Traffic? What traffic?

The past two days have certainly been about traffic -- and driving in said traffic. For a couple of people whose greatest traffic challenge is usually Calgary's Deerfoot Trail on a Friday evening rush hour, yesterday and today were interesting.

Just about anyone who lives in Canada has heard horror stories of driving on Ontario's Hwy 401, most notably through the metro Toronto area. A bazillion lanes of traffic in each direction, express lanes, collector lanes, construction...any one of these would be enough to freeze the knuckles of Alberta drivers, but put them altogether in one trip, and look out! The navigator (that would be yours truly) decided it would be best to stay in the center lane on the express side because that way, it was more likely the 'fat dots' (yes, that's what my brother called the wider line markings on the roadway that indicated the lane was going to end) would be on our right side, and that we wouldn't run out of roadway. Maneuvering 38 feet of motorhome that's also towing a little car on a dolly can be trying at the best of times, but in heavy traffic, it's definitely a challenge. There was certainly no down time as we trundled our way from east to west, certainly not enough for me to even jump over to the couch to snap some pics of downtown TO off in the distance! Still not sure what this is all about...don't push him out of the ditch?

After we got through the Toronto area, the rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. The picture out my window from the bridge at Sarnia looking towards Lake Huron was absolutely breathtaking though!

The colours in the water were so blue...I was just in awe. We had about a 20-minute wait at the border, which wasn't too bad, and I only lost a tomato from Mexico. The border guy didn't ask about alcohol, meat, or anything else, but boy, better not have any Mexican veggies! What's really stupid is that I bought it in Walmart in Great Falls, MT. Yeah, I know....

We stayed that night at the Holiday Shores RV Resort in Durand, MI. This place is beautiful! There are over 500 sites in this resort, and a 9-hole golf course. Most of the sites were long term guests; whether owners or renters, I don't know. Many of these retired people were cruising the resort on their golf carts like we used to cruise downtown on a Saturday night! Everyone was really friendly, and it was just a really pleasant place to stay.

We got on the road early Friday morning, heading for Chicago. On paper, the trip shouldn't have taken more than 5 hours. On paper wasn't accounting for construction season in the Chicago area, nor was it accounting for two nitwits who made silly choices in how to get around tolls and the like. We found way more construction that we likely would have come across had we just paid the toll and stayed on I-80. But then again, there was one point after our little detour where it took us over half an hour to go seven miles! Of course that little delay allowed me to take this neat photo of the Des Plaines River in Joliet...

The metro Chicago region is HUGE! We drove and drove, and we drove some more! But we finally made it to our destination. We're in the Sycamore RV Resort in Sycamore, IL. It's a nice little RV park with small lakes, walking trails, a very small beach, and nice calm, quiet environment. We have enough room for the motorhome, the car, and a cement pad for the patio chairs. We spent last evening sitting on our 'deck,' enjoying nice wine, uploading photos, and working on the blog. Watching the fireflies was kinda cool too!

On our travels yesterday, we did find a couple Costco stores where we plan to pick up some tri-tip roasts -- absolutely to-die-for cuts of beef! And of course, I've already scoped out the location of the Premium Outlet Mall. Tonight, we're having dinner with a long-time (I was going to say 'old' but he's bigger than me, and there's no snow around here for a face-down snow angel!), dear friend. Tomorrow we'll be meeting up with a number of Ger's buddies who are getting together. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll have time to get into Chicago proper and see what there is to see there. Someday, we'll be back, and some tall friend of mine will have to give us the grand tour!

As usual, pictures are on Flickr.

Family

That's what this trip has been all about. Meeting family. And what a wonderful meeting it has been! My only regret is that this meeting didn't take place many years ago. There's a certain sense of completion now...now that I've met all my siblings, I don't feel like there's anything missing anymore. I spent too many years wondering, and now I know. Thank you, all of you, but especially Ken and Sharon for helping to put it all together.

Okay, you guys -- all of you!...your turn! Next time, the party's out West!

TO and Niagara

Walking along Yonge Street is a wonderful exercise in people watching. Signs bigger than big on Eaton Centre, funky little shops next door to higher end boutiques -- Yonge Street is a mecca for those who relish exploring life in the big city. Walking past Maple Leaf Gardens, one of the icons of the NHL...at least it was when I was growing up, and if you were truly Canadian, you rooted for either the Maple Leafs or the Canadiens...I wish I could have seen it in its glory days. However, its nice that someone thinks the history of the building is worth preserving, even if it's in the form of retail shops.

The best part of the trip downtown though, was surprising one of my brothers. The last time we saw him was when he came to our wedding with our grandmother almost 29 years ago. He knew we were planning a trip out here, but didn't know we were coming in that day. The look on his face when he looked into the back seat of the truck was just priceless! We all had a wonderful visit over lunch at Jack Astor's before walking back to his apartment. The visit was far too short, but at least we managed to share email addresses and cell numbers. The next time he comes West, he has no excuse for not calling! (Love ya, Dave!)

We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening having dinner with another brother and his family. Meeting all these members of my family for the, first time is just making my whole trip! After a great dinner (and this to-die-for cake from Costco called "Tuxedo Cake"), we came back, prepared to get a good night's sleep for the long day to come. And boy, was it long!

Actually, we didn't start out horribly early, but given how much we putzed around, maybe we should have! On paper, going from Lindsay to Niagara Falls shouldn't take a great deal of time. But then there's Highway 401 going through Toronto. Express lanes, collector lanes, construction...for a prairie kid like me who thinks Deerfoot Trail in Calgary at rush hour is a challenge, the 401 is a whole different animal.

Neither Gerry or I have been to Niagara Falls before, so this was a real treat. The whole Niagara Peninsula is beautiful. The town of Niagara-on-the-Lake has such a quaint, charming main street with all kinds of neat little shops -- shops that my husband and my brother worked very hard to keep my sister-in-law and me OUT of! (yes, I ended that sentence with a preposition! :-p)

What we didn't do on this trip was check out any of the many wineries we passed. There was a little bit of self preservation involved in that decision. While I do like trying out new wines, going from place to place, and sampling some in each of those places would have led to a bad headache. Can't enjoy the Falls, and the anticipated dinner with a monster migraine. So sampling may have to wait for another day -- or I can just use my Canadian Wine Access guide to help me figure out which of the many wines from this region I should try.

Finally, we arrived at The Falls. The power of that much water falling over the Niagara Escarpment is incredible to behold. The American and Horseshoe Falls are quite different from each other, but each stunning in its own right. Of course, being on the Canadian side of the Niagara River, we couldn't get up close and personal with the American Falls, but I'm sure the close up view was every bit as stunning as our view of the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side.

After walking back to the truck, we went for a late dinner at Mamma Mia's, a wonderful Italian restaurant that has been in operation for decades. The portions are huge, and oh so good! My leftovers made a wonderful lunch the next day! Although dessert would have been awesome, we were all so stuffed there was just no room!

After we left the restaurant, we stopped in a little shop that all kinds of cotton skirts, blouses, dresses, table cloths, and....coin hip scarves! I think this may just show up in one of my Zumba classes in the fall! *wink, wink* I did pick up a normal skirt, and a cotton dress. There's way more heat and humidity happening here on the eastern half of the continent, and skirts are definitely a way of effectively dealing with that! Besides...they were pretty!

Then we began our little sojourn back to Little Britain. It was well after 10 p.m. when we headed east, and the GPS predicted an arrival time of 1:20 a.m. We were doing really well with that until some unexpected construction on the highway just west of Toronto. Remember, I did say earlier that Canada has two seasons -- winter and construction. Well, now a lot of that construction happens at night. Suddenly, what was 3 lanes was being whittled down to 1 lane. Sally, or whatever her name is on the GPS had to start adjusting arrival times (She's rather an insistent one if you don't follow her directions!), but it only got worse as somehow we ended up on whatever road took us right into downtown Toronto. The CN Tower was getting closer and closer, so I had to take pictures, right? Right.

Of course, we won't mention riding on the streetcar rails aka 4x4ing urban style, will we? Or coming face-to-face with the Air Canada Centre and having to make a u-turn to get back out. Will we?

We did eventually get out of Toronto, and after a pit stop for gas, we finally made it back to Little Britain in the wee early hours of Tuesday morning. It was a wonderful day of fantastic sights and great company. We do need to do it again!

Lakes, Locks and Licks

Day 7 of our trip was spent touring the area near Lindsay, Ontario. We saw locks at Kirkfield (lift lock pictured above), Fenelon Falls, and Bobcaygeon. The whole canal/lake/lock system that runs from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay is really quite ingenious, and allows people to enjoy leisurely trips through a number of towns along the way. Of course, one must be able to afford the fuel to run the boats, but there didn't seem to be a lack of traffic on the waterways! As usual, pics can be found on my Flickr page.

I want to come back someday and spend time on a boat, cruising up and down those waterways, stopping for lunch at a chip truck (!!!!) and moseying along on a sunny afternoon. Looks like a little piece of heaven to me!

Of course, an afternoon in that area wouldn't be complete without Kawartha Lakes Dairy ice cream. We stopped at the walk-up storefront in Bobcaygeon, and each of us had something different. Waffle cones were mandatory, and I had creme brulee. Way more than I should have had, but it was soooo good!

To all my ice cream-loving friends, yes, if you visit Toronto, try to find time to head northeast to the Kawartha Lakes region. You'll get some lovely, interesting scenery to go along with your treat!

North Dakota

LOOOONG day!

We left Glendive by 9:30 this morning, heading east on I-94. Stopped for fuel at the Flying J at Beach, ND, just over the border. Diesel was $3.99/gallon...ugh. Especially since yesterday's arduous journey saw us get less than 8 MPG. That's not good at all! Hopefully by the time we fill up next, today's leg of the journey will have been kinder to us!

The picture above shows the landscape we encountered travelling through Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It's called the Painted Canyon, and it seems to go on forever! It's too bad we've got such a tight schedule heading east, because it looks like it would be awesome to see!

We also blew past one of the entrances to the Enchanted Highway, which claims to host the largest metal sculptures in the world. This one of the geese certainly fit the bill of being large!

The next thing we saw was what has to be the world's largest Holstein. I had to take a picture of it just for Sandy and Jess (and their parents, of course!). Her name is apparently Salem Sue. I zoomed in as close as I could -- if you want to see a larger picture, check out my Flickr feed from the trip.

After going through Bismarck and seeing the Missouri River in all its (flooded) glory (can't imagine what those poor folks in Minot are going through!), we continued down I-94. Near Streeter, we passed many fields under water, some so much so that the highway was down to one lane in each direction. There are pics of that in the Flickr feed as well.

By the time we hit Fargo, we were really glad that there was only just over an hour left of the trip. We passed into Minnesota, and the first thing we saw was a rest stop that was all closed up. Ger wondered why, and then I remembered that the Minnesota government had shut down the other day because they couldn't pass a budget. Oh, my... We saw another rest stop later on that was also closed. However, the local constabulary (State Troopers) were still out there, looking to nab people who went over the 70 mph speed limit. I told Ger they were probably trying to raise some money so they could get paid!

We finally pulled into the Prairie Cove Campground and RV Park around 7 p.m. Central time. Because I'd booked ahead, the folks here were ready for us, and we pulled in, ready for a break. A nice glass of wine, and some pasta and chicken for supper, a good night's sleep, and we'll be ready for the Mall of America tomorrow!

Goodnight!

The Start of Summer 2011

On the road again! Yay! My first year at the new school came to a successful conclusion yesterday. So today we embarked on the trip we were supposed to take last summer! We're on our way to Ontario to visit my brother and his wife. But rather than drive across the southern parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which may or may not be still suffering from the ravages of Mother Nature's gift of too much water, we're going to scoot down to Great Falls, MT and head east from there.

As I did on our last trip two years ago, I'm going to upload all my photos to Flickr, and post links and travel commentary here. Feel free to comment on my musings -- after all, blogs were designed to invite commentary! (weren't they?)

Tomorrow, Great Falls!