Day 4- Thunder Bay to Winnipeg
We woke up at our campsite and it had rained overnight so packing up the tent was wet. After a quick breakfast at the site, we went to Robin’s Donuts because we had seen many driving in town yesterday and had ecided it was a must to go there before leaving! We drove through Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. They have a bike shack on campus, basically a huge bike parking enclosed place, great! There were a few newer and nice buildings.
Just before Dryden, we entered the Central Standard Time Zone! We gained one hour!
In Dryden we stopped for,lunch at a HuskyStop and gas and then as we were leaving we saw a giant moose statue and a sheep outside a wool store.
During our lunch, we noticed an older couple who kept staring at us. The girls were at one table, being girls who had been driving for 3 days, silly but not annoying. Grant and I were at a table next to them, chatting and laughing at, with, them. After the couple finished their lunch, the gentleman came over to our table and said “there is something VERY wrong with your family.” We were a little taken a back until a few moments later he said “you are a family ACTUALLY talking to each other. No devices, you’re all talking. You don’t see that anymore!” We chatted with them for a while, turns out they are from Parksville BC heading to Timmons, both of us four days into our trips! We will be visiting Parksville later in our trip.
On to Kenora. In Kenora, still in Ontario, we stopped by the beautiful waterfront at Husky the Muskie, a GIANT fish.
We finally got out of Ontario and were welcomed by the blue Manitoba sign!
Entering Winnipeg we noticed the land getting flatter and flatter with less and less tress. It was replaced with more and more yellow canola fields, wheat and other grains/crops. We passed the Center of Canada about 9 km east of Winnipeg.
We stayed at the Fairmont Winnipeg, a big upgrade from camping and Canada’s Best Value Inn! We walked to the Forks for dinner. On the way we walked by the Human Rights Museum, a beautiful building.
Jaida volunteered to be the one to sleep on the floor in her sleeping bag!
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Day #3 - Lake Superior Provincial Park to Thunder Bay
Day 3 - Lake Superior Prov. Park to Thunder Bay
We had a relaxing morning starting with coffee and hot chocolate by the water. Our campsite was along Lake Superior, very beautiful and calm. We had a pancake breakfast and packed up to make our way to Wawa to see the BIG GOOSE!
While at the Big Goose, we met two cyclists who’d left Victoria June 14th, headed for Halifax. We gave them some snacks, Grant and them exchanged stories from his cycle trip almost 20 years ago. They mentioned seeing a guy who was WALKING across Canada. He had left Victoria in February and was heading to St John’s!!! Amazing.
As we rolled out of Wawa, about 20kms away, we spotted a guy walking along the highway, we rolled down the windows told we’d heard about him and gave him a big thumbs up!
White River. Have you heard of Winnie the Pooh? Well, Winnie was purchased in White River. There is a statue here, but close to the statue there is a GIANT thermometer! White River is apparently the coldest city in Canada. According to who exactly? We don’t know!!
Thunder Bay. Terry Fox monument. Beautiful. The grounds are beautiful, the statue is inspiring, the view is stunning.
We had a little malfunction with our GPS...GPS Jaida! It her defence we were all distract d as we left the Terry Fox monument, so the 5 min drive to our campsite turned into about 25. We had a good chuckle. Up until that moment GPS Jaida had been doing a fantastic job of guiding us to our destinations!
We had a relaxing morning starting with coffee and hot chocolate by the water. Our campsite was along Lake Superior, very beautiful and calm. We had a pancake breakfast and packed up to make our way to Wawa to see the BIG GOOSE!
While at the Big Goose, we met two cyclists who’d left Victoria June 14th, headed for Halifax. We gave them some snacks, Grant and them exchanged stories from his cycle trip almost 20 years ago. They mentioned seeing a guy who was WALKING across Canada. He had left Victoria in February and was heading to St John’s!!! Amazing.
As we rolled out of Wawa, about 20kms away, we spotted a guy walking along the highway, we rolled down the windows told we’d heard about him and gave him a big thumbs up!
White River. Have you heard of Winnie the Pooh? Well, Winnie was purchased in White River. There is a statue here, but close to the statue there is a GIANT thermometer! White River is apparently the coldest city in Canada. According to who exactly? We don’t know!!
Thunder Bay. Terry Fox monument. Beautiful. The grounds are beautiful, the statue is inspiring, the view is stunning.
We had a little malfunction with our GPS...GPS Jaida! It her defence we were all distract d as we left the Terry Fox monument, so the 5 min drive to our campsite turned into about 25. We had a good chuckle. Up until that moment GPS Jaida had been doing a fantastic job of guiding us to our destinations!
Day #1 and Day #2 - Ottawa to Lake Superior Provincial Park
Day 1 - Ottawa to Sudbury
All packed up and ready to go!
We left Ottawa just after noon on Sunday, July 29th. The girls settled into their books within a few minutes of the drive. “We’ve driven this way so many times, I’ll stop readin after Pembroke” Yeah, right!!
We made a stop in Mattawa, home of large statues, there are wood carved statues all along Main Street. We happened upon a boat show as we walked towards the river so we spent about 15 minutes watching a guy on a FLY Board. It was cool! On our way out we happened upon a HUGE voyageur statue carved out of wood
We made it to Sudbury!! First stop the BIG NICKEL!!!
The Big Nickel is about 64 million times the size of a regular nickel.
It is an interesting story. In 1963, there was contest asking Sudbury residents for ideas on how to celebrate Canad’s centennial, in 1967. Ted Szilva entered with the ideal of the Big Nickel along with a Science Centre, his idea was rejected, but he perused his dream and made it happen!
We had a nice picnic dinner on the grounds and spent the night at Canada’s Best Value Inn...enough said!!! :)
Day 2 - Sudbury to Lake Superior Prov. Park
We went to Science North in the morning and AMMA TOUCHED A SNAKE!
Other Science North highlights included:
- the Gyroscope. We were all able to try it, except Jaida, she was not tall enough. It was really fun, you get to sling in three different directions at a time, if you get going fast enough.
- we watched documentary called WILDFIRE . Very fitting considering the number of forest fires in Canada right now.
- we also spent a long time doing various physical challenges and activities to test our stretch and balance. It was fun!
Here is a family photo we took. Can you guess who is who?. We drove through the campus of Laurentian Univerrsity and University of Sudbury before leaving town.
We stoped in at Echo Bay, just East of Sault Ste. Marie, to see the big Loonie. Just past Sault Ste. Marie there was an accident on the road. An SUV hit a truck and a pickup tried to dodge it but ended up in the ditch. We were stoped for about 1.5 hours. While we were stopped we met 2 motorcyclists who started in Newfoundland and Labrador and were headed to Alaska. We ended up eating a makeshift dinner in the van on the way to our campsite.When we got to our campsite it was 10:30pm.
The drive was beautiful along Lake Superior.
All packed up and ready to go!
We left Ottawa just after noon on Sunday, July 29th. The girls settled into their books within a few minutes of the drive. “We’ve driven this way so many times, I’ll stop readin after Pembroke” Yeah, right!!
We made a stop in Mattawa, home of large statues, there are wood carved statues all along Main Street. We happened upon a boat show as we walked towards the river so we spent about 15 minutes watching a guy on a FLY Board. It was cool! On our way out we happened upon a HUGE voyageur statue carved out of wood
We made it to Sudbury!! First stop the BIG NICKEL!!!
The Big Nickel is about 64 million times the size of a regular nickel.
It is an interesting story. In 1963, there was contest asking Sudbury residents for ideas on how to celebrate Canad’s centennial, in 1967. Ted Szilva entered with the ideal of the Big Nickel along with a Science Centre, his idea was rejected, but he perused his dream and made it happen!
We had a nice picnic dinner on the grounds and spent the night at Canada’s Best Value Inn...enough said!!! :)
Day 2 - Sudbury to Lake Superior Prov. Park
We went to Science North in the morning and AMMA TOUCHED A SNAKE!
Other Science North highlights included:
- the Gyroscope. We were all able to try it, except Jaida, she was not tall enough. It was really fun, you get to sling in three different directions at a time, if you get going fast enough.
- we watched documentary called WILDFIRE . Very fitting considering the number of forest fires in Canada right now.
- we also spent a long time doing various physical challenges and activities to test our stretch and balance. It was fun!
Here is a family photo we took. Can you guess who is who?. We drove through the campus of Laurentian Univerrsity and University of Sudbury before leaving town.
We stoped in at Echo Bay, just East of Sault Ste. Marie, to see the big Loonie. Just past Sault Ste. Marie there was an accident on the road. An SUV hit a truck and a pickup tried to dodge it but ended up in the ditch. We were stoped for about 1.5 hours. While we were stopped we met 2 motorcyclists who started in Newfoundland and Labrador and were headed to Alaska. We ended up eating a makeshift dinner in the van on the way to our campsite.When we got to our campsite it was 10:30pm.
The drive was beautiful along Lake Superior.
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Trip Itinerary
Jaida mapped out our route based of our itinerary:
**there is a line missing from Kenora to Duluth, J to A
It is roughly 10,500km, here are the details:
Sunday, July 22, 2018
ROAD TRIP 2018 !!
As we prepare for our Summer 2018 road trip many people have asked if we are going to have a blog. So I thought I would ressurect this blog.
Next Sunday we leave on our 5 week family vacation, slowly making our way to Victoria, BC and then back east to Lake Placid, NY for a few days if hiking with friends, before heading home to Ottawa for labour day weekend!
Our itinerary is nearly finalized, I will post that here later this week!
Next Sunday we leave on our 5 week family vacation, slowly making our way to Victoria, BC and then back east to Lake Placid, NY for a few days if hiking with friends, before heading home to Ottawa for labour day weekend!
Our itinerary is nearly finalized, I will post that here later this week!
Monday, September 30, 2013
The next chapter
Hard to believe that 4 years has passed since I last stepped foot at 'work'.
I had so many ideas of what I was going to accomplish in my time off, reorganizing the house, painting, decorating, building a garbage shed, cleaning the basement, etc...
Instead, I took my girls to school and pick them up every day. I got to spend time in their classrooms, go on field trips, bake for the class, run events at the school, play with so many of their friends.
Tomorrow starts a new chapter. It will be nice to be in a new head space, bring home a little more money, and take on new challenges.
I have been home with them for almost 8 of the last 10 years, I think we've had it pretty good. I hope they've had fun too! They are pretty fantastic little girls!
I had so many ideas of what I was going to accomplish in my time off, reorganizing the house, painting, decorating, building a garbage shed, cleaning the basement, etc...
Instead, I took my girls to school and pick them up every day. I got to spend time in their classrooms, go on field trips, bake for the class, run events at the school, play with so many of their friends.
Tomorrow starts a new chapter. It will be nice to be in a new head space, bring home a little more money, and take on new challenges.
I have been home with them for almost 8 of the last 10 years, I think we've had it pretty good. I hope they've had fun too! They are pretty fantastic little girls!
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Summer 2013 wrap-up
This post is mostly for our own recollection.
Mid August, after a great visit with their cousins from Calgary, Natasha exclaimed "We haven't done ANYTHING all summer!"
So here is a summary, what do you think?
July
Vowle's cottage - friends' cottage stay.
Strawberry picking
Perth Farm Party - Bonnie and Cathy biked out to Perth and joined the rest of the families for a nice party week-end, river float, bobbing for apples, stringing donoughts, dance party, singing by the bon fire.
Long Sault Parkway bike ride. Family ride from Upper Canada Village towards Cornwal. Beautiful!
Cottage getaway - 5 days at our neighbour's cottage rental in the Kawartha's. We are spoiled!
Mont Tremblant - beaching and gondola rides!
Kingston week-end of biking. Wolfe Island and Kingston Waterfront.
And daily swims. We have two houses most of the summer, our's and our vacationing neighbours. It's a hard life!
August
Girls and Dad week-end, while Bonnie and Kathleen biked Kingston to Prince Edward County for a long week-end of riding.
Iona and Flan visit for a week, from Calgary. Highlights were Peace Tower, Byward Market, shopping and
Sandbanks - rolling down sand dunes with cousins, and riding the waves at the beach.
Bon Echo - Joe Perry Lake. 3 days of canoeing and peace.
ROAD TRIP!!! - 8 days - North Conway, Mount Washington, Boston, Gloucester, Cape Ann and Lake Placid.
Add to the list, pool parties, dinner with friends and lots of soccer.
I think we had a pretty awesome summer!
Mid August, after a great visit with their cousins from Calgary, Natasha exclaimed "We haven't done ANYTHING all summer!"
So here is a summary, what do you think?
July
Vowle's cottage - friends' cottage stay.
Strawberry picking
Perth Farm Party - Bonnie and Cathy biked out to Perth and joined the rest of the families for a nice party week-end, river float, bobbing for apples, stringing donoughts, dance party, singing by the bon fire.
Long Sault Parkway bike ride. Family ride from Upper Canada Village towards Cornwal. Beautiful!
Cottage getaway - 5 days at our neighbour's cottage rental in the Kawartha's. We are spoiled!
Mont Tremblant - beaching and gondola rides!
Kingston week-end of biking. Wolfe Island and Kingston Waterfront.
And daily swims. We have two houses most of the summer, our's and our vacationing neighbours. It's a hard life!
August
Girls and Dad week-end, while Bonnie and Kathleen biked Kingston to Prince Edward County for a long week-end of riding.
Iona and Flan visit for a week, from Calgary. Highlights were Peace Tower, Byward Market, shopping and
Sandbanks - rolling down sand dunes with cousins, and riding the waves at the beach.
Bon Echo - Joe Perry Lake. 3 days of canoeing and peace.
ROAD TRIP!!! - 8 days - North Conway, Mount Washington, Boston, Gloucester, Cape Ann and Lake Placid.
Add to the list, pool parties, dinner with friends and lots of soccer.
I think we had a pretty awesome summer!
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