Day 6: R & R in Winnipeg

Stayed in a super swanky hotel last night in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Went downtown to the Forks for dinner and met a local beekeeper. Came away with some yummy honey butter, clover honey and a new friend. The kids enjoyed the pool, Sully took advantage of the gym and I relaxed in the hot tub.

While staying a Pancake Bay a few days ago we had read about the wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald. Sully remembered the song by Gordon Lightfoot and made use of the hotel wifi to look up some history of the wreck. 29 sailors died in a November storm just NW of Whitefish Bay in the 70‘s. Being here really makes the history come alive and listening to the song this morning (thanks to itunes) was particularly haunting.

Had a late night and an early morning and now we are crossing the prairie. Lots of canola, wheat and sunflower fields and huge John Deere Tractors! Looking forward to a very straight and very flat drive today as we l

eave Manitoba, cross Saskatchewan and hopefully make Alberta by late afternoon.

Day 5, Enter the Prairie

Headed to Winnipeg, Manitoba after 4 straight days of driving we will finally be leaving Ontario! What a beautiful province though, mountains, meadows, canyons, farms, forests and heaps of lakes!

Last night we spent the night at Kakabeca Falls Provincial Park.

Canadians take recreation seriously and as a result their parks

are beautiful. Lots to do and see and very clean. Went for a

swim in the Kaministiqua River and roasted weenies over

the campfire, to bed by 9. The crazy thing is, that it did not

really get dark until about 10:30pm. We will cross into central

time today so that will shorten up the days a bit but being

so far north really makes for a long day.

Saw two bucks on the side of the road this morning

with velvety antlers, still on the lookout for bears and

moose. A lady in Terrace Bay told us

that she sometimes sees bears in the berries on

the side of the road so we are hopeful that we will

get a glimpse. As for the moose, we

are hoping for a peek at a nice safe distance.

Day 3 & 4: On and Ontario

Arrived in South Baymouth without incident and got on the road. 276 miles of beautiful lake-studded countryside. The lakes are a gorgeous, blue-turquoise with lots of little coves with nice beaches. I can’t imagine how different it must be here in the winter, brrrrr! The roadsides are littered with Queen Anne’s Lace, Asters and a sweet little, yellow something but no trash. Six hours of driving and we saw one plastic bottle and one glass bottle. They have Adopt-A-Highway up here but I bet the volunteers are bored stiff because there is nothing to clean up. Arrived in Pancake Bay with enough time for a swim in Lake Superior. The beach was awesome, hot, sunny sand and frigid water! Much to chilly for Alden and me but Tilghman and Sully enjoyed a nice long dip. Tacos for dinner tent-side and to bed early, as it had been a long day.

Woke up this morning to the sound of Loons with pancakes in honor of our lovely campsite and on the road by 8. We are shooting for a bit west of Thunder Bay to a place called Kakabeka Falls (Acka-backa-soda cracker!). Had a guy stop by our site this am to tell us that is the place to go! Hilly, rocky, lakeside scenery today with a stop for a blanket, as it was 56 degrees this am and we expect it to get chillier as we head into the mountains by the week’s end. The children are doing better and better, the first two days were a bit edgy, as we got into the routine of sitting in the car for 8 hours a day, but by now they get it, and yesterday was scads better.

Hello and welcome to Day 2

Spent last night in a beautifully, clean and landscaped campground in Tobermory, Ontario. When we arrived the folks next door came over to tell us that a bear had ransacked our site the day before. Guess we will be keeping all the food in the car! We were introduced to “Lucky” the chipmunk, the camp critter, who had his cheeks full of peanuts, and went to sleep hoping the bear would not get an itch for a midnight snack.

Awoke around 4am to the sound of thunder and packed up quickly to avoid the rain the poured down before we made it to the main road. Got in the line-up for the ferry with a long wait ahead of us but luckily safe and dry.

Sully struck up a conversation with some local boys from around Owen Sound. They talked weather, fishing and beer, I guess some things are universal. We are now aboard the Chi-Cheemaun Ferry headed for South Baymouth across Lake Huron. The sun is peeking through the heavy clouds and the full moon is shining. We will be crossing the Fathom Five, a large Marine Park that is called the scuba diving capital of Canada due to a large number of shipwrecks. Heavy swells forced us out onto deck for most of the crossing but made it ashore for the next leg of our trip.

We stayed last night in Angola, NY at another state park right next to Lake Erie. It was a little stinky down at the nearby beach, but the views were great and the sound of the waves put us right to sleep.

So far we have seen three Great Lakes in one day: Erie, Ontario and Huron. We are soaking up the landscape and loving all accents up here, eh? We crossed over into Canada early this morning without any trouble and snaked our way to Niagara Falls. The views were great from the Canadian side and Tilghman described it well. He said, "it was like a slow motion explosion."

Laura counted more dairy farms in 2 miles than all of Orange County. She's ready to move into the stone house with matching barn. I don't think she's seen it in the winter. We stopped in Mt. Forest where Tilghman and I got haircuts in Jim's Barber Shop. Jim was a wealth of information about the area.

We are currently in Tobermorey, Ontario. It is beautiful and cool up here. The forest is so thick I'd almost have to crawl to get through it. We just had gorgeous fish and chips at Shipwreck Lee's, not to mention the Flying Monkeys beer (the local brew). We are set up at Lands End State Park. We are really excited because a bear came through the campsite where we are staying yesterday. We are keeping all our food put away just in case. Tomorrow we head out really early for the ferry across Lake Huron.

We are getting ready for our departure tomorrow. Everyone is excited, but the kids are sad to leave friends for 3 weeks. Will all this fit in our little car?