Raindrops keep falling on my head.... (don't forget the music)

Driving, forever driving....or at least it seems that way. And all along the way we have enjoyed blue skies and a bit more heat than is comfortable. But finally in New Brunswick, the weather changed and we seemed to be dodging raindrops, and sometimes not! At one point near a little hamlet called Deerville, we got caught in a downpour that slowed all the traffic down to a crawl. Some folks pulled over to the side of the road entirely, hoping to wait it out because the visibility was so bad. We were in behind a big rig and could follow his tail lights. Finally drove out of it and soon passed an oncoming motorcyclist. "Don't go on, go back, go back!", I cried. But unfortunately for him, he didn't hear me. I can only imagine how wet he got.

But in the heat of summer, the fields and forests all around were green and lush and I guess rain like that is the reason why. Maybe we will have to get out our umbrellas after this move.

Ottawa And Government Opinions

We walked around Ottawa a wee bit. Saw the Parliament buildings from the outside. We had Diesel and Lucy with us and because of them didn’t bother trying to go inside. But there were so many people around that we didn’t want to stay in the area too long. But I knew that people would say “what, you didn’t go to the Parliament Buildings and you were there?!” So now I won’t hear that. In fact, we did get a picture of one of the Parliament buildings and if you look down at the bottom, you will notice someone doing what millions would like to do. Of course we did pick up his “opinion” if you know what I mean.

Ottawa is a neat city. I liked the old buildings and I liked seeing how the Rideau canal works. I imagine the residential areas are pretty nice too with many older but really neat homes. That would be sightseeing that I would be more interested in. Seeing the homes built in another era and the lovely neighbourhoods.

That was what I liked about Montreal. So many of the homes are built of stone or brick and are just charming. I like the stone ones best, but Don likes the brick ones a little more. Bob and Wendy’s neighbourhood is nice and feels homey, with gracious little homes throughout.

Tomorrow I will tell you the story about the restaurant we discovered “In the Twilight Zone” . The most peculiar dining experience we had ever had! But that will have to be for tomorrow because it is 1:00 AM here and we are finally pooped. So we’ll see you tomorrow and have a good sleep yourselves tonight. With love to you all…..(xxx)

Not Niagra but still a beauty to watch

Ontario - Very Big!

Hi folks,
Saskatchewan was flat, with waving fields of grain and grass blowing in the prairie wind. Manitoba was greener, with lovely old gracious farms along the way, each one surrounded by wind breaks of stately, immense trees, planted in multiple rows. And Ontario, well, so far my impression is big and very empty. Few towns along the way, and the ones we've passed are little pit stops on the highway of life. Lots of lakes, granite outcroppings everywhere and intriguing places along Lake Superior to explore.

But we could never be long distance truckers. Even after a good sleep, we find that by 50 km we are yawning and the front seats of a Jetta are not good places to take a nap! Don figures that we are averaging 500-600 km a day. Tomorrow to Ottawa then Montreal next where we will spend a couple days with Bob and Wendy. We had planned on going to Niagara Falls, but after looking at the map, we decided that we weren't going to have time because of having to get to Nova Scotia by the 31st. But we have seen a bunch of small waterfalls in Wawa, and so we will pretend they were a bit bigger. What can I say? Plans change right.

But for now I am going to sign off. Til next time...

We're Having a Good Time!

Spent last night in Thunderbay, Ontario. The night was cool, but the days are lovely. Yesterday was a long drive, 800km and at one point we stopped to let the dogs out. We're standing there, just watching Diesel and Lucy, and all of a sudden, Don is saying "we've gotta get back in the car! I'm being eaten alive by mosquitos." Now I know that he tends to be a little melodramatic about stuff like this (it's probably only one or two, so I'm taking my time. Then I walk over to see what he is talking about (he's insisting) and sure enough, I can see the little buggers circling him with little bibs on and a fork and knife in their third pair of hands!

I rushed the dogs over to the car door (which I'd left open), and while I am trying to get hold of the mutts, I can see the mosquitos piling into the car like their next meal depends on it! Finally got the dogs in, cage shut, and Don and I are in, with the doors closed behind us... a couple dozen mosquitos! We got rid of some of them by opening all the windows and the sunroof and blowing them out. And then spent the next few miles, smacking and slapping the rest of them. So that was some of the wildlife on Ontario. We also saw a couple moose beside the road, and I saw a wolf disappear into the woods.

So we are off to Wawa today, and likely there won't be any internet, so we will have to suspend posting for a couple days, but we'll be back (as Arnie would say).

We just pulled into Portage La Prairie

We are pretty beat so it's off to supper and in the morning we'll add more to the blog.

Today we passed through Saskatoon...

Harvey & Sara's Farm in Didsbury, Alberta

Our first night in Didsbury was LOUD, lightening flashing, thunder crashing, not like BC at all. But we did manage to get enough sleep so that we felt pretty good. The next day, Don wandered around outside and took a picture of a new, hairy friend.

Breakfast was compliments of the Harvey Neufeld restaurant, with basted
eggs being the speciality. Don told me to watch how Uncle Harvey made them. I did, but I'm not promising anything. My excuse, I don't have a pan like theirs!

Drove into town and visited Aunt Marie in the hospital. She squealed with delight when she saw me. I was so amazed that anyone would be that happy to see me. My goodness, made me feel good. She is weak, but she had finally gotten her first meal in four or five days and was hoping to go home by Friday. We sat and visited with her and Wilbert, who had hitched a ride from Carstairs, to come and see her because he was worried. They have a sweet affection for each other. We gave him a ride home after because at 90+, catching a bus is not an option.

Later in the evening, we spent some time over at Uncle Davids and Aunt Sarahs. It was her 63rd birthday and they'd just gotten home from a day in Linden. We had such a nice visit with them and the time just flew by. All of a sudden, it was almost 11:30 and we had to say goodnight.

The next day we planned to hit the road again.

Day 2 of Our Travels

We left Kamloops around 10:00 on Tuesday morning. It was already warming up and we were sure it was going to be really warm. I called Aunt Sarah as we were driving and asked if we could spend a couple nights, and of course, she said sure. She’s so nice to take in wayward travelers don’t you think? So because it was a nine hour drive to their place, we only stopped a few times so Lucy and Diesel could have bathroom breaks.

We did take some pictures as we were going through the mountains. This big bridge was being built outside of Golden. Don held his camera out the car window as we were driving under it and clicked madly away, just hoping he was aiming in the right direction. Not bad for “stunt photography” eh?

We arrived at about 8:30 (Alberta time). Spent some time visiting and looking at pictures on Don’s computer, and then bed. Little bit of lightening, but far away. So goodnight, and more tomorrow.

Moving Day!!!

The movers are late!  Are we surprised?  Nah, just exasperated.  But what the heck, we're retired! So it's not like we have to be somewhere in the next half hour right?  We expected them at nine, but they only got here at 2:00.  Bit of a late start, but the minute they pulled that huge truck in across the whole sidewalk, they got to work and man are they good.  Packing artists!  I'll bet you couldn't slip a piece of tissue paper between the items.

Then Don drove his motorcycle up to the locker with them so that they could start on that while I finished cleaning up the apartment.  Just as I was gathering up my stuff there to leave, he called me and what do you think he said?  "Deb, I forgot the keys to the locker."  So that was my cue to speed up my departure and that is another story but I won't go into that here.

Because it was such a goof up and the day was getting so late, Don started helping them carry stuff.  Imagine, helping the movers!  Isn't that why you get movers, so that you don't have to do that?  But we couldn't leave until they were ready to, so what can you do?  Anyway, it was 8:30 when we finally left there and we still had a 3 hour drive to Kamloops where we had a motel room waiting.  Only 7 1/2 hours behind our original schedule.  Having woken up at 5:30, by that time we were so tired that it was hard to imagine a drive yet too.  But we made it safe and sound and bed looked so good.

Enough for now, more to come.....