Total Road Trip Kilometres Travelled: 10093 Huntsville – Wawa
Wawa – Winnipeg
Winnipeg – Cranbrook
Cranbrook – Vancouver
Vancouver – Sechelt
Sechelt – Vancouver
Vancouver – Butte
Butte – Gillette
Gillette – La Cross
La Cross – St. Catharines
St. Catharines – Huntsville
We arriving so late into St. Catharines with my judgement and decision-making ability impaired. There was a gap in the vertical blinds and I knew I needed to sleep-in to try to catch up on sleep. How to block the sun in the morning? I know! I’ll hang a blanket up over the valance curtain rod to block it – perfect! Now, find a blanket, stand on a rickety chair to drape it, and viola! It wasn’t until the next morning I realized that the blinds weren’t broken, they were just open. I just needed to pull the strings.
I wonder sometimes about the lack of sleep medical professionals deal with – I can’t even figure out blinds, let alone deal with an emergency.
August 7th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: After years of making effort to prepare foods to accommodate my brother-in-law’s and nephew’s allergies, I discovered that all they wanted was a bag of marshmallows. Raw, not cooked. Just marshmallows. Straight from the bag. Sigh.
Greetings From Cranbrook, BC and the Levang Motor Inn!
Hours Door to Door: 15
kms travelled: 1525.3
Money Spent: $124.56
We had a plan – we were going to sleep in, enjoy the gym at our fancy hotel, eat breakfast, then hit the road for day 3. That all changed when Emile woke up early feeling refreshed – and with a thin wallet – and said “I think we can make it all the way today”. It wasn’t a bad idea, we had about 1.5 days of driving left and it felt silly to stay the night 4 hours away from our destination. So, plans changed – out of bed, in the shower, stop at McDonald’s, fuel up and head out of Winnipeg with a song in our heart.
Just a note here – for anyone who hasn’t had a McGriddle in a long time (like me) – they are as wonderfully terrible as you can remember a sandwich made with syrup pitted pancakes to be. And the Higgins and Burke Earl Grey tea was excellent.
There are those that will tell you driving the prairies is boring, but for me, I love it. The vast expanses, the fields of yellow and purple, the multiple tiny towns gathered on the highway’s edge and the land filled with grain elevators, silos and even small oil pumps. I also love that as a province, Saskatchewan refuses to change their time for Daylight savings – if it is 11:00 am in January, it’s good enough to be 11:00 am in July. They just opted out. I didn’t know you could opt out of Daylight Savings time. – I should try it in the Spring ahead and get my extra hour of sleep. Just like the city of Creston, BC who as a town refused to change their clocks – they are right on the timezone line, otherwise that could be problematic.
I also love that Western Canada seems to have an end to their cities. There isn’t outskirts for even most of the major cities – suddenly its upon you and just a quickly you are through. In Ontario, we stretch and spread beyond the city limits, and now it seems that Barrie to Niagara Falls is one unending path of human construction.
We stopped at a little bakery in Indian Head outside of Regina. I ordered 3 “jam jam” cookies and savoured them as we continued our drive. Actually, I didn’t savour them at all, I ate them as quickly as I could. Emile’s Long John – and I am talking about his chocolate covered pastry – disappeared pretty quickly also.
We missed any restaurant that appealed to us in Lethbridge, so ended up at Jimmy’s Drive Thru in Bow River about 40 kms past. Type of place that really doesn’t care about the service levels – just takes care of business. We ate our burgers on the go as we continued our trip through Alberta.
Do you know the speed limit in Saskatchewan and much of Manitoba is 110 km/hour? You’ve got a four lane divided highway with 5 km visibility. I wonder if they ever have accidents there? In BC a twisting mountain narrow 2 lane highway speed limit is 100 km/hour. I think one of these provinces need to consider adjusting. As Emile was passed several times by the locals, we enjoyed the reemergence of the mountain ranges, and I felt the familiarity of home.
This is where we’ll stick for some time now before carrying on to Vancouver and returning to Huntsville via the United States. It’s not very often that you take a picture of the welcome sign for three provinces in one day – it’s nice to have a break from driving.
July 13th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: Photo Credit Susan – that’s right! Not Emile!
Greetings from Wawa, Ontario and the Algoma Motel!
Hours door to door: 10
kms Travelled: 797.4
Money Spent: $131.92
After a relaxed departure at about noon today, we barely made it 10 minutes out of town when the car (by itself I’m sure) turned into The Windmill Bakery. It’s a wonderful bakery that is run by a Dutch woman out of her house. Yes! Another Dutch Bakery. In Huntsville! That I had never heard of! Wow.
We purchased 3 items for $5 and we got a free loaf of “mystery bread” – made with leftover dough. Emile immediately ate his butter tart and declared it “one of the best he’s ever had”. I managed to save my “blueberry star” until after dinner. So Good. Windmill Bakery – We’ll be back. Especially for mystery bread. (which was torn apart as we ate it in hunks during the day)
The roads are quiet with it being mid week, so it was an easy and relaxing drive.
July 11th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: (photo credit Emile)
Clouds over water in Lake Superior Provincial Park
The Daily EO 