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.

goodbye to BC and Alberta Hello Saskatchewan

We were up early again today (Friday June 8)and on the road early. Fernie is a pretty quiet place at this time of year but must be very busy come ski season. We did take time to drive down to the centre of town and also checked out the old nurses residence that is now a bed and breakfast—it is a lovely old heritage house.

From Fernie we followed the Crowsnest Highway with our first stop at Frank which is one of the 5 small towns that make up the incorporated municipality of Crowsnest Pass. On April 29, 1903 in the early morning, thirty million cubic metres of limestone crashed down from the summit of Turtle Mountain. This rockslide covered 3 square kilometres (1.2 square miles) of the valley in less than 100 seconds. Close to 70 residents were killed in this slide—the primary cause of the Frank Slide was the mountain’s unstable geological structure. Underground coal mining, water action in summit cracks, and unusual weather conditions also contributed to the disaster. The huge bolders are still on both sides of the highway below Turtle Mountain.

We also stopped at Lundbreck Falls, just off the highway, where the Crowsnest River plunges over a 12-metre overhang. The Rivers are all so high right now so it is an impressive display of water power. It was here that we first saw the huge 3 armed windmills on the farms.

We took time in Fort MacLeod to visit the RCMP fort ( we missed the turn off so Ron did his u-turn manoever only to discover that he was on a one way street the wrong way. Fortunately the shoulders were wide and the next turn not too far away. The Police had made their way here from Manitoba along the Red Coat Trail.

WE continued on into Lethbridge where the ladies at the info centre gave us a terrific tip for lunch at a farm just 1 km off the highway—the Broxburn Cafe where they make their own bread, pies, grow a variety of veggies and fruit and use it all to make their food. We treated ourselves to their house pie—broxberry pie which was red current, black current, Saskatoon berry and strawberry—yum. Ron needed a sleep after all that wonderful food.

We carried on the Crowsnest Highway to Medicine Hat . According to legend the name was established after the Cree were defeated by the Blackfoot Indians on the banks of a southern Alberta river—the medicine man deserted the Cree when he lost his headdress in the river—the Cree saw it as a bad omen, stopped fighting and were killed by the Blackfoot. This site became known as “Saamis”, which translates as “Medicine Man’s Hat.

We left the Crowsnest Highway at the border and moved on into Saskatchewan. We are now in Swift Current and stopped for the night.

Tomorrow we will go to Morse to visit with our neighbour Heather’s parents George and Myrna and then on to Regina to visit with our curling friend Heather Price.

I had hoped to send along this photo of the glass house but somehow I could only add one picture and I know that this is not so.....more learning and studying I guess. So, here is the photo of the glass house near boswell--the family live in the house for the winter and then open it for tours in the summer.

nelson to fernie

WE left Ainsworth after breakfast ( we missed another soak in the hot pools as they did not open early enough for us) and moved on to Nelson. I did send a note from the library there once it was open—they do not open until 11am—pretty civilized I’d say. We spent the time before it opened exploring the main street and had coffee at a wonderful place recommended by the info centre staff—oso negro (black bear). It was wonderful coffee (Heather Kay strength) and the Belgian chocolate cookies were delish. Nelson has so much to offer and to see so we did not begin to scratch the surface and ought to have stayed an extra few days and might have done so if the weather had been a little more spectacular—we have decided that we will definitely return. We needed to be on the 1pm ferry across Kootenay Lake so got ourselves lunch for the car and headed back north to Balfour and the ferry to Kootenay Bay.


The drive down along the lake was wonderful and another time we would definitely stop at the pub in Sirdar and spend some time in the General store—it looked interesting and from the reading I have now done I know that it is. Next time. Also I discovered a road across from Grey Creek to Kimberly and I think it might be an interesting path to follow. Kimberly is described as a Bavarian village. We did stop just outside Boswell and looked at the glass house that a funeral director created using empty embalming bottles—500,000 of them.

We continued on to Creston where the scenery changed dramatically--it was flat and very fertile looking with huge farms. Unfortunately it is not the season for fresh fruit yet but maybe on the way back.

We then moved on to Fernie so were back in the mountains--the Canadian Rockies this time. We were still in low clouds so did not see a lot of mountain but the snow was there and the rivers raging as that snow melts. Fernie is pretty quiet right now so we are sitting in the hostel living room pretty much all on our own.

Tomorrow we will move onto Swift Current and then on into Regina for the weekend.

pictures from the victoria to nelson post

victoria to nelson

We were up bright and early on Saturday morning and had the car ready to go early. We easily made the 1 pm ferry and had an uneventful crossing with good views of Sean and Joan’s former cottage on Galiano Island and the Coast Mountains.
Chinelo gave us excellent directions to get from the ferry to Chilliwack using 8th and 16th Ave to the Fraser highway and then the Trans Canada—it was wonderful driving thru the Fraser Valley via Surrey, Langley, Aldergrove and Abbottsford. Mt Baker was just stunning along with our own Cascade Mountains.


Jennie and Chinelo have a delightful home in Chilliwack set into the woods with the mountains close by and they have decorated it beautifully. After a delicious meal we headed to DQ for Ron to have dessert. We took the opportunity to have a look at the Chilliwack River and the Vedder Canal where the water in both is very high—to the top of their banks and almost over—could be there will be flooding as there is more warm weather on the way and lots of snow up in them there hills. Jennie is on alert at her job and could be called out at any time to do relief work or evacuation for farm animals.
The evening ended on a high note with the Sens finally beating the Ducks—Go Sens.
Sunday we spent the day in Chilliwack—a hot one but we did manage to get out for a couple of walks—one along the creek outside Jennie and Chinelo’s back door and another along the dyke at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve. We saw the herons, eagles, redwing black birds and wild iris. Jenn found time to ride Willow before another dinner on the back deck—what a wonderful two days it was.
Monday we were up bright and early and on the road to the Okanagan where it is supposed to be hot. In fact it was not at all hot but overcast and even some much needed rain. Ron says it’s good driving weather.We had our first walk of the day at the Coquihalla River just north of Hope BC. We were able to visit the abandoned Othello-Quintette Railway Tunnels. These tunnels were built from 1911-1916 to complete the Kettle Valley Railway. It is an amazing feat of engineering—just looking at the rock face today with the finished project makes one wonder how they were able to build these tunnels through the Coquihalla Gorge. Another note of interest was that the Kettle Valley Railway engineer, Andrew McCulloch, was an avid fan of William Shakespeare. He was said to have sat around the evening campfire with the construction crew reciting Shakesperean poetry. He also used the names of characters to name stations along the Coquihalla line.
We continued along the Coquihalla thru Kamloops and Salmon Arm to Enderby and the cottage at Mabel Lake where our cousin Sheila and her dog Yogi met us. Sheila did apologize for the rain but she was very happy to see it and I think we are too as yesterday it was 37 degrees. We took Yogi out for an evening walk in the rain—nice warm summer rain—just wet.
Our day at the cottage on Tuesday was mostly a rain day but we still got out for our walks with Yogi. By the time we were up on Wednesday morning the rain guage said that we had experienced over 1 inch of rain and it was still coming down. We listened to the news about flooding on the Fraser and know that our friends Jennie Aikman and Anne Trick will be very busy helping with the evacuations.
We left Mabel Lake and headed south to Vernon and then east across the Monashee Mountains. The Monashee Summit is at 1241 feet. We followed this winding mountain road to Needles. In some places it reminded us of the scenery in Northern Ontario—complete with a moose in one of the lakes at the roadside. At Needles we took a ferry across Arrow Lake and drove to Nakusp. Nakusp is on the shore of Upper Arrow Lake between the Monashee and the Selkirk Mountain Ranges. Nakusp is an Indian word meaning “bay of quiet waters”. It is an interesting looking village and we are wishing now we had spent a little more time there—we did go “downtown”and to their marina where the waters were indeed quiet.We drove on to New Denver where we found a most interesting affordable accommodation—a series of cabins and a motel built in the round called Dome Quixote. Sheila had stayed there and recommended it to us and we would have stayed but decided that we ought to go a little further. So.............we went to Kaslo and on into Ainsworth where we stopped at the Hot Springs where we stayed for the night. Kaslo we founded in 1893 and was known as the commercial centre of the gold, silver and lead-mining industries during the boom of the 1890s. It has gone from a population of 3000 to a very small village. Ainsworth was the first townsite on the Kootenay Lake and also enjoyed a population of some 3000 at the height of the mining activity—now there are less than 100 permanent residents. The mineral waters of the Hot Springs vary in temp from 35C/95F degrees to 42C/108F in the caves. It felt great after a day on the road—we even managed a bedtime dip! The hot water flows thru the pools so that the water is changed at a rate of six times daily—the outflow goes to Kootenay Lake and turns the rock it flows over is mineralized—most interesting to see. The water when it reaches the pools is very hot so they have to cool it down before it enters the caves and main pool. We did watch the end of the hockey for this season--oh well there is always next year.

we are now in Nelson and at the library so hope this post can be sent. I am not finding where the photos go so could be this post will not come with pictures. This is a wonderful town and we will certainly come back-it has something for everyone along with the beauty and the architecture of the old homes-another of those mining towns and logging towns set into the mountains and on the west arm of Kootenay Lake.

Packed and ready to go

June 2 at 1020

We are packed up and ready to go--everything fit with a little space left over for Margo to shop and Ron can still see out the back window. I did take a picture but the camera cords are packed so will have to send photos later. Ron did an amazing job fitting it all in!
So, we are off to the ferry.