Boy, it sure rained a lot overnight. We decided to go to the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. We stayed at the Museum until 3:30. It is a beautiful 8 story building with a panoramic view of Winnipeg from the top floor. The stories all relate to human rights issues for women, native peoples, the Holocaust, etc.
From the view at the top, we noticed the train station so we walked through it and looked around. There was some interesting architecture on the walls and ceiling.
The Forks Market was nearby so we walked over to see the different food vendors. It smelled really good in there. I wanted to see the river so we walked down past The Forks Historic site to the waters edge.
The boardwalk was closed so we headed back to the truck and home for dinner.
May 30. Monday. Thunder Bay to Kenora, actually Winnipeg. Today is our 35th Anniversary.
We shipped out just before 9 and shortly thereafter stopped at Kakabeka Falls. This is the 2nd highest waterfalls in Ontario. In the parking lot ($3.00), we ran into 2 other couples in RV's also going to Alaska. I think we will likely see them again.
A photo op presented itself in the form of Husky the Musky ( a 12 metre wood, steel and fiberglass statue) down by the harbour. Husky is a symbol of the environment as well as the frequent record breaking catches in this area.
The drive to our campsite outside Winnipeg was completed safely and we were all set up and watching hockey by just after 9 (actually 8 o'clock here). We will be here for 3 nights.
May 29. Sunday. Thunder Bay
Another drizzly day but our adventure must go on. Oh, no! We had a bit of set back when I asked Carl where the passports were. This led to the discovery that our passports had been left at home. This meant we had to contact the boys, contact the trailer park in Winnipeg, locate a courier drop off at home that was open Sunday and make all the arrangements so that we could get them delivered from Markham to Winnipeg when we get there is two days. This whole process took until noon after which we finally headed over to Fort William.
Fort William was really amazing. The guides are all dressed up, have authentic back stories and don't want to veer from them. All the buildings are authentic and staffed with people who know the history of the clerks or voyageurs who worked at the fort. They are also actively doing their jobs with occupations such rifle repairs, and making barrels. For food growing purposes, there is also a farm on the fort with roosters, chicken, sheep and goats. The rain started again toward the end of the afternoon but we were leaving by then so, all was well. I would recommend this place as a very authentic 1816 experience.
May 28. Saturday. Thunder Bay
Today turned out to be a rainy, miserable day. Exploring the 25 acre Fort William site in the rain did not sound like fun so we opted to stay inside in the morning and watch some previously recorded tv. We learned how to make decaff coffee and that f you swallow your gum it will go straight through you. We also learned that Canadians invented the Robertson screwdriver, plastic bags and bear proof garbage containers.
After lunch we went to see the Thunder Oak Cheese Farm. They make only Gouda cheese here but many varieties. The store also carries a lot of other Dutch products. We sampled a lot of the cheeses and bought some extra old, garlic and black pepper flavours. I also got a Saskatoon berry flavoured creamed honey that looked really interesting. Since the weather was still damp, we did some shopping at Canadian Tire, Marks WW and Dollarama and then returned to our trailer. The left over chicken from Wednesday was turned into a chicken stir fry for dinner which we both enjoyed immensely. Looking forward to tomorrow when it is forecast to be partly sunny, partly cloudy and we can see Fort William.
May 27. Friday. Hearst to Thunder Bay
We left Cecile's Campground at 9 and headed west to Thunder Bay. An hour into our drive a young moose lumbered across the highway in front of us. What a sight!
There was often a smoky smell permeating the truck interior due to kilometres of what appeared to be roadside controlled burning. We can only speculate the reason for this.
Around noon, another slightly older moose crossed our path. So far today I have already seen more moose here than I saw in 3 weeks in Newfoundland. Also along this route is much logging going on, specifically clear cutting. I also saw a baby black bear in one of the rest stops as we were driving by. It took 2 1/2 hours to see the first town on this highway today.
Lunch was had at a pretty roadside stop beside a lake but it was a few minutes until the blackflies drove us inside the trailer. Good thing we went inside because just then it rained briefly.
Closer to Thunder Bay , there is a lot of highway construction being done. It appears they are straightening out the road and expanding the number of lanes. This involves blasting a lot of rock. I imagine it will take years to complete all this work.
The price of gasoline has gotten progressively more expensive and is around $1.18 a litre here.
We drove over a newer bridge and I think this is the one that was in the news that broke last winter??
May 26 New Liskeard Cochrane Hearst
We pulled out of the parking lot at 7:30 en route to Cochrane and just as we were leaving we spotted a giant bison made of metal.
A detour was made to Kirkland Lake. KL has a population of 10,000 and a substantial "downtown". The main street or "mile of gold" has apparently been buiilt of gold-bearing rock (you can't tell). Returning to our original route we passed through a pretty small town with an interesting name; Swastika.
Outside of Iroquois Falls, we encounted a giant lumberjack
so we stopped for a photo op as we did in Cochrane with the giant polar bear.
Upon leaving the Polar Bear Habitat, we tried and eventually found the Tim Hortons Event Center after stopping twice for directions. The Tim Horton Museum is a small room with all kinds of Tim Horton memorabilia; even a chair from the old Toronto Maple Leafs Center.
You know it gets cold in Kapuskasing when GM has their Cold Weather Research Statio Station there. We saw the building on the way through. Another indication of the cold winter is the large number of RV Dealers out here as well as, the number of Rv's in home owners driveways. It would seem those who can, go away for the winter.
We arrived in Hearst and are spending the night at Cecile's Trailer Park before moving on to Thunder Bay tomorrow.
May 25 Heading out. Markham to New Liskeard.
We are finally leaving on our cross country tour. It has been months in the planning. I must confess to some trepidation about this trip. I wonder if being away from home for so long will be difficult for me (I will miss my boys). I also wonder about the kinds of challenges we might face. I have read about rough roads, dirt and/or mud, dusty conditions, forest fires and the lack of facilities in the more remote regions. I also find myself excited to see the many attractions I have documented. A few examples include seeing wildlife in Alaska, driving to the Arctic circle in the Yukon, seeing the town of Vulcan and, the Tyrell Dinosaur Museum in the Alberta badlands.
After completing our last minute packing and hugging Adrian one last time, we left Markham to begin our grand adventure. We just drove for the whole day north too Kirkland Lake. In North Bay we stopped for lunch and I popped into the Tim H's to use their wifi. Our GPS had been unable to locate the RV Park we were supposed to stay at. That is when Google told me that that park has been permanently closed so, we had to come up with a plan B. Fortunately, I had a back up overnight on my list and tonight we are staying at the Walmart in New Liskeard. This is quite a good sized town with many amenities aside from the Walmart, such as McDonald's, Tim H's, Subway, Canadian Tire, and a Chevrolet dealer. There seems to be quite a bit of agricultural research being carried out judging by the signs in several places. We are an hour short of where we intended to be but tomorrow we will have to make it up.
