home again

We are back safe and sound in Victoria having travelled all those miles without incident and I don't think we lost anything along the way. Ron says we travelled 15,000 km.

We saw some very interesting places and we met some very interesting people as well as all our friends and family along the way.

It is good to be home and reconnecting with friends and family here.

moses lake to chilliwack

We awoke to yet another day of sunshine but cooler temps—70 degrees and no humidity. It was a perfect day to head for the mountains again. We travelled through dessert like land west and then north in Washington towards the Cascade Mountains. En route we were fortunate to find some roadside stands that had the last of the rainier cherries and even some yummy looking local honey. As we approached the Cascades we travelled thru the town of Wenatchee, the largest producer of apples in the country. We were just a little too early for the apple harvest but did find some pears freshly picked. Our first stop was in Leavenworth. Leavenworth is in the narrow Icicle Valley with the Cascade Mountains as background. It was originally was called Icicle, from the American Indian work “nasikelt” or “narrow-bottom canyon”. In the mid 1800’s the gold rush brought an influx of people to the valley followed by the railroad in 1892. The townsite of Leavenworth was established and named for Captain Charles Leavenworth, president of the Okanagan Investment Company. Leavenworth became railway central with connections to the west and to the east. The logging industry took hold and the town thrived until 1925 when the railway relocated its HQ to Wenatchee. The loss of the tracks and the subsequent loss of shipping ease meant a decline in the industry and population. It took until 1965 before the town gathered and decided to “go alpine” and officially commit to a Bavarian theme. Today Leavenworth is like a typical Bavarian village with beautiful geraniums in window boxes, buildings decorated with ornate woodwork and Bavarian motifs, restaurants that feature German and American food and a huge variety of shops with local crafts and European imports. We found a shaded walk around a tiny island in the Icicle River so were able to wear off our schnitzel. We continued along the 100 mile drive thru the Cascade mountains thru Steven’s Pass and on down into North Seattle. We did make a stop at one of the Outlet Malls to satisfy my shopping needs then headed north to the border. We were again fortunate to get thru with minimal wait and then drove east to Chilliwack where we were greeted by Jennie and Chinelo. We started our vacation with them and it is fitting that we finished at their home. It was a wonderful welcome and a good night’s sleep.
We were up early and headed for the ferry to Victoria—and then on to home.

kalispell to moses lake washington

The Grand Hotel in Kalispell sent us on our way this morning with a delicious breakfast—the best of the continental breakfasts we’ve had so far on the trip. It was a driving day today as we travelled through Montana to Idaho and then into Washington State. We were in the Kootenai (the American spelling) and Purcell Mountains as we drove north. The smoke from the fires was with us pretty much to the Idaho border and we were certainly happy to leave it behind. We spoke with the flag person when we were stopped for road construction and she said that it is the norm in Montana in the summer to have fires—it is so dry and if they do get rain it is usually a thunder storm with lightning. We found there were some nice small towns north of Kalispell where there were very nice looking little motels—Libby and Troy.

We travelled to the resort town of Sandpoint which is on Lake Pend Oreille—a busy and thriving little town in Idaho. It is a year round resort town and artists’ community as well as being one of the American west’s great railroad towns. The guide tells us that more than 40 trains a day pass thru Sandpoint. Our neighbours Tom and Heather had told us of this town and the lake so we decided to give it a look when we were so close. We found a delightful cafe for lunch and also a bakery for our coffee and dessert. I did goof in this town as I read after the fact that Coldwater Creek has it’s flagship store there—I don’t know how I missed it.

We drove south from Sandpoint and joined the Interstate through Spokane and stopped at a little town a little further west. We are settled for the night in Moses Lake—the town and the Lake take their name from Chief Moses who was said to be a an influential American Indian leader. We enjoyed a walk along the lake before calling it a day. Ron talked to some men who were fishing on the dock to see what they were after—perch or anything that would bite was the answer. The day ended with another perfect sunset.

great falls to kalispell montana

We decided that we had better get a very early start today as the waitress last night told us it would take 4 hours to drive to Glacier National Park and then 4 hours to travel across the road to the sun if we stopped at the places we ought to stop. She was pretty close to the mark (it took us 3 hours to get to the entrance to the park). We travelled from Great Falls up to St. Mary along hwy. 89 through the last of the Montana Plains. It was interesting to see the change in the landscape as we drove along—on the one side we could see for miles on the wide open prairie and looking out the other side we had the mountains and the evergreens. At St. Mary we entered the park and drove for 50 miles along the going-to-the-sun road. This was a beautiful drive through the heart of the Glacier National Park and up the steep slopes of the Continental Divide and over Logan Pass (6,646 feet). We were happy that we were driving from the east to the west as we hugged the mountain side and not the steep drop-off. We found a pretty spot to sit and enjoy our lunch at a little creek surrounded by wildflowers. The road is narrow and in some places they are doing repairs to areas that have been damaged by rockslides, severe weather and heavy traffic. It took us a good three hours to traverse this road and stop to walk or look at the scenery—by the time we reached the bottom we were in scenery overload from all the glacier carved peaks, deep blue lakes and lush forests. We took numerous photos that do not begin to do justice to this spectacular scenery. Again we were most fortunate with the weather and the smoke from the fires was not evident in the park—we are seeing some tonight in the village of Kalispell. Kalispell is in the Flathead Valley between the Swan and Kootenai ranges of the Rocky mountains. It is noted for the production of sweet cherries and huckleberries—we found some cherries along the way and also some huckleberries. We bought the cherries and had every intention of having some huckleberry sourcream pie for dinner tonight but we were just too full—these American dinners are meant for two. We found a historic hotel in downtown Kalispell that has been recently restored. In 1912 the hotel charged travellers $2.00 per night—not so now but it is a lovely location right downtown with interesting stores and good food nearby—cookies and tea in the lobby so Mr. Ron is a happy camper. The sunsets are interesting in this area right now as they are seen thru the smoke haze. We have missed the worst of the smoke all along this time in Montana—we will leave the state tomorrow and likely get to Washington and closer to home.

billings to great falls montana

We had a later start today as Ron was able to find a HONDA dealer to service the van—no problems just an oil change and check up. We followed the Interstate west through more of Montana’s great plains heading towards the mountains. This is fertile land with many of the farms in the valley right at the edge of the mountains. The forest fires near here have created a lot of haze and smoke so there were times when we could not see the mountains or just saw an outline of them. We were looking at the Rockies but certainly it looks very different from the Rockies as we know them in Canada. It is very dry here and a lot of scrub land—it is not hard to figure out where they are doing irrigation. We noticed a sign for a woollen mill at the exit we were taking for our lunch break so found it and had a look. There was a huge inventory of Woolrich garments but somehow the quality was not as good as the mills we had visited in Bemidji MN and Johnson VT—we did not find anything to buy—could be the heat was a factor. We found an interesting place for lunch—a place called the Garage and that is just what it was, an old garage. They made just the best soup—clam chowder and tomato basil—yum. Once back on the road we turned north and headed for the capital of Montana, Helena, but did not stop as we had decided to make our destination Great Falls for the night. We were able to find another in the chain of hospital motels so are happily settled and ready to explore. Great Falls is located on the Missouri River among the five falls that were one of the most challenging but beautiful parts of Lewis and Clarke’s historic journey. We did take time for a very quick look at the Lewis and Clarke National Historic Trail Interpretive Center (they were closing) which did outline their time spent in Montana which had to be an onerous task given the terrain and all the falls in the river. We did find two of the five falls along the River’s edge trail where we had our daily walk. The Missouri is a mighty river too. We finally found our baby back ribs and had a feast for our dinner tonight.

hill city to billings montana

Our campsite owners provided a wonderful breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, homefries, onions and biscuits with gravy along with coffee and juice all served at picnic tables in a cabin. It was a huge undertaking as the biker community ate early and lots. It was a great start to our day. We headed out to travel thru the black hills and were again accompanied by numerous motorcycles. The Black Hills are described as an island of mountains in a sea of prairies—the hills are the highest point east of the Rockies and are pine covered mountains. We followed highway 385 up to Deadwood, then thru Lead to Spearfish via the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. Deadwood was the site of the last big frontier gold rush in North America—both Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane lived and died there. Deadwood is still a gaming town so we thought we would park the car, roam the main street and maybe even try our luck at some of the slots but even at 9am the place was alive and full—no room to move or park so we just turned the car around and headed for the highway and the beautiful drive thru the mountains along the Spearfish Creek which runs north for some strange reason. As we proceeded further to the west we lost site of the motorcycles and once into Wyoming there were very few to be seen on the road.

We travelled in the northeast part of Wyoming—it is between the Black Hills on the east and the Big Horn Mountains on the west. It was hot but not humid and very windy—someone said it was always windy in Wyoming. We could see for miles on the wide open plains under clear skies—no smog or humidity here. We had hoped to have a feed of ribs for lunch but they did not serve them until evening so had to settle for prime rib instead.

We left Wyoming and entered Montana close to where Custer made his last stand at the battle of Little Big Horn. Actually we stopped at the information centre in Hardin and found another of those wonderful community museums that documented the past of the county—it is located 15 miles from the famous battle. We spent time exploring all the buildings that they had moved to this original farm site—the original farm house and barn are there but there is also a school, a doctor’s office, a church,--22 buildings in all. It is a lot of work and very well presented so worth a stop and had it not been so hot we might have spent even longer there.

We decided to stop for the night in Billings Montana and are in a nice little motel right downtown next door to the hospital and their medical complex. This particular motel chain, Riverstone Inns make it a policy to build near hospitals and give a special rate to patients needing daily tests and treatments or families visiting inpatients. Their regular rates for the likes of us are also more reasonable than any of the other motels in town. Since we only wanted soup for supper we decided to try the hospital cafeteria—a good choice it was too, as the soup was good, the sandwich freshly made to our specs and the salad nice and fresh. It was nice to walk after dinner but not too far as it was just a little to hot for our liking.

luverne to hill city sd

We thought we had seen a lot of bikes yesterday but today as we travelled west in South Dakota we found there were more motorcyclists on the road than there were cars and there we were in the middle of it all. They were all headed for Sturgis and the towns and cities in a 50 mile radius around Sturgis—some of the towns close their main streets to traffic so that it can become a parking lot for the bikers. We also found out that it was difficult to find a place to put your head. We were fortunate to find a very helpful woman at the welcome centre and together we found us a room. It is a delightful place in Hill city in the Black Hills. The black hills remind us of the green mountains in Vermont but they are indeed darker green and black looking. We are staying in a resort for campers—tents, RV’s, cabins and a small motel. They had a room and it was very reasonable so here we are in the Black Hills of South Dakota just below Mount Rushmore.

We left Minnesota early this morning (Monday Augurst 6)and had our first stop in Mitchell South Dakota. Our friend Heather suggested that we would enjoy the stop at the corn palace and she was right. The corn palace was first created in 1892 by the local farmers to show that more than buffalo were important to the area. Portions of the exterior and the interior are covered with murals made from corn husks, local grasses and grains. The exterior motif is changed every year and we were fortunate to arrive when we did as they were beginning to remove the old grasses in preparation for the new mural—once the corn is harvested they remove the old cobs and about 20 locals work with an artist to make a new mural. The outdoor mural becomes a huge bird feeder as well as a work of art. As well as being a tourist attraction this “palace”is the local community hall and is used for graduation, local basketball games, trade shows—even the Shrine Circus. We opted for an early lunch and found a great stop at Chamberlain-Oacoma on the Missouri called Al’s Oasis. It advertised homemade pies and coffee for 5 cents so Ron was sold. The meal was great—a buffalo burger for Ron and liver for me. Ron said the lemon pie was almost as good as Tedde’s so we left full and ready for our trek to the Badlands. The badlands are amazing—right plunk in the middle of the Prairie. The National park allows one to drive or hike in the badlands—we opted to drive and spent a lot of time stopping to take yet another photo. You cannot capture the beauty of this area on paper or in a photo—it has to be seen. There are irregular ravines, fantastic ridges, low hills and cliffs in variegated colour alternating with grayish-white sediment. We were in awe of it all and enjoyed our time in the park. We came out of the park at Wall which is famous for it’s drug store that is now a block long. We did not spend long here as we were now concerned about a room. We phoned some 800 numbers from Wall and most places were full and any who had rooms wanted $300.00 so we decided to get in the car and head for the Black Hills hoping that they were far enough away from all the activities in Sturgis. NOT. We found a welcome centre and got excellent help and a room so we then carried on to Mount Rushmore Memorial Park to view the magnificent sculptures of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. The park itself is beautiful and the information available on the creation of the sculpture is very interesting. It was a lovely evening to be out walking and we did enjoy after suffering in 96 degree heat all afternoon. We had fog and cooler weather for our morning drive but not so lucky in the afternoon. Most of the campers here are bikers so we certainly do look out of place in our zip off shorts and tee shirts. I have never seen so many motorcycles. I think someone told us there were about 500,000 here for the rally.

Who knows where tomorrow will take us. Stay tuned.

lu

We thought we had seen a lot of bikes yesterday but today as we travelled west in South Dakota we found there were more motorcyclists on the road than there were cars and there we were in the middle of it all. They were all headed for Sturgis and the towns and cities in a 50 mile radius around Sturgis—some of the towns close their main streets to traffic so that it can become a parking lot for the bikers. We also found out that it was difficult to find a place to put your head. We were fortunate to find a very helpful woman at the welcome centre and together we found us a room. It is a delightful place in Hill city in the Black Hills. The black hills remind us of the green mountains in Vermont but they are indeed darker green and black looking. We are staying in a resort for campers—tents, RV’s, cabins and a small motel. They had a room and it was very reasonable so here we are in the Black Hills of South Dakota just below Mount Rushmore.

We left Minnesota early this morning (Monday Augurst 6)and had our first stop in Mitchell South Dakota. Our friend Heather suggested that we would enjoy the stop at the corn palace and she was right. The corn palace was first created in 1892 by the local farmers to show that more than buffalo were important to the area. Portions of the exterior and the interior are covered with murals made from corn husks, local grasses and grains. The exterior motif is changed every year and we were fortunate to arrive when we did as they were beginning to remove the old grasses in preparation for the new mural—once the corn is harvested they remove the old cobs and about 20 locals work with an artist to make a new mural. The outdoor mural becomes a huge bird feeder as well as a work of art. As well as being a tourist attraction this “palace”is the local community hall and is used for graduation, local basketball games, trade shows—even the Shrine Circus. We opted for an early lunch and found a great stop at Chamberlain-Oacoma on the Missouri called Al’s Oasis. It advertised homemade pies and coffee for 5 cents so Ron was sold. The meal was great—a buffalo burger for Ron and liver for me. Ron said the lemon pie was almost as good as Tedde’s so we left full and ready for our trek to the Badlands. The badlands are amazing—right plunk in the middle of the Prairie. The National park allows one to drive or hike in the badlands—we opted to drive and spent a lot of time stopping to take yet another photo. You cannot capture the beauty of this area on paper or in a photo—it has to be seen. There are irregular ravines, fantastic ridges, low hills and cliffs in variegated colour alternating with grayish-white sediment. We were in awe of it all and enjoyed our time in the park. We came out of the park at Wall which is famous for it’s drug store that is now a block long. We did not spend long here as we were now concerned about a room. We phoned some 800 numbers from Wall and most places were full and any who had rooms wanted $300.00 so we decided to get in the car and head for the Black Hills hoping that they were far enough away from all the activities in Sturgis. NOT. We found a welcome centre and got excellent help and a room so we then carried on to Mount Rushmore Memorial Park to view the magnificent sculptures of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. The park itself is beautiful and the information available on the creation of the sculpture is very interesting. It was a lovely evening to be out walking and we did enjoy after suffering in 96 degree heat all afternoon. We had fog and cooler weather for our morning drive but not so lucky in the afternoon. Most of the campers here are bikers so we certainly do look out of place in our zip off shorts and tee shirts. I have never seen so many motorcycles. I think someone told us there were about 500,000 here for the rally.Who knows where tomorrow will take us. Stay tuned.

luverne to hill city sd

quad cities to luverne minnesota

We discovered that travelling on a Sunday in Iowa meant a lot of driving. We found a Welcome Centre when we crossed the border from Illinois into Iowa so had our maps and lots of info on the sights available but the woman who helped us said that we would not find many of the tourist points of interest open. She was right and certainly there was nothing available until after 12 noon. It was disappointing but we decided that we would carry on with our plan to go west in Iowa and then North to Minnesota before going west again.

We did find another State Park in Waterloo in the Cedar Valley along the Cedar River—again lots of well groomed trails this time in a wooded area along the river. The interesting thing about this park was the shrill noise in the woods. It was the cicadas making all the racket. In some areas it was almost deafening. We did find one of the tourist areas open—the Little Brown church in the vale. It happens that the first Sunday in August is wedding reunion weekend and certainly from what we saw there have been a lot of people married at the little brown church—one of the couples said that they had celebrated their 72nd anniversary. William Pitts, a music teacher wrote the words and music to “The Church in the Wildwood” and it was sung for the first time at the dedication of the church in 1864. We found a wonderful place for lunch (another full parking lot). It was Sunday buffet at the Backdoor in Charles City. There was plenty of food and all of it made on site or at home and brought in—the waitress told us she was up at 6:30 in the morning icing her chocolate cake with butterscotch and coconut icing—it was yummy. We needed another walk after all that food and Ron discovered a beautiful little garden with sculptures of children playing—baseball, skipping, climbing and playing on a see saw. It was so sweet. We did find a museum open in a small town in Mitchell county, in the town of Osage. They had a large collection of vintage clothing, American Indian artifacts, covered wagon, newspaper collection, civil war artifacts, medical equipment and instruments. It reminded us of the museum we had visited in Morse Saskatchewan where the community was very involved and had donated their time and treasures.

We were in Minnesota early in the afternoon so decided to continue further west—it was a good driving day weather-wise so we added a few more miles and hopefully will have a slower drive tomorrow. We are in the southwest corner of Minnesota at a small town called Luverne—it too is very quiet on a Sunday.At this point we are now the Canadian equivalent of being out of Ontario and into Manitoba.

We found there were a lot of motorcycles on the highway today and noted that the state laws must all be different as many were not wearing helmets here in Minnesota. Ron spoke to some of them this evening as they are staying at the same motel and it turns out that they are all heading for Sturgis South Dakota for a huge rally that attracts motorcyclists from all over North America. It begins tomorrow and lasts for a week, so we will get a chance to visit Sturgis before we leave South Dakota.

hobart to quad cities Iowa

Today we left Indiana and travelled across Illinois to the Mississippi River at the Quad Cities. We bypassed Chicago and travelled west along I-80. Our first stop was in Ottawa—we chose Ottawa because of the name and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Ottawa was established in the 1800’s and has a beautiful town square called Washington Square. It is not only beautiful with all the green space and flowers but it is also a historical area. On August 21 in 1858 the first of the great debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas was held in Washington Square. These great debates revolved around a single sentence in the Declaration of Independence—“all men are created equal”. The park is well used today and we were fortunate enough to be there for their farmer’s market . We enjoyed our short visit and even found a canal running thru the centre of town—the Illinois Michigan canal once served as a vital link in the transportation system—it is not used as such today but they do skate on the canal in winter when it freezes over! We drove a short distance from Ottawa along the Illinois River to Utica where the state park Starved Rock is situated. Exploring the bluffs and canyons is the park’s primary attraction, and there are 13 miles of well marked trails . We did take time to have our walk in the park and we were rewarded with beautiful views of the Illinois River, the dam and the lock system as well as the beauty of the canyon . We did not begin to explore all the trails but were very happy that we had the time to stop and enjoy. The park was once occupied by the French and it was Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette who established Fort Louis here in 1682. The fort was abandoned by the French but the fort continued to be used by fu traders and trappers. The fort is no longer there. In 1769 a band of Illinois Indians took refuge on the summit of the rock, where surrounded by their foes, they died from lack of food and water and hence the name Starved Rock. After our time in the park we went back into the village of Utica and had lunch at the local tavern where we had been told the burgers and chips were delicious—we were not disappointed.

We carried on to the Quad Cities on the Mississippi River. The Quad Cities is made up of the riverfront cities of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa, and Moline and Rock Island in Illinois. We do like being near water it seems. We visited the John Deere Pavilion in Moline (from the French word Moulin meaning Mill)—the building contains vintage and modern-day Deere equipment, along with interactive agricultural exhibits. John Deere was a blacksmith in Vermont and moved to the Midwest where he heard there were great opportunities. He fashioned a self cleaning steel plow in 1837 using steel from a broken saw blade to replace the cast iron plows. Soil clung to the bottom of the cast iron plow and had to be removed by hand. This was the beginning of the largest agricultural manufacturer in the world. We saw some of the old vintage machines in the collector’s club too. We also tried to visit the Mississippi visitor centre but were refused entry as it was located on an active US Army facility on Rock Island Arsenal. Americans are allowed entry but not Foreign visitors.

We are now getting ready to go north and west so it ought to be Iowa and Minnesota tomorrow.

huron to hobart Indiana

This was a triple H day—hot, humid and we’re staying in Hobart. With all this heat Ron is happy that he took the time to get a hair cut in Williamsville (check out today’s picture). We did not have a nice place to walk near our motel so we got on the road early and headed back to Lake Erie and stopped at Port Clinton where we had a wonderful walk along the breakwater and the channel to the harbour. Port Clinton is a busy little fishing village and calls itself the Walleye Capital of the world. It is said that their New Year’s Eve celebration finds them dropping a 20 foot, 600 pound fibreglass walleye from a crane at midnight. We stopped in Napoleon and Bryan before leaving Ohio. Both have old and well preserved court houses and are the focal piece of the town. We have discovered that the washrooms in the court houses are well equipped and clean. We did find a diner in Bryan that had a full parking lot so we stopped for a late breakfast-early lunch. It was good but not as good as our New England stops.

We left Ohio and entered Indiana travelling along highway 6 through Kendallville and Nappanee before going south to highway 30 to continue West. This area is beautiful farmland with miles of corn fields. We did stop and get some fresh fruit and veggies from a farm stand. Many of the areas farmers are Amish. We did stop at the Borkholder Dutch Village so Ron could have an ice cream and I could look at all the wonderful crafts. Many were homemade but there were also vendors selling made in China crafts. I did more looking than buying. Nappanee looked like an interesting town but was very busy with a huge gathering at Amish Acres so we decided to drive a little further west and ended up in Hobart—we thought it would be interesting as it was a town with a man-made lake in the centre of town—we never did find it on our first drive about but did take time to go for a drive after our dinner and there it was—we were just in time to see the sun set again. It is so much nicer over water. We have noticed a lot more train traffic in this part of the country—even truck trailers that have the capacity to convert to train hook-ups. So far we haven’t seen any passenger trains but plenty of freights.

buffalo to huron ohio

After spending 5 days with Ruth in Buffalo we repacked the car and said our goodbyes and turned the car to the west on August 2.

We decided to follow Lake Erie thru New York, Pennsylvania and into Ohio. WE did the better part of our travelling on the Interstate until we got to Ashtabula Ohio. We wanted to visit this town as it was the site of the American Finn Fest this year. We did not find the Finnish connection save for one small Finnish wind sock and the Finnish American Cultural Center that was only open on weekends. Ron was hoping there would be a Finnish store or some indication that there had been a festival. Ashtabula is a major coal and iron port and is spread over a large area along Lake Erie. It did not seem like a typical Finnish town so we are wondering if perhaps we missed some part of the town. We did find Lake Erie and had a walk on Walnut beach before eating the yummy sandwiches that Ruth suggested we take with us. We found a group of men playing bocce in the park so we were entertained by their antics while we enjoyed our dinner.

We decided to carry on and travel thru Cleveland since rush hour was over and it was a little cooler by the Lake. We did not see much of Cleveland save for the baseball stadium (no game being played tonight). Once we were out of the city we drove along the shore and enjoyed seeing all the beautiful homes and cottages while the sun was setting. It was a lovely site and most restful—we were too late to get a great picture to share but we did stop at the Marina in Lorain and watched the sun disappear. We continued on to Huron where we will spend the night. This area is a wonderful summer escape with many boats on the Lake (Erie).

ottawa to connecticut

It is August 2 and the car is now headed for the west. We did make a return visit to Ruth in Buffalo (Williamsville actually) when we left Ottawa as she had suffered accidental second degree burns to her right hand and was happy to have us stay with her from July 28 until today. Both Ron and I enjoyed our return visit with Ruth even though it was very hot and humid. Ruth has air conditioning and part of her treatment was rest so we all rested in front of the TV watching movies.

Before I begin our travels west I will send along the notes from our side trip from Ottawa to Connecticut.

Jean, Ron and I got off and running right after breakfast on Sunday July 15 and decided that we would cross to the States at Cornwall. It was an easy crossing with only 4 cars ahead of us. We travelled thru Northern New York to Lake Champlain and the Islands in Vermont. Lake Champlain is a huge lake being 120 miles long and 12 miles wide in some places. It is connected to Montreal and the Great Lakes by the Hudson River and the Champlain Canal. It was interesting to read in our tour book that in 1998 Lake Champlain briefly became the 6th Great Lake when Bill Clinton signed a Senate Bill reauthorizing the Sea Grant Programme but 2 months later the designation was rescinded. WE had our lunch on the Islands at North Hero—a delightful stop with a bakery, cafe, and craft shops right on the lake. It was interesting that the only washroom was a portapotty outside so Jean and I opted to wait for the next gas stop.
Once we left the Islands we travelled south on highway 7 with the Green Mountains to the East and the Adirondack Mountains to the west. Our next stop was Middlebury which is a typical New England college town with wonderful old homes and a beautiful campus that was established as early as 1800. We did take time to stretch our legs and wander on the campus—so many trees and beautiful buildings—even the new buildings are built to fit in with the old stone ones.

We carried on to Rutland which is the closest city to the ski area of Killington in the Green Mountains. We did find an excellent restaurant—Jean noticed the full parking lot and sure enough it was a fantastic seafood place—the Weathervane Seafood Restaurant. WE all enjoyed our seafood and left room for a Ben and Jerry’s for dessert. On our way back to the motel we discovered a concert in the Park—the oldest Municipal Band in America—the Rutland City Band was setting up for their Sunday concert. They have been in existence for 131 years. It was a beautiful evening to sit in the park and enjoy all the people as well as the music.

We opted to stay on Hwy. 7 as we proceeded south towards Connecticut. Our first morning stop was in Bennington which is a delightful village in southern Vermont. It is the site of the Battle of Bennington on August 16 1777—the Americans defeated the British. There was a monument built and completed in 1891 to commemorate this battle—it stands 306 feet high and is the tallest structure in Vermont. We did not go to the top but it is said that you can view 3 states from the observation level. The grounds were beautiful and we met a very informative woman who told us some of the history about the monument and also information on the area. The national Christmas Tree will come from Bennington this year. We did have to carry on, so missed the Michigan Fife and Drum Corp concert at noon. WE did however, take time to visit Bennington Potters which has created handmade pottery for more than 50 years. The store and potter’s yard are located on 41/2 acres of gardens and historic buildings. The gardens and the floral tubs were magnificent—we spent as much time admiring the gardens as we did inside the store.

Two hours later we were on the road again but stopped at a busy diner for our lunch. Again it was a good stop with homemade soups and delicious BLT’s. We had our tea and coffee break in Stockbridge which is in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. This was a beautiful town with many luxury summer homes that are still very well maintained. There were also many interesting shops that Jean and I explored briefly while Ron enjoyed his coffee and cookies (found at a little bakery on Main street). We drove pretty much non- stop from this break along hwy 7 until we got to Danbury Connecticut. We then followed the directions our friend Nancy had given us and we found her home in New Canaan without much difficulty.

We spent our time in New Canaan and Bridgeport visiting with our travelling friends and just had a wonderful time. We also got to meet the husbands of Troy, Nancy and Dorie. Lois drove all the way from New Jersey to join us for lunch on Dorie’s porch—it was like we were on the road just off the back of the bus. We did miss our 8th partner, Ken, and to be sure he was very much in all our minds as we remembered the special memories we had from those trips. Dorie’s husband Jack, summed it up nicely—he said it was a miracle that we met when we did and formed such a wonderful friendship. Jean and I spent an extra afternoon with Dorie playing in her sewing room—what a delightful haven it is—we do wish that we could live closer to Bridgeport and could join Dorie for an afternoon to just sit and sew or knit. Jean came home with some exciting new fabrics and I have some new sock wool to experiment with. We hated to say goodbye.

On our trip North we travelled in Connecticut along hwy 169 as far as Sturbridge Mass. We travelled thru beautiful agricultural areas and many very old towns established in the 1700’s. Our morning drive was delightful and we lunched again at a diner that had a pretty full parking lot. We were not so lucky with the weather in the afternoon as we found the rain. We decided to take the Interstate (91) and hopefully find a dry place to stop for the evening. We did a little detour and travelled over hwy. 302 to Littleton where we spent the night at Thayers Hotel. It is a 19th Century Hotel right on Main Street. It was a perfect place for us to spend the evening—no elevator so we did lug out bags up two flights of stairs but it had everything we needed and more—even breakfast in the morning. Almost next door there was a wonderful book shop that occupied our time for over an hour. We had dinner at the Littleton Diner and much to my disappointment the menu has changed and they no longer have grape nut pudding on the menu. I did ask and the chef who made it died 4 or 5 years ago and no one was able to duplicate the taste of the pudding so.......
The next morning found us on the road to St Johnsbury Vermont and then we took hwy 2 and 15 over to St. Albans. Ron needed coffee in Johnson and lo and behold, they had a woollen mill in town. What a wonderful place to shop—again an hour of our time looking and even some buying, especially by Jean. They had a wonderful selection of sweaters and shirts so we treated ourselves. As an extra special treat this woollen mill was celebrating it’s 165th anniversary so everything in the store was 20% off. In St. Albans we fed Ron and then found the JoAnn’s fabric store where both Jean and I did buy some fabric—we did restrain ourselves but could not leave behind the special pieces that we found. From there it was on to the border thru the rain again. Our morning part of the trip was in good weather but again in the afternoon we drove thru rain until we got to the outskirts of Ottawa. The border crossing was not busy (at Cornwall) going into Canada but they were lined up over the bridge going into the States. We found some fresh corn en route home so had a veggie feast for our dinner and then early to bed.

Ottawa survived without us and Jean’s black current berries were ripe for the picking.

ottawa

We travelled into Ottawa on Tuesday morning (July 3) with Rob and after breakfast in town we dropped him off downtown at his office. We were all very disappointed as our favourite breakfast stop, Nick’s, was no longer open. Ron had been going to that restaurant for breakfast and or lunch since 1966 and introduced both Rob and I to Nick and his wonderful food—just a small place with about 8 stools but terrific food.

We headed to Jean Bye’s and off loaded the van once again. We are here to stay until we start our trip back to the west. We will spend the time visiting our many friends and our favourite haunts as well as work in a trip to Connecticut to visit with our American travel friends.

We did solve the mystery of the memory card for the camera. They were able to retrieve those lost pictures from the card and did a reformat which I ought to have done before we started out. They did say that the memory cards likely only last for 3 or 4 years before they start giving problems—the one I was using was only a year old but did have corrupt sectors—they do have a machine that can find the pics and put the images back together so I was able to find and retrieve the pics from Longlac. Oh happy day.

We have found a ceragem in Ottawa—newly open for only 3 days but it allowed us to have a nice 40 minute massage.

It looks like I will not have easy access to a wireless connection while here in the Nation’s capital so this could be the last of the information until we are on the road again. It is wonderful to be here and as always Jean is treating us so well and making her home our home away from home. We will be travelling in Connecticut from June 16-20 and will then stay in Ottawa until the following weekend when we start our trek home.

kingston to bishop mills

Canada Day was a cool one but bright and sunny so we had a walk before breakfast up to the Alpaca farm. We got to feed and be right up close to them—what lovely soft wool they have. Nancy and Paul have at least 70 including some babies who were very young—one was less than a week old. Garry and Carolyn fed us a hearty breakfast and we were on the road again. This time we were headed to Bishops Mills and my brother Rob and his wife Carolyn’s home. We again ran into the challenge of county roads and their names. We found ourselves in Merrickville and fortunately asked the right person for directions as she was able to send us cross country to Bishops Mills. We were really excited to get there as it meant we could off load the van. However, now that all Rob and Carolyn’s stuff is out we find we have a lot of our own stuff. We might never get those seats set up to use.

We just missed the parade in Merrickville when we first arrived but found the town alive with tourists and locals. WE did go back in for the afternoon and visited with our good friends Mae and Janice Wilson. Mae always has delicious treats in her freezer and did not disappoint Ron.

We settled in for a quiet sleep in the country—Carolyn and Garry are also in the country so we are getting spoiled by these nice quiet sleeps.

We spent the holiday Monday with Rob and Carolyn at the homestead. Ron got to play with some more toys—this time it was the ride on lawn mower. I got to watch chef Carolyn in action as she made us her infamous orange pancakes and a delicious cherry dessert. We also got out to walk the dogs so got some exercise.

aurora to kingston

We woke Friday morning to hear the news that there was a National Day of Protest by the Aboriginals—this meant that the route to Kingston was blocked for us. Highway 2, the 401 and the railroad all had blockades set up. We decided that we would start out and take the more northern highway (number 7) and then go south to Kingston once we were past the road block.

We did travel in a round about manner as we missed the county road signs to Port Perry but we did have a lovely drive through very fertile farmland. The traffic was surprisingly light until we got past Peterborough. We then discovered that each little town has a traffic light and as the volume grew so did the slow downs. We did stop at Havelock and had a wonderful break at the station restaurant. The CPR had run passenger service until 1960 and it is still a busy rail yard with shunting of rail cars going on all the time. At one point there were 4 engines working. The station itself has a lot of memorabilia and photos on the walls and made for a nice refreshing stop. We did decide to try our luck at going south and connecting with some of the county roads to see if that would free us from the sense of being in a parking lot on the highway. We are finding that our maps indicate the county roads by number and the townships indicate these roads by name so........By this time CBC let us know that the 401 was open so we were able to go south to Belleville (on just one road) and then on into Kingston. We arrived at Carolyn and Garry Ferguson’s some five hours after leaving Aurora.

We had a wonderful reunion with my KGH friends who are still living in Kingston and area—Carolyn and Garry, Jack and Linda, Marj and John , Karen and Andy. Somehow it is like we were never away and we still sit and have the same laughing fits as we did those many years ago. Carolyn and Garry have a new fifth wheel that they are planning to take to the East Coast this summer—what an amazing way to travel.

On Saturday Ron and I went over to Amherstview to visit with Linda and Burt Moll. (Linda and I worked together in Ottawa) . It is exciting to see their home and all the progress they have made with their renovations. The kitchen is almost finished and it does look great and Linda says it is wonderful to work in too. Linda introduced us to a nice refreshing summer drink—orangina—a fizzy orange drink.

We were back to Carolyn and Garry’s in time to go for a boat ride on Loughborough Lake—it is a 22 mile long lake with many cottages and permanent homes. Dan Ackroyd has a cottage on this lake—his family has had a cottage on this lake for many years too. As well, there are a few huge cottages built and used by NHL players. We were surprised that there was not a lot of traffic on the lake since it was the long weekend. It could have been the weather—a little on the cool side and showers threatening. However, we had a delightful trip down the lake and we were home and inside having a cup of coffee before the rain started. We decided to stay home and have a game of cards rather than venture out to downtown Kingston in the rain. I got the cards but Carolyn got the numbers so she is the new Saskatchewan Rummy champ and now has the counting and the rules down pat.

aurora again

We spent Wednesday and Thursday June 27 and 28 in Aurora with Sharon, Mark and the four girls—Sophie, Isabel, Brigitte and Annick. As an added bonus, Andree joined us this visit. The heat wave had passed so it was enjoyable being outside and even sweater weather. Everyone was in fine form and the Ottawa visit for Sharon, Andree and Sophie was a huge success. However, everyone was very happy to have mommy home again.

buffalo toronto aurora

Wednesday found us back on the road again as we headed north to Toronto and a visit with Pat Maldonado. The radio warned us that the temperature was 32 but felt like 40 degrees with the humidex. I am very grateful for the air conditioning in the van and I am reminded yet again why I am happy that I have moved to the west. This time we had a one car wait at the border—go figure. Pat has just moved into her new Apartment on Davenport Road—a wonderful spot that she is in the process of decorating. WE just missed the unveiling by one day so will have to make a return visit to see the finished product. The furniture and curtains arrive tomorrow. However, we came to visit and that we did. Pat is still working part –time with no immediate plans for retirement. Next year it will be 40 years since we all graduated. Pat also fed us a delicious meal,so......... soon we will have to shop for new duds.

We had an uneventful trip north of the city and back to Aurora in time to meet the school bus—it was Isabel and Brigitte’s last day of school. Mark and Annick joined us and we had an entertaining dinner hour with the family before heading for the park. Sharon and Sohpie will return home tomorrow along with Andree so we will have a Pajunen family gathering.

Williamsville visit

We had a most enjoyable visit to Buffalo—actually it is really Williamsville where Ruth has her home. It was amazing to visit it this time after their huge snow storm last October where many of the trees in the city were damaged. There was a great deal of damage in Ruth’s back yard too—most of her trees survived but lost many of their branches. We were able to be outside much of the time as it did not get hot and humid until Tuesday and when we moved indoors it was movie time. We all enjoyed watching the Queen and in fact watched it a second time along with the director’s comments. It is hard to believe that it is 10 years since Diana died and 10 years since Tony Blair first came to office and now he too is gone. The acting was superb and I enjoyed the story line—I do wonder what the Queen thinks of our impressions.

Tuesday was Ruth’s 83rd birthday so we celebrated by going out to lunch at Harry’s Harbourview Restaurant in downtown Buffalo—right on the water. Cathleen joined us so we had another good visit. We did spend that afternoon indoors watching yet another movie but did find time for a nice long walk after dinner as it had cooled some and there was a nice breeze.

dinner in Williamsville (buffalo)

Ron did a fine job on the barbeque with Ruth's guidance. Cathleen and I stayed in the cool of the kitchen.

hamilton lunch

Ron and his Aunt Sylvia at lunch in Hamilton. Sylvia just turned 90 in April 2007.

breakfast in toronto

This photo is taken with Judy in Toronto at our breakfast stop. Ron is her sou chef and coffee maker.

Meals along with the wheels

Sunday, June 24 was a day of eating, visiting and travelling.

We started our day in Toronto and breakfast at Judy Coveney’s. Our friend Judy is a dietician so she made sure she covered all the food groups—we had fresh cooked beets, tomatoes marinated in olive oil, onions, roasted red peppers, potatoes, eggs, toast with special blue menu jam and even muffins that she stayed up until 2am to bake for us. We felt like we had been treated like royalty and hence very special. We did get out for a nice walk in her neighbourhood before heading off to Hamilton. It had been gay pride week in Toronto and Sunday was the parade so we were advised to go north before heading west to Hamilton.

Again, the traffic was heavy out of Toronto and along the lake to Hamilton. Hamilton is at the head of Lake Ontario between Toronto and Niagara Falls and is joined to Lake Ontario by the Burlington Canal. It is considered to be a landlocked harbour—one of the largest on the Great Lakes. Ron’s Aunt and family have lived in Hamilton for many years and it is always special to visit with his Aunt Sylvia. Sylvia turned 90 this past April and is still happily living in the family home. She made us a wonderful lunch of salmon, rice and fresh buns.

Leaving Hamilton we carried on along Lake Ontario to Lewiston and the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge . We discovered that it is a mistake to try and cross the border on a Sunday afternoon—we waited just under 2 hours to cross over to New York. It was a very long hot wait but a wait well worth it as Ruth had good cold beer in the frig and Cathleen , who was joining us for dinner had our favourite Columbia Crest white wine ready for drinking. We had a delightful barbequed dinner of pork chops, salad, sweet potatoes, fresh green beans and the first of the local strawberries.

Needless to say we did not go to bed hungry on Sunday.

Toronto visit with Mrs. Kay

Saturday, June 23 and we drove into Toronto this morning to visit with Mrs. Kay—an absolutely perfect day—good company, good weather and good food. We had no problems with traffic but it was amazing to see the number of people out on the road—at one point the 401 going east was at a standstill with 5 lanes of traffic—it looked like one massive parking lot. As well there were two lanes trying to merge onto it. We were pretty happy to be going in the opposite direction.

Mrs Kay treated us to lunch at the Weston golf course and it was warm/cool enough for us to sit outside and enjoy. We had a fun time catching up on all the news and views.

We came back to Aurora to enjoy pizza with the Williams family. We are certainly eating well on the adventure of ours.

Aurora

Today, June 21 is the longest day and in Finland is Juhannus or midsummer. They celebrate in all of Scandinavia with special parties and bonfires. We did acknowledge it with a drink and brushetta on the deck before dinner. It was a beautiful sunny day with no humidity so everyone was in a happy mood.

Sharon (Ron’s niece) is married to Mark and they have 4 beautiful little girls—Sophie, Isabel, Brigitte and Annick aged 2-8. It is a home that is in constant motion but a very happy place to be. We are content to just enjoy the children and play in the park or the back yard. Ron and I got to look after Brigitte and Annick for the day on Thursday. Ron got to go to 4 parks today and is now an expert on swing pushing. Mark and Ron took the girls to the park after dinner as a special treat on this the longest day. Sharon and I stayed behind to finish our dinner and our wine.

Friday was another day of sun and fun. The three oldest were off to school so Annick, Ron and I got to play in the park until the bus brought the rest of the gang home.

We will stay in Aurora but go to Toronto to visit with Mrs. Kay on Saturday and then on Sunday will go back to Toronto to have breakfast with our friend Judy the Foody, lunch with Ron’s 90 year old aunt in Hamilton and then cross the border to go to Buffalo to visit my Aunt Ruth. We plan to return to Aurora on Wednesday to help look after Isabel, Brigitte and Annick as Sophie and Sharon are going to Ottawa for Shane’s graduation. Sharon , Sophie and Andrree will return on Thursday so we will overnight and then get back on the road on Friday.

Kirkland Lake

Another perfect day in the North but we’re beginning to move to the south. Ron, Andree and I went to Kirkland Lake to visit with Andree’s son Bryce and his wife Julie and their sons, Danny and Cody. Ron was able to play a round of golf with the boys while Andree and I had a nice visit with Julie. They too have done some wonderful renos to their home and yard. We stayed the night and then all headed off in our own direction—Cody was off to school, Dan and Bryce were off to work, Julie was taking Andree to the train station as she was off to Ottawa to attend her grandson Shane’s graduation and we were heading south to Aurora to visit with her daughter Sharon and her family. The drive south was a new path for us as we would normally follow highway 17 to Ottawa but this time we followed 11 thru Huntsville, Orillia , Barrie and on into Aurora. The drive was an easy one and interesting to see Lakes Couchiching and Simco. I remember seeing them from the train as I went north from Toronto to Longlac by train. The wildflowers on the roadside were beautiful—orange, white, yellow and the green of the grass and ferns. It was a smocking plate in the making.

Mining was once the big employer in Kirkland Lake but one by one many of the stores are changing and closing. However, there is still some gold mining being done and other small industries .

We arrived in Aurora in time to say hi to Jody(Sharon's cousin) and her two children—Jody had been visiting for the day so Sharon had non stop company—one out and the next lot in. Mark , Sharon’s husband, had just arrived home too so we all sat down and had a rum drink before starting dinner—memories of Barbados.

Timmins

After a nice leisurely bkfast we were on the road for our trip from Kap to Timmins. It was Ron’s turn to trek down memory lane as we visited the streets he roamed as a kid in South Porcupine. It is interesting to note that many of the street names have changed—Ron’s street is no longer Commercial Ave but is Shamrock. This all has happened since the amalgamation of the smaller communities into the town of Timmins. We moved on to Porcupine and Ron’s sister in law Andree’s home. It was exciting to see the renovations she has made since our last trip to the North in 1998 and she now lives on Dixon Rd. Instead of Martin Ave. Her maiden name was Dixon and her father built this home many years ago as the family summer cottage so it is exciting to think that her Father has a lasting memorial in Porcupine.

Sunday (June 17) was another day of memories and a trip down memory lane. Ron, Andree and I went out to Barber’s Bay to visit Ron’s brother Roy and his wife Nellie at their cottage. Ron’s family had a cottage on Barber’s Bay, we had a cottage there for 5 years and now Roy and Nellie have a cottage on the lake. Roy is retired and has made many additions and improvements to this cottage. We had a wonderful afternoon of visiting and playing. Ron got to fish (he even almost caught a pike), ride a scooter, drive an ATV and have a sauna—there is nothing as nice a sauna in the out of doors. We did have the option of jumping in the lake but decided to shower indoors—the lake water is surprisingly warm but.............I got my workout using the peddle boat to sight-see in the bay—I did have Ron helping me along and we did a good 20 minute peddle. The lake was very quiet and such a pretty spot with the birch trees all around and the lupins in full bloom—they are everywhere and pretty much grow wild. There have been a lot of changes on the lake but not a huge increase in the population—some of the cottages are now permanent homes. It was interesting to listen to Roy and Ron put names to most of the families that had been on the lake in their early days.

We had an interesting lunch gathering on Monday at the Finnish Seniors home in South Porcupine—the Kulta Koti. Every week there is soup, pulla and coffee available for the residents as well as the general public. Ron met a few former school friends and did some reminiscing about the good old days. He also met some of the friends of his parents and was able to speak to them as well. This lunch is available twice a week and in the winter there is another day when they prepare a hot meal—good value for your dollar. The rest of the day was a continuation of visiting , shopping and eating. We had a wonderful meal at the Fish Bowl. I think it is the first pickerel I’ve eaten since we sold the cottage back in 1978. Yum.

Longlac and Kapuskasing

Yet another wonderful sunrise and we almost made it up to see it. We did get to the Hoito for their early breakfast and as expected it was delicious. I was surprised at the number of people there for a Friday morning.

We left Thunder Bay and made our first stop for coffee at Helen Lake where we continued to enjoy the fresh Finnish coffee bread (pulla) with our coffee. This little lake is along the hwy and joins up with Lake Nipigon so was used by the natives and the fur traders in the early days as the north was settled.

Next stop was Geraldton at the new interpretive centre which is on the main highway at the turnoff to Geraldton—they have built on the site of the mine tailings and certainly made it much more appealing to look at. It would seem that Geraldton was very much in favour of the municipality amalgamation and have done a lot of promotion particularly of their history. We did drive into town and visited the old high school but decided we would move on to Longlac for lunch. We took time to visit Skinner’s Acres and Tim is there telling the stories in his Dad’s place. He loves being there and it shows. We did take time to visit the townsite and my old home—it all seems so much smaller that I remember it but the house is well cared for and had someone been around I would have asked to step back in time. I did a lot of growing in that house and have lots of happy memories of the days in Longlac. We decided to dine on hamburgers and chips from a chip stand where the old hotel once was and then carry on to Kapuskasing where we found a wonderful spot along the river. I moved to Kapuskasing from BC and lived there from 1945 until 1950 before moving to Longlac so we did a drive down the old street here too. Much of Kap is just as it was in days gone by with the mill in the centre of town and still going at a great rate. It is not Spruce Falls anymore but owned and run by Tembec. It was certainly a day for memories. Much to my dismay something in my camera has wiped out most of the pictures that I took today. I am not sure why but they are gone from the camera but not from my head and heart. It has been a hot day (34 degrees) on the road but is cooling nicely tonight and we had a nice sit down by the river after a light meal here in the room.

Longlac continues to be a busy little town and there is a lot of construction and new homes on both sides of the track. Many of the old homes and buildings are there—some a little tired looking but very much there. The tennis court doesn’t look like it has been used since we batted the ball on and off the court. The ball diamond is still used and now called Reynold Beaulieu Park—I’m not sure who he was but it seems that all the parks have names—Ken Budge, Jeff Gauthier and all. It was a bonus that we got to revisit Longlac as we had decided to drive along Lake and get to timmins in one day but with the heat we decided on two shorter drives with a stop in either Longlac or Kapuskasing.

Now it is on to Timmins and a visit with Ron’s sister in law, Andree and also his brother Roy and wife Nellie.

Thunder Bay

Another nice bright and sunny day. We had one of our earliest starts to date and we only had an hour’s drive into Thunder Bay. Ah well, we enjoyed a good breakfast in the room, loaded up and got underway.

It was interesting to come into Thunder Bay from the west—something new for both of us as our orientation had been to Port Arthur to the east.

We both had the opportunity to revisit some of the old memories. For Ron it was Bay Street and the Finnish community and for me it was Hillcrest Park and those wonderful old cabins that are no longer there but the park is as beautiful as I remember it and the view of the sleeping giant is exactly as I remember it. The Sleeping Giant on Lake Superior is part of a peninsula extending into the lake from the vast forest area to the NE of the city. The rock formation is 7 miles long and 1,099 feet high and resembles a giant sleeping figure.

We had our lunch at the Hoito in the centre of little Finland. What a good deal it is—good food at a great price. The Hoito originated because the loggers could not find a reasonable place to eat when they were in town so made their own—in 2010 the building will be 100 years old. The translation of hoito is care. Next time Ron and I will share a meal as the proportions are lumberjack size. Mind you, I had liver and onions and they were delicious so I cleaned up my plate. Our dinner was at the Finnish public Sauna and we enjoyed Finnish pancakes just like Mumma made. Tomorrow we will go back to the Hoito for breakfast.

Ron was also able to track down his Aunt and Uncle’s grave stone at the Riverside Cemetery—it was something that he had wanted to do our last visit but was not able to check in with the office. They are resting in a nice quiet area with a birch tree nearby among many of the other Thunder Bay Finnish community.

I had a chance to talk to an old school and ski school friend—we had hoped to visit in person but it was not to be this trip. Ron also talked to one of the Victoria curling snowbirds, Gerry Vanderwees. Gerry does plan to return to Victoria even though we showed him a pretty wet winter which was a big disappointment to his wife.

We had a wonderful walk after dinner along the waterfront near the hotel. The sun is still very high in the sky so it was warm and enough breeze to keep the bugs at bay.

WE have decided to go to Timmins the long way rather than do a ten hour stint in the car. That means that we will go to Longlac and refresh the old childhood memories for Margo. I just found out that in 2001 Longlac, Geraldton, Nakina, Beardmore, Jellicoe, Caramat, Orient Bay and MacDiamid joined to form a municipality that was called Greenstone. It was named after the ancient belts of lava. It encompasses 3000 sq. km along 200 km of Trans Canada hwy 11 and is home to over 5600 people. I had no idea that this had happened. I wonder how long it will be before we won’t see Longlac on any of the maps.

North Shore of Lake Superior and Ron goes to Finland

Despite getting up bright and early it still seemed to take us a long time to get ready to get on the road. It has to be because we are seniors. The motel provided a wonderful hot breakfast so we did sit and enjoy before starting out for Duluth.

As we arrived at the outskirts of Duluth we had a wonderful view of the lake but there was a real haze over it that was the cold water and the hot sun combining—it did feel so nice to have the cooler air from the water and it did make the drive today much nicer. Duluth is an inland port on Lake Superior—it has 49 miles of dock line with grain elevators, ore docks and shipyards. We did walk along the lakewalk close to the harbour and right along the shipping canal. One of the major tankers had just left and another was not due for at least 2 hours which was a surprise to us as our tour book indicated that the aerial bridge lifts 25-30 times daily during the shipping season for an average of 5,500 lifts in total. Duluth certainly deserved more of our time and is another city built up the long steep hill from the water. There were many museums and galleries for us to see but we decided to leave it until our return trip.

We proceeded up the North Shore—a much more interesting and scenic tour than the drive from Kenora to Thunder Bay. We stopped at Two Harbours and had lunch at a small cafe where the food was delicious (Vanilla Bean Cafe and Bakery). Their pecan,caramel bread pudding was well worth all the carbs. This is a small town with a very busy harbour—it looked like they had room to load 6 tankers. Their lighthouse is the last of the working lighthouses in Minnesota.

Our next stop was Finland—Ron had his picture taken with the town sign. Finland is about 6 miles off the main hwy and because it was this far from the lake it was not settled until the early 1900’s. They did have a heritage centre that the Finnish society is preserving. We were fortunate to find it and then to have the place to ourselves with our own guide. The lady who looks after the centre lives in her trailer for the summer on the grounds and then goes to Texas for the winter. She was not Finnish but did know a lot of the history, particularly the history of the buildings on the site—a house, a sauna and a school. We had expected Finland to be a little livelier from the descriptions in the tour guide but there were a few homes, a coop store and a pub. I had even tried to persuade Ron to stay there rather than pushing on to Thunder Bay. Ah well, it was an interesting stop and a much needed rest from the car. Many of the town signs indicate the population of the particular town—some as few as 50.

WE did stop on the north shore in Grand Marais—it is a bustling little town with plenty of places to stay and set right on the lake. It is well known as an arts community and our walk this evening showed this to be true. Unfortunately many of the shops and galleries were closed. We are not far from Thunder Bay but we lose another hour once we cross the border so I did convince Ron that it would be good to stop and have some time off rather than push on. It was a good move as we were both tired and this is a delightful spot.

Our motel is interesting—likely one of the original in town—we have one of the two rooms. There are also cabins as part of the complex. It is very basic but has everything we need including the frig, tv and indoor facilities. The owner made his own sauna and invited Ron to use it if he wished—Ron did wish and found it an interesting set up. It is wood heated with a sauna bucket nailed to the wall and a line with a valve to control the flow of water onto the rocks. It worked like a charm. He also had a radio available for your listening pleasure.

Minot to Grand Rapids

Today, (june 12) was pretty much a driving day so not a lot of exploring. It was interesting to leave the Prairie and move on to the lakes and trees of Minnesota. I think I much prefer to see that wide expanse of sky and the horizon—it is so amazing.

WE did pass thru Rugby and it is famous for being the geographical centre of North America—we were there. It is due south of Brandon Manitoba.

We stopped in Grand Forks at the info centre and they knew about the curling coming but did not have any info yet. It will be a great city for the curling.

We were then off to Bemidji and Paul Bunyan with his blue ox—actually I was more interested in the fireplace in the info centre that was made from stones from every state and even some from Canada. We did try to go to the Finnish village at the Concordia Language Centre but they were conducting a course at this time so we would not be able to stay there. Hence we moved on to Grand Rapids for the night. I think that Ron was disappointed that we were not able to go to the finnish camp as he was looking forward to coffee and pulla as well as reconnecting with some of his former classmates. However, because it was family week and there were children present they were very strict about who could be on the grounds.

roche percee to minot

WE did take one detour on the road south and went into a tiny village or group of homes called Roche Percee, a group of strangely eroded rock formations. These outcroppings belong to the Ravenscrag geological formation. Rock layers of different hardness were eroded by wind and water into unusual shapes that were held in esteem by local Indians and covered with rock carvings.

At the border we checked on the Canadian side to have them note what we were taking with us in the car so that our return would be a little easier--we hope. On the American side we were searched as they said we were part of a spot check by the department of agriculture—they were looking for beef and citrus fruits. Fortunately we had eaten in all in Estevan. I am not so sure it was a spot check as they pulled over the people behind us and the motorcycle in front was also checked.

We continued on our way once the border police released us and moved on to Minot with a brief stop at a little Danish town called Kenmare. They have a wonderful old windmill in the centre of town that was built in 1902 and used to grind flour.

Turner curling museum Weyburn Saskatchewan

We were up to see Heather off to work this morning—she leaves just after 6am!! It seemed like a dark day to the east but by the time we were on the road it was bright and sunny and got warmer as the day progressed. Summer has arrived in Saskatchewan.

WE decided to drive south towards Weyburn to see if we could get into the Turner curling museum. The guide books indicate that the museum is open on the weekends but when I called I was told that the museum was not open at all but perhaps the people at the leisure centre in Weyburn would open the doors for us. Well, it turns out that the museum is in the leisure centre and they did in fact open the door for us—what an amazing collection of memorabilia from every phase of curling—pictures of all the curling clubs in Saskatchewan, trophies, irons, wooden rocks, granite rocks, brooms, bags, blazers, jackets—just everything as well as pins and more pins(18,000). It was just too much to take in and the young woman from the leisure centre had to stay and supervise us and she was not a curler—we did have the room to ourselves and just looked and enjoyed for at least an hour. There are so many wonderful pictures, clippings and information of all aspects of curling but particularily curling in Saskatchewan. Reluctantly we left and drove on to Estevan where we had our lunch(yummy leftovers from Heather’s frig) before heading for the American border.

We spent so much time in the curling museum that we did not take time to appreciate all the other claims to fame that are a part of Weyburn. W.O. Mitchell was born and raised in Weyburn, T.C. Douglas was pastor at the Calvary Baptist Church and this town is the largest inland grain gathering point in Canada.

Regina

Regina was our next stop-a bright and sunny afternoon and a chance to visit with our friend Heather. Ron took the opportunity to get the car into the dealer for servicing so we are ready for more time on the road. Maxine joined us for dinner on the club train car at the Casino which is in the old train station in downtown Regina. The 4 of us played many of Heather’s favourite machines and by the end of the evening we came away with a profit of 45 cents.

The day dawned cloudy on Sunday but soon the sky was again that wonderful blue with sunshine and wonderful white clouds—easy to see why it is called the province with the land of living skies.

We had a slow start to our day and then went for a wonderful walk around the lake at Wascana Centre—a beautiful spot right at the legislature where we saw the centennial sculpture of Queen Elizabeth on her horse Burmese. As part of the big dig the lake was drained, dredged and made much deeper to prevent the growth of grasses. Wascana Lake is in a large in-city park in the heart of Regina—it is huge so we certainly got a good workout walking around the perimeter enjoying the old houses on Albert Street, the McKenzie Art Gallery with the cow sculptures, the Canadian Geese and all the trees. It turned out to be a very hot afternoon and we were fortunate to escape the mosquitos as they had been in evidence the week before. Heather treated us to a Prairie Barbeque—yummy chicken wings with potatoes, carrots and onions all done on her wee barbeque on the balcony. Our meal finished with a Saskatoon berry pie—what could be better?

Regina was called Pile-O-Bones at one time by the Cree Indians. The Indians used the banks of the Wascana Creek for drying buffalo meat and cleaning and stretching the hides so the area became known as Oscana (pile of bones). IN the 1800's a settlement sprang up at the rail terminal on Wascana Creek as the CPR was completed. Princess Louise, the wife of Canada's govener-general, renamed the city Regina to honor her mother, Queen Victoria.

morse saskatchewan

We awoke and saw the Prairie sky this morning (Saturday June 9)—that wonderful blue with the majestic clouds. What a treat. At breakfast we met a wonderful 81 year old man who was leaving his farm in Moosemin to move to High River Alberta to be closer to his daughter. His daughter was travelling with him as they were returning from the auction at the farm driving a huge truck and towing the Dad’s car. She was pretty comfortable driving the truck but was happy to have Dad along to help her back up the trailer. Their farm was 3000 acres which was considered huge for it’s time but small by today’s standards—it was a nice start to our day.

We found the Coates family with no problem and spent a wonderful hour over coffee learning more about farming in Saskatchewan and about the town of Morse. I definitely need to get Myrna’s chocolate cake recipe with the boiled icing. The town of Morse is very close to the highway on Reed Lake which is a salt lake with a road across it ( the road helped Morse prosper as farmers south of the lake were able to bring their grain to the Morse Elevators)—there are still two working elevators in Morse. George is on gopher patrol this year and has already fired at least 2000 rounds so gave us permission to run them over if we saw them on the road. The museum in Morse is exactly as the tour guides describe it, “the Morse museum is housed in a brick school built in 1912, the exhibits focus on the town’s development from the time of the early settlers to the 1970‘s. The displays include five themed rooms, a Victorian style parlor and an art gallery featuring works by local, regional and provincial artists. Tea is served at the end of the guided tour. “ It is definitely worth a stop and not at all far off the highway. We spent over an hour and could easily have spent a lot more time there—we were fortunate to have our own tour guide, Laurie, who was very well informed and shared her knowledge of the area with us. We did not take the time to stop for tea but if we are back thru the area we would certainly plan to stop and visit again. The museum is very well organized and cared for. It is in the original school so all the classrooms are used and displays are not at all crowded. It was special too because we knew the Coates connection.