Still in Ontario!

Hi Everyone:

We are still in Ontario and Yes it is one big Province!  We left Thunder Bay in the rain and it has been raining for the last 5 days, so we just kept on moving.

I takes 10 hours to get from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie, which is driving along Lake Superior.  The drive in beautiful, and the lake is huge.  It is full of islands and lots of little bays where people have their cabins and houses.

Doug has noticed that most Ontario drivers never speed.   The speed limit has been 90 on most of all the highways we have driven on, and everyone seems to be content to go at that speed, not like the highway between Edmonton and Calgary!  Another thing we have notice is the terrain has been rocky, they had to blast through rock to make the highways.  On top of all these rocks are small
inukshuk's that someone has placed.  We have noticed them all the way from Sioux Narrows to Sault Ste. Marie.  Some have fallen down but most are standing directing where to go, kind of nice!

We also noticed that like Alberta, many of the small towns have a symbol that they are proud of, or that they are trying to attract tourist.  Much like the huge Kobasa in Mundre.  Here is the giant Canadian Goose in Wawa, Ontario.  The lady at the camp site was so proud of this LOL

We try and stop every so often if it looks like something good to see, as we were passing through a small town called Bruce Mines, which is on Lake Huron,  we saw a marina, so we stopped to check it out, and on the pathway to the marina we saw a Alligator Snapping turtle that was the size of a dinner plate.

Notice he has a tail like a Alligator, has a blood sucker hitching a ride on his back and this species are protected.  Needless to say we did not pet it, so we did not see him snap!

He was quite far from the water, so not sure exactly what he was doing, or where he was headed!

We headed for North Bay because it was on a big lake called Lake Nipissing which we thought was strange name, and a good reason to go and visit.  At the tourist information we find out that North Bay is where the Dionne Quintuplet where born! Who would have thought!!!

This is the house where to Qunits were born on May 28 1934, and has a lot of their original furniture and cloths.  This lady had 14 children! OUCH!

The Qunits combined weight at birth was only 13lbs. 6oz. and they had to be kept in incubators for the first month of their lives.  Their lungs were so small that diluted doses of rum were required daily to help the Quints breathe properly.  One of the main reasons that Doug and I try to have rum daily!
It was a one in 57 million chance of giving birth to identical quintuplets and even less chance of them surviving, but the Dionne Qunits did.

What we found fascinating was that when the babies were 4 months old, the government took them away from their mother and father and used them for tourism.  The government built a big house, a hospital and a play arena, just for the children.  Twice a day paid tourists sat in the play arena and watched the girls play.
The government was making tons of money. The quints attracted 3 million visitors to North Bay and area during the peak years of the Depression.  It was not until the girls were 9 years old that their parents, though a court order, finally got them back.  Two of the five are still alive today.  The girls did not get any of the money that was made exploiting them.  In those days the government could do anything it wanted.

We also went to a Air Show in North Bay, as we found out, it was Arm Forces Day. I think more than half the town was there, we even asked if it was a holiday!

 They have a big CFB Base and we saw a CF-18 fighter jet put on a show for everyone.  I must admit the sound did scare both Doug and I at times.  We also went to their small farmers market and bought some Maple Syrup, that was made locally.  The price is the same as home, no deals to be had here.

Another thing we also notice is the provincial camp grounds are very expensive.  We are in Algonquin Prov. Park right now, and the price is $50.00 a night with power.  The one thing that is different is that all the showers in the parks are free, and all the parks have a paid washer and dryer to use.  The sites are big, but some are very rustic and are need of some TLC.  You need to buy your fire wood, which is also expensive, at $8.00 a crack for a small bundle ( of which is green wood).
The private campgrounds are about the same amount of money, some even cheaper, but not as private.

this carving was outside of a Information Center

Goose and her goslings out for a stroll 

The weather now is hot today, so tomorrow we are headed for Ottawa to check out our Capital.
Take care
Doug and Judy

Lake Superior and more

Hi Everyone;
After Kenora we went south to Souix Narrows which is on Lake of the Woods.

 Lake of the Woods in the second largest lake in Ontario.  It boarders Ontario, Manitoba and Minnesota.  At its widest it spans 65 miles north and south and 55 miles east and west. There are more than 14,500 islands and the shore line exceeds 65,000 miles. The average depth is 26 feet but there are areas more than 150 feet deep.

So what do 2 old folks from the prairies do?  Well, you rent a boat and go exploring this huge lake!
That is what we did! we rented a boat for half a day, packed a picnic lunch (no beer or wine) and off we went exploring.  We got a lesson on which side of the buoy's red or green to go on, and the boat thank goodness had a GPS on it or else Doug and I could still be out on that lake touring around.

There are huge homes and summer cabins on this lake, as well as a lot of fishing going on.  We had a lot of fun, I wanted to go fishing, but as Doug informed me - I would have to buy my fishing licence,
buy a fishing rod and bait, put the bait on the hook, catch the fish, un hook the fish, clean and filet the fish, cook the fish and eat the fish all on my own - he of course would drive the boat.  So I decided not to fish.
We left Souix Narrows and went through Fort Francis which there was nothing we could see there so continued on to Quetico Provincial Park on French Lake.  We found as you can see in the picture below the most amazing place to camp, and watch the sunsets.

Notice the beer and wine waiting for us!

What can you say about this????  No words!

There was only one other couple in the campsite that we could see.  Great place to just sit and read.
Next we left this place and headed to Thunder Bay.  We were told by Scott at Kenora to camp at
Kakabeka Falls camp ground which is 30 km west of Thunder Bay.

These falls are amazing they are the highest waterfalls in northern Ontario.  The falls are on the Kaministiquia River and drop 40 metres on its way to Lake Superior.  Thunder Bay has a population of 109,000 which is bigger than we had thought.  It is on the west side of Lake Superior.

 and we were told you have to see the Marina as that is the highlite of the city.  So off to the Marina we went, and really it was nothing great to see.  They boost about the art work around but it is nothing much.

This suppose to light up at night - Art work at its best I am thinking!

LOL what can we say about this statement??? LOL

The most interesting thing that we found is the memorial for Terry Fox.
The memorial is located close to where Terry Fox ended his journey across Canada.
Terry Fox was trying to run across Canada for Cancer research.  He completed 3339 miles, running
26 miles a day.

That is Lake Superior in the back ground

Lake Superior is the largest of the great lakes, while thumbing though the many pamphlets we seem to gather I came across this.  In Lake Superior there are fish called Lake Sturgeons.  They are the largest freshwater fish in the Great Lakes.  They can attain lengths of up to nine feet and weigh more that 300 pounds.  Another reason that I am not fishing :)

Tomorrow is June 01 and we will be hitting the road again for Sault Ste. Marie and will update the blog in another week or so

feel free to e-mail us to keep us posted on what is happening with you at

jkboorse@hotmail.com

we would love to hear from you also

Thanks Ben, Carson and Caitlin  for following us on the Canada Map
Take care everyone
Judy & Doug

Sask & Manitoba

Cheers;

We are finally on our way East.  Started off by driving to Calgary to drop Ben off at home after he spend a few days with Grandpa and Grandma spoiling him.  We spent the night at Pat's Doug's sisters and Bruce his brother also was there, we had a lot of laughts and catching up to do  Then we are off to lovely Saskatchewan.  It was highly recommended to go to the tunnels of Moose Jaw where the legend Al Capone used these tunnel to make moonshine whiskey 90% proof.  The reason that Moose Jaw was selected as the legend states, is because the railroad came direct from Chicago and the line ended at Moose Jaw........who would have guessed????

 How many times in ones life time that you can say you stood beside a giant Moose!
This was of course in Moose Jaw!

Sights around Moose Jaw - nice old Ford

 The real Al Capone in the centre

The wanna be Al Capone (and no we did not buy this hat!

These were not for sale but showed what they were selling back in the day.
During the tour they were actors playing the part of reliving the days of bootlegging and toured you inside the under ground tunnels but you could not take any pictures inside.

After that we got in 9 holes of golf at the Lymbrook Golf and Country Club.  Was in rough shape and we both played terrible, but Doug got to try out his new irons.

We left the next day and driving along Highway #1 to make time, out of nowhere we see this huge wall of white, and a big pile of white stuff between the highway and on both sides of the highway
Your first thought is SNOW!  it was right beside a huge lake or slough? no signs so we had to backtrack and find out what it was.  The town was called Chaplin, and as it turned out it was Sodium Sulphate aka SALT! right there in southern Sask, go figure.  They had a big centre there explaining the process.  It comes naturally from the nearby lake and they have 3 draining pools that they fill all summer long and harvest the salt in December each year.  They use this salt for laundry detergent, fertilizer, but not used for table salt.  They have been doing this since 1948, they first had 300 hundred staff and now have 35 because of technology, the guy at the centre likes to tell Americans that it is Snow that they make incase they don't get enough during the winter months...Sask humour at it best.

 Look how  high the salt piles up between the highway

This is the processing plant

We had to stop at Wolseley Sask as all along the highway they were telling us about the famous swinging bridge......Yes it was a swinging bridge across a lovely pond...famous hard to say?

On To Manitoba, they weather has been hot and humid, around +30 or so, we decided to go to a provincial park south of Brandon called SpruceWood Provincial Park.  It was flooded out in 2011
and just this year starting to open up, about half of the campground is open, would be a great place once it gets back to what it can be.

This is the view of the sunset of the Assiniboine River out our back door

Our camp site was huge and no one around us.......except........wood ticks!

Then of course with in being at the camp site for less that half hour, a wood tick crawled up my arm
so I had to educate Doug on wood ticks, as their antenna's will burrow into your skin and they suck blood until they are the size of a nickel.  They start out the size of a head of a match.  You can't squash them, so in order to kill them, you need to burn them.  If you find one that has burrowed into you, you have to touch it with a hot match and it will release itself.  Ticks are found all through Ontario and Manitoba May to June.....so now everyone is up to date on wood ticks.
This picture is for Sandy and Brian Lee....remember the day??????

Woke up to rain today so started off to Kenora, we by passed Winnipeg as we are trying to avoid all big Cities.  Still cloudy and cool today but found a great camp site right on one of the lake of the woods.  This is the view we are looking at right now, and of course enjoying a great glass of wine!
So far retirement is great!

We will try and post a new blog once a week, but it all depends on access to the internet.
feel free to e-mail us or text us at 780-914-5691 of any news or gossip we should know about.

Till later
Doug and Judy

Leaving Edmonton May 20

We have our trailer home now, and have been busy packing for our long journey East.
We will be leaving Tuesday May 20, driving to Calgary and dropping off Ben at home, then onward East.  We will try and update this page every week and keep everyone posted.
We are both very excited and looking forward to learning more about this great country
chat soon
Judy