2015-08-29 Sault St Marie Ontario, Canada

We left Thunder Bay yesterday, the 28th, continuing east. We spent last night in Wawa, Ontario at the Wawa RV Resort. The this morning we moved to Glenview RV Park & Cottages in Sault St Marie, Ontario.

 

When we entered Canada, we changed our Verizon plan to get 100 voice minutes and unlimited text messages from Canada to the US and back. It worked great until we moved to Ontario, and were covered by the Thunder Bay Cell Phone Company. They must not have an agreement with Verizon because we were without voice and text from the 22nd to today. In addition, the Wi-Fi in the campgrounds we stayed in was lousy until today. We are happy to say we have phone service again, and tomorrow we will be in Michigan and Verizon service.

 

Hugs and type at you later.

2015-08-27

Monday, the 25th, we drove through Thunder Bay, Ontario. Our first stop after the Visitor Center was to get a picture of the Thunder Bay Lighthouse. . We continued through Thunder Bay to an Amethyst store to search for gifts. Next up was the Thunder Bay Museum. We were surprised to find out that the entrance fee was waived today.  The museum was a history of the area.  Unfortunately they did not include an explanation of the origin of the name Thunder Bay. We asked the clerk on our way out. He said maybe it was related to the name of a mountain that the Indians called Thunder. At any rate, he explained that a referendum was held in 1970 to merge the two towns Port Arthur and Fort William, towns that were founded in the late 1800s.

 

Today was the 26th, and we went to the recreation of Fort William. . Our Metis (half Indian, and half French) guide told us that the year was actually 1816. . She explained that Fort William was not a military outpost, but was a place for The North West Company to transact business. Its Voyageur an Indian trappers brought their furs to this headquarters to trade for personal goods and goods to be used to trade out west for Indian pelts. We were able to watch a re-created skirmish between members of the Hudson’s Bay Company an members of the North West Company. We did not partake, but for CD 5.00, you could paddle a Voyageur Canoe. If you are ever in the area and like re-creations, we highly recommend Fort William. .

 

This morning, the 27th, we drove 30 kilometers west to view water flowing down rocks at Kakabeka Falls. We were told that it is the second largest falls in Ontario next to Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls is only 13 meters taller than Kakabeka. . We drove back to the house for lunch, and then 30 kilometers east to see the Amethyst Mine Panorama. It is an open pit mine, and claims to be the largest amethyst mine on the continent. . When we started back home, Marilyn stooped to view Lake Superior from the high point of the road. The lake is too far away for a good picture. .

 

Hugs, and type at you later.

2015-08-24 Thunder Bay KOA, Ontario, Canada

We left the Winnipeg West KOA on 8/21, and continued traveling East, which took us to Ontario, Canada . We spent our first two nights in Ontario in the town of Kenora. The third night we spent in Ignace. Then today, after entering the Eastern Time Zone for the first time since February , we arrived in Thunder Bay Ontario, and will spend the next 4 nights here at the Thunder Bay KOA.

2015-08-20 Winnipeg West KOA, in St. Francois Xavier, Manitoba

When I last wrote on 8/9, we were packing up to leave Cochrane, AB on Friday, 8/10. We have continued to move east, and are now just west of Winnipeg, MB. Here is a Google Map that shows our drive from Florida to here.

. I found it interesting that Google only allows you to use points A through J to show your route on a map. I will have to figure out how to display the rest of the circle back to Florida. It may require more than one map.

 

After leaving Cochrane, AB, we moved to Drumheller, AB , north and east of Calgary in order to see dinosaur bones and Canadian Badlands. There are statues of dinosaurs all over town, including these at the visitor center. .  We visited a great museum, The Royal Tyrell Museum, which is full of dinosaur bone and skeletons. . Driving around, we saw the Atlas Coal Mine , and hoodoos in the badlands. .

 

We left Drumheller on the 12th, spent one night in Maple Creek, SK, and arrived in White City, SK on the 13th, just outside of Regina, SK. In Regina, on the 14th, we toured the Capitol of Saskatchewan. . Note that the dome is being reconstructed. We also went to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, which is their natural history museum. .  We had Marilyn’s birthday lunch at The Willows, across the lake from the Capitol. . One of the best museums in Regina is The Depot, where all Royal Canadian Mounted Police receive their 6 months basic training. . In addition to seeing the normal artifacts in a museum, we were all given a golf cart tour of the grounds, and a re-enactment of the meeting between the RCMP and Sitting Bull. .

 

We left Regina behind us on the 16th, and with one night on the road move to St. Francois Xavier, MB. On our way east toward Winnipeg we saw a field that, from a distance, looked like they were growing thousands of marshmallows. As we drew near, they turned out to be round bales of hay covered in white plastic. We have ended up staying at the Winnipeg West KOA. Besides being a nice park, the price was very close to that of nearby parks. On Tuesday the 18th, we toured the Manitoba Provincial Capitol with its Bison mascot. We also toured the Royal Canadian Mint at Winnipeg. The loon ended up on the Canadian Dollar Coin because the original die disappeared on its way to Winnipeg.  Wednesday, the 19th was our 48th wedding anniversary, so we opted to not do any sightseeing. We did go to Safeway for steak, shrimp and sparkling wine to celebrate with. Today, the 20th we drove to Steinbach, MB to see the Mennonite Heritage Village. Those settling in Manitoba came from Russia in the early 1900s. The museum has gathered buildings and farm equipment dating to their early days in Manitoba. . We were surprised to find that they even have a section of the Berlin Wall. .

2015-08-09 Bow River’s Edge Campground, Cochrane, AB

Today is Sunday, the 9th, and our last day here in Cochrane, AB. A day to blog and get ready to move the house. We will do a little shopping, and make another stop at Tim Horton’s to get access to the internet. Tomorrow, we plan to go north and east of Calgary to Drumheller, AB.

 

Thursday, the 7th, it rained and produced a rainbow.

 

Friday, the 7th, was a bus tour day. We drove to Banff to board a bus tour of Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. Our son would say it was wrong, but we ate good Mexican food at  a Mexican restaurant in Banff, AB. Our first stop was at a bridge over the Bow River, because the bus driver knew that we would be able to see wildlife. This Osprey was sitting on her nest with babies. . We went to Moraine Lake for our next stop. It was first visited by Samuel Allen in 1894, and by us in 2015. . It is a beautiful lake that is fed by glaciers. . There is a big Rock Pile for those younger folks still into rock climbing. . Marilyn isn’t into rock climbing, and my balance says don’t do it. The last stop on the tour was Lake Louise, the largest non-man made lake in the Canadian Rockies. This lake is fed by 6 glaciers, including the upper lower Victoria glaciers. . Paraphrasing from one of the signs, Lake Louise is 70 meters (228 ft.) thick. Ice covers the lake from November to June at more than a meter thick. The water temperature is less than 10 degrees C (50 degrees F) in the summer. This became another tourist attraction developed by the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and of course, they built the beautiful Chateau Lake Louise with gorgeous flower gardens. .

 

Saturday, the 8th, we drove back in to Calgary for bus tour of the highlights of that city. We were told that Calgary’s main industries are Oil, Agriculture, and Tourism. There were four 15 to 20 minute stops on the tour at Fort Calgary, the Calgary Stampede grounds, the Military Museum and the Heritage Center Park. At Fort Calgary, we learned that Colonel James F Macleod of the Northwest Mounted Police had been sent out to eliminate the whiskey trade between the Americans and the Indians. He sent one of his troops to the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers to establish a fort which he named Calgary and thus the name of the city. The Bow River got its name because the Indians came to the banks of the river to make their bows and arrows.  The Calgary Stampede was started in about 1912? . On the grounds of the Stampede is this sculpture that represents the spirit of Calgary and the cowboy through horses crossing the Bow River. .  At the Military Museum is Canada’s Artifact from the 2001 destruction of the NYC Twin Towers where Canadians died also. . Also on the grounds is a sculpture of Donald Alexander Smith (1820-(1914), a poor Scottish immigrant who came to Canada in 1838. He rose through the administration of the Hudson’s Bay Company to become a founder of the Canadian Pacific Railway.  .  The statue depicts him driving the last spike of the CPR at Craigellachie, BC. The last stop on the tour was at Calgary’s Heritage Park, a living pioneer village depicting life in early Calgary.

 

I got curious this morning about how many miles we had driven since we left FL. The motorhome was easy, since Marilyn keeps a written log. We have driven the motorhome 5,562 miles.  The Jeep mileage is a little less accurate. We had an oil change on 2/18 but would have not driven many miles since leaving FL, and I just looked at the odometer before finishing this blog. So we have driven the Jeep about 5,065 miles. Thus I have been behind the wheel for 10,667 miles since February.

 

Hugs, and Type at You Later.