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.
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.
2 comments:
Wow, your story-telling is terrific! Thanks for the thorough play-by-play of your trip, it looks like you're both having a lot of Fin! ;)
Bon
xo
At long last you reach Longlac! Just in time for a good greasy snack -yum! well I can sense that you are fast approaching. but in sppite of the distance you have yet to cover -it's contagious! I catching the travel bug from your wonderful roadtrip tales. might just have to get in the car and drive west... But not til I get to see you soon round these parts! y'hear?! Lotsa love and open roads~
sarah
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