Family photos, 2012

Chris and Shon at a Blue Jays game

Michelle and Ben at Lake Louise

Dr. Megan and her parents at UBC grad.

Jamie and Derek, left. Colin and Derek, below

Ixtapa, Mexico 

The kids in Disneyland

A great time with Kynnan!

Neko, 4, by Kal Lake, Vernon

Kynnan's soccer

Kynnan, Grade 4 

Colin, 5, and Derek, 18 months

Just had to add these last two which I just received today - Dec 19th, 2012.  Too cute!

We're Home!!

We are back once again in sunny, beautiful Vernon.  We have a far greater appreciation for the beauty, the vastness and the friendliness of Canada and the United States but there is no place like home.  We arrived home on Wednesday night, two days earlier than planned - more about that later.

heading to the Rockies, first snow of our trip

We thoroughly enjoyed our day with Megan in Calgary in spite of winter creeping up on us that day.  We started with a brisk walk up Nose Hill to view Calgary from above and ended up getting soaked when the rains came.  Next stop was a warming lunch at a 50s-style diner - good food!  We then headed downtown and walked the windy, chilly streets to the Glenbow Museum and Art Gallery for an interesting look at Fairies and Monsters (art) and the history of Calgary and area.  After an even chillier and windier walk back to the truck, Megan invited us back to her place for dinner and the evening.  Yup, a good day in Calgary.

Emerald Lake

Natural Bridge

Late afternoon on the Rogers Pass

We awoke Wednesday morning to snow on the ground, just a skiff but enough to tell us it was time to get home as our trailer is not winterized.  After morning coffee in Banff and a beautiful stop at Emerald Lake and the Natural Bridge in Yoho Nat'l Park, we thought we would stop for a final night at the Canyon Hot Springs near Revelstoke.  A great idea for our final night on the road but, alas, it was closed for the season.  Instead, we had mediocre Chinese food in Revelstoke then drove home.

A huge thank you to all of you who hosted us for a night or two or ten this summer.  It was great to connect and re-connect with family and friends, to meet new family members and make new friends.  And that concludes our epic trip across Canada.  One hundred eleven days and 21,500 km later, we are home!

In Calgary

Now in Calgary on a windy, sunny fall day - wet snow forecast for tomorrow night. Not what we want to hear until we are home!  Will "play' with Megan, Chris' girlfriend, tomorrow and leave for home on Wednesday, taking a couple of days to get there so home on Friday.  Can't believe our adventure is almost over but happy that we will be having dinner at Lisa's on Saturday.  Can't wait to see everyone!!!!!  Kynnan, Neko and Colin, get those hugging arms ready!

Grasslands and Cypress Hills

The last couple of days have been wonderful.  We love the wide open spaces and the many shades of yellow and brown on the fall prairies!   Yesterday, we drove the eco tour road in Grasslands National Park, a wonderful treat that we really enjoyed.  The tour is on a gravel road and has pullouts with plaques pointing out the salient points about the local environment.  Our first stop was a prairie dog town. As we pulled up, the dogs were barking (more like a cheep in their high voices) as a coyote trotted across their town.  Upon closer look, we also noticed a badger sniffing at the entrances to the dogs’ front doors.  Badgers and coyotes are both major predators of the dogs.  We enjoyed a stroll through the town – some of the little guys scrambled into their holes as we approached, some barked (flipping their black-tipped tails with each bark); others just watched us warily as we passed.  Through the binoculars, I watched the badger sniff at prairie dog holes, lie down and dig until he could throw dust over himself, roll over, get up and shake himself off and trot off again, bowlegged.  The coyote disappeared across the prairie.  In the distance, we could see bison ambling along.  A herd was re-introduced to this area a number of years ago and is doing well.  We saw only 6 of the 150 or so in the park.  Our subsequent stops were not as exciting but still interesting – we saw many meadowlarks and horned larks scattering from the sides of the road as we drove, startled a couple of groups of sharp-tailed grouse, heard the wind whistling across the prairie plateau, walked among a circle of stones used to hold down plains Indians tepees (tipis) on a bluff high above the valley, viewed the Frenchman River meandering through a valley below us, walked along the river after descending from the plateau and wondered how the original settlers chose their particular ranchland from such a vast land!!!!  We felt privileged to watch a male bison giving himself a dust bath.  We couldn’t answer the question on the info plaque as to whether the Indians erected their tipis on the edge of the plateau so the wind would keep the insects away or so they could see animals to hunt in the valley below.  This area has to be experienced to be appreciated – words don’t do it justice and photos cannot capture the immensity of the area.  We loved it!!

bison on the prairie

black-tailed prairie dog

 

And now we are in Cypress Hills Inter-Provincial Park, another area that has to be seen to be appreciated.  Many areas are closed due to fire hazard and many of the attractions are closed for the season but it is still worth visiting.  We are camped on the western edge of the park in the beautiful resort (summer cottages, ski cabins in winter) town of Elkwater on Elkwater Lake.  We drove into the park from here and enjoyed fall colours such as you would see around Merritt in the fall but with the added attraction of incredible vistas overlooking the prairies for miles and miles in every direction.  Back at our campground, we enjoyed a late afternoon walk on a very crisp sunny fall day and watched deer browsing, a badger seeking ground squirrels on the local soccer pitch, and  wild turkeys running through the campsites near us.  We have also seen pronghorn antelope along the highways lately.  Life may seem dull when we get home!!

badger on the soccer field

view from Reesor Rd outlook, Cypress Hills Park

Thanksgiving dinner???

From here, we will drive to Calgary and spend a day or so visiting Chris’ girlfriend Megan then head into the Rockies and home via the Rogers Pass.  The temperatures will dictate our pace as we need to avoid snow and cold.  We will be home in a week or so and both of us have mixed feelings about the end of our adventure.  I am sure it will feel good to be home but we have enjoyed the travel and the trailer seems like home to us now.  

Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan

We are back in Canada and happy to be here at Grasslands National Park.  The prairies are beautiful in the fall – different from the green prairies in June but just as beautiful.  We are camped at a farm beside the park, right on the prairie with a full moon lighting the night sky – very special.  

full moon just after sunset

sunset over the farm's pond 

We went for a couple of walks this afternoon, each  about 2 km.  One, the River Walk, was across the prairie on a mown path to the edge of the meandering Frenchman River.  Saw 4 deer on that walk.  They seem more precious when we see them bounding across the prairie than when we see them eating our veggie garden at home!  The second walk was more of a hike, up Eagle Butte with splendid views for miles around.  On that hike we saw 5 deer – or at least 5 heads or sets of ears spying on us from behind a little rise.  Here at the farm, while watching the sunset over the prairie, we saw muskrat, an adult and two young, swimming in the pond.  There is also an active badger who dug a new hole by the shed two days ago but we haven’t seen him.  I would love to see my first badger.  Tomorrow we will drive the eco tour road through the park and hope to see a prairie dog town, bison and pronghorn antelope.

Three Sisters Butte across the prairie

Shon by Frenchman River meander. Notice how high the riverbank is on the far side of the meander.

We have had lovely sunny warm fall weather for the last few days – 25C today.  We really appreciated the  breeze this afternoon on our walks!

Hay bales awaiting pick-up.  A rancher in his truck was on the field picking them up but could only take 5 at a time.  He has a large task ahead of him!!

Two days ago, we went for a drive through a national wildlife refuge in Montana and saw a pelican colony and other wetland birds, including two tundra swans.  Fall migration is in full swing and we have seen some large flocks of geese heading south.  We have also seen many, many meadowlarks, both here and in Montana.  I am happy to see the species doing so well as we don’t see them very often anymore in the Vernon area.

Another common sight on the prairies is field after field of large round hay bales – hundreds and hundreds of them waiting to be picked up and stored for winter.  We have also seen farms with large collections of both last year’s and this year’s hay bales, what looks like massive oversupply to us but perhaps they need that much. 

almost back in Canada

We had planned to be back in Canada today but a national wildlife refuge (read; bird sanctuary) kept us busy until it was too late in the day.  Therefore, we are camped in Malta, Montana and will cross into Saskatchewan tomorrow morning.  We may be kept awake by trains tonight - all towns along Hwy 2 are close to train tracks but I am not used to night trains yet so am awakened by each train that passes by.  Tonight the train tracks are very near to us! 

 Northeastern Montana is an area of wide open spaces with a mix of large farms and untouched prairie, rolling hills and flat plateaus.  Dead skunk should be its state animal - we experienced many aromatic remains as we drove today!   We have stopped for coffee and Wifi at a couple of  interesting McD's - a native lady who refused her food because 'he touched it with his hands', an employee who asked if someone had ordered ' a large orange juice'; when no one answered ' anyone order a small orange juice'. When someone said yes, they got the large one.  Quite entertaining to sit at McD's and get the pulse of the town we are in!

I googled the Ojibwa license plate we had seen in Michigan and discovered there are a number of states that recognize license plates issued by native tribes.  Maybe this idea will spread to Canada to promote native pride in their heritage - if veterans can have their own plates, why not First Nations?

Fort Peck hydro generating plant with part of the earthen dam in the foreground.

Yesterday, we toured a hydro-electric power plant at Fort Peck Dam Interpretive Centre.  The earthen dam was one of the make-work projects by FDR in the 1930s and it is now the largest hydraulically filled earthen dam in the world - Shon figures they had to dig deep to figure out just what they could claim to be biggest at!  The tour was very interesting, though, and the dam is huge!  It dammed the Missouri River and created a huge lake behind it.

As we have crossed North Dakota and Montana, we have been following the trail of Lewis and Clark as they headed west to the Pacific Ocean.  Neat to feel a  part of history and to visualize what this land looked like before dams, farms, etc.

We are loving the fall colours, v-formations of geese and other signs of fall.  Our days have been full of sunshine and warm temperatures - 80F today means we were in shorts and warm!

Our campground last night in Glasgow, Montana, was interesting - 5 or 6 permanent mobile homes and a few overnight spots, with us plus two friendly bird hunters (with their bird dogs) from Seattle as the overnighters. At least 3 of the owner's children and their families lived in the mobile homes and were all celebrating a birthday for a 2 year old family member. We were welcomed by 8 and 11 year old girls who came to say hi as soon as we parked - we gave them some Okanagan apple growers' activity books and Vernon pins (gave them to Grandma then they came to thank us and ask if we had more for their 4 cousins - we did).  Not at all like state parks or big impersonal places we have been.  Free laundry, too, but don't expect toilet paper in the loo!

This afternoon, we followed a 15 mile (no metric here) gravel road through a National Wildlife Refuge - watched a northern harrier (hawk-like bird) circling a tree after a pheasant he was trying to catch hid under the tree; saw hundreds of white pelicans on their nesting grounds on an island in the lake; heard meadowlarks singing and watched them flying over the prairie; focused on a bald eagle sitting in a tree; used our binocs to watch northern shovelers (ducks) and eared grebes in the wetlands.  Not too exciting for those of you who are not interested in birds but a great afternoon for us.

Distant horizons here in Montana are very smoky.  We have yet to determine whether that is due to harvested crops being burned off or the forest fires in Washington. 

The signs at many towns through the States have been interesting.  Football and other sports are huge for small towns with high school sport schedules featured on highway signs and McD's newsletters. This small town typifies what is important to its citizens - hunting, fishing, wheat, oil, farming, wildlife and the football team.

The U.S. prairies - a beauty of their own  but, to us, never boring!  We feel the same about the Canadian prairies.

forgot to mention that, like Alberta, Montana has been the location of many dinosaur discoveries, including a T-Rex near the dam at Fort Peck.  This model was made from the Peck T-rex fossils.  One brochure featured 14 dinosaur museums in Montana!

 

We could happily spend more time here in the States (where the political election coverage has been interesting!) but it will feel good to return to Canada tomorrow.

Stanley, North Dakota

Written on Sept 24 (happy birthday, Jenn!).  Will hopefully be posted tomorrow but there may be no McD’s on our route tomorrow.  Today is Day 102 of our trip!

We are in a municipal campground in Stanley, North Dakota.  Stanley will not win a ‘beautiful town’ award and its campground is nothing to write home about, but I am writing home for precisely that reason.  However, it is free and, so far, not noisy,  except for passing trains.  The sign at the entrance says campers must register with city hall but neglects to tell you where one might find city hall (about 4 blocks away).    I asked the fellow next door who lives in an old motor home with his long gray hair in a pony tail.  He said, in a surprising southern drawl, that if we are just staying one night there is no charge as that is what the campground was set up for – those folk who just needed a place to stop for the night.  He offered to unlock the padlock on the electrical box at our site and proceeded to do so.
 

We were surprised to read today that North Dakota has passed California to become the second leading oil producer in the US, behind Texas.  We saw many oil wells today, situated on grain fields, similar to our prairies except their oil wells take up more space than ours.  In fact, this area is just south of our prairie provinces and has many similarities. We have seen a few grain elevators, a structure I had always associated only with the Canadian prairies, although if I had thought about it, I might have assumed they would be in the U.S., too.  I have loved the many shades of yellow and brown on the fields, in contrast to the many greens that we saw on the prairies in June.  The patterns of harvest – straight rows, curved lines around sloughs – have also fascinated me as we drive.   We have seen large piles of corn (off the cob) awaiting shipment to ????  I hope it is not made into cornmeal after sitting outside, maybe feed for cattle or pigs or????

pile of corn kernels

Today we stopped at Rugby, North Dakota to take a picture of the cairn telling us we were at the geographic centre of North America.  Daily, we see more and more license plates from western states and provinces and fewer from the east.  So far on our holiday, we have seen license plates from all 13 provinces and territories and 39 states.  Can we make it to 49 (assuming we will not see Hawaii)??

Another stop today was in Minot, ND.  They were prepping for a 5 day celebration of their Scandinavian roots, mostly Norwegian.  We wandered around their Scandinavian heritage village.
 

Our campground last night at Graham Island State Park was lovely and we enjoyed a beautiful walk there this morning before hitting the road. The trees in this area have turned golden.  The park is situated on Devil’s Lake and I am sure some of the local farmers agree with the name.  We were told the lake has no outlet and that the lake levels are rising every year.  In places, the lake resembles a tree graveyard with many flooded tree skeletons.  Roads and whole farms have been permanently flooded as lake levels have risen so we saw abandoned barns and the remnants of roads.  Some roads have been built up so they are still viable, including the road into the state park.   

In places, smoke on the horizon tells us that the stubble in corn fields is being burned.  Not much flame but LOTS of smoke.

North Dakota is proud of its lakes and ponds and sloughs which give rise to its popularity for fishing, boating and duck hunting.    I think we were the only people in the campground last night who weren’t there for the fishing.   Rob, you would love this place!!!  We have enjoyed it for bird watching.

Another surprising observation –today we saw many dead skunks and raccoons on the prairie roads, far from any trees.  What are they doing out there?  We were also sad to pass an area with many blotches on the road.  We only made the connection when we saw a frog hopping across the road.  There were wetlands on both sides of the road and I guess many frogs don’t make it across. 
 

Sept 25th addition – sitting at Lewis and Clark (yes, the explorers) State Park near Williston, ND.  This morning has enforced the idea of prairie farming and oil production side by side – so much industry set amonst the grain fields and soooo many large trucks on the roads, both oil industry trucks and construction trucks as many new roads are built to move equipment into place.  Looking beyond that, there is a stark, dry beauty to the prairies, bluffs and buttes in this area. 

taken as we drove so not great photography but you get the idea of what the area looks like - the plateaus above the rivers are huge and flat, dotted with the oil wells.

  And, Fran, in your honour, we popped into the Four Bears Casino near New Town, ND – did not get rich!   New Town because the old one was flooded when Lake Sakakawea formed when the Garrison Dam was built downstream on the Missouri River.

view of Lake Sakakawea and Four Bears Bridge from Crow Flies High Lookout near New Town, ND.  

Another wonderful sunny, crisp day so we shall go for a walk and enjoy it.

random thoughts

This entry will consist of random thoughts/observations/questions we have had as we have driven along over the past week or two.  I make notes as we drive but it seems I seldom have my notes with me as I write the blog.  Sorry if some of these are repeats because I don’t have internet as I write this; I will paste it into the blog next time we are near wifi. 

-we saw a horse and buggy being driven by two young ladies near Kincardine, ON.  We don’t know if they were Amish or Mennonite.  Neat to see them at a busy 4 lane road intersection.

-in some towns, we have noticed signs on residential streets saying ‘autistic child’ or ‘deaf child’.  We wondered if this really helps to keep the child safe or does it further stigmatize a special needs child.  We have no answer to this.

-we loved the two storey, Victorian style houses in New England, most with verandahs on the front.

-Some nights it just doesn’t seem worth the camping fee if we pull in late and leave after breakfast but a hot shower makes it worthwhile on these chilly mornings

-forecast is for below freezing temperatures tonight so we will find out just what our water pipes can survive! (yup, we are okay. it was 3C at 9 am this morning)

-we have seen a few flocks of wild turkeys.  Shon wondered if we should bring one home for Thanksgiving.

-these days we are getting true fall weather – rain, gusty winds, sunshine – and it changes every hour.  Makes for some wonderful lighting.

-as we approached the Mackinac Bridge, the radio had warnings about trucks, motor homes and trailers going 20 MPH due to high winds on the bridge.  We crossed anyway and hardly noticed the wind!  Loved the waves along Lake Michigan, though.

-we saw signs in Michigan saying ‘Package liquor’ at gas stations and other small stores. Never did stop to find out what that meant. (now know it means you buy a package and take it with you, not consume alcohol on the premises - same as 'off sales' here)

-noticed a license plate in Michigan that said ‘Ojibwa tribe’, ‘ Indian community’ and their local area plus Michigan down the side. Today, in Minnesota, we saw police cars with “POLICE’ license plates and sheriffs’ cars with, you guessed it, “SHERIFF’ plates.  We have also seen license plates in a few jurisdictions with wheelchair symbols at the front of the plate number.

-we stopped for gas in the small town of Prentice, MI, early one evening. I was chatting with the owner as Shon filled the tank, the usual ‘where are you from’ and ‘where are you headed’.   In walked 3 local guys who said they were leaving right then for Canada to go moose hunting.  We told them we had driven all across Canada and hadn’t seen a moose.   They didn’t want to hear that! Outside, we noticed they even had a deep freeze in the back of their pick up truck, along with propane tanks to run it, so I guess they weren’t just trophy hunters!  We have noticed many gun and ammunition stores through the States.

-As we left Prentice at dusk, we counted 6 deer and one black bear beside or on the road (not all at once but singly or in pairs).  The hunters just need to change their diet!  We have also spotted a river otter, wild turkeys, a bald eagle,  and a coyote in the last couple of days.  In a city park in St. Cloud, Minnesota this morning, we spotted more squirrels than we have ever seen at one time, all scurrying about gathering acorns for the winter.  In general, we have seen many squirrels lately.  Also spotted a new-to-us woodpecker, called a red-bellied woodpecker, although it is his head, not his belly that is red – go figure!

-We are now near the North Dakota/Minnesota border, a vast, flat area like our prairies, not surprising as we are directly south of Winnipeg.  We have seen trucks filled with sugar beets heading for a large processing plant we passed today.  Many metal silos (the new grain elevator equivalent) filled with grains, too. 

our truck silhouetted along the prairie 

-Fall is truly here.  No more hillsides of red, yellow and orange trees but the bulrushes and reeds are golden and waving in the wind, the corn is dry and golden (unless it has already been harvested) and the trees are turning yellow.  Very beautiful!

-We have now seen the mighty Mississippi!!  It is not so mighty this far north but it is still the Mississippi.

Mississippi R at Little Falls, Minnesota. The falls are now a hydro-electric dam and have been since the late 1800s.

-As we ate our lunch yesterday at a rest area, a couple from the Cariboo came up to say hi.   We have run into BC travellers in most places we have been but those are the only BC people we have seen since we left Ontario last week.

-Our route since we crossed into the States from Sarnia, Ontario last Monday has via been  Hwy 21 to Flint, Michigan; north to the Mackinac Bridge that divides Lake Michigan from Lake Erie; across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on Hwy 2 into Wisconsin.  From there, we took Hwy 8 to St. Croix Falls then dropped down to St. Paul, Minnesota to head northwest on Hwy 10.  That put us in St. Cloud, Minn last night.  Today (Saturday), we dipsy doodled a bit and ended up in Grand Forks, North Dakota.  I don’t know when this will get posted or where we may be by then.   I plan to read some travel brochures tonight so we know what possibilities lie ahead.
 

It is now Sept 23 - we just went to a huge sporting goods store called Cabela's in East Grand Forks, Minn (across the Red River from Grand Forks, North Dakota), mostly for hunting and fishing, where they have taxidermied animals of all kinds in dioramas as well as a large fish tank. Shon bought himself some binoculars and we managed to spend some money on other items we didn't know we needed!   Earlier this morning, we went to the visitor centre and watched a video of the devastating floods of 1997 that destroyed much of Grand Forks.  The Red River still runs through town so I hope they have built the defenses higher and stronger as I am sure it will flood again some time.

Time to hit the road - going to check out a wetlands and see if any of our Canadian prairie birds are stopping here on their southern flights.  

near Mora, Minnesota

Mora, Minnesota is significant to me because it is near the place where my mother's parents' families settled in the late 1800s when they emigrated from the Mora, Sweden region.  My grandmother was born in this area and my grandfather arrived as a young man when his family emigrated.  Some of my ancestors remained in this area when others headed to Alberta in the early 1900s but I don't know what names to look for here - should have done more reading of the family tree before leaving home.  It was interesting to drive through the area and think about what it would have been like for the early settlers as they struggled to tame the land and put in crops to feed them through the winter.  If you want a better understanding of that life, read "The Emigrants' written by a Swede in the 50s, I believe.  I read it years ago but now want to re-read it (or them as I think there was a series of 3 books - can't remember the author)

Folk horses like these (only smaller)have been hand-carved in Mora, Sweden for many years, a craft done during long winters.  This one in Mora, Minnesota, celebrates the heritage of the area's settlers.  I inherited the one my mom had and we brought back some of the smaller Dalacarlia horses for others when we went to Sweden in 2010.

Countryside near Stanchfield, Minnesota, where Grandma was born - and near Mora.  Lots of small lakes and wetlands in the area as well as many fields of corn.

A sample of the fall colours we are seeing.  Such fun to try to snap photos from a moving car!

We stopped at a Staples store yesterday and the fellow there had me try google chrome with this blog and it seemed to work for loading photos - it seems to be working tonight so I will go back and add photos to the last entry.
The fall colours have been marvelous the past two days and the nights have been quite cool - warm and toasty under the covers but chilly when we get up!  Forecast to be 3C overnight tonight.
Tomorrow, we will see the Missisippi River as it runs just west of here - will follow it northwest for a bit then head west once again.  We had a long day of driving yesterday and covered about 650 km - the longest daily distance since we left home!  Must be anxious to see you all again!

Back in the USA

It is now fall here in Michigan!  The trees have more colour and it was close to freezing overnight - about 9C now midmorning.  We had a lovely time in Toronto with our friends and with Chris.  More on that below when I paste in an entry I wrote a few days ago on the word processor - first chance to get on the internet with the laptop since then.  Here is the word entry - I had added pics to it but they are not transferring to this blog - %&^*!!!

We are on the road again after a lovely visit with our friends and with Chris in Toronto.    Thursday morning,  Ingrid, Walt, Shon and I went for a before-breakfast bike ride along Lake Ontario to the Rouge River estuary then inland to a lovely coffee shop for breakfast before riding back to Walt and Ingrid’s house in Scarborough.  That afternoon, Shon and I took the GO train into Toronto’s downtown then caught the passenger ferry across to the Toronto Islands.  These islands in Lake Ontario are a green refuge adjacent to the city.  The western part is occupied by the Toronto city airport; the central island is parkland with an amusement park and beaches and the eastern islands are a vibrant residential community with many older ‘cottages’,  some newer ones and canal like passages and bridges between the islands.  A delightful way to spend a warm September afternoon.

Toronto skyline from Central Island

   That evening, we met Chris and his friends for a Blue Jays baseball game – a good way to spend an evening and have a visit. The teams provided good entertainment with home runs, diving catches, broken bats (one hit a manager in the Blue Jays dugout), stolen bases and at least one double play – and the Blue Jays won!  The dome’s roof was open for an excellent view of the CN Tower next door.

I know their hats are not set at a cool angle but I wanted to see their faces for the photo - sorry, guys!

Yesterday, after Shon and Walt met Chris for breakfast, they drove up to Lake Simcoe to the family cottage at Lagoon City; Ingrid and I made our way up there in time for lunch.  We played 9 holes of golf on a picturesque course abutting the Trent –Severn waterway in the afternoon then enjoyed a clear, star-studded evening at their cottage.  This morning, we went for a long bike ride in the Ontario countryside around Lake Simcoe.  It was tough to pull ourselves away from their great hospitality but we hit the road mid-afternoon and are now in Craigleith Provincial Park on Georgian Bay (part of Lake Huron), near the largest ski resort in Ontario (Blue Mountain).  The rocky shores here are interesting flat shale rocks, mined in the late 1850s for their oil.  Lovely sunset this evening, too.

Lake Michigan on a windy day

And now we are back to the Michigan entry - after Craigleith, we drove to Owen Sound, west to Southampton for a picnic on their pretty waterfront (Lake Huron) and south to Ipperwash Beach area for the night.  We awoke yesterday morning to a very windy downpour - large waves on Lake Huron made it look just like an ocean.  These truly are Great Lakes!!  We had a lovely visit with my daughter in law's parents at their place on the lake near Sarnia.  Mid-afternoon, we crossed over the bridge into Michigan and headed north up the peninsula between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.  Time to say good-bye and head off to explore Tawas State Park nearby.

Lake Huron at Tawas State Park. I had a lovely bird watching walk here while Shon made our lunch.  

New York State

Shon and I agree that we have a different understanding of the concept 'New York' now that we have driven through the northern part of the state.  New York state is so much more than just its cities!  We passed so much lovely farmland and so many road side fruit and vegetable stands, especially the harvest of the many corn fields and apple orchards we saw.  Loved the large barns with their stone bases.  As we drew closer to the Niagara Falls border crossing, signs for wineries popped up - although nowhere near as many as we saw driving through the Niagara Peninsula in Canada. 
A highlight of our time in New York was a visit with Shon's second cousin, Stryker Ostafew, and his family in Albion, New York.  It was lovely to meet them and get to know another branch of the clan.  Lots of talk about the family tree.  They live in a rural area near Albion so we were awoken by their neighbour's rooster - delightful alarm clock (yes, I am serious - I loved it). 
Now we are in Toronto again for a few days of visiting and regrouping before we head back into the States to drive west. 

photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35534567@N07/sets/72157631473827668/

This should be  link to an album of some of the photos I had wanted to put on the blog but couldn't upload. You will probably have to copy and paste the URL.  Also, you can now leave a comment on the blog by choosing 'anonymous' then just signing your comment so I know who wrote it.

Let me know if you get the photos and if you can leave a comment. I hope to figure out this technology before we get home and time is running out (-:

New England

We are a touch early for the magnificent New England fall colours but are enjoying the pastoral scenes, forested Appalachians and charming little towns of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.  We drove through all 3 today, starting in Bangor, Maine and ending in Montpelier, Vermont.  Mid-afternoon, the National Weather Service broke into regular radio programming with dire warnings of a storm system heading to the area where we were driving - heavy winds, thunderstorms and possible tornadoes along with torrential rains.  We weathered the winds and rains but did not see the thunderstorms or any tornadoes where we were.  We watched the worst of the rain from a pub in Montpelier where drenched pedestrians were thankfully ducking in for a drink.  I wish I could upload photos because the skies were so dramatic. 
We have been fascinated by a common style of house here in the northeastern states.  Often, the house and outbuildings (barn, shed, garage) are all connected so you don't have to go outside to access any of them.  The connecting building is often lower than the house or barn, but larger than just a hallway.  In Maine and New Hampshire, many were farmsteads, well maintained with very large mown lawns.  Here in Vermont, we have seen the style more often in towns where it is a house connected via the lower building to the garage or what looks like a second house.  The houses in either case are large, two storey houses so the add-ons don't seem to be due to lack of space.  We assume the style developed in the olden days and probably due to cold winters.  Interesting.  Once again, our photos would add so much.  Maybe I will try to create a photo website and attach the link to this - tried the other night but could only upload one photo at a time which would take forever.
Tomorrow, we will start our drive through New York State to Buffalo then up to Toronto for a couple of days before dropping back into the States at Windsor.  We are not planning to go to any of the large US cities like New York or Boston - another time.
For those of you who are back at school now, have a fabulous year!  I still miss the excitement of the new school year!

back on the mainland

We are now in New Brunswick and will explore this province a little more before heading across the border to Maine - unless we get blown away or washed away in the storm that is forecast for tomorrow!  Apparently, a low pressure system is loading up with the leftover rain from Hurricane Isaac and heading our way.  I don't suppose it will be a prime day for seeing the scenery.  Oh, well, we shoudn't complain because we have had very few rained out days during our 2 1/2 months of travel so far.
 Not much to say tonight and photos still won't load - haven't done a lot since we caught the ferry back from Newfoundland, just a lot of driving and a few walks - Sackville Marsh (good bird watching) and Fundy National Park today.  Incredible to see the Bay of Fundy tidal areas - so much reddish mud during low tide then full of water at high tide.  Doesn't sound like much until you know that the tides are regularly higher than 35 feet in the Bay of Fundy!
We had lovely sunshine for our drive along Bras d'Or Lake in Nova Scotia a couple of days ago - another beautiful part of  Canada where we could easily have spent more time!
Our days are getting shorter, the evenings are getting chillier and we have  noticed that a few of the trees here are changing to yellow or red.  Wish we were going to be here when the trees are in full colour but it is time to head home before the snow flies!  Will have to see the vibrant fall colours of Eastern Canada another year!

on the ferry

We are now  rocking and rolling in our berth (room) on the 14 hour ferry ride from Argentia, NL to North Sydney, NS.  We have loved our time in Newfoundland and are leaving much to explore on The Rock.  We may have to come back some day, preferably in June or July to see the icebergs and more of the seabirds.  At this time of year, many of the young seabirds have fledged and the whole family has headed out to sea for the winter. Only the gannets fly south for the winter and they will remain in their colonies here until early October to give their young enough time to gain the skills and strength for the migration.  This morning, we drove south to Cape St. Mary to see a gannet colony on sea cliffs and sea stacks there.  It was awesome – very windy and it was cool to watch the gannets managing the wind by using their tails as rudders.  It was also neat to see the young ones at a much more mature stage than when we were at a gannet colony on the Gaspe Peninsula three or four weeks ago.

Once again, photos won't load.  I will try to create a photo website and put the link on the blog in the next few days.

Other comments on our newest province:

-their history of white exploration and settlement is old, starting of course with the Norse, then French and English and Basque.  There were disputes over fishing grounds but the big battles were caused by wars between France and England that spilled over to the colonies.  England was awarded Newfoundland in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1763 (I think).  There are still pockets where French heritage and culture are strong, especially near Stephenville on the east coast.   Many, many French place names exist in NL

-Horses that are no longer useful (most of them) are called ‘pits’ because they are bottomless pits into which good money is thrown to keep them alive. Not so many years ago, horses were still useful in fishing communities and for travel to the next village.

-Berries are the main source of fruit on the island although we saw a few random apple trees,  There are at least 7 or 8 types of berries commonly picked and preserved for the winter – blueberries, raspberries, cloudberries (bakeapple), lingonberries (partridgeberry here), elderberries, crowberries, mountain ash (dogberry here), chokecherry (squash berry here).  Old and young go out picking each berry as it is in season.

-Cod is stil king in the diet here and some say the cod stocks have returned and would like the DFO to up their quotas again.  Meanwhile, shrimping, crabbing and lobster fishing return better profits and stocks have increased without the voracious cod devouring the stocks.   We ate cod for many meals while we were here – in chowder, au gratin, deep fried, pan fried – cod fillets and cod tongues. 

-There are many ecosystems here, just like in most  Canadian provinces.  The barrens we saw yesterday reminded us of tundra landscapes.   Caribou live on the barrens but we didn’t see any – nor did we see any moose during our time here.  The barrens have lake/ponds which seem to float on the flat land with no discernible depression in the land to keep the water from running out.

-The NL police are called the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

-Because NL was not a province at the time of WWII, they were considered a separate ally.  There were 5 or 6 American armed force bases set up here and some were open as late as 1966.  The two we saw are now empty places of large buildings and massive paved areas, another kind of barrens!

Note: we are now back in Nova Scotia, at an rv park near the ferry - chatted to people from Victoria, Kamloops and Nanaimo here tonight, some on their way to NL, some just returned. 

Last day in Newfoundland

All going well, we will be sailing from Newfoundland back to Nova Scotia tomorrow, a 14 hour overnight sailing so we have reserved a berth and will get some sleep.  I say 'all going well' because high winds are forecast and that could cause a delay or cancellation.
After a hike to the lighthouse in Ferryland this morning, we drove around the southern parts of the Avalon Peninsula today and saw some interesting landscapes.  When we saw Avalon Protected Wilderness area on the map, we envisioned forested area. Instead, we discovered what looked like tundra, endless vistas of very low growing plants interspersed with small ponds and lakes.  Some of the lakes were just sitting 'on top of' the tundra with no noticeable depression to hold the water.  I think the land around the lakes was probably boggy barrens but am not sure.  Interesting to see.  The rest of the time, the coastal road went up over hills then down into coves, many with small fishing villages, so we were glad we weren't pulling the trailer over the steep up and downs.  Not much traffic on the roads and not much to see as it was cloudy and a little foggy at times today - some lovely seascapes that would have been stunning on a sunny day.
We are so glad we came to Newfoundland.  It has added a whole new dimension to our knowledge of Canada and one that everyone should experience.   It is like being in a different country, a beautiful, friendly place with a culture all its own.  Shon describes it as quiet and slow.

End of the road

This morning, we drove out to Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America. That means all of our travels from now on will be part of our return journey.  It has taken us more than 12,000 km to reach this point, definitely more than the length of the Trans Canada Highway as we have travelled a meandering path.  It has been fun, educational and beautiful!  We live in a wonderful country and appreciate it more than when we left home.

End, or beginning, of the road in Canada

1836 - lighthouse at Cape Spear.  A newer one was built in the 1900s and has now been automated.  We toured this old one where the lightkeeper's house was built around the light tower.  That means each room has one convex wall.  Lightkeepers were well paid so it was a lovely house.

 

We arrived in St.John's last night and have worn out our knees and feet today - everything is up or down in this hilly city of 100,000+.  As well as hiking around Cape Spear, we visited Signal Hill this morning.

View of St. John's and its harbour from Signal Hill, where Marconi first sent a transatlantic radio signal.

 

  Tried to visit the Quidi Vidi brewery but their next tour was not until afternoon and we didn't want to wait - Quidi Vidi is a tiny, historic village on the outskirts of St. John, between a cove of the Atlantic and Quidi Vidi pond.  We then parked the truck back at the B&B and wandered the historic, steep streets of the older part of town. Much of the city burned in 1892 so there are many, many Victorian style row houses, all painted in bright colours (think Silver Star or San Francisco).  Here they are called 'jelly bean houses' and our B&B is in one of them - sloping walls in the room and dormer windows - very convenient to everything.

jelly bean row

The veiled virgin, face and veil were sculpted from a single piece of marble - amazing to see the illusion of depth created by the artist.

 

 We toured both the Anglican cathedral (mid-1800s but interior rebuilt after fire with very informative docent tour) and the Catholic basilica (mid 1800s) today but the highlight was seeing a 'veiled Madonna' sculpture in the Catholic convent, carved in the 1800s by an Italian from one piece of marble. Exquisite!!

We are resting our weary feet right now before walking down to George St, the place to go for entertainment in St.John's.  We will seek out a pub with traditional Newfie entertainment with our dinner and drinks - we may even get 'screeched in' (google that and see what it is all about!).  No screeching in but we had a delicious dinner at a brew pub (Yellowbelly), then listened to music at three different pubs.  The entertainer at the second one was a very talented young man who played the fiddle, the conertina, the guitar, the harmonica and sang beautifully, including Cohen's Hallelujah and French-Canadian traditional songs, very versatile and personable.  The third stop caught a Newfie folk music jam session with about 15 musicians playing fiddle, accordion, concertina, Irish drum and flute.  Great fun!

Yesterday, on our way to St. John's, we stopped at East Trinity to hike the Skerwink Trail, a coastal trail that hugs the edges of windy Skerwink Head.  Unfortunately, fog often hugs the area as well so we didn't get the full impact of the supposedly spectacular scenery.  What we saw was impressive, especially near the start of the trail when we thought the fog was lifting.  The wind on the cliffs was exhiliarating, and a little scary at times.  Same today on Signal Hill - loved the strong gusts of wind up there!  Photo upload just jammed again.

We are really hoping to catch our overnight ferry back to the mainland on Sat - Marine Atlantic is still juggling schedules due to one of their ferries being out of service.   If our boat is taken to the other route (as it will be tomorrow), it means we are stuck here on the island longer or we have to drive the 900 km back across Newfoundland to use the shorter ferry route back to Nova Scotia.  We strongly dislike either option so keep your fingers crossed for us!