The problem with elbows-up vacations is that they can be quite expensive. Flying within Canada is notoriously costly and food, accommodation and attractions can also add up.

Camping is a lot cheaper, of course, but it is also quite hard to book at popular national and provincial parks, as I wrote about a few weeks ago.

If you’ve been running up against the same issues, here’s a hack: Head north.

My family and I just came back from a week around Lake Superior and, let me tell you, it was beautiful and quite affordable.

Another perk: Booking campgrounds is less competitive. We managed to get several nights at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park on a prime lakefront campsite during the peak summer camping period.

Sure, it takes at least two days in the car to get there from Toronto, but there is barely any traffic once you get past Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. And driving through Superior country is in itself quite a treat, at least if you like road trips. Think lake, forest and Canadian Shield, with everything growing progressively more majestic as you go further north. Meanwhile, overnight accommodation along the way was around $175 a night for three people. (I don’t remember the last time I found a hotel room for less than $200 in Southern Ontario.)

Sleeping Giant itself was everything I’d hoped for. (It was gorgeous. It really does look like the photos).

But the biggest surprise was Thunder Bay. The city wasn’t initially part of our itinerary, but we ended up spending a day there after the weather turned and we decided we weren’t prepared to put up with 12 hours of thunderstorms in a tent.

I wasn’t expecting the food scene. Croissants from Swell Bakery were on par with the best I’ve had in Toronto. So were the smash burgers at the Tilted Turret Pinball Pub. A double burger there is $17.95 before tax, which is $5 to $7 less than your typical craft burger in Southern Ontario.

Then there are the Kakabeka Falls, known as the Niagara of the North for good reason. It costs $6.50 for a two-hour vehicle permit, which is all you need to walk around the site.

We also made a pit stop at one of the several amethyst mines just outside the city that lets people dig up their own minerals. The entrance fee was a reasonable $12.50 a person and for $12 more we got to take home two pounds of the shiny purple quartz. (If you also have a rock-obsessed kid, you know you can easily spend that much on a couple of pebbles of polished minerals.)

Finally, there was Fort William Historical Park. I don’t know how I hadn’t heard about it before.

It’s a massive living history site featuring a reconstruction of the wilderness headquarters of the North West Company and a nearby Anishinaabe encampment as they existed in 1815. It’s staffed by actors who play the part of various fur-trade-era characters, including a variety of artisans who are baking bread, crafting cups and lanterns out of tin or making barrels.

I’ve been to live history sites before, but this was on another level. Not only was the acting impeccable, it also required meticulous historical training. We asked all sorts of questions and never caught anyone unprepared. And the best part was everyone always stayed in character.

And the cost? Just $50 for the three of us.

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