Greatest Moments

In spite of all the grandeur of the Rockies, vastness of the prairies, business of Chicago, and wonder of all the places we visited, it is the little things that have provided the greatest moments of the trip, and will provide the greatest memories moving forward. Just like life, the best things truly are the little things. Here is a chronological list of, some, of the best moments I had on our trip.

1) Afternoon Sun in Kekuli Bay

Our first weeks adventures with rain have been well documented on this trip. It wasn't until we got to the Rockies that we truly left the rain behind and enjoyed the sun for the final 30 days, give or take. Our first night in Manning Park required a 10 minute tarp set-up and dinner crouched on the ground beside the picnic table, rain pouring down. Our stay in the desert of Osoyoos even brought rain each afternoon. However, the first afternoon at Kekuli Bay provided a beautiful afternoon, free of even clouds. Haifa and the boys hung out beneath a tree while I set up our tent, being sure to stop every 2 minutes for a sip of water. After getting the tent up Zaid and I went for a walk down to play in the playground and then to the dock to look at the water. We even saw a rattlesnake curled up in the grass having a rest.

Enjoying the Sun at Kekuli Bay - Notice the Ouzo

2) Walk up Johnston Canyon

After a long (for us) day of driving from Revelstoke we pull into our campground at Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park in the mid-afternoon. After getting out of the car Zaid immediately requests that we go on a walk and so we, desiring a stretch of our legs as well, oblige. We initially decide to just go to the river flowing by the campground and walk along its side. Soon we are crossing back underneath the Bow River Parkway and across a little footbridge over the river. We get caught up in a stream of people and find ourselves along the Johnston Canyon walk. The route was short, about 1 km, but was amazing. The path either goes alongside the edge of the canyon or right over the river itself, attached to the rock wall itself. We end up at the lower falls and had a great time getting misted by the falling water. We reward our good luck with a soft-serve Vanilla Ice Cream when we get back.

Lower Falls in Johnston Canyon

3) Herbert Train Station Museum

The longest travel day until that point was the drive from Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park in Southeast Alberta to Regina in central Saskatchewan. We decided to pull off the highway in the town of Herbert to look for a park with which to picnic. We follow the signs to the visitor centre, usually the best bet to find a picnic table, and stop for lunch. Much to Zaid's delight the visitor centre also doubles as a train museum, complete with 3 old train cars that are fully accessible. It proved VERY difficult to keep Zaid at the table and interested in lunch as all he was wanting was to look at the trains. I wolfed down my sardine sandwich and went with him to explore the trains. We were only there for about 45 minutes but we all had a great time looking at all the trains had to offer.

Zaid sitting in the Caboose

4) Windy Lake Michigan

The day had been planned as a relaxing day to account for the blah feeling that had enveloped us all the day before. A morning thundershower simply reinforced the idea of a slow and relaxing drive down to Port Washington, Wisconsin. We set off around 11:00, ready and willing to take multiple stops along the scenic Lake Michigan route as we saw interesting things to do. The first indication that things were a bit windy was the drive, the car was fairly difficult to control with the crosswind pushing the car towards the shoulder. Then, we turn a corner and come into the town of Algoma, right on the shore of Lake Michigan. The lake looked like a stormy ocean, we could not see the other side and the waves were rolling in thick and white. We park the car and hop down the stairs, wind gusting into our faces and blowing our hair (and us) every which way. It was exhilarating and thrilling and gave us a great jolt awake from our malaise. It was a great 10 minutes, just what the doctor ordered.

Haifa and Owen enjoying the wind

5) Chicago Dance Party

I have written about this in a previous post and so will simply quote the paragraph again here. 

I was putting Zaid to bed this evening when all of a sudden I hear faint bass beats wafting up from the streets below. They didn't seem to bother Zaid, but my curiosity was piqued. I recalled having walked by a stage advertising a free dance party during the summer this morning and put two and two together. After getting Zaid down (or at least I thought) I headed outside to see what was going on. There was a dance party, and it was awesome. There was probably 500-800 people and all of them were dancing. From young parents with their children to old couples in their 70s, from the stylings of the "Chicago Dancing Diva's" to the stylings of rhythm-less middle aged white people, from girls in tie-die shirts to guys in basketball jerseys, from Indians dancing Banghara, to me tapping my foot and bobbing my head, EVERYONE was dancing. The whole event was free and lasted about 2 hours. It was funded completely by the government, with no form of sponsorship anywhere. This is a city that does things right.

Dance Dance

6) The walk from Addison Station to my seat in Wrigley Field

I get off the packed train at Addison Station and immediately see what appears to be the back of Wrigley Field. I see stairs leading up to doors labelled "box seats" and stands above. I don't really have time to look further though as the throng of baseball fans (mostly Cubs, but many Cardinals fans as well) is leading me down the stairs to the street below. The street is FULL of people and they all seem to be going to the stadium, or to a local bar first. As we make our way the half block to the stadium I realize that what I thought was the stadium was actually houses across the street. It seems that they have built their own stands and charge people to watch the game from across the street. 

We get closer and closer to the stadium and the yells of "tickets for sale" and "water $1 each" grow more frequent. Then, all of a sudden, the stadium is there. From the outside it is very hard to tell that a baseball team plays inside, as it fits into the neighbourhood perfectly. I guess this happens when the stadium and the neighbourhood can grow up with each other for a century.

I make my way through the throng to will-call and pick up my ticket. It is in my hands, Cubs-Cardinals, at Wrigley Field. Within minutes I will be in my seat looking at the ivy covered walls I have seen so many times on TV. I have been waiting for this ever since I became a baseball fan at the age of 5, watching the Blue Jays play the White Sox with my dad at old Exhibition Stadium.

I slowly walk around the crowd outside, taking the atmosphere in. I notice a quartet of musicians in Cubs uniforms playing and stop for a listen. I take out my phone and take the obligatory tourist photo of the original Marquee and work my way in. The ticket-taker scans my ticket and I am in. It takes some time to figure out where I am going as Wrigley uses aisles instead of sections that I am used to. However, I quickly realize I need to go up the ramp and so slowly make my way up. 

As I get to the top of the ramp I notice a row of seats right there and get a bit confused. However, the stadium is so small that there isn't really a concourse, simply the start of the seats. I grab a beer (Labbatt Blue, since I despise Budweiser and Coors) and make my way to my seats. The game doesn't start for another 20 minutes and so my section is pretty empty to start. I take in the ivy-walls and the Cardinals warming up in front of me. I take in the friendly joking around between Cardinal and Cub fans, I take in the vendors yelling out "Cold Beer" and "Ice Cream" and I am happy.

My first view of the field

7) Evening Swim in Whiteshell Provincial Park

This entry is not in chronological order; I have saved it for last. This was the single best moment of the whole trip. 

We had found the beach earlier in the afternoon but didn't have our swimming stuff with us and so decided to come for a swim after dinner. We get our gear on, swimming diapers for the boys, and trunks for us, and head out on the short 5 minute walk. We arrive at around 7:00 to a near empty beach and get our sandals off, shirts and hats off, and towels out. Then we run to the water and play. For about 45 minutes we are in pure bliss. Chasing Zaid, splashing Haifa, getting splashed by Zaid, walking out to the deeper parts, sitting with Owen in the shallows. The whole time, we all have huge smiles on and are laughing. There were absolutely no worries our thoughts in our mind, just the water and the swimming.

The beach earlier in the day. We were having too much fun for pictures during our swim

 

The Best of Times and the Worst of Times

August 3, 2012

We have been in Toronto now for 2 days and are pouring ourselves into the house search. We have a couple of very nice leads on places and a few more viewings set up for the weekend. With any luck we will be in our new home by the middle of the month.

This post is going to be a review of sorts of our trip from my perspective. I will be talking about my favourites and least favourites, bests and worsts, and so forth. Onwards Ho!

Best Campsite:

This one is easy, the best campsite we had by far was at Caliper Lake Provincial Park in Northern Ontario. We had a large grassy site situated directly on the lakeshore, nestled amongst the trees, and away from the road. We could not see the campground road from our site. Combined with the lack of fellow campers anywhere near us and we had this beautiful lakefront site that felt like we were in the middle of the woods.

Campsite at Caliper Lake

Best Campground:

We had a few very nice campgrounds - Kekuli Bay in the Okanagan and Kinbrook Island and Elkwater in Southern Alberta come to mind as quiet places with wonderful ammenities and large campsites, or as is the case with Kekuli Bay, a wonderful view. However, the best campground overall was Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park. I devoted a whole blog post to this campground and so won't go into too much detail. I do want to emphasis the quality of the washrooms - they were fully heated which helped immensely with the cold mornings and had the most powerful hand blowers I had ever seen (they even caused ripples in your hands).

Kekuli Bay Provincial Park

Worst Campsite and Campground:

This one is also very easy - Bleriot Ferry campground just north of Drumheller, Alberta. On our first drive around this place it wasn't all bad, there was lots of grassy campsites and it was situated right on a river. However, it was only after paying our fee that we realized how horrible it was. There was no shade at all for most of the day, resulting in us moving our camp chairs around the tent to keep up with the tent-made shade. There were horrible neighbours who were loud and rude and a mother who berated her children from the moment they arrived until the moment they went to bed. The washrooms looked like they hadn't been cleaned in a week. The water required a 10 minute boil to get rid of bugs. The river was brown and dirty and located behind a mud pit. Worst of all were the mosquitoes; they were relentless and numerous. We awoke in the morning to find our usually white tent black with mosquitoes waiting between the tent and fly for us to leave. It was so bad that even the mosquitoes thought there were too many mosquitoes; they were chasing our car down the exit road trying to hitch a ride out of town. We were so very thankful to get out of that place and glad there was nothing even close to as bad for the rest of the trip.

Worst Driving Experiences:

I cannot differentiate between two moments, thankfully both of which were pretty short. First up we have a 5 minute drive south from Nakusp, BC back to our campsite at McDonald Creek. There had been heavy rain all day and it was only getting heavier as we headed out onto the undivided highway. Just out of town we ran into some pretty heavy fog that was the source of the stress. If we were on a city street going 50 then we would have had enough visibility, but being on a windy highway with a 100 KM/H speed limit proved to be too much. I slowed the car down to 80, but was nervous to go any slower in case someone behind us was going too fast in the fog. After about 2 minutes I began to get very close to having a panic attack, but there was no place to pull over and leave enough room for cars to get by. Haifa was great in helping me calm down and a couple of minutes after that we came down a slight hill and exited the fog, giving us a much easier final 5 minutes to the park.

Navigating Downtown Milwaukee Freeways

Secondly we have a 1 mile stretch of freeway in downtown Milwaukee. We had just got back on the I43/I94 going south and were one of about 4 new lanes that had joined a 3-4 lane freeway going south. This would have been stressful in and of itself but within a mile, or even less, we had 4 of the lanes exit to various parts of downtown or other freeways. This resulted in hundreds of cars travelling in 7 lanes, and all needing a new lane within a few hundred feet. Cars from the far left were changing 6 lanes of traffic at once, trucks from the far right were doing the same. As soon as a free car length appears in a lane drivers on either side jump at the chance to change lanes into its spot. And, because this is a freeway, this was all going on at 65 MPH (or 105 KMH).Thankfully the insanity was over quickly and we were back to the relative ease of a 3 lane freeway.

Best Drive:

The best drive was short, perhaps about 20 minutes of the highway from Vernon to Fauquier in BC. This road crosses a mountain range on the way from the Okanagan to the Kootenays region. The last 20 minutes or so you plunge down this windy road from the tops of the mountains to the valley floor and a ferryboat crossing the Arrow Lakes. Rising cliff on your left and plunging cliff on your right, snippets of river below and views of mountains all around. This was fun driving in a beautiful setting and nothing before or after came close.

Best City:

While we spent a majority of the trip camping in the wilderness, we did take time for hotels in a number of big cities along the way. Perhaps city is a generous definition for some of these locations, but I am considering Kelowna, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Duluth, and Chicago as the cities we have visited. We had an amazing time with our friend Joanne in Calgary, loved the Urban feel of Winnipeg, and were amazed by the beauty of Duluth, nestled between a hillside and Lake Superior, however there is no contest, Chicago was the best. Both Haifa and myself have written entries about our time in and enjoyment of Chicago and so little else needs to be said. Its been a week since we were in the city and we are still excited about our short visit

Worst City:

Apologies to all of our friends from Saskatchewan, but Regina is pretty crappy. The "city" is tiny and seems to be only full of non-residents. On Friday evening the 4 block downtown area was completely empty of any living soul except ourselves. Each restaurant we came across was closed, save one. Outside of downtown there is really only strip malls and big box stores. The place is really a place to avoid and we don't intend on voluntarily going back. I think an exchange with the front desk clerk at our hotel indicates the kind of city it is. When we asked for a good place to eat close by she suggested McDonalds or Chili's. Picking the lesser of two evils we asked where Chili's was and she said we would need to take our car. Preferring to walk, we were quite surprised to find it across the street from the hotel. Any place that people recommend you drive, and not walk, across the street is a place to miss.

Downtown Regina, Friday Night

Best Animal Encounter:

Thinking back on all the animals we saw this has proved to be a very tough category. We saw a van hit a deer in the Okanagan (not good, but memorable), we saw a black bear crossing the highway on the Arrow Lakes, we crossed under a bridge and came across 2 Elk in the Rockies, we drove right up to a group of fighting Mountain Sheep in the Rockies, we were greeted to our campground in Whiteshell Provincial Park by a male Deer sauntering in front of the car. However, the most amazing encounter for me was at Good Spirt Lake in Saskatchewan. We had seen a mother deer with her two babies a couple of times around the park earlier, but as I set out to find the garbage I would have a close encounter. I turned the corner from the road to the washroom path, not really paying attention to where I am going. Suddenly, right in front of me, and I mean RIGHT in front of me, was the deer family. I stood still as the mother carefully and slowly, eyes always on me, sauntered a mere couple of feet from me, closely followed by her children. I could have reached out to touch her, but a combination of trepidation and respect held me back. As soon as they were clear, they bolted and ran off across the street and into the woods. It took quite a while for me to catch my breath afterwards.

Buck greeting us to Whiteshell Park

Worst Animal Encounter:

This one comes from our last night of camping, in Wheatley Provincial Park just a bit southeast of Windsor, Ontario. Haifa was in the tent with Owen and I was puttering about outside. I was just crossing in front of the tent door when I saw the tail end of a snake slither into the woods right in front of me (and our tent). I stop dead in my tracks as it was easily the biggest snake I had ever seen outside of a Zoo. Unfortunately, Haifa had seen my reaction and, not wanting to lie, I had to admit to seeing a snake. This made Haifa, how has a phobia of snakes, deathly scared for the rest of the evening and kind of ruined the last night for all of us.

To add insult to our situation, a family of raccoons decided to join us for our campfire later that night. I was in the tent putting Zaid to sleep when I heard Haifa say "Go Away Raccoon" in a loud and stern voice. After Zaid was asleep the raccoon returned with 2 others and got halfway into our campsite before we noticed them. I got up with a jump and banged our fire poking stick on the ground, scaring them to the edge of our site. A few more bangs on the picnic table drove them far enough away... or at least we thought. After we went into the tent for the night we heard them come back and inspect our chairs and stove and other items left out (no food items). It made for a pretty tense night by all of us raccoon-phobes.

Best Natural Attraction

We were so blessed to have witnessed so many incredible places in this great country and continent of ours that it is so hard to pick just one. Instead, I will provide a short, and not exhaustive, list of some of our favourites.

Kalamalka Lake in the Okanangan Valley, BC
Takkakaw Falls in Yoho National Park, BC
The interplay of mountains and clouds in Banff National Park, Alberta
Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta
Canola fields, Saskatchewan (and Alberta)
Lake of the Woods, Ontario
Caliper Lake, Ontario
Lake Michigan, Wisconsin (in particular)
Countryside of Southwest Ontario, Ontario

Banff National Park

Best Attraction made by Humans:

We went to numerous museums, zoos, aquariums, galleries, etc. and enjoyed nearly all of them. We didn't want to go see 25 art galleries though and so made a conscious effort to visit a variety of different types of attractions. Looking back now, three of the places we visited stick out: Royal Tyrell Dinosaur Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, Soudan Underground Mine State Park, Tower, Minnesota, and The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan.

Each of these places provided a great example of the different things we experienced at all of the places we visited. The Royal Tyrell Museum was breathtaking. Filled to capacity with numerous dinosaur fossils of full and nearly full creatures, each step of the way brought us face to face with some new amazing creature to look at. Soudan Mine was something we stumbled upon and would not have even heard of it had we not randomly picked a campground from our map book. The place fully encapsulated the sense of joy we had at stumbling across some hidden gem in some tiny town. We got to walk all around an old mine and learned a tonne about old-school Iron mining and the region of Minnesota that we were visiting. The Henry Ford was full of artifacts from history that provided a surprisingly strong sense of reverence and respect for the major events of North American history.

Soudan Mine

It is late in Toronto now, and I have already filled this post with too much stuff. I will thus split this into two posts. Coming soon will be a summary of the best moments I had over our 40 day exodus.  

Day 40: Arrival

We Made It!!!!

Day 39: Home Stretch

July 31, 2012

Today is the last night of our trip. At this time tomorrow we will be in our new hometown of Toronto, relaxing with my Sister and Brother-In-Law and (hopefully) booking a bunch of viewings for places to rent ASAP. For now, though, I am sitting by the campfire in Wheatley Provincial Park, about 30-45 minutes South-East of Windsor on Lake Erie. We have gone all out for our last night of camping, purchasing two bags of fire wood, having fire roasted Smokies for dinner and S’mores for desert (we have had these twice, on our first night camping and our last). Given the heat and humidity that has stuck with us this trip; I don’t think the extra heat was such a good idea though.

Our friend’s mother happens to live in the nearby town of Wheatley and invited us over for the afternoon after we had set up the tent. It was a wonderful time on the porch of this beautifully large yard, the adults drank iced lemonade and ate melon in the cooling breeze while Zaid had great fun filling up a yogurt container with water from the hose and dumping it on his head. Our very generous host sent us back to the campground laden with fruits and veggies, and a beautiful blueberry pie that will be part of lunch tomorrow.

Crossing back into Canada turned out to be very quick and simple. After my experience driving in downtown Milwaukee, with the 4 lane freeway turning into 8 and then 4 again, I was a bit nervous driving down the freeway in another large US city. This stress, combined with my previously mentioned stress of crossing borders made for a very stressful time. I had done ample research the night before and determined that the Detroit-Windsor tunnel would be the best route. I’m not sure how the Ambassador Bridge was, but there was no need to stress about the tunnel. There was next to no traffic on the freeway or in the tunnel, as we zoomed through customs in just a couple of minutes. We all breathed a sigh of relief to be back home in Canada so easily.

Our day started with the final big attraction, the Car Museum (technically called the Henry Ford museum) in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. This turned out to be well worth the visit. Not only did it house close to a hundred cars from an 1899 car to a 2009 Toyota Prius, but it also housed a huge collection of trains, airplanes and other memorabilia. Amongst the items we saw were the limousine that JFK was riding in when he was assassinated, the bus that Rosa Parks refused to bow to segregation in, and (the highlight for Zaid), the original Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. The museum houses far more stuff than we had time to visit, including a pioneer village and a tour of a working Ford factory, and so we hope to make a return visit at some point in the future.

The bus where Rosa Parks stood up to Segregation by not standing up

With the end of our trip looming it is time for us to turn to the future, and our new life in Toronto. The end of our trip will come on day 40, making it 40 days and 40 nights from Vancouver to Toronto, the same amount of time that Noah was afloat on the Ark in the flooded world. Like Noah, after 40 days we are ready to land and are excited for the new beginning that the end of our trip brings.

Day 37: Tri-State Day

July 29, 2012

Today we woke up in our hotel room in downtown Chicago, Illinois and are now close to bed at our campground in Wayne Dunes State Park in Michigan after a brief stop at the Indiana Sand Dunes National Shoreline in Indiana. This makes it 3 states that we have been in today. We left Chicago early this morning in order to make a stop at the Sand Dunes before finding a campground in the wasteland that is Michigan State Parks. According to our mapbook this is the only campground within a 200 mile, or so, radius. Luckily, there was lots of space available, although the 15 minute line-up at the Park Entrance (caused by daytime users) had us a bit worried.

Our campground is located in a big Oak forest just beside some giant sand dunes. We got in late, and so will be visiting the Dunes tomorrow morning for a look and, hopefully, a dip in Lake Michigan. The forest is very nice, but there is lots of Poison Ivy that we have to avoid. As well, this is by far the loudest forest we have been in; the sound of Cicadas is overwhelming, nearly as loud as a hotel room in downtown Chicago.

Our brief stop at Mt. Baldy along the Indiana Dunes shorelines was nice, but the place is completely ruined by the giant Nuclear plant right next door, blocking the whole Northern vista. Mt. Baldy is a giant sand dune on the North end of a long strip of Dunes at the coast of Lake Michigan in Indiana. As of now the Eastern edge is about 3 metres from the edge of the parking lot, but if recent trends keep up, it will be in the parking lot within 5 years. The combination of wind and tourists is causing the dune to move inland at a rate of about 5 feet per year. I’m not quite sure what will happen when it hits the parking lot, as demand for the site and beach already far exceeds the space in the lot.

View North from Mt. Baldy

Leaving Chicago this morning was pretty straightforward. There was no problem with the valet, aside from him not putting the engine break on after bringing our car back out. The best time to drive in this city of crazy drivers, and pedestrians, most definitely appears to be Sunday morning. We encountered very little traffic and no pedestrians jay walking in our short drive from downtown to the freeway. As a sports fan I was excited to pass Solider Field (home of the Bears) and Comiskey Park (home of the White Sox) on the way out of town. This, combined with the Cubs-Cardinals game at Wrigley the day before provided a very nice complement to my Chicago sports visit.

Wrigley Field is tiny, it takes up what appears to be just a single city block, but somehow fits in an entire baseball stadium. It was great to see the old wonder, wandering around the concourse and streets outside, looking at the ivy-covered outfield walls, and watching the rivalry that is the Cubs-Cardinals. The game wasn’t the most exciting, perhaps because I am not used to the National League rule of the pitchers having to pitch. It seemed like every rally was snuffed out by a pitcher coming to bat and promptly striking out. It really stunted the flow of the game. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the game and am glad to have gone. 

Day 34-36: Chicago Chicago

Our time in Chicago has come to an end and tomorrow we begin our last three days before arriving in our new home town, Toronto. Chicago has been wonderful and is definitely the highlight of this summer. A world class city, Chicago has everything that an urban citizen needs wants and desires from a large modern metropolitan. A beautiful setting is provided by Lake Michigan and the Chicago river.  This is complemented very well by the city’s architecture which seamlessly blends historical buildings with ultra- modern ones to create a stunning skyline.  There is no lack of green space and beautiful parks, and the city seems to make an extra effort to create an atmosphere where art, music and culture thrive to enrich the lives of both the locals and the tourists. ( I was happy to read in the local magazine that the city has just invested in creating a new cultural plan with help from consultants from Toronto!)

We cramped a few things in our short stay here, and in the interest of keeping this short, here is a list of the highlights of our time in this great city:

Grant Park: This is a very nice big park with trails that connect it to the main streets downtown, the lake shore and multiple museums and the aquarium. In our few days there, we passed by Grant Park many times and it was always nice to stop by a sculpture,a piece of public art or fountain.

Millennium Park: Another park right outside our hotel in the middle of downtown is Millennium Park. This park is home to the famous “bean” sculpture and many other works of art. This park also seemed to be the cultural hub of the city especially in the summer. We picked up a booklet that listed all that was going on in the park during the summer months and all the activities were free of charge. There were music, theatre and dance performances almost daily, and every Sunday morning there is a 4 hour workout session that includes an hour each of Tai Chi, Yoga, Pilates and Zumba. All for free! There was also a fee public dance party every Friday evening and a Family Fun Festival was on the week we were there.  This is only to count a few of what was happening in Millennium Park throughout the year.

The Field Museum: We’ve been to many museums on this trip and several of them were natural history museums, but this one by far tops all of them. Housed in a beautiful looking historical building, this museum contains many permanent displays of natural life and a few feature exhibits and shows. Of the featured ones, we chose to visit the bugs exhibit which had us shrink to the size of little bugs so that we can go underground, a few feet into the soil and explore life under the surface. Zaid loved looking at all the bugs and pretending to be underground with them. Definitely a great exhibit for the little ones. A great hit was also the exhibit of African animals especially the big cats and the apes. And just for good measures there was a little exhibit all about earth evolution including the rise and fall of dinosaurs and so Zaid’s satisfaction with the museum was guaranteed with this addition of a few giant dino skeletons to look at. We spent about 3 hours in the museum and did not even get around to see everything. Definitely a great museum by all measures.

Deep Dish Pizza: You can’t go to Chicago and not have Chicago style pizza. We followed the recommendation of a friend and visited a local deep dish pizza chain. I was expected something heavy and over the top but instead we got a classic sausage pizza with what seemed to be a nice light homemade tomato sauce. The pizza tasted good but I still prefer thin crust. I found the deep dish to come with just a little too much dough and cheese for my liking.

Tower Observatory: There were a couple of options as far as looking onto the city from a super high tower. We chose to go up to the John Hancock tower's 94^th floor for a coffee treat and unbeatable 360 degree view of the city. You could see all of the downtown sky scrapers, the actual city neighbourhoods, the lake and the sky. The afogatos we had were delicious and for less than $5 each, more reasonably priced than a Starbucks drink back down on earth!

Baseball Game: We wished we could have done this together but since we waited too late to buy tickets it was almost impossible to find three tickets together, unless we were willing to pay upwards of $1,000 for them. So Ben, being the one who cared the most about this particular activity, went to the game by himself. The boys and I had some time for a nap back at our hotel and then a walk and lunch in Grant Park.

In addition to this list, we also met up with a childhood friend of Ben’s who now lives with his wife in Chicago. We all had dinner together at a nice pub downtown. Unfortunately our two boys were in a grumpy and tired mood which did not make for a relaxing dinner. Ben and I fear that our boys may have driven our friends away from the idea of having kids, ever! To Alex and Jenna: we are very sorry!

On Sunday morning we checkout of our hotel on Michigan Avenue and were on the road again in no time. Next is the Sand Dunes in Indiana and the Henry Ford Car Museum in Detroit, and then home. 

Haifa 

Day 35: Deep-Dished in Chicago

July 27, 2012

A few posts ago I wrote about how Winnipeg rocked. If Winnipeg rocks, then I don't really have any adjectives to describe how much we are loving Chicago. This is a city that does nearly everything big and gets it right. . Enormous green spaces crash into towering buildings, the lake runs into rivers that snake their way through the city offering wonderful urban river-walks, turning corners brings you face to face with a beautiful and creative piece of public art, old style towers from the 1800s stand majestically beside new and modern works of stunning architecture. The city has completely floored me. I have been on a Chicago high of excitement since we arrived yesterday afternoon.

The famous "bean" - Cloud Gate

I am having some trouble writing this post as there is so much bumping around my head that I want to get down, but the energy from the city is making it a bit hard to focus. I'll keep at it though, as the energy of Chicago, which has swept through me, is the best inspiration for writing about this place. 

I was putting Zaid to bed this evening when all of a sudden I hear faint bass beats wafting up from the streets below. They didn't seem to bother Zaid, but my curiosity was piqued. I recalled having walked by a stage advertising a free dance party during the summer this morning and put two and two together. After getting Zaid down (or at least I thought) I headed outside to see what was going on. There was a dance party, and it was awesome. There was probably 500-800 people and all of them were dancing. From young parents with their children to old couples in their 70s, from the stylings of the "Chicago Dancing Diva's" to the stylings of rhythm-less middle aged white people, from girls in tie-die shirts to guys in basketball jerseys, from Indians dancing Banghar, to me tapping my foot and bobbing my head, EVERYONE was dancing. The whole event was free and lasted about 2 hours. It was funded completely by the government, with no form of sponsorship anywhere. This is a city that does things right.

Revellers at the free dance party in Grant Park

We've packed a ton into the last day and a half here: Affogato's on the 94th floor of the John Hancock center with a view of downtown Chicago to the south and a rainstorm coming in over the north; 2 hours this morning at the Field Museum of Natural History being shrunk to the size of bugs and seeing the Tsavo man-eaters; a long walk down Michigan Street and beautiful building after beautiful building; Deep-Dish Chicago Pizza at the famous Lou Malnati's; playing with light and reflections at the Cloud Gate Sculpture; turning the corner into a gigantic fountain set against Michigan Lake; stumbling across a sidewalk purse sale and successfully bargaining our way to a free wallet for Haifa.

View from Cafe on 94th floor of John Hancock Center

We both had very high expectations for this city, and I was a bit worried that there was no way they could be met; I was wrong. This city has far exceeded even our outrageous expectations. I love this city, every moment has filled me with excitement, both for being here, and for our move to Toronto. As I have said before, Vancouver is not a city. It is a very large town in a beautiful setting, but it is not a city. I want to live in a city, and Chicago has stoked the flames of this desire for me. I cannot wait to get to Toronto and finally, after nearly 25 years, live in a city again.

Day 33 - Port Washington, Wisconsin

It seems that we have finally reached the point of being tired of being on the road. Even though we have loved almost every place we have been so far (with the exception of the dreaded Blariot Ferry Park), and continue to enjoy every day of this trip, we are also at the same time getting tired of the constant travel and homelessness. Yesterday was the peak of this tiredness for us. For some reason we all woke up already tired, and after a long day of driving we arrived at our campsite nothing but more tired. With no energy to set up camp, we all just sat there in exhaustion starring out at the trees around us and at each other. Finally after an hour and several breaks, one used to go purchase beer, Ben got the tent up and I was able to go in and get it ready for the night.  After some rest we managed to summon enough energy to complete our day with the requisite walk around the park, and the making and eating dinner. By the time the boys were tucked into their sleeping bags and sound asleep, we were too exhausted to stay up any later and soon joined them in the tent. 

We had decided yesterday to change our plan from camping again today to staying in a hotel instead. This morning we received confirmation that our decision was the right one. We woke up this morning to heavy rains and thundershowers that, once again, soaked up our tent, chairs etc. We quickly got everyone in the car as soon as the thunder started and used little breaks of light or no rain to pack up our camp slowly over the morning. When everything except for the tent was tucked away the rain stopped, so we left our tent up to  dry and went for a drive. We drove to a nice look out area from which you could see the whole park and parts of Sturgeon Bay and Lake Michigan. Ben and Zaid went for a short walk while Owen and I sat on a bench enjoying the views, the fresh air and for me my cup of morning java. 

When we got back to our camp our tent was still wet so we took it down and decided to dry it in our hotel room instead, something that we have done many times over this trip. Our drive to Port Washington was not too long and we stopped a couple of time along Lake Michigan for breaks and lunch. Today was a windy day and the winds were particularly bad on the Lake shore. This made for a hurried and frenzied lunch as we simultaneously had to eat and keep our food from flying away! 

We arrived in Port Washington in the afternoon and easily found our hotel near the main entrance to town. We checked in and spent some time resting and catching up on email, facebook etc. Our hotel has a swimming pool so we decided to go for a swim which is always a big hit with Zaid and Owen who love the water and can't seem to ever get enough of it. After a swim it was time for dinner so we headed into town looking for something local and fresh. We stopped to stock up on more excellent Wisconsin beer and the guy in the store recommended the New Port Shores, know for being the only restaurant in town on the lake shore. The place is obviously a very popular local joint because even for an early dinner it was packed and the only tables they had were in the back room. We decided to stay anyways and it was not a bad table after all for I at least still had a view of the lake from my seat. Both Ben and I ordered a local fish fry which is similar to fish and chips except that the fish is dipped into a much lighter and crisper batter (I believe it's mostly corm meal) which actually stays on the fish when you pick it up. Both of our dishes were delicious and Zaid devoured his Mac n' Cheese plate in no time (which happens to come with a bowl of apple sauce which also was devoured). 

After dinner we got back to the hotel. Soon Zaid and Owen were asleep, and now Ben and I are sitting down, enjoying some local beer, catching up on modern technology and planning our next day. Tomorrow we drive to Chicago but since we are not too far away, we plan to stop in Milwaukee on the way for a break and something fun to do. We are both very excited about Chicago and I expect a very busy and tiring 3-4 days. After Chicago our trip will be starting to come to its end as we drive straight back to Ontario and finally Toronto.  Even though we are at the point now of looking forward to having a home again and staying put for a while, I know that we will be very sad to see this trip come to an end, and I know that I will miss this time of our life very dearly. 

Haifa  

Day 32: America's Dairyland

July 24, 2012

In any trip there will inevitably come a day when you awake and the excitement and sense of adventure you had every other morning seems to be sleeping in a bit longer than usual. Perhaps it is just taking a few days off and will come back again, but usually it signifies the adventurer is growing weary of the nomadic life and wants to head for home. For all of us, with the possible exception of Owen (who at this point probably only knows this nomadic lifestyle), that day came today.

We woke up early, packed up the tent and were on the road before 9:00, a new trip early. Owen fell into his morning nap right away, as always, but soon Haifa and Zaid joined him. After a long 5 hours on the road we finally stopped at our new campground. For some reason, I was unable to find the energy to even take the tent and poles out of the bag. It took me about an hour to put up the tent, as I took long breaks after every step of the way. The thought of taking the tent down again tomorrow and then putting it up in the afternoon proved to be too much and so we have decided to make tomorrow an extra hotel night.

Zaid and I relaxing by the riverfront at our campsite in Brunet Island State Park

Our feelings about being on the road are in no way meant to be a judgement on the state, or people, of Wisconsin. Wisconsin, for me at least, has been a revelation – it is a wonderful State, full of beautiful and varied landscapes and the nicest people way have had the pleasure of meeting at any point on our stay. We drove from Superior to Brunet Island State Park, just North of Eau Claire yesterday and had a long day driving to Potawatomi State Park on the western shore of Green Bay on Lake Michigan today. Both of these State Parks have proven to be wonderful places, located in Boreal Forests and staffed with the friendliest and most cheerful Park Rangers of all parks. The Ranger at Brunet Island gave Zaid an explorer’s package, complete with a Smokey the Bear stuffed animal, which Zaid eschewed his usual Duck (Ba-Ta) for. Zaid got to keep the activity books, and a few supplies, but had to return Smokey for another child to enjoy later.

Zaid throwing rocks into Green Bay on Lake Michigan

The drive today, while long and draining on us all, provided a wonderful change of scenery from the Western edge of the State through the city of Green Bay and into the Michigan Lake zone.  Along the way we passed through a number of small towns with familiar names: Owen, Abbotsford, Wittenberg (the last name of family friends), Caroline (my mother’s name), Denmark, Luxembourg, and Brussels. It became quite an interesting game by the end, trying to guess where in Europe we would end up next!

We had planned to stop for lunch at a park in Green Bay but were forced to change our plans after we exited the city without having seen even a city bench to rest on. Green Bay is, by FAR, the most blue collar city we have passed through on this trip. You could see the poverty come out at you from the moment we entered the city until we exited out the eastern edge. It makes me quite curious to see Detroit and the surrounding ghost towns.

Tomorrow we are planning on a scenic drive down Lake Michigan to Port Washington, just North of Milwaukee. The area promises numerous sandy swimming beaches and sounds like just the kind of relaxing place we need to re-energize ourselves. We are still very excited about our 3 nights in Chicago and fully expect to get a second wind as we enter the Windy City. I hope Chicago holds a big enough wind to keep us going for the 3-4 days we have planned to get from there to Toronto.

Well, that is all for now. I head back to my amazing Wisconsin beer (they have great beer here; it is not just a myth). Tonight it is Moon Man No Coast Pale Ale by New Glarus Brewing Co. (one of the top 10 breweries in the world last year).

Day 30: "Drink some beer, do some fishin"

July 22, 2012

After a short 2 nights in Minnesota we have entered Wisconsin until Thursday morning when we head to Chicago. Well, while technically in Wisconsin, it is not possible to be closer to Minnesota than we are without actually being in Minnesota. The hotel we are staying at in Superior, Wisconsin is literally the first building you come across after crossing the John A. Blatnik Bridge from Duluth, Minnesota.

We arrived in Duluth late morning today after a short drive down from Tower, where we had stayed for the last 2 days. Yesterday was the first relaxing rest day we have had in ages. We spent the morning relaxing at the campsite, going for a dip in the lake and taking a walk around the forested end of the point. After lunch and a nap for Zaid we headed out to do some sightseeing just as the sun was reaching its maximum power, in hindsight this was probably not the best choice.


Our first stop was the Soudan Iron mine, the first, richest, and deepest Iron Mine in Minnesota. It is no longer operational and now serves as Minnesota State Historic Site. The main attraction is an hour and half journey 150 underground into the old mine itself. The trip promised to be a cool 50 Farenheit (which must be cooler than the 92 that it was above ground), but we decided to give it a pass. We were all very skeptical about Zaid's ability to remain focused for a 90 minute guided tour. If it had been a 5 minute trip then he may have handled it well.  The decision to remain above ground proved to not be a large loss as we had a tonne of fun exploring the surface buildings and equipment. Although, our favourite part was probably standing in front of the elevator shaft into the mine, with the cool temperature from the depths of the mountain pouring out into our faces. We stayed there for close to an hour and thoroughly enjoyed the whole time. One of the joys of this trip is these unexpected stops at hidden gems.

Ben on a Mine structure overlooking Northern Minnesota

We nearly stopped at another potential hidden gem this morning as we passed by the town of Evelth, which lured us with signs promising the "US Hockey Hall of Fame." Unfortunately, being the only one even remotely interested in stopping, I was outvoted and we kept on the road. In short order we were required to stop though as the low oil light came on. We stopped at a gas station in the hamlet of Independence, purchased motor oil, popped the hood and stared dumbfounded at all the components underneath. Which lid did we need to unscrew? and where was the dipstick? Haifa and I were crouched in front of the car, me with motor oil and Haifa with the Car's manual, neither of us doing much of anything. Luckily, a local saw our confusion and came over to lend a hand. Within minutes he had helped us fill the oil and we were back on the road. Many thanks go out to the Independence native for helping a couple of stranded tourists.

Everything I had read about Duluth promised a beautiful city nestled between the shores of Lake Superior and a steep hill. However, upon first entering Duluth we saw nothing but the usual stretch of strip malls, big box stores, and fast food joints that seem to mark the entrance to every town large enough to call itself a city. It seemed, however, that this part of Duluth was stretching on for a fair bit longer than other, larger, cities we had visited. Where was this promised beauty? Just as we were getting a bit disappointed we took a curve along the highway and had this amazing sight of Duluth before us. Downtown was off the right, the port and the bridge to Wisconsin was centre, industry to the right, Lake Superior dominated the skyline, with the faint shoreline of Northern Wisconsin providing a dividing line between water and sky.

Our first glimpse of Duluth

After driving through the city we stopped at Subway and drove to Leif Erickson Park, nestled along the Northern shore of Lake Superior. The view of city and lake was amazing, and for a special touch for Zaid, a passenger train passed right by our picnic site.

We, rather easily, found our way without help of a map, to our next destination - The Great Lakes Aquarium. I guess when you are looking for a building on Harbor Street, the first place to go would be the Harbor. This proved to be a huge hit with all of us, complete with a live Otter feeding, a huge water-table room set up as the great lakes, and the petting of live Sturgeon and Sting-Rays.

Ben, having worked up enough courage to touch the Sting Ray

We finished our day off with a swim at the hotel's swimming pool, but not before we had dinner at Hammond's Steakhouse. This proved to be a retro 70s era classic American Steakhouse and served up good food that was exactly as you expected. Haifa and I had the Steak and Shrimp special, while Zaid had his usual "Chicken Fries" (Chicken Strips and Fries). All of our meals came with a salad starter and to our surprise Zaid finished up every last piece of lettuce from his salad. All that remained on his plate were the remnants of the Ranch dressing. Happily for us, the salad had made him too full to have much of his deep fried Chicken and Potatoes. Finally he has a healthy meal out.

We have a few LONG days of driving ahead of us. Our plan is to drive to the area around Eau Claire, Wisconsin tomorrow and then east to Lake Michigan the next day. After a rest day we head down the Lake to the big city of Chicago where we will be staying for 3 days. We are getting close to that long awaited Cubs game.

Day 28: "Go The Distance"

July 20, 2012

Today we have hit two milestones in our trip: we have finished the fourth week of travelling, and we have entered into the USA – Minnesota to be precise. The crossing of the border has brought renewed vigor and excitement to our trip as we are in a place completely new to all of us.

Crossing the border caused the usual stress and worry that crossing any border brings to my mind. I have a deep-seated fear of people in uniforms with guns and whenever I go into a new country I worry that I will be denied entry for some minor reason. This stress is intensified when returning to Canada as I have an irrational worry that I will be denied entry back home, left with nowhere to go, destined to be stuck at the border crossing indefinitely.

Combined with a reunion with the bikers travelling across Canada, crazy drivers passing us on a single-lane highway with a double yellow and windy road, and a pickup truck that left a propane tank rolling across the highway in front of us, the border worry caused the drive to the border to be quite stressful and tense. Luckily, we all made it to the border none the worse for wear, without even Owen crying.

I believe my stress may have shown at the border since after the requisite questions about fresh fruit, where we are from, and where we are going, the border guard put in a radio call for further checks. A second guard comes out and leads us to the long-term waiting area and takes our passports to the back room, leaving us in the car for about 10 minutes. We had just enough time to make Plan B (head east towards Thunder Bay and then down to Toronto) when the guard came back, passed us our passports and welcomed us to America.

We made a small stop in International Falls to exchange money and purchase the promised cheaper US gas (did not seem any different in price to me) before heading on our way to Bear Head State Park in North-Eastern Minnesota. The state highway south proved to be horrible, full of cracks and bumps from the biting cold winters, which made the driving somewhat slower.

Shortly before our turn-off we passed by a sign that made me very excited, and Haifa very confused. I bet she was wondering what the heck I was up to with a huge smile and giggles over passing the exit to Chisholm, Minnesota. Bonus points awarded to any reader who can determine why I was so giddy with excitement about this seemingly non-descript place.

After the turnoff we expected a short-drive to the town of Tower, Minnesota, and then an even shorter drive to the campground. As we passed the 20 minute mark with no sight of either we got a bit concerned, after consulting the map again and determining that indeed we were seemingly on the right path we realized our mistake and cursed the heavens over the blasted imperial measurement system. Miles and Pounds I can figure out when pressed, but for the life of me I have no idea what is up with the Fahrenheit system of temperature.

For the first time this trip we experience disappointment upon arrival at a campground; a large “Campground Full” sign greeted us at the entrance. Haifa jumped in to ask about overflow camping or a campground close by and was met with a grumpy women who suggested trying another state park. Which state park, and where they were located was apparently beyond her knowledge base. Her attitude certainly didn’t help with our disappointment.

After a brief discussion we decided to head back to the town of Tower, stop for lunch and then find a visitor centre to help determine our next move. We had turkey sandwiches in the town of Soudan – home to the very first Iron Mine in Minnesota,  which is now a modern day Mining museum complete with a tour of an old mine shaft. We determined that in order to go to this, and the Tower Railroad museum, tomorrow that if we couldn’t find any campsite close by that we would get a motel in town.

On our way through town we caught sight of a sign promising camping and followed the directions to Hoodoo Point campground just outside of town on Vermillion Lake (for those following at home this is the third Vermillion Lake we have visited). The manager said he had one site left, but that it was a pretty bad site and advised us to take a look before paying. Driving past shade-less fields full of RV’s we got quite worried about what the bad site would look like. To our pleasant surprise this bad site is easily the best in the whole campground. We are surrounded on three sides by trees, have a large space to fit our tent, have a kitchen, play area, and living room. We quickly booked for the night and will hopefully be able to extend our stay in the morning.

The stereotype of Minnesota, even for us from up North in Canada, is one of a deeply cold and empty land full of lakes. It is full of lakes, but it is not empty or cold (at least not in summer). Today was the hottest day of the trip by far. The extreme mugginess did not help, neither did the complete lack of any cooling wind. A dip in the lake helped a bit, but the sweat came back just as soon as we were out. Then, at about 8:00, a 10 minute thunder shower rolled in. This was literally greeted with cheers from the campers. Booming “Yeah’s” could be heard from around the campground as the sky caved in on us, pelting us with as much rain as it could muster. Big shaking thunders and flashes of lightning caused quite the show, and the rain cooled us down for the rest of the evening. Walking to the bathroom later I was awed at the sight of the thunderstorm to the southeast of us, reflecting the pink of the setting sun as the flashes of lightning could be seen from inside its belly. It was a wonderful sight.

Tomorrow, with luck, will be a relaxing day. We hope to extend our stay here so that we can visit the sites in town and jump into the lake a few times. We have booked a hotel in Duluth on Sunday and then have three days to traverse Wisconsin before we get to Chicago for Thursday. Given the busy 4 days ahead of us, we are all looking forward to taking it easy for the first time since the Okanagan. 

From Manitoba to Ontario

July 18-19 From Manitoba to Ontario

On our second day in Winnipeg we woke up bright and early as usual. Zaid was very hungry and kept urging us to go down to have breakfast and so Ben and I who would have loved nothing more than some more sleep, reluctantly got everyone changed and walked down to the hotel’s cafeteria for our continental breakfast. Once all were fed and happy, we went back to our room for a quick skype chat with my mum and to pack up our bags for departure. On the way out of Winnipeg we stopped for a quick visit at the Royal Canadian Mint where we were all very excited to learn how money is made, and got to have a picture taken with a gold bar worth more than half a million dollars. For Zaid, the most exciting part was the little pond in the lobby which he kept running around and around. After the Mint we stopped again for some groceries and soon were on our way to our next destination.

Our next stop was a night of camping at Whiteshell Provincial Park on Falcon Lake. Whiteshell Park is a beautiful location with forests similar to those of the West Coast and a beautiful sandy beach just minutes away from the campsites. It reminded us a lot of Manning Park in BC. As we were driving slowly towards our campsite we were greeted by a gorgeous looking male deer that popped out of the bushes right beside our car. We slowed down and I quickly pulled my camera out just in time to capture the elegant animal as he turned around to stare at us right in the face. After a minute of looking at each other the deer gently walked across the road and disappeared into the bushes and we drove away to our site feeling jubilant. The rest of the stay at Whiteshel was pleasant and had us swimming in the lake twice. At one point the whole family including own,were in for a dip and Zaid had a wonderful time splashing everyone with water while screaming “splash you!”.

The next day, July 19^th we packed up yet again and began the drive towards our new home province, Ontario.  Our stay in Ontario was going to be very brief as we head towards the US for a week before coming back to Ontario on the way to end the journey. Our destination for now was a campground just south of Kenora called Caliper Lake Provincial Park in Lake of the Woods area. This park was truly beautiful and our particular site was by far the most beautiful camp spot we have had on this trip so far. Arriving on a Thursday meant that the park was almost empty and so we had many sites to choose from. We ended up choosing a spot right on the lake but with a few bushes between us and the water, enough to stop Zaid from attempting a dip without the supervision of one of us.  Our picnic table was only a couple of meters away from the water, and as we sat down to dinner our conversation was accompanied by the sound of the waves and cries of loons living close by.

Soon after arriving and setting up our camp we headed out for a walk to discover the rest of the ground. Something which we’ve come to do every time we stay in a new park. On our walk we stopped for icecream and there we ran into two bikers. They turned out to be part of a whole group of bikers that we actually drove by earlier in the day and who are on a cross Canada ride. We were excited to see other cross country travellers, albeit they were going by bike and actually crossing the entire country all the way from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean. 

Later on in the evening, after the kids went to sleep, Ben and I sat down around a camp fire watching the lake and eating roasted marshmallows. At some point two Pelicans swam by right inform of us. It was a magical evening in the most beautiful place we’ve seen.  We liked this site so much that we contemplated staying a second night but then decided against it as we were eager to begin our USA leg of the journey as soon as possible.

The night at Caliper Lake was a bit less magical and a bit more scary.  We woke in the middle of the night to very heavy winds which, according to me were accompanied by thunder, lightning and rain. Ben who is a heavy sleeper recalled waking us only to light winds. In any case the wind was strong enough to break a branch off a tree, which we found in the morning sitting inches away from our tent, and in the exact spot where we were setting the evening prior. That was the extra reason we needed to decide against staying one more night and continue on our trip in spite of how much we loved the location.

The following day we set out to drive to the USA. More about that in the next posts by Ben.

Haifa

Day 25: Winnipeg Rocks

July 17, 2012

Winnipeg Rocks. That is really all there is to say about it. We loved our time in Calgary, but the place felt like a large suburb rather than a city. Vancouver feels like a large provincial town rather than a city. Regina looked like a city, but the place was dull and empty.  The feeling in the city is great, there is a tonne of old Canadian history, there are wonderful locals, great riverside parks, beautiful tree lined streets, a thriving french neighbourhood, and an active urban feeling along Portage Avenue. Winnipeg is a city, Winnipeg rocks, too bad its -15 on a good day in the winter.


We had a general feeling coming into town that this part of Canada is home to many descendants of Eastern European immigrants, in particular Ukrainian. We have been anticipating great perogies since we left Calgary and have devoted considerable time and energy to finding the best perogies in town. My friend Lori suggested our best bets would be an Orthodox Churches Perogie dinner, or Mom's Perogies. We decided to go for Mom's perogies for dinner last night. After getting directions from our Hotel we left at about 6:00, much later than our usual dinner time, resulting in two very hungry children in the back. We get to the Deli at about 6:30 to find out that it closes at 5:00 on Monday. Somewhat disappointed, but far more hungry, we begrudgingly stop at a Wendy's for some fast food. Given our hunger it didn't really matter what it was we were eating (Thankfully). 


This morning we were at the Market at The Forks and came across a perogie place and decided to have lunch there. This was a horrible decision. There was absolutely nothing positive to say about the place. The counterwoman was grumpy and tired, the signage and pricing was confusing, the prices were outrageous ($6 for 5 perogies), and the perogies were disgusting. They were mostly dough, with very little filling (and none of the cheese promised), and tasted like chewing this gummy mess. The taste was  non-existent, they literally had absolutely no flavour. The only sensation was gummy. It was one of the two worst meals I have ever had.

Zaid's reaction after his perogies

Given our debacle with food in Winnipeg over the last 2 meals, we decided to put some serious effort into dinner tonight. We settled, after much deliberation, on Chave D'Ouro, a Portuguese place that seems to, according to locals, serve the best chicken in town. The dinner was wonderful, served by a talkative and cheerful Portuguese Grandmother, we had wonderfully charred and flavoured Chorizo, roasted Potatoes and Chicken covered in Piri Piri Sauce. It was a welcome warm and tasty meal after our perogie disaster.

We had a busy day today. On top of our food hunting we spent a great 3 hours at the Forks, just outside of downtown Winnipeg. This place has a huge importance in Canadian history as it marks the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine River's - a hugely important place for trading and commerce for over 6000 years. We had a great time walking around the market, checking out the Prairie garden (where we sampled Earl Grey plants and a relative of Mint that smells of licorice), playing in the Children's Museum and playground, and then walking across the Esplanade Riel footbridge over the Red River into St. Boniface (the french quarter where all signs were in French). After our perogie disaster we headed to St. Boniface to pay a visit to Louis Riel and the St. Boniface Cathedral. The Cathedral burned down 45 years ago, leaving just the outer shell, but it was very beautiful. I cannot imagine what it looked like when it was a full church.  The residential neighbourhood around the tourist zone was wonderful - large tree-lined streets with wonderful old houses. If only it wasn't -15 in the winter I could see spending some time here.

St.  Boniface Cathedral. Louis Riel's resting place is on the left.

As a long-time Vancouver resident we hear repeatedly about who beautiful our city is. This often gives us a bit of a complex, that because Vancouver is beautiful other places must not be nice. I love being proven wrong, especially in the wonderful city of Winnipeg. 

A rainy welcome to Manitoba

July 16, 2012

Yesterday, July 15th, we left Saskatchewan for Manitoba. We woke up in the morning in our campsite in Good Spirit Lake Provincial Park bright and early. As soon as we starting packing up our belongings the rain started. It was very heavy and strong rain that soaked us to the core in just a few minutes. We quickly got the boys in the car while we finished packing up and by the time we were done, Ben and I were completely soaked. We left the park as soon as we could and our plan was to head for Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba for a couple of nights of camping there.

When we arrived at the park, the heavy rain was still falling and we reluctantly decided that it would be safer to stay the night in a hotel, especially with warnings of thunder storms over night.  We spent about an hour in Wasagaming unsuccessfully looking for accommodation. The resort town combined with heavy rain which may have driven many people away from camping and into hotels, meant that very few rooms were available and those that were were very expensive.  After checking 5 of 6 places we decided to drive to Minnedosa which is another town less than an hour away to find a hotel there.  Our search in Minnedosa was fruitful and we quickly found ourselves safe and dry in a simple but comfortable motel room. 

The following morning, we left our motel to head to Winnipeg. Before leaving Minnedosa however we made a stop at the town's heritage village site. The site had a few houses built about 100 years ago and a beautiful park which we walked in, enjoying views from the lake and river in town. I have been getting very interested in bird viewing since we started on this trip, enjoyed spotting a couple of new species which I then ticked away on my bird viewing checklist which I piked up in Cypress Hills. When our walk was complete we got back into our car and headed to Winnipeg.

Just outside of Winnipeg, we stopped for lunch at a park by the water treatment centre for the city of Portage La Prairie which sits right beside the Assiniboine River. As we conveniently travel with our kitchen in our trunk, it took us mere minutes to have our stove/grill set up on a picnic table and have our hot dogs grilling away on it. After enjoying hot dogs for lunch we walked around and by the river. We were all excited to spot a threesome of Pelicans playing in the water (one more bird for me to tick off).

We finally arrived at our hotel in Winnipeg just in time for checking in time and after a quick rest in our room, we were off again to visit the city's main park, the Assiniboine Park.  This was  a beautiful park almost as big as Stanley Park in Vancouver. It contained a kid's dream playground area complete with a very small door that adults need to bend down in order to go through. It also had a lovely flower and plant garden with many local plant species and a beautiful sculpture garden than must host 20 or 30 different sculptures scattered around flower garden and gorgeous looking ponds.

Our walk in Assiniboine Park took us to dinner time and we weer back in our car driving to a local perogies  place recommended by a friend of Ben's. Unfortunately by the time we arrived at the restaurant it was closed for the day and we had to continue driving around looking for an alternative. Being far away in the outskirts of town, the only available places were fast food junk joints and with the two boys hungry and screaming in the back seat, we eventually pulled over at Wendy's for our dinner. The food was your typical junk fair but while we were disappointed to not be eating perogies we were  all too starved to care much by that point and  gobbled our burgers and fries very quickly. As a special treat we decided to allow Zaid to drink pop for the first time, but were happily surprised to see that he did not like it. After making a disgusted face he asked for water! We were very proud of him but also felt a little guilty that our effort to always eat healthy wholesome food may have gone a little too far. I mean what kid does not like pop??!! 


There is much to do and see in Winnipeg and we only have a very short time. Tomorrow is going to be busy with plans to visit a Children's museum, St. Boniface, the Forks and couple of other things. We might not be able to get a round to see everything we want but we will try our best. 


Next will be more camping just before the border with Ontario and then in Ontario. Ben is itching to be camping again and we are all hoping for good weather so that we can enjoy it. Our next post will most likely then come to you from the USA!


until then. 


Haifa