August 14 - 17, 2011 - Back to Canada and into Ontario

After Michigan we dipped back into Canada through Sarnia - very simple Border crossing - every crossing is different and all the questions are different.  We just go with the flow!

We enjoyed traveling through some side highways of Southern ON onto the Niagara Peninsula.  Amazingly the neat little farms and towns butt right up against the paved 2 lane highways.  We didn't have to make too many U turns - but enough to keep up our skills in that department. We crossed over the Welland Canal and found a tidy little campground just between Niagara on the Lake and Niagara Falls.  We skipped the falls (we've both seen them before)  but loved Niagara on the Lake plus a tour of Ft. George where we were immersed once again in early Canadian history and the importance of strategic placement of defence forts etc.  The Geography of Eastern Canada has always been confusing but this trip is clarifying how the pieces fit.  Ft. George was a pivotal and strategic point during the war of 1812 -  the only time the USA and Canada were at war.  The Niagara River flows into Lake Ontario and Ft. George was on the Western shore (Canada) while Ft.Niagara was on the Eastern shore (USA).  One can clearly see both Forts from either shore.  The border is down the middle of the Niagara River.

The interpreters in period costume at Ft. George did an awesome job  - first a marching drill and raising of the flag, then a musketeers demonstration (Sandra missed the finer points of that one but Barry got a lot out of it!), then a talk about women during this era and their trials and tribulations - amazing - the descriptions of their routines etc - mind boggling - especially the hair styles copying Queen Charlotte - a huge basket on the head with hair swept up and groomed with grease or fat to hold it in place.  These grooming routines could take 5 - 6 hours so they kept the same hair do for a week or more till the lice and vermin became unbearable and they would have to take it all out, bathe, and wash and start all over again!!!

After Ft. George we strolled the delightfully quaint streets of Niagara on the Lake and amazingly got tickets for one of the plays of the Shaw Festival (tried for a discount due to name similarity - didn't work!!) - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - excellent show - very well done - and suitably strong characters playing the roles.

Before the theater, we managed to work in a 12 km bike tour along the Niagara Parkway & Escarpment  bike trails.  Very relaxing and fun - not having to worry about traffic - just ride.  While camped in this area we were serenaded every night by tree frogs and then every morning at 6 AM the bird guns started popping - to scare the birds out of the orchards - needless to say this really frightened Buddy as he must have thought it was thunder - very frightening for a little Bichon!

Canon at Ft. George - Niagara on the Lake (NOTL)

Musket Firing Demonstration at Ft. George

Oldest and only original building at Ft. George - the Powder Magazine built in 1796

Adult Potty Chair at Ft. George!

Underground tunnel to the block house for strategic surveillance - it was amazingly 'cool' to walk through here.

Old fashioned game of checkers at Ft.George

Ft. Niagara (USA),  viewed from the banks of Queens Park in Niagara on the Lake

A quaint building in old town Niagara on the Lake

An  example of 'floral art' in Niagara on the Lake

Tennessee Williams'  "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" - Shaw Festival 2011 - an excellent performance!

Cycling beside the Niagara River along the Niagara Parkway!

Taking a break from cycling along the Niagara Escarpment!

Next will be our adventure across New York State, Massachusetts, and Maine.

August 12 - 14th 2011 Midland Michigan

Barry with Devin & Lisa on the dramatic Red Bridge in the Dow Gardens of Midland, Michigan

Another view of the 'Bridge'

Enjoying the Dow Gardens with a Glass Sculptures spotted throughout the Gardens - note above Barry's head

Love these 'old trees' - X two!!!!!

Frankenmuth, Michigan

Before leaving Michigan, we visited Sandra's Nephew Devin and wife Lisa in Midland.  It is an absolute understatement to say that they are awesome hosts and we thoroughly enjoyed some visiting time with them plus an enjoyable tour of the Dow Gardens and Frankenmuth (a Bavarian village nearby). 

Next post will include Niagara on the Lake and our journey across New York State etc. East to Nova Scotia to catch the Ferry to Nfl.

August 6 - 11th, 2011 Michigan

After a delightful drive through Minnesota and the Northern tip of Wisconsin, we entered the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan - and paused for a couple of days to visit our  new MI friends the Anderson's who we met in AZ - and who are our favorite AZ doggie sitters.  Buddy loves them and so do we!  It was nice to kick back and tend to a few household chores and just visit.  We were very impressed with the neatness of all the properties as we drove along Hwy 2 through all 3 States - neatly groomed / mowed and trimmed.  We decided that dealers in lawnmowers and boats (there are an amazing number of lakes and waterways) must do an awesome business in this part of the country.

After our enjoyable pause on the UP we toured over to the Mackinac (pr. Mackinaw) Bridge area and camped in a lovely campsite on the South shore of lake Huron near Mackinaw City (spelling difference is deliberate).  This area has a lot of history dating back to the early 1600's and earlier.  The phrase "from furs to fudge" is common  to describe this area - early fishing and fur trading and now tourism with fudge factories and fast food etc. - fishing and the the fur trade were big in the early years then the benefits of tourism helped restore and re - create the area that was once known as Michilimackinac Island (now wrap your tongue around that one!!!!!) and Straits (before the bridge was built between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron). 

We took a jet boat ride over to the island where motor vehicles have been banned since 1898 - so it has  an amazing ambiance of character and odor - 400 - 500 people live on the island full time and in the summer there are about 700 horses (most of them winter on the UP) serving all kinds of necessary work tasks on the island - freight, waste management, taxis, private vehicles etc.  They even have a honey wagon going around picking up you know what!

"Honey Wagon" on Mackinac Island

We enjoyed a guided horse and carriage tour around the area then explored a bit on foot including the Grand Hotel (124 years old) before heading back to the mainland.

Our Mackinac Island Transportation

Arch Rock on Mackinac Island

Three HP when we encountered more hills

Transportation leaving the Grand Hotel

Mackinac Bridge (Opened in 1957) over the Mackinac Straits.  A brief 6 week ice bridge affords snow machine connection between tthe Island and  the he mainland each winter

After Mackinac we paused again to visit new friends we met in AZ but who return home to summer in MI - The Bertossi's - and they just happen to have links to a couple of awesome golf courses so we enjoyed a round of 18 holes of golf - and got to blame Joe for the tough greens as he just happened to help build them a few years back!

Next stop - Midland Michigan

August 1 - 4 MB, Minnesota, Wisconsin

Next we found an awesome little campsite in Stonewall, MB just North of Winnipeg and considering it was the long weekend we were fortunate to get the 'last spot' at the Stonewall Quarry RV Park - a former limestone quarry.  The town has done an amazing job of creating heritage / cultural center on this spot and have a guided heritage walk through town where one can see the preserved old limestone block buildings - over 100 years old.  We parked here for 3 nights and enjoyed sights and tours in and around Winnipeg.

First was Lower Ft. Gary just North of Winnipeg - and the  'lower' confused us until we realized that it referred to being 'down river' from Upper Ft. Gary which was near the Forks right in Winnipeg.  The Red River flows into the Hudson bay.  The Ft. is well done with many interpretive characters in period dress.  The day we visited they were commemorating the signing of Treaty One with the First Nations people which occurred back in 1871.

The next day we toured the Royal Canadian Mint and were amazed to learn that they can produce up to 20 Million coins in one day.  Our circulation coin is actually a steel plug which is then plated with nickel and copper.  Collector coins are higher grade silver / gold and are stamped 3 times for with the image as opposed to one stamping for the circulation coins.  Seventy two countries from around the world also contract with the Mint to have their coin made.  Any Canadian can submit design drawings for our coin - and amazingly an 11 year old did submit a drawing once that was selected for a coin issue. The Mint makes twice as many pennies as any other coin because people hoard them for throw them out.  They basically make coin to replace the coin that is taken out of circulation.  Paper money is made under private contract with two companies out of Ottawa.  The Winnipeg Min makes the circulation coin and the Ottawa Mint makes the collector coin.

After the mint we toured the Forks and strolled the promenade along the river where there were many interpretive signs.

We crossed the Border at the Pembina Crossing just South of Wpg.  Had to answer all kinds of questions like where we lived, where are we going, for how long, what are we doing, who are we visiting, how long have they lived in the USA etc. etc.  Lost some citrus of course and then had to have an inspection by an Agricultural Specialist - lost some more produce - tomatoes and peppers and uncooked rice (a new regulation) due to the possibility of Kharpa beetle infestation.  They were pleasant enough and gave us a copy of all the regulations.  Just go with the flow.

After the border we drove through the area where Sandra's Ness ancestors came from.  It is quite marshy and yes we can see why Grandpa Ness considered the land unproductive when he decided to move his family to AB in 1906.  The town of New Folden where he was from was very young at the time.  They just celebrated their 100th in 2004 (1904 - 2004).  This whole area was settled by mainly Norwegian Immigrants in the late 1880's to early 1900's.  The entire state of Minnesota is heavily populated with of German and Norwegian  origin.

Campsite at Ashland, WI on the shore of Lake Superior

Ore dock on Lake Superior in Ashland, WI

Sunset over Lake Superior

Lake Superior sunset.  Kids and ducks swimming, couple of gents enjoying!

One last shot of the sunset - awesome!

Stonewall Limestone Quarry Kiln

Limestone block City Hall - 100 + years old

Limestone Quarry block Post Office in Stonewall - > 100 years old.  Prairie style by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright

York Boat at lower Ft. Gary.  Could carry 2 T of freight

Outer encampment at Lower Ft. Gary

An interesting candle in the Governors house at lower Ft. Gary

Thought it was a book press, but it is how they made "copies" of letters or documents in those days!

Thickness of the limestone block walls!  Cool in the summer but frigid in the winter.  Every room had a stove.

A wannabe Freight Liner - He Barry - just modify Big Blue!

Royal Canadian Mint

Gold weigh scale at the Mint - could not take pictures in the plant!

River almost overflowing its bank at the Forks in Winnipeg

Another swollen river in Morris, MB

One of many sections of 'construction' that we have encountered so far!!

We spent one night in Minnesota then crossed over into Wisconsin at Deluth along the Southern shore of Lake Superior.   We found the most awesome campsite (huge campsite space - they could triple their density if they wanted to)  right on the lake-shore at Ashland, WI.  We are en route to the upper arm of Michigan where we will pause for a day or two.  Enjoyed an incredible sunset over Lake Superior.  Temperatures here were in the 85 F with high humidity.

July 29 - 31

Next we toured over to Moose Jaw and enjoyed an awesome tour of the tunnels under the streets of old MJ - in two parts - first of which was the "Passage to Fortune" tour about the Chinese Immigrants who lived and toiled in an underground laundry business.  An awesome tour but very heart wrenching.  Up to 9000 men were suddenly unemployed in the late 1800's when the CPR was completed - and there were no support systems in place for them - so to survive some of them filtered into small prairie towns like MJ to find work where and when they could.  Discrimination was rampant in those days so the underground life was a means of survival in a hostile world!  The second tour was through a series of tunnels used by Al Capone and his cronies - to support their rum running during the era of Prohibition in the USA.  This tour was pretty much hokey pokey but entertaining all the same.  There was a direct rail line from Chicago to MJ - called the Sioux Line - that was the main transportation link for his booze smuggling business. 

After MJ we stopped for a couple of nights in Regina for a wee bit of visiting and a tour of the RCMP Heritage Museum - an awesome tour and a must see for anyone passing through Regina.  We were lucky to get in on a Sergeant Majors parade followed by a guided tour of the Depot - lots of information and history.  Then we did our actual self guided tour of the Museum.  We enjoyed refreshing our knowledge and understanding of the settlement of the West in the late 1800's to early 1900's and the very pivotal role played by the RCMP.

Golden Lab - 3 yrs old, a gift to the RCMP from the Queen.  Note the logo on the collar!

Mounted riders at the Sergeant Major's Parade

Beautiful stained glass behind the alter in the chapel

Oldest building in Regina (1873) now serving as the Chapel at Depot

For Barry - tractors mired in the mud in a SK field - a reminder for Barry!

Prairie Giants - many of these along our route!

We finished off our first week with a jaunt over into MB - camping at a campground on the edge of Brandon - the only one open as the other two had been washed out by the floods.  We had to alter our route due to a washed out highway.  Our next destination was just North of Winnipeg.

July 25-28

Canola fields with lots of surface water

Cypress Hills Winery

Tasty Winery lunch

Abandoned character service station in SK

Our first week was spent in SK visiting Mother Dot of course with a side trip to the Cypress Hills where we discovered the most awesome little winery absolutely in the middle of nowhere - but how quaint and first class - they grow their own fresh produce for lunches and grow their own climate compatible grapes and other fruits for their wines.  We enjoyed a very classy / tasty lunch on their patio overlooking the hills.  The fields are awesome by the way - lush crops, beautiful blooming Canola and the flax just starting to bloom.  Hay crops are lush.  But lots of evidence of the heavy rains and flooding.