Go East Old Man Part 1

It's June 21 and the car is packed, our dog Stewie has been brought away and we have said goodbye to our good friends. We are ready. Everyone should travel across their country once in their life. We have driven from Ottawa to the Atlantic, and now we complete the journey, from the west coast to Ottawa. After a lousy autumn, and long, snowy winter, and a dreary, wet spring, the forecast promises sunny skies and warm temperatures for the next week at least. So this is the time we choose to head to the cool, rainy prairies to start our trip.

June 22 - That stupid alarm rang way too soon! We were up at 5:50AM and drove out of the garage at 6:45. It was a clear, sunny day and traffic was great. There were a lot of construction zone because there is work under way to widen the highway between Kamloops and Banff. We drove until about 20 minutes past Revelstoke. Joanie wanted to stop for lunch in Revelstoke, (we packed our own), but I vetoed this to find a nice lookout in the mountains. We settled for a pullout with no view whatsoever, because her diabetes was acting up and her voice was getting a little tense. Not long after we were under way again we passed a few nice lookouts.  As we approached Revelstoke it clouded over but the temperature was still about 18 to 20.  The CDs we made for the trip did not work in our player, but so we enjoyed the beautiful mountain views without music, which was OK too.  We arrived in Canmore about 4:45 local time, so the trip took us 9 hours. After walking to Safeway to pick up lunch for the next day, we went to Boston Pizza and low and behold, the first CFL game of the year was on TV.  Good timing. We got news in the evening that Stewie was settling in nicely and made a new best friend in Bob.

June 23 - Today Joanie grumbled about the stupid alarm clock due to the noisy A/C which kept her awake. We had the buffet breakfast at the Ramada Inn and hit the road by 8:45. The mountain tops were covered with fresh snow and it had rained in town. The sun played peek-a-boo with the clouds most of the day and the temperature soared to 20 degrees at times. However, as we neared the Saskatchewan border, the wind picked up. It may have been 20 degrees but that wind would make a penguin shiver. It felt like winter when I gassed up in Swift Current. This was only my second fill up and I was pleased about that. Gas prices dropped to 90.9 in Calgary and averaged about 92 cents everywhere else. Wildlife was a little disappointing in Banff, due to the high fences along the highway. We did see two herd of mountain sheep near Golden yesterday, and another herd on the rocks a few kilometres out of Canmore. There was a nice ram with beautiful curled horns. The rest of the day I did see several flocks of white pelicans, several pronghorn antelopes, and many gophers.

We said goodbye to the mountains and hello to the rolling foothills to Calgary. It is incredible that the TransCanada Highway becomes just another slow avenue through Calgary. It took about 45 minutes to get through the city. After that it was a breeze. We continued to see rolling hills with some flat expanses. We were actually quite surprised with the prairies. We expected to see long straight, flat stretches of highway and flat wheat and canola fields that spread to the horizon. We heard so often about how straight and boring the prairies were. Instead we found it quite nice. Mostly the land was much like the rolling hills near Calgary, and there were large expanses of pasture land, large ponds and sagebrush. The highway had enough dips and curves to keep it interesting, although cruise control worked very well here. Out intent was to stay in Swift Current but some last minute research, which was confirmed when we got there, was that there is nothing of interest in Swift Current except a casino. We decided to carry on to Moose Jaw, another 168 km. away. We arrived by 5:30. After dinner and watching a football game, which went into overtime, we still did get out before sunset to see what used to be the world's largest moose, until those nasty Norse people built a larger one. We also drove through downtown which took a minute. Joanie really looked for the classic grain elevator and the little old cottage or barn in the middle of a field. There were none, and every little cute dwelling was on the wrong side of the highway, confirming Joanie's belief that the day was conspiring against her right from the opening alarm. One attraction in Moose Jaw is to see the underground tunnels that gangster Al Capone used when he was bootlegging booze from Moose Jaw to the U.S.  We would need to wait for opening until 10AM tomorrow to do this, so we decided a better alternative was to drive south 12 km. to where an original grain elevator still stands. We will see tomorrow. This of course changes my itinerary and expected layover spots, but everyone knows how flexible I am!

June 24 - This is being written following a viewing of the BC Lions opening game loss, so my outlook may be less than positive. Much like how the Lions ended the day, we began the day with the power being out. This made our free continental breakfast less than appealing, and we ended up at McDonalds. The morning went well and we had success! We drove 12 km. south where we found an old grain elevator which was still standing. Joanie got her photo shot. On the way we came across several white pelicans posing by a stream. We returned by taking a small, dirt farm road. We found a variety of birds sitting on fences, some of which I did not have good photos of, like the bobolink and meadowlarks. So, a good start. The only other wildlife of the day were the many gophers, a brown thrasher outside our window and a coyote running along a train track. The weather started sunny and clear and became overcast, with many nasty storm clouds threatening but only giving us some sprinkles. However, that prairie wind is something else. The temperature gauge may read 15 degrees, but it felt like winter outside.
We spent some time in Regina, visiting Mosaic Stadium, home of the Riders, downtown, and a park with a view of downtown and the legislative building. The outskirts of Regina were slow because of road construction, but for the most part, driving was great. Since BC, with the exception of going through major cities, Highway 1 was a divided highway with two lanes in each way, and you could travel at any speed. There were long stretches with only a vehicle or two in sight. Through Saskatchewan we continued to see rolling hills. Once we got through Regina and throughout Manitoba, at least until Portage La Prairie, the landscape became more what we expected, flat with many kilometres where the road went straight into the horizon. Manitoba did seem moister, with a lot of pools, reeds and trees. At first the trees looked almost stunted and the leaves looked like new foliage, while they became more mature and darker green towards Portage.
Portage, named for the spot where early canoers would portage to get from the Assinoboine River to the Red River, had a nice island with walking trails in town, but for the most part it seemed depressed. Not my choice as a place to move to.

June 25 - Today we actually got our free breakfast at the Super 8. It was very disappointing. The waffles were pre-made and had to be toasted. I passed on that for a bagel. It had garlic in it. Not my favourite flavour in the morning. Joanie stuck with toast and jam, a better choice. Coffee was what the Dutch call canal water. It was sunny and warming up when we left Portage La Prairie but we could see black clouds and rain on the horizon. We were soon in Winnipeg. Highway 1 goes right through town and downtown. We took a detour to visit Investors Group Stadium, home of the Blue Bombers, which is located on a university campus. We drove around downtown and parked. We walked a few blocks to Portage and Main just as it began to drizzle. By now it was cool and Joanie found a MEC store because we did not pack enough warm clothes. We were soon done with Winnipeg and realized that perhaps we are spoiled in Vancouver. The area just wasn't appealing and plans to have lunch downtown were abandoned. Instead we headed out and found a McDonalds on the outskirts.
The temperature gauge in our car went crazy today as it hopped between about 18 degrees when the sun was out to a low of 10 degrees through the many downpours we passed through between Winnipeg and Dryden, Ontario. We also passed through probably 50 km. of construction zone as they were repaving the highway in Manitoba. Unfortunately, the divided 4 lane highway ended just before the Ontario border and in Ontario there were many kilometres between passing lanes. However, we found the traffic, including the many semis, traveled at a very good speed and passing really was not necessary.
The flat fields ended soon after Winnipeg and were replaced with short hills and forests that lined both sides of the highway. Into Ontario rocky outcrops of the Canadian Shield dotted the landscape along with many small and medium sized lakes. We had been warned that the driving would become very boring in Ontario, but so far we would disagree. The landscape was quite beautiful and the downpours kept you on your toes.
Gas prices have certainly fluctuated by province in a surprising way. Alberta's average price per litre was about 92 cents. Saskatchewan had similar prices, with some areas as low as 90 cents. In Manitoba we found prices as low as 88.4 cents in lots of places. In eastern Ontario the prices soared up to 109.
We chose Dryden as our stop because of out late start from Winnipeg. It's main feature was two pulp mills and a little suspension bridge across a river across from the mills. We were soon done with sightseeing. We hurried to go out for dinner because we assumed we were now on EDT and it was getting late. During dinner we learned that the time zone change is somewhere between Dryden and Thunder Bay, so it was still an hour earlier. That gave me an extra hour to think about our dinner. The family restaurant offered a prime rib special which Joanie ordered, the last one left. I ordered the $12 monte cristo.  Joanie was warned that they only can do the steak medium or well done. Apparently the steak was quite good but did not look like anything special. When the bill came we discovered that the special was $26! Good, but not that good. We wanted to pick up some groceries for lunch, so looked up groceries on the GPS. We were directed to an IGA store. We arrived at an empty lot. I guess people in Dryden don't cook.

June 26 - Well, winter continues. We had a relaxing morning, sleeping in until 8:15, and as usual we left with sunny skies and promises of a better day. We discovered Dryden people really do buy groceries since there was a large grocery store a few blocks away that my GPS didn't know about. Before noon the storm clouds descended once again. Some of the cloud bursts were so intense, that we could hardly see the road in front of us. And it was cold! To add to the excitement, I did not want to fill up in Dryden since we still had over a quarter tank of gas. What they do not tell you is that there is very little between Dryden and Thunder Bay, and some communities on the map were nothing more than a motel. No gas station. There were signs for a small place called Upsala and the fact that there were signs counting down the mileage every 20 km. made me think there must be gas in them thar hills. I was confident we had enough gas to get there, but as we were within 20 km., the needle hit the last mark before empty. If there was no gas station, we might be stuck somewhere 50 km. or so out of Thunder Bay. Of course, I did not share this with Joanie, who was blissfully napping. There was a gas station in Upsala! Even though the price was $1.32 per litre, well over the average price in Ontario, I put aside my Dutch instinct to refuse to pay that much.
We went to another Super 8 motel in Thunder Bay because online reviews were better than some of the other cheap motels. Mistake. It was grungy. The night table looked like it had not been dusted in weeks, and I decided not to use the coffee maker because it looked gross inside. Maybe it was due to hard water, but I was turned off. We should have clued in when several guests who checked in all had a case of beer under their arms.  We decided to minimize our time in our room and drove to a waterfront park for a walk and a view of Lake Superior. After a short little circuit we got caught in another downpour and decided to wait it out in the car. Soon the sun was back and we went for a nice walk. Then we visited a lookout. Seriously, how much of a lookout can you get in a relatively flat city. We did a longer walk by Boulevard Lake, a local park, before going for dinner at Boston Pizza, which seemed relatively safe. The forecast for the rest of our drive as well as in Ottawa up to July 1 was much of the same crappy, cold weather.  Grrrr.

June 27 - Things were looking up today. We both survived our night in Thunder Bay and the old couple with braided ponytails down to their waists did not attack us at breakfast. In fact, for the first time ever I was in such a deep sleep that I missed the alarm going off several times, and Joanie getting up and changing. She had to shake me awake. Drugged maybe? We left again with sunny skies and warming temperatures which suggested a cool, early spring day, but by lunch time the dark clouds rolled in again and the temperature plummeted to 10 degrees. However, today it did not rain and the sun returned, even though it was still only 12 degrees with a chilly wind. It did hit 20 at one point, briefly, while we were driving.
The drive today took us over the top portion of Lake Superior and down the eastern side. It was a pretty drive in spots, with winding roads, scenic views of the lake from time to time and interesting rock formations. Much could also be described as similar to driving up to 100 Mile House, except with more greener and the odd lake. We were prepared for a monotonous drive based on feedback we received, but much like the prairies, it was much better than expected. The real monotony was the innumerable construction projects we passed through. For a while we seldom drove more than 5 to 10 km. between construction zones. It improved after lunch and I even drove about 80 km. without seeing one vehicle in our lane. It seemed everyone was escaping the cold and heading to B.C.
We arrived at our motel, Parkway Motel, a very nice, neat motel just outside of town, at about 3:30. We were very happy with the accommodations. Wawa seems to have an obsession with Canada geese. They have a giant goose at the info centre, overlooking the highway. We ran into people at a info centre where we ate our packed lunch who had just come from Wawa. They said the giant goose statute was being replaced with a new one. They saw the old one being taken down with a crane yesterday, and the new one was to be installed today, and covered up for a big unveiling on Canada Day. This was a big deal in town. We arrived in time to see the goose being welded onto it's platform. It was not as picturesque with what looked like a man sticking out of its butt. Later we saw that it was covered with a tarp. We got the lowdown on the things to see in town, and visited two beautiful waterfalls, a Lake Superior lookout and a sandy beach where AY Jackson, one of the Group of Seven painters, did many paintings. We also walked in the bush to see a cemetery where some of the pioneers were buried. Seems they were not revered judging by the fact that the site was just a open area in the woods with only two old grave stones sitting on a slab of wood. Not sure why this justified a tourist site. We did see two cranes along the road which was cool. We drove into town to check out the many eating establishments and settled on Tim Horton's, the only real choice. We then went to the waterfront to do the heritage walk and see the coloured doors (?) as suggested by the info centre staff. It was not much more than a short walk along the shore of Wawa Lake and the back yards of houses. Some locals Joanie talked to said the houses referred to in the brochure were taken down at least two years ago. Someone needs to let the info people know. Visit the cemetery instead. However, all in all it was a good day.      

June 28 - 26! That's how high the temperature was by the time we reached Sudbury today. Even the gathering clouds at noon soon dispersed. My decision to wear shorts for the first time on this trip was vindicated, although with the wind, it still felt cooler than that. We left Wawa and drove through Lake Superior Provincial Park. It was beautiful and did remind us a little of Banff without the mountain backdrop. We even saw a bear. And Joanie spotted it! The drive to Sault Ste Marie was quite nice and relaxing. After the 'Soo', things changed a little. The road became more like B.C., where vehicles back up on the single lane road and there is a jockeying to get ahead of the slow traffic. Not as relaxing. We drove along the top of Lake Huron, so saw little views of the northern bays, but mostly we saw mixed coniferous and deciduous forests, which would have been OK, but so many of the deciduous trees looked dead, giving the landscape a dreary look. As we approached Sudbury, the ground became quite rocky, with mounds of rock scattered on the landscape. My expectations of Sudbury were not very high, and expectations were met. It was a drab, desolate looking city and I have never seen city streets in worse condition. A smart car would disappear in some of the pot holes! The highlight of the city was the giant nickel. The smoke stacks of the refineries were the highest I have ever seen. We stayed at the Radisson downtown which was quite nice. We thought of grabbing dinner in the food court of the mall next door but after walking around the neighbourhood and in the mall, we decided we wanted to eat out, like out of the neighbourhood. We even saw a drug deal go down right in front of us when we were in the car at a light. We found a nice Irish pub a few km. away and had a nice meal.

June 29 - Our stay at the Radisson was good, although many of the TV channels did not work. We woke up to rain. The whole day in fact was like driving in pouring rain at dusk because it was so dark. Any plans we had to find a nice view point to eat the bagels we bought at Timmy's for lunch were shattered. Instead we got gas near Petewawa  and made our bagels in the car, in the parking lot beside the restaurant. It was a dreary day and it was difficult to comment on the landscape which was often shrouded in water spray or clouds. It did not appear too exciting though. We arrived in Ottawa to crawling traffic just past where the Senators play hockey, but then it cleared surprisingly well. We arrived at Joanie's brother's house at about 3:30. The forecast for the next few days including July 1 is for rain showers and thunder storms. At least my winter clothes can get a washing now while my summer clothes stay clean.

June 30 - Today was the start of family reunion time. Joanie's sister from Alberta arrived before dinner and Leah was to arrive the next day. The day started with pouring rain but did taper off later. We decided to visit the Diefenbunker, an elaborate underground bunker, four floors deep, that was designed to house and protect the most senior, and important people in the country, excluding their families in the event of a nuclear attack.  Prime Minister Diefenbaker had this built in secret at the height of the cold war with the Soviet Union to ensure that leaders were protected to restore law and order and the functioning of society after a nuclear strike. It was based on the possibility of a direct hit on Ottawa. Very interesting. The rest of the day was spent with family.

July 1 -  Canada Day 150 began with us getting up at 6:30 to pick Leah up from the airport in the driving rain. There was much discussion about the activities for the day due to the weather. Plan A was to go downtown and visit at least one museum if the rain continued. We parked at Joanie's brother's work, which was about a 15 minute from the Parliament Buildings. When we got there the rain eased up and we decided to check out the myriad of activities around Parliament Hill. It was quite peaceful where we parked but there were lots of people in downtown. After getting some freebies, (you could even get a red turban made for you, which we passed on), we tried to walk to the Parliament Buildings. The road was blocked off and the sidewalks were wall to wall people. We could not get further than the Rideau Canal because of barricades. We saw lots of snipes on building tops and a police presence everywhere. Prince Charles and Camille were to arrive for opening ceremonies, so we had to wait 30 minutes. We did get a glimpse of them when they came by. We then tried to make out way back to the park where we started, against an ever growing flow of humanity heading for the Hill. It took us twenty minutes to walk about one block. We enjoyed Beavertails for lunch and tried to get a glimpse of Bono, who was to perform one song at the stage in the park. The best I could do was to see him on a screen from some distance as we made our way in that direction. Our niece's son, who was learning the bass guitar, was playing with a band at Petrie Island, a park close to an hour away. We decided we should show our support by going to listen, so we headed there for the afternoon. There were many musicians taking turns performing as part of the music school, and so he only performed one song while we were there. Then we went for dinner at his parents' house. At about 7:00 we saw some dark clouds in the east, in five minutes later there was a torrential downpour. The forecast was for it to clear by 10, so we went to downtown anyway to see the fireworks. There was lots of thunder and lighting on the way, but when we arrived at the parking lot by Joanie's brother's work, it stopped. By 11 when the fireworks started, it was clear. The fireworks were great. Getting out of the parking lot later was also great, as in great chaos. It to quite a while to get out. Cars were lined bumper to bumper to get out, and you had to inch your way out of the parking spot and force your way into the line. It was not for the faint of heart. We still got home by 12:30, which was not too bad. The next few days will be filled with family reunion activities in Ottawa.