Oh those Rockies!

     From the flat prairies and into the Rockies!!

     When we left Regina we headed north towards Saskatoon.  This is a much prettier route then in the south, on the Trans Canada Highway.  It is not quite so flat, but with more rolling hills and soft rolling valleys.  As summer has not quite hit the country in full force, the landscape was very green and not the brown that I had expected.  After we went through Saskatoon I happened to look in the side mirror, which gives me the view of the passenger side of the trailer.  Something caught my eye, so I leaned in to get a good look.  I could see something flapping in the wind.  Almost had a heart attack as I thought it was one of our tires shredding.  So I said to Ray that he needed to find somewhere to pull over as something was terribly wrong.  It was good that we were on the Prairies as the shoulders are quite wide allowing us to safely pull right off the roadway.  What I was seeing flapping in the breeze was the fender of the 5th wheel.  I guess what happened is the plastic was cracking around a couple of the screws and with the wind beating against it, it came loose on the one end.  It was not fortunately, damaged.  Ray took it off and set in into the "basement" and will have it replaced when we get home.  You pay a lot of money for these RV units and they are so cheaply made!  Very irritating!!

     After taking the flapping fender (you thought I was going to us a different "f" word) off we carried on down the road.  We had decided to drive right to Lloyminster and spend the night there.  The rest of the drive was uneventful.  Well except that yours truly took the wheel and let Ray have a break.  I tell you that within about 2 minutes I was hypnotized by the long straight highway!

Look at me!  I look like I know what I am doing!! LOL

Lloydminster

  We found a great campground which was a Community Campground right behind a museum.  The sites were spacious and the bath house was new and sparkling clean.  Not that we were going to use it, but it is always a good sign of great management.  After we got parked and set up, we decided to hit the local Legion once again as it was right down the street.  We met a couple of very nice ladies in there.  One of them was about 48 years old.  She told us that at the age of 19 she was in a very bad car accident and was left with a brain injury and has since suffered from PTSD.  She explained that to help herself she has reached out to service men and women (from both the US and Canada) who are also suffering from PTSD.  She runs a Facebook group where she stays in touch with the ones overseas and others around the country.  She was a very interesting young lady.

     We went for a walk after leaving the Legion.  While walking around the town I noticed some red steel markers.  Apparently they are the largest border markers in the country.  They mark the Saskatchewan Alberta border and run right down the middle of the town. 

Even though the town is divided by these markers, Lloyminster is not a "twin city" (one in Sask and one in Alberta).  It is a city incorporated by both provinces and is a single city.  Another interesting fact is no matter if you shop on the Saskatchewan side or the Alberta side of town, there is no Provincial Sales tax.  The population of Lloyminster is 27,804 (18,032 on the Alberta side and 9772 on the Saskatchewan side.  The Husky Lloydminster Refinery is likely the biggest employer as the refinery sits on the south edge of the sitting and is huge.  The town boasts a new NHL sized hockey arena and we were told that 11 NHL players have come from Lloydminster.  When speaking with people I had the impression they are very proud of their city.


    The next morning we loaded up and continued our drive westward.  Ray had decided that we would drive to Jasper and camp there for the night.  We drove as far as Hinton and spoke with a nice lady in the Visitors Information centre.  She called a couple of campgrounds around Jasper for us.  All campgrounds in Jasper National Park are first come first serve.  All have water but no electrical hook ups.  Because of the elevation I needed to have electricity to use my oxygen.  So this nice lady recommended a private park just outside of Hinton before entering the park.  She said it was within walking distance of a micro brewery where you could order food and sit out on the patio and look up at Folding Mountain.  This sounded perfect to us!!!  The campground was only 10 minutes down the road.  When we arrived it was pretty windy and it looking like it was snowing.  It was cottonwood flying and the ground was white with the fluff!  I took a photo but it didn't do it justice at all.  We wandered over to the Folding Mountain Brewery and had a great dinner and a couple of nice cold brews!  Unfortunately it was too cold to sit out on the patio.

The patio at the brewery

The next day we continued our drive.  We stopped in Jasper for breakfast at a pretty decent restaurant.  As it was early in the day we were able to find parking right on the main drag.  The little town of Jasper has never been my favourite place.  I think being to Banff previously has spoiled me.  The Empress Hotel nestled in the mountains is breathtaking.  Both towns are tourist traps for sure.   The only other time I was in Jasper, we had driven through it from Valemount.  I have never done the drive from Jasper to Banff.  Neither had Ray.  We were in for the ride of our lives.

I just don't think there is anything more beautiful then the Rocky mountains.  I am mesmerized every time I fly over them or drive through them.  My neck hurt from twisting this way and that. There was quite a bit of road work through the park and into Banff National park.  We didn't care, even when we had a 20 minute wait.  That gave Ray ample time to do is own looking around.  We saw waterfalls, green green lakes, and then we saw the Icefields!

The above photo was taken from on my phone from the road.  This is the Athabasca Glacier and is the largest ice field in the Rocky mountains. It lies partially in Jasper National Park and partially in Banff National Park. It is about 125 square miles and is between 365 to 1198 feet deep.  It used to be much larger.  In fact all the brown dirt you see in the bottom of the photo, it used to be covered by the ice. At one time it probably came right down to where the road is.  You can't see it in this photo because it is too far away, but there was a bus (snow coach) on the left about half way up.  People were off the bus walking around.  That would be so cool to do!  Not sure how I would make out though with the elevation.  About 6 kms before we got to the Athabasca Glacier (on the Jasper side of the park) there was a glass walkway hanging out over the cliff!  It lis like the skywalk at the Grand Canyon.  We could not see how the people would get out to it as there was no parking lot to be seen.   It was a grey day going through the Rockies, not much of a blue sky.  But that didn't matter to us, we were just happy and content being in the company of the mountains.

     We spent the next night snuggled into a campsite in Revelstoke sitting around our campfire with a storm blowing in.  It was GREAT!  We saw a fellow pull in towing his pontoon boat that he converted into a camper!  Look at all the solar panels on his roof!

Ray enjoying his glass of vino

From Revelstoke we went to Kelowna.  Spent two nights visiting with Janet and Gord Hardy.  While in Kelowna we also visited with Shirley and Barry.  Shirley is slowly healing from some recent surgery she had.  She was pale and thin but coming along nicely, especially when she is being waited on by the old Barre..  From Kelowna we went to Peachland and camped right on the lake in a Provincial Campground.  We visited with my sister and brother-in-law (Chris and Rod).  The four of us took their little dog Georgia for a walk through the park.

My sista!

That evening we had a huge wind storm that felt like it was going to blow our trailer right off its legs.  I totally felt sorry for those camping in tents that night.  From Peachland we went to Kamloops to spend our last couple of days on the road with Mr Keaton and his parents (Tanya and Dean) and also to meet the newest member of their family, Smudge.  Their new rescue cat.  Ray had never been to Barnhartvale, so Tanya took us out there where we had lunch at the Pond which is a really great little garden shop/cafe.

Keaton with his big boy haircut

Tanya and Keaton

Smudges

We are home now.  Ray has figured out the cost of this trip.  We put on 16,000 kilometres.  Ray was surprised at the low fuel cost of $3700 (but we don't care!!!),  camp site costs $1500 (hey and no Walmart parking lots!).  Approximately $4000 in miscellanous (must have been some fancy shoes I bought while shopping with Christina in Ontario).  Total for the trip is roughly $9000.  Now we are busy getting the trailer cleaned up, new tires, new ladder and new moulding (that flappy thing in the Prairies) so we can head down to Washington and points south.  We want to visit with Ray's cousin in Vancouver Washington.

A number of people have asked me, "what is your favourite place to be, now that you have been all across the country".  After being in PEI in 2012, I had said that PEI was my favourite Province with its red earth and rolling emerald green hills.  But coming back through the Rockies and into BC this time really made me catch my breath.  So on this Canada Day as I write the conclusion of this Blog, I have to say that we live in the best place in Canada.  We have it all here.  The Rockies (partially), Mt Revelstoke, Costal Mountains all of our beautiful mountains throughout the Province, we have our dry desert complete with sage brush (Kamloops & Osoyoos), lakes (Okanagan Lake, Kalamalka, Pitt Lake just to name a few), we have glacier clear rivers, we have the rolling surf of the Pacific Ocean lapping at the edge of our beautiful Province.  We have Vancouver Island and a great ferry system to get us there.  So very happy to live in beautiful British Columbia!  

Happy Canada Day to all of you who have followed us on this adventure.

Until next time

Lori and Ray

Visiting RCMP Depot

We pretty much sailed through Manitoba on this return trip.  As I said, Ray was on a Mission to get to Regina as he wanted to see Jim and Marline while they were still on the area.  

     Once again in Regina, we camped in an RV park in Balgonese which is just across the highway from White City.  Our friends Jim and Marline were visiting with their son Rob and his family.  Jim and Marline are also on a journey of their own travelling back to the east coast.  We were only taking 6 weeks to do our trip, while Jim and Marline were taking "however long it takes"!  They left home a couple of weeks ago and heading to the Maritimes, including Newfoundland (which we did in 2012).  They are camped in Rob and Rondi’s front yard and had already been there for a few days before we arrived.  On June 20th, they are leaving their trailer at Rob’s and flying home to Mission to go and see one of their grandson’s graduate from high school.  They will be in Mission for about a week and then fly back to Regina where they will continue their trip.  We spent two nights this time in Regina.  The first night we had a bar-b-que at Rob and Rondi’s, just hanging out and having a good visiting.  We shared tales of our trip and gave some pointers on place to avoid and some better places to camp.  Hopefully our bits of information will help them along their journey.  

The next day we picked Jim and Marline up and drove downtown to find the RCMP Academy (also called Depot).  As Ray and I have both worked for the RCMP, we had a great interest in seeing where it all begins.  I should really say that it was me more than Ray who had the bigger interest as he lost interest fairly quickly.  As you arrive on the grounds of the Depot, there is a beautiful building “RCMP Heritage”.  It is chock full of the long history starting with the Northwest Mounted Police right up to the modern day RCMP.

     After seeing the movie we boarded an electric tram to take in the tour of the grounds of Depot.  Our tour guide described each building as we came to it and when we saw police cars with their flashing lights and a man with his hands in cuffs while a number of members stood by, our guide explained that it was scenario training and no photos allowed.  Oh bummer, I wanted to take photos….. because I had never seen that before…LOL.  She pointed out the firearms training building the area where the cadets learn to drive at high speeds in all different road conditions, the mess hall and the barracks.  Our tour of the grounds included the daily parade and inspection of the troops.  We lucked out on this because it was also graduation day for some of the cadets.  So not only were the cadets in their cadet uniforms, but the class graduating later in the day were dressed in full red serge.  A number of the cadets that were not participating in the inspection were new to the program, probably in their first few weeks.  As it was explained to us, these cadets were wearing blue shirts, plain black pants and running shoes.  They also had to do a two step walk everywhere, which looked like a slow run, with their arms up on their chest  and their fists closed.  The cadets have to earn their walking boots and also the yellow stripe on their pants is earned.  Once they earn their regular boots, they are able to walk and march normally.  It is very militant, as is their parade and inspection.  I have seen many “final” inspections when a senior officer retires so I knew what to expect.  Ray however, even though he had many years working with the RCMP, had not seen many and was very bored by it all.  For me though, I was thinking of all the members I have worked with (both Abbotsford PD and Mission RCMP) coming from the Justice Institute and RCMP Depot, so fresh faced and eager to start their career.  Some of who have retired now.  It made me feel emotional watching the inspection of the troops. 

There is nothing more Canadian then seeing a mountie in their red serge.  Well maybe seeing a Tim Horton’s runs a close 2nd that makes a travelling Canadian in a different country swell with “pride” upon seeing that sign.  Which is funny, because I am much more of a Starbucks girl rather then a Tim’s girl.

Coles Notes version of the RCMP history

There is so much history within the RCMP, that I would be typing for days and would like bore a good many of you....and with the help of Wikipedia, here is the short version with just a few bits of history.

The North-West Mounted Police was formed in 1873 by Prime Minster Sir John A. MacDonald.  In 1904 "Royal" was added to the name and in 1920 the force was renamed Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  In 1949 Newfoundland joined confederation and the Newfoundland Ranger Force amalgamated with the RCMP.  In 1953 the RCMP became a full member of Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization)

The RCMP have 8,677 vehicles (5600 cars, 2350 trucks, 34 motorcycles, 481 snowmobiles and 181 ATV's).  There are 712 detachments within 15 Divisions.  In 2015 they had 22,130 Sworn members and 6331 unsworn members (Public Servants)

That is probably enough history for now.  One thing that I do recall from some training I had at the RCMP Academy on Heather St in Vancouver quite a few years ago; way back in the early days of the RCMP a member could not be married and when they changed that rule, a member wishing to marry had to get permission to do so.  I always thought that was funny!!

Anyway,,,,I will leave you with that for now.  

Lori and Ray

Guelph to Thunder Bay

     Leaving our stresses of Quebec behind and vowing that we will one day return to tour Old Quebec City, but will fly there and use taxis or Uber to drive us to the hot spots.  We camped once again in Lancaster, but chose a Regional Campground.  The sites were very spacious with very few bugs, bonus!  Well no mosquitos! There were tiny bugs, well thousands of them actually.  They would fly in swarms but didn’t bite or sting.  The biggest problem was if you were talking, the tiny bugs would fly right in your mouth.  Not pleasant at all.  Was kind of tough to talk while walking around the site.  We only spent the one night and then continued to Guelph.  An uneventful trip through Toronto again (gotta love the GPS for keeping you in the correct lanes).  Other then heavy Saturday traffic, it was a breeze.  In Guelph we camped in the same, and only, campground within the city limits, Guelph Conservation Park.  We wanted to be close to Riki’s place and it is the best spot.  We picked up both girls along with their bikes.  Madison’s is a two wheeler with training wheels and she has no problem riding it.  Alisha’s is a BMX bike minus the training wheels.  Over the years she has had a couple of different bikes, but never seemed to master riding without training wheels.  Ray said that  she was going to learn in the campground as it is flat and has good gravel roads.  So on Sunday, after a lot of the campers had left, her riding instructions began.  Starting out she kept leaning her body to one side and looking down at her front wheel, but reminding her to sit upright and look ahead, soon had her riding on her own.  She never really realized at first that Ray nor I were not holding the back of her seat.  To be riding a two wheel bike on her own, was a huge accomplishment for Alisha.  There was no stopping her now!  Around and around she went, with a couple of other campers cheering her on as she passed their sites!  I have never seen her with a grin as big as she had plastered on her face!  So proud of her!  Needless to say she spent the next three days riding that bike.  She even met another 10 year old in the park and they soon were riding everywhere together.  Ray took the training wheels off of Madison’s bike to give her some practice time too.  But being only 4 years old she was not quite ready for two wheels.  She still had fun trying to keep up with the older two girls.  

     Over the next four days we never really left the campground, except to go to the The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada.  This is just outside of Guelph and is a refuge for donkeys, mules and hinnies who have been neglected or abused.  Some of the donkeys have been rescued with hooves so long that they live in constant pain and cannot walk.  The size of this sanctuary is 100 acres and is a tranquil place for the rescued to live out their lives.  Ray and I over the years have sponsored donkeys at this sanctuary.   So we wanted the girls to see the donkeys and learn more about them.  I am sure that Madison was probably bored with the half hour "talk" about the animals.  But she was very patient!  In case some of you are wondering about the difference between a mule and a hinny........ a mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse,,,,,,,, while a hinny is the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey.

You may be looking at this photo and wondering why this donkey is wearing pyjamas?  Well he and another of his buddies are very sensitive to the mosquito bites.  So one of the volunteers made them some "pants" to wear so the mosquitos don't bite them!!!  Funniest thing ever,,,but smart!

 Here are a couple of shots of my "godless"

 Alisha Bean

My funny little Madison

     Ray took the truck to the Dodge dealer to get the oil changed as we had put about 10,000 kms on it since leaving home.  He also took it through a car wash to try to get some of the thousand bugs off the front of the truck!  The rest of our few days in Guelph we just hung out at the campground, went for walks while the girls followed on their bikes.  On Monday my long time friend Nancy came to spend a couple of nights.  Nancy lives in Oro-Medonte, which is about a two hour drive from Guelph.  She knew beforehand that she would have to share the sofa bed with one of the girls, and she was okay with that.  I have known Nancy since I was 18 years old (over 40 years).  I met her when she was dating my older brother Ken.  That relationship did not work out, but the two of us have maintained a long lasting friendship.  We may go a couple of years without seeing each other, but as soon as we get together it is like no time whatsoever has passed by.  We have seen each others kids grow up and now she gets to enjoy my grandkids when we see each other.  The girls absolutely love her!  She always comes up with some sort of game to entertain them.  Our last night in Guelph after the kids had gone home with Riki, Nancy spent the last night in the campground with us.  In the morning we said our goodbyes, she left for home and we left for Tobermory.

Manitoulin Island

     Tobermory is a tiny little town on the tip of Bruce Peninsula and on the shores of Lake Huron.  This is where you catch the ferry that will take you over to Manitoulin Island.  Taking this 2 hour ferry allows you to avoid the long drive from Guelph up to Sudbury.   With a square milage of 1068, Manotulin Island is the largest freshwater island in the world.  There are a number of lakes on this island, three of which have islands of their own.  To get off this island on the north side, you have to cross a one lane swing bridge which is controlled by a traffic light.  We spent a night in a campground which had us backed onto the lake, so it was a beautiful sight in the evening and early morning.  The campground itself was in bad need of some TLC.  The sites were large and clean, but the laundry and clubhouse looked as though they were ready to fall to the ground.  And the building which housed the two had a damp moldy smell, so you know what that did for me!  I do not do old buildings or museums because of the “old” smells, that can ultimately affect my poor lungs.  I had to get Ray to fetch the laundry when it was done as I was not going back in there!!  Any of the staff we met were all super friendly.

Lighthouse on Lake Huron

View from the rear window of our campsite on Manitoulin Island

Morning cuppa

Points East

When we left Manotulin, we headed back to Sault Ste Marie to have another visit with Danny and Angel and as it turned out it was Angel’s birthday.  We met lots of nice people that evening, mostly Angel's family but also Danny's Dad who we had never met.  

Angel and her little niece

Ray and Danny chillin

     We were now on a mission to get Regina again to hook up with Jim and Marline who are also on a trip to the east.  When Ray is on a mission to get somewhere, there is no stopping him.  Up to this point on our driving days we have kept it to driving no more then 5 hours.  Gone are the days when Ray would drive 10-12 hours a day.  On our way east it took us two days to get around Lake Superior, but this time it look us a day.  About 9 hours of driving!  Ugh!!  I mentioned the beauty of Lake Superior in a previous post, but that was while driving eastbound.  The drive west is even more spectacular!  A different view for sure at each curve in the road.  I never get tired of seeing the mountainous landscape, I loved it when I first drove through in the 70’s.  Maybe because it reminded me of BC, although the mountains are not as high as ours in BC, but truly a beautiful sight when you are away from home.  We camped just east of Thunder Bay at a KOA campground.  As all KOA’s, it was pin neat with friendly staff.  Poor wifi though, which has become a very common occurrence on all of our trips.  Makes me wonder why camp grounds advertise Wifi but you can never get connected!!

     Let me tell you a bit about Thunder Bay.  It has a populations of about 108,000 people and is a major shopping area for all the smaller towns in North Western Ontario.  Thunder Bay is also referred to as Lakehead because of its location at the end of Lake Superior.  Outside of local and Provincial government employers, and with approximately 1500 employees, Resolute Forest Products is the largest employer in the area.  Bombardier Transportation is another larger employer with over 800 employees.  Just east of town is an amethyst mine.  Amethyst Mine Panorama is the largest deposit of amethyst in Canada.

Until next post....

Lori and Ray

Franco Canadian we are not!!

     In my last post I talk about going to the East Point Lighthouse on PEI.  I knew that I had taken a couple of photos while we were there but couldn’t find them on my phone or Ray’s.  So I thought I was going a bit c-r-a-z-y,,,, then I remembered that I had taken my camera with us that day.  So I am starting this post with a couple of photos from East Point Lighthouse and a shot of the red cliffs overlooking the Atlantic ocean  from the lighthouse that were on my camera.  Sometimes I wonder where my brain is at……I must be sitting on it or something!!  

     Okay so lets hit the road again.  As this is our 2nd trip to the east coast and it was more or less a trip to visit with family and friends, we decided after seeing Hope for Wildlife, we would start heading west.  Back to Guelph to see Riki and the girls before making the rather long trek out of Ontario.  That Province is huge!  We left Dartmouth and headed into New Brunswick again.  In the 2012  trip we had stopped to see the world’s longest covered bridge, in Hartland and the “falls” in Grand Falls NB, which is off the main highway.  This time we just continued north west up to Edmunston.  It took pretty much the whole day of driving with no mishaps from the navigator.  Well maybe just one.  Being the navigator it is also my job to select a camp site for the night.  For those who do not already know this, New Brunswick is a mostly french speaking Province.  The super friendly people are bilingual but always start the conversation with Bonjour.  I do know what that means!  All their highway signs are in French and then English (unlike Quebec which are in French only).  I had selected a campsite in Saint Jacques which is just west of Edmunston, just inside the NB border from Quebec.  Once again I tried to put the address into the GPS.  The campground we were looking for, according to the website was on Chemin Albert St.  I could not get it to map out on the GPS in the truck.  My phone did get us to the site right around the time that I figured out that Chemin means Street.  So I should have selected Albert Street on the GPS.  Thank goodness we bought some more GB for our phones because without them, I am not sure how sane I would be right about now.  Anyway we located the campsite and we welcomed by a wonderfully friendly young lady.  We met a really nice fellow when we went for our walk, who asked us in English if we were from Quebec.  He was very helpful when we said that we wanted to visit Quebec City the next day, but were not sure how to get to the old part of the city and were not really sure what to do there.  He suggested that we stop at an information centre upon entering Quebec an they would provide us with any information we needed to make the trip into old Quebec enjoyable.  

     Eastern Quebec has now become my favourite Province for the beauty of the rolling hillsides.  I can imagine them in the Fall in all their colourful glory!  It is not however not my favourite Province to be in.  As the gentleman from the previous night suggested we stopped at the first Information Centre upon crossing into Quebec.  The sign on the door said that it was closed until 0900 which was, according to my watch, only 15 minutes away.  There was a Tim Hortons right beside the Info Centre (surprise, surprise).  I was sitting there drinking my coffee when I looked at my phone and noticed that we had entered another time zone and would have to wait for over an hour for the Centre to open.  We decided to head down the road and catch the next centre and gather our information there.  We stopped at every Information Centre from there right into Levis (is that “Levis” like in Strauss ?), which is where we had planned to spend the night.  All were closed!!!  I could feel myself getting more tense by the minute and it didn’t help hearing all the “F” bombs from the person in the drivers seat!  It did not help that we were in a traffic nightmare……finally I just said “screw it” we can fly here one day and take a cab right into the heart of Old Quebec City and hire an English speaking guide to take us where we want or thought we need to go.  ARG!!!  We continued west towards Montreal.  

     Montreal is another story in itself.  I have always thought that I was a pretty good navigator.  I punch addresses into the GPS like a pro, and can read a map in my sleep.  I am good with directions (north, south, east or west), except for Ontario…….not sure why that is.  After our 2nd trip through Montreal I may consider hanging that hat up for awhile.  Everyone tells us that Montreal is easy, just take the “bypass”.  Where the hell is the “bypass”?  How do you say that in french??  I need highway numbers!!!  We were doing really well following Highway 20, until I saw a sign above our heads that said “Pont Tunnl”, I took this as meaning we were in the lane to go into that horrendous tunnel that goes right downtown. So we took the exit (because we had stayed in the right hand lane).  After driving about 3 minutes we saw the dreaded tunnel ahead like an ugly dragon with its wide mouth open like a black hole.  We drove through not one but two tunnels which spit us out onto a street that had an odd right lane causing us to turn right while the GPS is screaming “rerouting” about 5 thousand times!  Ray did an amazing u-turn with the help of a parking lot so we could “reroute” back to where the GPS was yelling at us to go! (imagine the voice of John Cleese from Fawlty Towers)…….OMG!!!!  The GPS was taking us in the direction of Trudeau Airport, which was okay because I was pretty sure that was in the southern west part of the city,,,according to the map.  We listened to Mr Cleese (I wish), directing us all over the place.  All of a sudden we are going through what appeared to be a war zone!  Highway overpasses have been knocked down and are in the process of being replaced, which is great because in 2012 they looked like they were going to fall down!  There was huge chunks of cement and metal all over the side of the roadway. Oh and by the way, we were also in rush hour.  I can tell you that Ray was not the only one dropping the “F” bomb.   Sorry there are no photos of this as I was too busy dropping those bombs.  It was like we had just driven through Beruit!  I felt like saying to Ray “I think I will meditate now, you are on your own”! LOL

Honestly,,,,I should have paid more attention to my French classes.....We did make it safely into Lancaster Ontario.  We camped at a great provincial campsite where I found this table on the Saint Lawrence River where I could do a quiet meditation and chill out.  This I needed for me! 

Next up is Guelph,,,,,

Lori and Ray

Red Dirt and Wild Turkeys

     We said goodbye to Shediac and headed to the Confederation Bridge which was about a half hour drive.  Crossing the Northumberland Stait, the Confederation Bridge connects New Brunswick to PEI.  It is exactly 13 kms long.  It is quite an amazing bridge to think that it was built to be able to withstand a possible hit from passing icebergs.  It is also a toll bridge but only for travellers leaving the Island.  They embrace you as you arrive by not making you pay any toll,,,,,,but try and leave!!  If you leave by crossing the bridge back into New Brunswick then you pay a toll of approximately $48.00.  If you choose to take the ferry off the Island into Nova Scotia, they get you there as well.  But you only pay for the vehicle, not the people.  Prince Edward Island itself, is 2170 square miles.  Compared to Vancouver Island (which is 12,407 square miles) it is rather small.  Jacques Cartier was out sailing one day in 1534 when he discovered the Island.  It was originally called Isle Saint Jean but in 1763 Britain obtained the island from France and renamed it St John’s Island.  But in 1798 it was once again renamed, to Prince Edward Island.  In 1864 Prince Edward Island held the first meeting in the process leading up to the Quebec Resolutions and the creation of Canada in 1867, thus labelling Prince Edward Island as the “Birthplace of Confederation”.   One more fact about PEI that a lot of young women already may know, the setting of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s book “Anne of Green Gables”  is in Cavendish.  The house that inspired the book is a National Historic Site.

     As you arrive on the beautiful red PEI soil, there is a really great information centre complete with numerous gifts shops and a Paderno outlet.  If you own a set of Paderno pots, check the bottom.  If there is a Canadian Flag on it, then it is made in PEI.  This little shopping area is a perfect tourist trap!  And yes I did get trapped in one of the shops.  Had to get all that good PEI stuff,,,,tourism after all is a huge industry for this small island of  approximatley 145,000.  As we were heading to Bob and Elayne Kirkwood’s house, I punched their address into our GPS (because I didn’t want to get lost!!).  They have an address in York, but then Elayne sent me a text saying they were in Stanhope.  On my map York is quite a ways away from Stanhope, so of course I was panicked because Stanhope would not come up on the GPS as a “city”.  UGH,,,,, I said to Ray, just leave it and see where it takes us. After our treks through Winnipeg and Montreal, he was probably having serious doubts. Elayne knows what she is talking about (yup, former dispatcher)…..the GPS took us right to their house where we were delighted to see them and their smiley faces sitting on the front porch of their house waving at us.  Their driveway was perfect for parking our fifth wheel and truck.  It was long and flat at the top and even left enough room for them to get their own vehicle out.  Their house is directly across the road from the first tee on the Stanhope Golf course.  Bob had a tee time with his buddies at 1:30, so when he was ready he just dragged his golf cart across the road and away he went.  While he was off golfing Elayne, Ray and I sat on the side deck to catch up.  It was very hot out (apparently a record heat day of 30 degrees), Elayne had put the umbrella up over the patio table.  We were drinking our coffee and laughing about old times when suddenly there was a small gust of wind.  The next thing we knew the umbrella blew over, I was able to grab the handle of the umbrella before it hit me in the head, but not before the glass table top shattered into a million pieces!  The three of us were so shocked!  There had to be a million pieces of glass not only on the floor of the deck but in my lap and at our feet.  We were lucky,,,,Elayne and I each had a couple of small cuts on our feet and legs.  We were very lucky those were our only injuries.  Ray was unscathed.  We had quite the mess to clean up!

Looks likes bees

     We spent four days on the beautiful Island of PEI.  We learned that the dirt roads are called “clay roads” because the red dirt turns into clay when it rains.  We also learned that we are from “away”, as is Bob even though he has been living in PEI for 4 years.  He will always be from “away”.  We saw so many beautiful beaches and lighthouses.  

We had a lobster roll for lunch one day while sitting right on the water.  Ray had a few opportunities to have seafood chowder, which he loves.  Bob and Elayne kindly drove us all over the Island including to East Point Lighthouse which is the eastern most point of Prince Edward Island.  We so appreciated their kindness.

On our last night Elayne had gotten tickets for us all to go to a “cafe” and see some local artists perform.  The first fellow was from Guelph, not PEI.  He played a few songs on the guitar and then invited a young lady up to sing.  She was from Quebec.  They were pretty good, even though they weren’t actually “local”.  The 2nd group was really good!  They were a three piece band with a young lady named “Anya” singing.  All were from locals Charlottetown.  Anya had an amazing, sultry voice.  She reminded me of Norah Jones.  Very classy.  I think one day we may hear her again,,,if the right person hears her sing and helps promote her career!  The band members were also very good.  The first two days on PEI, the weather was great, 29 and 30 degrees.  But the last two days we were not as lucky.  We had a wind storm and lots of rain.  Apparently hurricane season starts on June 1st and Elayne said they only ever get the tail end of the hurricanes that hit the USA coast.   The morning we left PEI to head to Cape Breton, it had been so cold throughout the night that we had to scrape the thick frost off our windows!!  It is June,,,,right?

The "cafe"

Cape Breton

     Off we head to the Ferry to take us over to Nova Scotia.  The previous night Bob had told me about a GPS App that he liked to use as it works without internet.  So I had him show me how to use it and I downloaded the map of PEI and Nova Scotia.  I put in the address for Wood Island which is where we were to get the ferry.  We started out on Highway 1, which Bob had said that once we were on Highway 1 it would take us directly onto the ferry.  Well at some point, the App told us to turn left onto highway 23.  We thought that was odd but followed the orders.  Highway 23 is a secondary road with potholes galore.  Ray was cursing at every bump!  We kept going with the 5th wheel bouncing along behind us.  I could only imagine what kind of things that I might find on the floor when we got to our final destination.  Anyway, Highway 23 took us right back onto Highway 1 right as you get to Wood Island ferry.  It took us the long route!  Good one Bob!  Obviously I had the settings wrong?   We had fortunately left the house by 7:00 so we were an hour early arriving at the ferry.  Early bird gets the worm, right?  The fellow at the ticket booth was so friendly and chatted to Ray about the difference between a trailer and a 5th wheel.  Nice folks over in PEI.  After 10 minutes of banter, he told us to go and get some breakfast.  Which we did in the cafeteria waiting to board the ferry.  It wasn’t too bad for Ferry food, because it was made to order,,,,fresh.  The ferry ride over to Nova Scotia was just over an hour long.  People who complain about the BC Ferries, need to take a ride on this ferry.  It is very old, including the video arcade machines.  Anyone up for a game of PacMan?  They still have one and it even has duct tape on it.  The seating is tolerable but not like BC Ferries highback seats.  Not much comfort there.  That is really the only negative thing that I have to say about our trip over to PEI!!!  Last time we were on this ferry, the weather was warm and sunny so we had sat outside on the deck and I never really noticed anything but the gorgeous view.  Even though the day was grey, it was a beautiful ride over to the mainland. 

     We were heading to Sydney Mines on Cape Breton to visit my little brother (all 6’5” of him!) and his wife sue (all 5’4” of her….lol).  If you were heading to the ferry to Newfoundland, you would be in the area of Sydney Mines.  There is Sydney, North Sydney (where the ferry to NFLD is) and Sydney Mines.  All are on the ocean and are within 10 or so kilometres of each other.   Sydney Mines, which is north east of Sydney, is an old coal mining town and was once home to  “Scotia” a large steel plant which in the 1950’s produced 50% of Canada’s steel.  The last coal mine closed in 1975.  The only really cool heritage building that I saw was the Cape Breton Regional Police building .  It looks like a fort of some sort. 

The population is approximately 14,500 but I have a hard time believing thist.  Many houses are in the 100 year mark but there are a number of newer homes as well.  Jimmy’s and Sue’s house is over 100 years old.  Their friend lives right on the ocean and I was lucky to take a photo of his view.  

While we were in Sydney mines the weather was about 3 to 7 degrees.  Very cold with a harsh wind.  I wore both of my sweatshirts over top of my jean jacket in an attempt to keep warm!!!  The summers are relatively cool and rarely exceed 20 degrees due to the location of the North Atlantic Ocean.  I cannot imagine the cold winters!!  Wikipedia says the “winters are cold, windy, wet and snowy”.  Well that covers it all as far as I am concerned!!  I am not moving there!!!  We had a great visit with Jimmy and Sue,,,,perhaps a bit too much alcohol was consumed…….that is the way it goes sometimes.

 Hope for Wildlife

     When we left Sydney Mines it was raining and foggy.  We were originally going to drive the Cabot Trail, but last time we were on it, the weather was foggy and raining.  So there was no point doing the 4 hour drive for nothing.  So we headed down to Dartmouth.  Dartmouth is the closest “large” town to Seaforth, which is where we were heading.  Ray and I watch on Knowledge Network a show called “Hope for Wildlife”.  It is about a woman named “Hope” who runs a wildlife rescue centre.  Their philosophy is to rescue any and all wildlife and then release them back into their natural habitat, when possible.  I had googled to find the address and camping nearby.  After setting up in Dartmouth we took off to Seaforth.  It was an interesting drive, winding down along the coast.  It was beautiful with small villages along the way.  As we rounded a bend in the road with the Atlantic ocean on one side of the road and a large “pond” on the other we recognized the red building where Hope for Wildlife is even before we got to the sign.  We pulled in and got out of the truck to be greeted by two huge turkeys.  Ray of course started making his “gobbling” sounds at them.  Of course they gobbled back to us.  We went into the visitor centre where a guide took us around to the animals they have who are not able to be returned to the wild for whatever reasons, mostly birds, a skunk, chinchilla, rabbit, parrot, turtles, peacocks, two snakes (Ray actually touch both of them!!!) and of course the two big turkeys.  Now these two turkeys followed us around to every exhibit.  When we went inside, the turkeys were loudly banging on the door and gobbling to get our attention.  When they were standing beside us, they would make this funny humming sound.  Our guide told us the turkeys make that sound to attract a female turkey.  What??? Was it me or Ray they were trying to attract?  Ha ha ha,,,,  

Anyone visiting Nova Scotia should seriously consider a trip to Seaforth to Visit the Hope for Wildlife.  They do great work their rescuing and helping wild animals.  They have veterinarians who volunteer their time to help with injured animals.  If an animal cannot survive as nature means it to (like hunt for it’s own food) when released then it will not be released.  The centre has an area that is not open to visitors and this is so that the animals do not get used to humans.  Every precaution is taken to avoid this happening.  

Next Blog,,,,returning to Ontario

Lori and Ray

Lancaster to Shediac

     We left Guelph at about 8:30 in the morning, thinking by the time we hit the 401 rush hour down to Toronto would be almost finished at our end.  I had wanted to wait until about 9:00 or 9:30 to leave, but Ray won out.  So as we came onto the 401 overpass you could see stopped vehicles for miles heading into Toronto.  Ugh!  And so many semi trucks!!  One kind semi driver let us in and we slowly merged into the non-moving stream of vehicles.  I am not sure how far the "stop and go " traffic went on for, as it seemed like miles!  We slowly approached a very "wide" load which was causing the traffic to swing out to go around it and then traffic picked up a bit but was still somewhat  slow.   The cause was finally revealed when we came upon the last remnants of an accident being cleared away.  Once passing that we were able to speed up to the normal speed of 100 kph.  What started out in Guelph as a simple three lane highway in each direction quickly turned into a five and then eight lane highway, that is 16 lanes total!!  Thankfully there were no more accidents and the traffic moved slowly through Toronto and points east.  One thing that I really liked are the Ontario Service Centers on the Trans Canada.  They are massive with very large parking lots, service stations, rest rooms and a very nice restaurant area where you can get fast food and Starbucks (Yay!) or Tim Horton's.  These service stations are spaced out very well for the traveller.  The drive from Toronto down to Kingston is very beautiful with green lush rolling hills.  East of Kingston brought a lot more trees and less view of the nearby hills.  Our goal was to get to Lancaster as it is just a few kilometres from the Quebec border.  It meant a 5 hour drive, if no mishaps on the 401.  We arrived around 3:30 to a campground we have previously stayed in.  Lancaster is in the Township of South Glengarry and is on the Saint Lawrence River.  Our campground was in fact right on the river, however our site was up by the road in the mosquito riddled bushes!!  If we were spending more then a night we would have liked to be by the river, instead of being chewed alive!

We unhooked the truck and went in search of fuel. We met the nicest lady at the gas pumps who told us that we should go and shop at the local store called "Henderson's" as it had a great bakery and competitive prices.  She also told us that if we needed beer that we should drive over to Quebec as they had the cheapest prices.  We did go to both Henderson's (which were very nigh prices) and to Quebec so Ray could get some cheap beer.  The beer was bought in a little corner store.  I remember in the 70's you could always get beer in the corner store, and I still find this odd.  The corner store had more booze in it then groceries!!!

     The next morning we left fairly early and headed into Quebec.  Our plan was to get to Edmunston New Brunswick for that evening.  As Lancaster is very close to the border, we found ourselves heading into Montreal within an hour.  Thankfully for us we missed the rush hour.  Now the last time we went through Montreal in 2012, we had noticed how the overpasses were in need of some major repair work as there was visible rebar on the sides and underneath parts of the passes.  This time there was some pretty major roadwork being done.  We were on Highway 20 and had planned on staying on this highway as it should take us just south of the city.  BUT,,,,,,we were in the middle lane with two semi's beside us and missed the turn off to take us out of the city.  The next thing we knew, we were heading down into the longest tunnel that I have ever seen and on coming out of the tunnel we were in the downtown core (or that is what it looked like!!!).  Once again the navigator failed to do her proper duty!  I almost cried!!!  Downtown we go 5th wheel and all,,,but fortunately I had punched Edmunston NB into the GPS before we left in the morning.  So being the not so popular navigator, I hit the previous locations on the GPS and brought up the entry.  Thankfully the GPS once again directed us out of a downtown area.  I am sure by the time we get to the end of this trip Ray is going to fire me as the official navigator.  But honestly,,,, it was the fault of the two semi's blocking my view of the signage.  Part of my excuse is there are no signs in English.  Only in French, which I have to read backwards to understand.  This is my excuse and I am sticking to it!!!

     The rest of our drive through Quebec was very uneventful and beautiful.  We do live a fantastic country with so much to see and so many different landscapes.  Tiny towns with white churches dotted the rolling green hillsides.   The highway itself was perfect and along the way there was signs referencing Upper Canada, as there had also been in some areas of southern Ontario.  Without getting into a long and convoluted history lesson and with the help of Wikipedia,,,,,,,,Upper Canada was created in 1791, to "govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees of the United States after the American Revolution".  On Feb 10, 1841 it was united with adjacent Lower Canada (Quebec was referred to as Lower Canada) to form the Province of Canada."
 
     Ray has promised that on our return trip we will camp outside of Quebec City and spend a day there.  I really do want to see the city even if I can barely make out the signage!!  Continuing east we stopped in St Basile New Brunswick for our first night and then the next morning continued down to Shediac (Home of the World's Largest Lobster) to spend one more night before heading into PEI to see the Kirkwoods.  The campground in St Basile was probably the nicest so far.  The owner was very friendly, the sites large and clean.  They even had a pool but it was a bit chilly for that.

Both of these are taken in the St Basile campsite we stayed in.  That is Kilkenny in my Starbucks mug!

I am not sure really why I like Shediac New Brunswick so much, because small towns don't always appeal to me.  Maybe it is because it is right on the Saint Lawrence River, which is another very large body of water that appears to be the size of a small ocean.  This town hosts an annual Lobster Festival every July, which would be something to see.  The people in the town are so very friendly and so eager to help you and ask where you are from.  Ray is a Legion member and what better place to go to learn about the town and its locals.  After touring Parlee Beach Provincial park and the town itself, we went into Legion Branch 33.  When we came into the Legion, everyone said hello to us.  We asked where we were to sign in and was told that is not required.  Some of the things we learned from this nice small crowd, were the following.  Shediac is an English and French speaking Acadian community and proudly fly not only the Canadian and New Brunswick flag but also the Acadian flag.  As told to us by these fellows, the Acadian people first settled in the area in the early 1600's and they believe that Shediac is one of the oldest Acadian settlements in Canada.  We were told that when the British came to the area in the mid 1700's and mistrusting the Acadians, separated some of the Acadian families and deported them south of the border as far down as Louisianna.   I am sure their could be a lot of bitterness with this group, but none was noted.  One of the fellows we spoke with was born in Shediac but moved to North Vancouver where he lived until he retired.  At which time he moved back to Shediac.  He said the young move away for work but always seem to return to live at some point in their lives. 

When we were leaving the legion, the lady managing the bar very happily gave us two of their Legion Pins.

Lighthouse in Parlee Park

Some old pirate I just happened to run into....

"The Lobster" with the Acadian Flag on the right

Next stop Prince Edward Island...

Until then,

Lori and Ray