5 fast day trips to Canada: Explore Ontario’s charm, history, nature

A day trip to Canada can be as fun as a John Candy movie and as fast as a Steve Yzerman breakaway.

Plus, a dollar, (pronounced DAWL-er), is worth more there!

Canada is in many ways similar to the U.S. But through differences too numerous to count, it's also a little exotic, from speed limits expressed in kilometers per hour, to colorful money and $2 coins, to the use of French along with English as an official language. Though Canadians are self-governing, with their own parliament and prime minister, the country is formally a constitutional monarchy, with King Charles III as Canada's head of state.

The border hassles associated with the COVID-19 pandemic are no longer in place. Though some prices are higher there, the strong U.S. dollar means visitors to Canada enjoy a small windfall when they exchange their money.

Michigan visitors to Canada generally need to have either a passport, a U.S. passport card or an enhanced driver's license. Michigan residents cannot bring their firearms to Canada, regardless of whether they hold a concealed pistol license.

Here are five fast and enjoyable day trips to Ontario, the Canadian province that borders Michigan.

If you're crossing from Detroit to Windsor

Detroit crossings to Canada include the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, which connects to downtown Windsor, and the Ambassador Bridge, which is further to the south and connects with Huron Church Road. A third crossing, the Gordie Howe International Bridge, is slated for completion in September 2025. It is under construction a few miles south of the Ambassador Bridge and will connect with Ontario Highway 401.

1. Learn about the Underground Railroad

The Amherstburg Freedom Museum tells the story of African-Canadians' history and accomplishments.

It's located in Amherstburg, a small town about 16 miles south of the Windsor border with Detroit. Located at one of the narrowest crossing points along the Detroit River, Amherstburg was an important terminus on the "Underground Railroad" that tens of thousands of enslaved people in the southern U.S. followed to freedom before the Civil War.

The museum features many artifacts related to the hardships of slavery, the routes to freedom, and how formerly enslaved people built new lives in Canada. Permanent exhibits include the Nazrey African Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1848, and the Taylor Log Cabin, representative of the homes occupied by those who arrived in Canada after fleeing slavery. The museum, which is open from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, also features many temporary exhibits. It is closed Mondays.

2. Head to Canada for a 'southern' experience

The southernmost point of Point Pelee National Park is just below the 42nd Latitude, putting it on the same line as northern California.

Yet this unique spot is only 40 miles from Windsor, Ontario, after crossing into Canada.

Point Pelee is located on major migratory flyways for birds and more than 390 species of birds have been observed there, according to Parks Canada. Bird enthusiasts might get a chance to observe particularly rare species, such as a a hermit warbler, a black swift, or a Cassin's sparrow.

Other park activities include hiking, biking, canoeing, kayaking, swimming and camping.

The park is home to several species of turtles. In the fall, it is a short-term home to migrating Monarch butterflies.

3. View Albert Kahn architecture in Windsor

Detroit is home to some Albert Kahn architectural masterpieces, including the Fisher Building, the Detroit Athletic Club, and the former homes of the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News.

But the German-born Detroit resident also did work on the other side of the Detroit River.

In Windsor, Kahn's best-known work is the spectacular Willistead Manor, built in 1906 in the 16th-century Tudor-Jacobean style of an English manor house. Kahn designed the main manor house, as well as the coach house and the gatehouse on the 15-acre estate.

Public tours of Willistead Manor are only available in July and December, but it is surrounded by a city park, allowing for easy viewing of the exterior.

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Detroit-area fans of Kahn might also want to view the Hiram Walker offices at 1950 Riverside Dr. E., the recently renovated Strathcona Building at 1958 Wyandotte St. E., and private residences located at 889 Kildare Rd., 1948 St. Mary's Gate, and 811 Devonshire Rd. All are Windsor examples of Kahn's work. The Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation has included those and other Kahn buildings on a proposed walking tour of Windsor's Walkerville area, which can be found online.

Willistead Manor was commissioned by, and once the home of, Edward Chandler Walker. He was the second son of Hiram Walker, an American and former Detroit resident who in 1858 founded the Windsor distillery that bears his name. Public tours and tastings at the Hiram Walker distillery, which at one time were worth a day trip of their own, are no longer available, as of spring 2024.

If you're crossing from Port Huron to Sarnia

The Blue Water Bridge, which connects Port Huron to Sarnia, is within an hour's drive of many metro Detroit residents.

It's actually two three-lane bridges, with each moving in one direction. Through October 2024, one of the two bridges is closed for maintenance and repairs, with the other handling traffic in both directions. Until that work is completed, crossing to Canada at Port Huron takes longer than normal.

Here are two day trips close to Sarnia.

1. Sarnia's Canatara Park

At less than 200 acres, it's only about one-fifth the size of Detroit's Belle Isle, but Sarnia's Canatara Park is worth a visit.

The main attraction is the park's lengthy stretch of sandy Lake Huron beach, complete with lifeguards and other amenities. Canatara Beach is one of only about two dozen beaches in Canada to achieve "Blue Flag" status from the Foundation for Environmental Education, based on adherence to high water quality guidelines and other criteria.

But the park, which has free admission, also has an interior lake with wildlife, walking and cycling trails, large picnic and play areas, a bandshell, and even a children's animal farm and children's train, operated in partnership with the Seaway Kiwanis Club.

The city-owned park was partly a Depression-era gift from Maud MacAdams Hanna, a naturalist who loved children and was the widow of W.J. Hanna, a former president of Imperial Oil and a member of the provincial parliament.

2. Visit a Victorian oil town

Petrolia, Ontario, a town just 16 miles southeast of Sarnia, is considered by many to be the birthplace of the oil industry in North America, though nearby Oil Springs, Ontario and Titusville, Pa. compete with Petrolia for that claim.

Of the two Canadian sites, Oil Springs was first, but Petrolia soon stole its thunder, experiencing its first in a series of oil booms — and busts — after a major gas well was discovered there in 1866.

The Petrolia Discovery Foundation, Inc. operates an oil museum with working wells that show how oil was extracted and moved to market in the earliest days of the industry. The foundation's Facebook page bills the attraction, open Wednesday to Sunday, as "the only historic 1860s oil field in the world open to the public."

Boosters of Petrolia have mapped out a proposed walking tour that features many of the town's Victorian homes and commercial buildings.

A highlight of the town is the Victoria Playhouse, which for decades has been a unique venue for live plays and other entertainment. The 400-seat playhouse is housed in Victoria Hall, a national historic site built in the late 1880s, at the height of Petrolia's oil boom days.

Petrolia is celebrating its 150th birthday in 2024.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on X, @paulegan4.