our 7-hour drive turned into a 10-hour drive, as we had to stop a few times for construction. But we finally reached Nelson and Sandra’s house and even had time to pitch our tents (thank you Nelson!) before the sun went down.

We camped at Nelson and Sandra’s for three nights. It was quite an adventure for our kids, who had never before been camping.

Friday was a busy day. We drove to Cornwall first (about an hour away) looking for "water wings" for the kids so they could swim in the pool, but had no luck. On the way back on Highway 2, we stopped at several places. I saw Maple Grove Cemetery and stopped to take photos of some graves. Then we went to the Lost Villages Historical Society Museum to see what had changed since we were there last. There were a couple of new buildings, and I even ended up staying at the Forbes building to talk to a gentleman there for almost two hours! His name was Alan Rafuse, and he had worked on my great-grandfather’s farm when he was a young boy. So he had quite a few interesting recollections about my immediate family, which was really neat!

Afterward, we went for a drive down the Long Sault Parkway. We didn’t camp there, although there are quite a few campgrounds along the Parkway. It is just beautiful to drive down as well and I took a few pictures of the St. Lawrence Seaway and what was left of the Lost Villages following the Inundation of 1957.

After our drive, we stopped in Morrisburg to drop off my United Empire Loyalist Membership Application with Lynn Cook at the Loyalist Research Center. Wow…I had only been working on THAT for two years! I can’t believe that it is finally done and turned in!

When we returned to Nelson and Sandra’s, the kids went swimming for awhile. The youngest ones wore some lifejackets that Nelson found and had a great time.

Saturday was the McNairn Reunion. It turned out to be a bit chilly, and definitely WINDY! Judi arrived at Nelson’s about 8:30 a.m. Everyone was introduced, and after some coffee and conversation, we started setting up the tables and display shelving under the small tent awning.

People started arriving a bit before 10 a.m. There was pretty much a steady stream of McNairns arriving …what a site to see! So many McNairns in one place! The feeling was indescribable.

Folks came from all over…. Nova Scotia, all over Ontario, Quebec, New York, Indiana, and even Texas! Some could trace back and link up and some couldn’t…but that was ok, because we were all McNairns, and as Judi and I have both said, we are positive that we will eventually find the link between all of us.

We ate our lunch a bit after 1 p.m. Judi’s brother, John, did most of the cooking of the burgers and hot dogs, and did darn fine job, too! Everyone brought great side dishes, and there were some really yummy desserts too, like brownies, and loaves of banana bread covered in chocolate that Judi brought! Sandra even had a huge cake made that said "McNairn Reunion 2003" on it!

Everyone milled about, talking, meeting, and looking at the display materials. Many folks brought photos and other personal mementos to generously display, which was great! There were many neat things to look at and talk about. Judi and I received many thanks from everyone for organizing the reunion, as did Nelson and Sandra for hosting it at their home. But we also are thankful that EVERYONE who took the time to attend as well…. for if you guys hadn’t come, it wouldn’t have been much of a reunion!

Most folks had gone home by about 4 p.m. Happily there wasn’t much to clean, because everyone had been so good about cleaning up after themselves! We do thank you all for being such neat guests!

Later on that evening after the reunion, I had a visit from a long-time fellow genealogist, Fraser Carr. He helped me with some documentation back in 2000 when I was doing my initial research on the McNairn family, and we were hoping to eventually meet. Since he lived fairly close by, he came out and we all sat down and had some tea and a fine visit.

On Sunday morning about 10 a.m. we departed. We crossed over the bridge at Prescott back into the United States and began our journey home. It was a long one…we didn’t arrive back in Muncie until 2:45 a.m. Easter Time! Luckily it was 1:45 a.m. OUR local time, so we did gain an hour at least. We had to get up at 6 a.m. to get the kids ready for school, and Phil had to go back to work. Back to the old grind!

I really enjoyed our vacation. Thank you to everyone… Judi, Sandra and Nelson, for allowing us to stay at your place(s)…. all the folks who made our stay enjoyable…and everyone who made the reunion possible by attending. THANK YOU ALL!

This is a list of the folks who signed the guest book and a couple who didn’t!

Kay McNairn

Noreen McNairn

John McNairn

Brian McTaggart

Earle & Sue McNairn

Ken & Lois Barron

Ruth McNairn

Jean (McNairn) Presley

Lynn Barkley

Jim Brownell

Kerry & Peggi McNairn

Nathan McNairn

Nena Borah

W. L. McNairn

Carl & Carol Barkley

Rowat & Ruth Merkley

Keith & Joyce McNairn

Tracy McNairn

Randy & McDonald and

Judy & Vern McDonald

Ted & Nancy (McNairn) Scott

Colin McNairn

Laura McNairn

Iris & Stanley Swerdfeger

Juanita McNairn and Tristan and Quentin

Ryan & Sandra Kentfield and Hanna and Austin

Donna Hummel-Small

Edith Hummel

Alan & Rosemary Mitchell

Sara "Sally" Moore

Shirley Kortkamp

Donna Fishel-Baskin

Richard Fishel

Paul & Dorothy Fishel,

Dianne Fishel-Parks

Lee & Marion Johnston

Dave & Erika McDonald and Leah

Judi McNairn

Phil & Cheryl Grice and Alex, Jesse, and Crystal

Nelson & Sandra McNairn and Mitchell, Stanley, and Anne

The reunion took in $305.00 from donations. $240.00 was given to Nelson and Sandra to cover expenses for port-o-potty, meat, buns, and soda. There was $80 CDN and $20 USD leftover. Judi McNairn is to start a savings account with the remainder for the next reunion. Frequency of future reunions was discussed and although the final decision is still up in the air, most of us agreed that every year might be too much, and every 5 years too long, so possibly every 2 years would be the best.