HE SAID:
We spent two nights on the road again going from Toronto to Winnipeg. This time we decided to go north around Lake Michigan rather then south. We still crossed at Sarnia, and once again we had our chicken confiscated at the Border.
We hooked up with the I75 north just past Flint and headed toward Mackinaw City crossing. We did stop somewhere near Saginaw the first night- Niether of us remember where it was. Just remember a state Park with not much for services.
It was interesting crossing the Mackinaw crossing into Northern Michigan or as the Yoppers say it "Da Bridge:(Yoppers is a UP dialect) So many references to UP. We couldn't figure it out at first but it stands for the Upper Peninsula. Such fantastic scenery. The roads were really good and going west through UP was not busy at all.
We kept seeing signs for Pastie Shops. I said to Pat they must have a lot of strippers in the north...she laughed and explained that they are a certain type of pastry.
We worked our way through Michigan and then into Wisconsin where we made our second stop near Iron Wood. Only spent one night. (a nice pull through).
Next morning we made it to one of my next bucket list stops. Paul Bunyon and he Blue Ox. in Bemidji Minnesota.
I was so excited to see him. We had stopped here often on our treks from Ontario to my mom's home town in Sifton Manitoba. I just remembered him being so much bigger. It really sucked though that the adjoining parking lot was under construction. We couldn't find a place to even park the rv so we had to resort to only taking Pictures out of the RV window.
Headed to Grand Forks our next stop. Wanted to stock up on meat and cheese from Sams Club. Stupid GPS had us by pass the city so we had to back track in a very strong head wind to get back to the city.
Loaded up our supplies and headed for the border. Once again, we had our chicken taken away by the border guards....you'd think we learn.
Got to Vissers around 7 pm. Was much quicker then last year getting the RV set up after Patrick and I gave it a good bath.
It is very comfortable at Beth's. They let us plug into their house power and use their water. We always showered in their basement bathroom, do our laundry for free and of course have all the wi-fi we needed.
I stepped in and took over the cooking which is nice, as I have so much room for cooking.
We settled into a good routine. Kids had school (Jilly only in the mornings so we worked around that). Jillian had Soccer Monday and Wednesday's and Claire had Baseball Tuesday and Thursdays.
We got used to packing up the car, the kids and sunflower seeds and watched the kids at their games. It was nice way to spend a summer evening.
The Visser's did a family duathlon shortly after we got there.
It was so cool to see the kids participate right to the end.
All of us went to Skinners Hot Dog and Ice cream place in Lockport (just north of Winnipeg. ). This is one of our family traditions - even goes as far back as when my Mom just to go there as a young women fresh off the Sifton Farm.
Another tradition is ice Cream at BDI (Bridge Drive In). They have amazing ice cream which you can enjoy on a nice bridge over the river. The kids will always play "Pooh Sticks"...another tradition.
One special treat Pat and I got was to see the final Game of Thrones show -Season 5 on the big screen. We got free tickets and the house was packed. Watching it on the big screen was so much nicer then our little 21inch tv in the motorhome.
One of the fun things we did in Winnipeg which was new and really enjoyable was doing the great escape. We did one with adults only and one with the kids. The adult one was getting out of jail. We started off in two cells and then had to work together to escape before time ran out. We did it, well the other three did, I just did a few things to help. The other three are really excellent puzzle solvers. The next one with the kids, we had to find grandma's treasures. The kids really enjoyed this one, and they were really helpful.
One afternoon while the older two kids were into school we took Jilly and Beth to the new Canadian Museum of Human Rights. It just opened last year and it was really well done. Almost as good as a Smithsonian!!!.
Every Thursday Clark and Claire had piano lessons. It was great that we were able to go to their year end recital. They have come a long way in the first year. They even did a piano duet. So proud of them.
Washing the dogs was a must, staying at Vissers. This kept the house cleaner and reduced the dander for Patrick and Clark.
One Sunday we made a trip to the Assiniboine Park. It was really hot out, but we managed to find some shade to eat our Subway lunch. It is always worth the effort to go to this park. It does have the Zoo attached, but we skipped going this time.
The month actually went very quickly. On Canada Day, we headed home via Riding Mountain National Park. Beth and the kids. We towed their van as Patrick had to work the rest of the week. He would drive our car and meet us on the weekend. Beth got us a spot at the campsite way back in April. Luckily we got shore power, but we had to rely on running our hoses across the street. It was a beautiful spot. Very private and clean. The showers and bathrooms were also very clean. Our site was in walking distance to Clear Lake where the kids spent many hours at the beach.
At night we had some great camp fires. Beth couldn't believe we didn't do fires all the time we were travelling. We just laughed at her!! They are fun, but I really hate the smell you get from all the smoke.
On second day there we took a trip to Sifton Manitoba. This is where my great grandparent, grandparents and my mom lived. I wanted some pictures of the former home of my grandparents and the family gravesite.
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It was nice to see my Grandparents headstone. My grandkids played along, especially when I promised a Toonie for the first one to find my grandparents site.
The day after Patrick got there we were going to go on Clear Lake in a pontoon boat. The weather forecast changed overnight and it called for a wicked thunderstorm. The Vissers decided to pack it in and head back to Winnipeg. We spent the last night there watching old tv shows. Beth said they followed the storm all the way back home.
Sunday morning we packed it up and headed for home. We thought we were going to stop at Moose Jaw for the night, but we got there at 2:00. We decided to push it all the way home, arriving in Lethbridge about 7:30. It was a 12 hour drive, but it was nice to get back home.
SHE SAID:
I will start by defining Johns acronym - UP is the Upper Peninsula. It was a beautiful drive. As I prefer the quieter roads, I loved being off an Interstate. The trip to Winnipeg was uneventful. We had one experience driving along the byway when the road was closed. No notice, no detour signs - just closed. We experimented trying to get around the blockade by driving through a mall parking lot, but to no avail as it was a long stretch of construction. We flagged a woman down in the lot, who was just getting into her car. I am grateful for very friendly people. She acted as our pilot car, getting us through the town and around the construction. It was about a 10 minute detour with a number of turns - not sure what others did to get around, who weren't from there. Very strange - I guess not a lot of people from out of the area drive through.
It was great to visit at Vissers. The kids are growing up so fast! During our stay I also went to lunch with Carol Ladd - a friend from when we lived in Winnipeg. John and I also went to Wayne and Nancy Drozdowskis' for lunch. Kathy Smith was also there. Nancy, Kathy and I served in the Relief Society Presidency when we lived there. It was great to spend some time catching up! I am not a person who keeps in touch very well, once we move, but love to see old friends. Looking back at our Winnipeg time in the 1990's these are the people who helped me keep my sanity :)
I think I have a new passion - the escape rooms. We beat both of the rooms we went to. The second one, Grandma's Attic was a real triumph, as we beat the best time out by about 10 minutes. YAY us!! John certainly understated his contribution to our escapes. (unfortunately, the website for our big win never was updated - not sure why!)
When we were at Riding Mountain we also spent part of a day trying to geo cache. I don't think we did too badly, however I do think that spending some time reading the instructions better. We never did find the cache at the end.
Time goes so fast and after Riding Mountain it was time to return to Lethbridge!
