Well I have time to fill you in on our trip. When we left Calgary on Sept 21st we headed west towards Sask. Well there is really not much to see on that part of the trip, pretty boring.Calgary to Medicine Hat is flat and uninteresting. Medicine Hat had some rolling hills, and Swift current to Moose Jaw was the start of the Regina Plains - flat. Stopped at Rouleau Sask, which is now known as Dog River because of Corner Gas, very little there, including no yogart, infact it was like they never heard of it. Were gong to stay in the small campground that would hold 4 rigs, but no services provided, like no bathroom, was going to cost $15.00 a night, don't think so. We headed off and went another 20km to Milestone, Sask, where infact they also did not have yogart!!!!!! Little campsite for $5.00 a night, had to walk a little to the community swimming pool to use the bathroom, but it worked. One draw back with this one, rail way line right there, like right there. Trains were often and they blew the whistle 12 times on the way by.
Many of the small town elevators are gone and being replaced by the large steel terminals and many of the small towns are also getting smaller. The farmers are moving into the bigger towns to live and commute out to the farms everyday.
Sept 22nd we arrived at Midale Sask, where Wolf had worked some 40 years ago. Found a coffee shop, dropped in for a coffee and before long Wolf was talking with some local fellows about "the days gone by".
We headed east and towards Estevan where hills start and into Manitoba where there were more trees and hills and it was very pretty. We kept off the Trans Canada and did alot of cross country criss cross traveling and it was very pretty. S/W of Brandon is a lovely river valley,Souris River, not big but very pretty. Made our way to the Spruce Woods Pov Park off Hwy 2 and north on Hwy 5, s/w of Portage La Prairie. Nice large park along the Assiniboine river, $15.50 for the night, very clean and free showers.
Sept 23rd, short trip of about 4 hours to the Whiteshell Prov Park, only 4 othere here. Lovely spot on West Hawk Lake. Largest lake in Manitoba and actually made by a meteroite. We had some great visitors while here, two doe and two fawns, one doe was very friendly and loved our apples from John and Marg's garden, actually act an apple right out of Jan's mouth, that was kind of scary. Then we had a small red fox that came about and he loved the peanuts in the shell. We were here for two days and these lovely visitors came back the next day, the one deer came back early morning and ate all the grapes out of the basin at the back of the truck.
One bad thing about this whole area are the BUGS, THE GET IN YOUR FACE BUGS, awful things, Jan got her legs bit up very badly. We were told by the locals that this Sept weather was the best they have had in 100 years, and also the best they have had all summer. People were swimming in the lake, so asked them how it was, GREAT they said, first time all year that they have been in. OK, well guess we had better have a swim. Well let me tell you, it was not that warm even if the days temp was around 23degrees that water was a wee bit cool.
Sept 25 and 26th we visited with friends Dennis and Gayle Zrum on Lake of the Woods at Kenora Ontario. They have a lovely home on the lake and were great hosts who took us out for a boat ride on the lake. Absolutely amazed at how large Lake of the Woods is, and, how lovely it is. We had a great time.
Sept 27th we awoke to rain and wind and headed to Thunder Bay. It was a long drive and not a nice day. We spent the night in the Wal Mart parking lot and nearly got blown away. By morning it was blowing at least 50kmh out there, power went out around 9:30 at Wal Mart, so good thing we got to the bathroom early!!!!!!!!
Alot or most of the provincial campground are closed so it was hard to find a place to spend the nights.
Sept 28th was another travel day and we got to the upper end of Lake Superior and south of Wawa to a private campground, Twilight Resort. There were a few campsite and about 8 log cabins, warm freee showers, $24.00 a night, alot less than the prov camp ground further north that wanted $32.00 for a no service sight.
We were amazed at how large Lake Superior is, according to what we read, if you drained the lake it would cover north and south america with one foot of water!!!!
The trees are late in changing color this year because it has been so nice, but those that have changed are very pretty.
Again we are off the Trans Canada and heading east thru some lake country north of Orillia. Lake Joseph and Lake Mousoka area are lovely, BUT, there are no places to camp. Some very beautiful expensive summer homes, or Camps, as they are called but no camping. We worked our way down the east side of Lake Simcoe and found a private place for $25.00 a night where we spent two nights before heading to Toronto. Nice spot developed on an old farm sight. Walked about the area and again some very lovely HUGE summer homes for the rich and famous of the Toronto area.
Oct2, we arrived in Toronto and at Jan's cousin's Fran's home. We were invited to spend our time at her house even tho she and hubby are up in Fort Nelson visiting their son.
We have had the most fantastic time in Toronto with my cousins, Allison, Lorraine and Mhairi who I have not seen for over 43 years. It is like we have know each other all along, we all fit in together so well. I am just sorry that it has taken this many years to reunite, we have missed alot of good years.
We did 12 hours of touring Toronto on Saturday and it was great, what a lovely city and the buildings are amazing. You get a sore neck looking up over the modern facade to see the beauty up above.
We are off to Ottawa on Monday and then on to Quebec City for the weekend.
That is about it for now, we are having a blast.