Here are a couple snaps of Thunder Bay, Ontario. We are located on Lake Superior, roughly 8 hours east of the Manitoba border and 16 hours west from Toronto. Literally, the middle of nowhere. But it's really lovely here and there has never been smog. We have hundreds and hundreds of natural wonders but I'll just show you 2.
I'm a history major, so here's some history: In the late 1700's and through to about 1823 there was a fur trading fort located where THunder Bay now sits, off of the Kaministiqiua River. It was called Fort William, after William MacGillivray of the North West Company. After the merger of the NWC with the HBC, the fort fell into disrepair and then out of use. Voyageurs settled in the area in farms and it was turned into a farm community of Fort William.
Less than 50 km away, the MacGillivray family settled by the natural harbour, which was called Port Arthur. The two towns, Fort William and Port Arthur grew into each other, and in the 1960's, was merged into a city: they put out a vote to people and the options were to name the city "The Lakehead", "Lakehead" or "Thunder Bay". Votes were split between the two Lakehead options, therefore the random name "Thunder Bay" was picked as winner.
This is Kakabeka Falls, situated right off of the Trans Canada Highway in Kakabeka township, the 'suburbs' if you will. It has its own camp site and pretty beach downriver too.
This is the 'Sleeping Giant'. In all actuality, it's a peninsula that acts as a natural break in our harbour. The Sleeping Giant has its own native myth attached to it but I can't remember, and it's too long anyways. But the head is on the left, and the torso is the second bump from the left. And here are some typical city houses on the Port Arthur end of town.
And here's two pics of my own!
We are literally in a mountain bowl. But it's good, tornadoes either can't make the mountains or get sucked up by the lake. There has only ever been one tornado here in recorded history. It happened in 1998 and grew in strength over the lake, so we were kinda screwed, haha.
...yes, there is still snow here.