May 31st, Friday

Great night for sleeping. It rained on and off and once woke us up it was raining so hard. Woke up to heavy fog over Thunder Bay so our idea of seeing the Sleeping Giant across the bay was not to happen. We did visit the Terry Fox Memorial site and it is very moving and impressive. What a journey for a young guy. Our next stop was the Fort William Historic Park where we spent 4 hours wandering around the Fort which is the largest in Canada and US. Our young guide who was a mixture of John Wilson and Brian Calder loved his job and it was easy to tell by the private 1 1/2 hr tour he gave us. Outside the Fort we talked with an Ojibwa girl who lived in a small cluster of wigwams and was building her own out of birch bark and Black Spruce poles. The Fort is fully furnished and stocked with supplies, furs, trades people, food, etc. We had a typical fur trader lunch of pea soup and beef stew on the front porch of a dining hall. On the farm part of the Fort they had a 3 hr old lamb still trying to find his feet. Well worth the visit. On the way to the campground we passed the town of the 4 Staal Brothers (hockey players) and their family sod farm where they grew up. At the Kakabeka Falls the sound of the falls and the water pouring over it was awesome. It stopped you in your tracks with its sense of power. The Falls is 40 meters and the Ojibwa translation is "thundering water ". Our campground is very near the Falls in a Provincial Park. Turned out to be a sunny, warm day - 27 but then a huge thunderstorm rolled thru. Bernie picked fiddleheads at the Fort and cooked them for supper. A happy man !

May 30th, Thursday (2nd installment)

More rocks, more trees, more rocks, more trees. My God this province of Ontario is big !!! We have been driving for days!

May 30th, Thursday

Woke up to more clouds and rain but it is warm ! We headed downtown Sault St. Marie to the Bush Plane Museum which had 24 vintage aircraft. The history of forest fire fighting with a 3-D wildfire film (with smells, sounds, tastes, visuals and vibrations) was also at the museum. Some of the vintage planes were fire fighting machines. Well worth the trip. The Soo has a great boardwalk along the water front which goes for kms. On our day journey towards Thunder Bay we drove by more rocks, trees, rocks, trees,and an occasional glimpse of Lake Superior with its rocky and sandy shores. It was beautiful at times as the sun had come out and a heavy mist rolled in at certain spots. At one look out a plague marked the area the Edmond Fitzgerald had gone down in a storm. Have not been able to get the song out of my head since :-). Along the Route there were signs of Ojipway communities and at a large rest area a store carried many handmade Indian items - some of them Ojipway. We bought some smoked trout to try. Of course at Wawa we had to find the giant Canada Goose statue and actually there were a few around the town as well as a giant seagull. As we approached the town of Marathon the Barrick Gold Company appeared around a bend in the road. What a huge operation. And of course as we drove along the highway Terry Fox came to mind. What a long, lonely run it must have been thru Northern Ontario. We made it to Thunder Bay just as the skies opened up. Sign of the day - Mom Lake, Dad Lake and Baby Lake ( those were the signs on 3 little lakes )

May 29th, Wednesday

Anybody recognize this lady ? When we went to the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame today in Parry Sound they were filming a Christmas movie, A Marry Harry Christmas. Loretta Devine who played Adele Webber (Richard's wife) on Gray's Anatomy was Mrs. Claus. How cool is that ! Apparently there were some Canadian stars but we didn't recognize them :-(. The Hall of Fame was interesting and we wished we could have seen some of the 30,000 islands but it was so foggy and rainy we couldn't see one island. In Sudbury we spied the giant Nickel from miles away. Took the tour of the Dynamic Earth Centre with its mining, geology and dinosaur exhibits and the underground tour 9 stories beneath the surface. Bernie even got in a capsule much like the one they used in Chile to rescue miners. The tour had 3 different mines covering from the late 1800's to the present. Also 3 different multimedia shows and exhibits. The fog lifted and we finished our day driving to Sault St. Marie with a varied country side along the way. Leaving Sudbury was all rock and trees but then a bit of farmland would appear, Amish horse and buggies, Georgian Bay could be spotted with summer homes, back to trees and rock, some road construction with blasting, and deer. High today of 19.

May 28, Tuesday

Bernie at the Algonquin Logging Museum. We made it thru the night with only one mosquito dive bombing us all night! On the way out of Renfrew Bernie visited a Case dealer he knew and then we were on the road by 10am. We headed across country on the #60 (towards Parry Sound) thru some busy little towns, more thriving farm land, saw beautiful old stone homes and barns, excellent roads and no traffic and then we arrived at Algonquin Park. We left the farm land behind and entered a world of trees, rocks, lakes and bogs. The logging history and outdoor exhibits (camps, tools, jammers, sawlog camps, Barriengers, etc) at the Algonquin Logging Museum was really interesting. What a hard and dangerous life those loggers had. The exhibits and show at the Visitor's Info Centre about the park and where it came from and where it is going was fascinating. All the animal exhibits (moose, deer, beaver, wolf, etc) were life size and in their own habitat. Well worth the visit. Only real animals we saw were lots of red winged black birds, a gopher and one moose in the ditch. Spending the night at a campground in Parry Sound, the home of Bobby Orr (will visit the museum and Hall of Fame tomorrow) and the gateway to 30,000 islands. Had our first barbecue tonight and the chicken, potatoes and green beans were so good with a glass of red wine. It was sunny and up to 23 today and now it is raining - love the sound inside the RV. Sign for the day - Brake for Snakes

May 27th, Monday

Brrrrrr. Woke to 6 degree temps but managed to finish the day in 23 degree weather at a campground in Renfrew, Ontario just west of Ottawa. It was a 1000km day in rain, wind and finally sun but the driving was great and traffic OK. The drive from Riviere du Loup was beautiful with the St. Lawrence River and mountains on our right and miles and miles of farm land and newly planted crops on our left. We crossed the River at Quebec City and took the 40 towards Montreal and then swung off to the west and cruised along the 158 to Ottawa. A bit longer but much more relaxing and lots to look at. Never knew there were so many Saints in Quebec. Every exit was Saint this or Saint that :-). Acres and acres of farmland, stone and wood barns, flat roofed houses, huge sod farms, churches with silver steeples, swollen rivers and turtle crossings. Although it was a long day we can now relax and enjoy new places and new adventures. Now if we can just get rid of these mosquitos !Sign of the day - Turtle Crossing

May 26th, Sunday -Trip Across Canada

We are on the road !!! Here we come Canada. Had an uneventful drive to Grammie Jeanne's through the rain, high winds, sunshine but it was so beautiful. Every colour of green is bursting from the buds on the trees along the highway. It was an awesome sight through the rain and even more beautiful when the sun appeared. Every now and then we would get a glimpse of the St. John River.

Month of April, 2013

Memories of the month - continuous sound of waves breaking on the shore - smell of sunscreen - colourful umbrellas - kite man - sailboats, cigarette boats, seadoos, paddle boats, helicopters, fishing boats, big cruisers - the 3:30 girl walking by going home from work - cold beer - all shapes and sizes of people walking on beach in all sorts of bathing suits and outfits - wedding on beach - pelicans diving - good books - bikini clad girl pumping weights while walking - Tiki hut - friends and conversation - Kevin the umbrella guy - volleyball games - bocci ball game- walkers, runners, shell seekers, waders, swimmers - older lady with cane being led into water by older husband - snacks on the beach - seagulls - the sunsets - the bells of the ice cream truck - day on the boat - hockey game -

April 27 - May 3

Drove to Charlotte, NC, dropped off the car and caught a US Air flight to Jamaica for Matt Cormier and Erin Lewis's wedding. Great time at the resort with the Cormiers, Lewises and 80 other wedding guests. Flew back to Charlotte, picked up SUV and headed north. One night on the road, a night at Lockhart's in Kennanbunkport and one night with Grammie Jeanne. Home on Monday, May 6th. Great vacation !