Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig!

July 18

We left Ste. Vereonique on July 16 and drove southeast. After fighting the Montreal traffic it was good to get to the beautiful farms of southern Quebec. Lots and lots of tiny villages, all named for saints. No saint should feel left out because I'm sure that somewhere in Quebec there is a place named for him/her. The GPS took us through the countryside, away from the interstate highway and we crossed the border into the USA in North Troy, VT.


Entry took us all of five minutes as we were the only car. That station must be a boring posting for the border agents, though perhaps stations like that are ones that n'ere-do-wells choose for entry.


We had lunch at the Eastside Grille on Lake Memphramagog, in Newport, VT, then actually got on I-91 to head south to our house in Monroe, NH.


The next day we headed south to Hanover, NH, after Bill washed the van and we did a few other chores. We visited with Bill's sisters


and had a super celebratory dinner. We spent the night, and today we finally arrived back in Amherst.


It was a great eleven+ weeks!



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The Final Province- Happy Birthday, Candace

July 15

Today we awoke to an overcast day with occasional showers. A good day to drive! We headed east along the Trans-Canada Highway. We realized that we have driven it at least a short distance in all of the provinces we have visited. Mostly it was mixed forest with pretty lakes beside the road-lots of them. No towns for a long stretch, maybe for a couple of hundred miles. We passed through a construction zone where there were more cones than I have ever seen- every one in Canada was on loan to that project, I'm sure. In some places they were three lines deep,






and in others they seemed to stretch on forever.






Actually, they went for a distance of over six miles. Just so you don't think that we have been out of touch with civilization totally, I did find a few things to show you. In Larder Lake, a tiny town near where we started the day, this big fish was guarding an intersection.






In Val-D'Or, I found this pretty steeple on a Catholic church,






and also a nice Russian Orthodox church, the first since the Alaska/Yukon area.






And, never think that because French is an old language, it isn't keeping up with the changing times. In this township the sanitary landfill or dump is called the Enviropark, and has a fancy sign. Lastly, I mentioned yesterday that we were camped in the village of Swastika and that I'd look for a sign or statue. This was the only sign I could find. Nothing fancy, sorry!






We are camped in Ste. Veronique, a part of the township of Riviere Rouge. They are having a rally of Volkswagon campers here at the Park, so Dog, this photo is for you.


Some very cool VW busses here- we looked for you but didn't see you! Some of them have solar panels on the pop top.




I spoke with the husband of this nice lady





who said that he almost never plugs his van in, his solar panel does it all.




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A Long Ride Through the Bush

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July 14

The road we are on goes across the top of Ontario. The other road we could have taken continued along the shore of Lake Superior and would have been more populated (with apologies to Robert Frost, the road more travelled?), with beach towns and resorts (looks kind of like Maine), but we have been missing the Alaska-Yukon bush a little so are glad to see it again. Today, we saw lots of it, mile after mile with no villages or wildlife, just a lot of trailer trucks. We started early to get in a lot of miles, as we have used up our cushion of extra days with car repairs. When I got up I took this photo of sunrise over Lake Kenogamisis.


When we stopped for gas a few minutes later in Longlac I spotted this lovely little church sitting out on a point on the lake. Looks like it needs a little work, though.


One thing I have learned is that every single day, no matter how boring you think it will be, something interesting, funny or just plain weird shows up. When we got through the long stretch with no gas, towns, etc, we stopped in Hearst for some gas. This sign was on the gas pump.


A bit later we passed through Moonbeam, a town that this aging hippie just knew she was gonna love, and when we saw this spaceship I knew I was right!


We were rolling merrily along through Mattice, and there was this dinosaur just sitting beside someone's house, in the yard.


I was happy to see that we are back in the land of beautiful roadside flowers.





We again crossed the Continental Divide, but the signs were the same as yesterday. That thing sure is curvy! Finally, we were nearing our goal for the day, and there was this polar bear in the town of Cochrane.


We are camped in Culver Municipal Park in the hamlet of Swastica, township of Kirkland Lake.


I'll look around tomorrow to see if there's a statue/sculpture for this one- I can't imagine there will be, but I've been wrong before!

Heading East by Going North

July 13

We slept late, and then Ann took us out to breakfast at a Thunder Bay fixture, the Hoito Restaurant at the Finlandia Club.





We had delicious thin pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. Then off for a whirlwind tour of T-Bay. We went to Hillside Park, which had a great view of Lake Superior and of The Sleeping Giant, a shape that really did look like a reclining person, formed by mountains on the other side of the lake.





The flower beds were in full bloom and lovely.





We stopped by the Sunken Garden, designed by the late Joe Fennell. It was exceptionally beautiful.






Then we took a short side trip to meet a couple





of Ann's grandsons.
Back at Ann's house we packed up, took a few more photos





and took our leave. On our way out of town we stopped by the memorial to Terry Fox. It has a lovely view of the lake, and is a beautiful tribute to a courageous young man. Terry Fox was a cancer victim from BC who lost a leg to the disease at 18 years of age. He wanted to raise awareness of the disease and his dream was to run across Canada, raising money for research along the way. He got from Newfoundland to Thunder Bay before an occurrence of the cancer forced him to stop. He vowed to come back and finish, but died before he could. He caught the imagination of all Canadians, and is an example of courage even today. The bronze statue of him is facing west, toward his destination.




We then north on Rt. 11, which is actually the shortest way to get back east and home. This is the farthest north road in Ontario except for the side roads, which are unpaved and go only a few miles and stop. But, even though it just heads out through the bush, you always come upon something interesting. Take, for instance, this huge snowman with his fish pole in the center of this little "wide spot in the road" town.



He was big enough to earn a spot on our list, even though it's the middle of July. We crossed the Continental Divide, yet again, and here are the two sides of the sign marking it.







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To Canada, Again

July 12

We began the day by taking the first tour at the Soudan Mine State Park. The Soudan mine was the Cadillac of underground iron mines in it's day. It's located in the Iron Range area of northern MN. Operations ceased in 1962 and it became part of the MN state park system shortly thereafter. The tour takes you under the original open pit mine site to Level 27, about a half mile down.





You get into the cage the miners used to go to work and are lowered at a slant (that you don't really notice) by cables that are operated from the Engine House above ground.








Once there you get in one of the little train cars and travel three quarters of a mile to the area being mined.















Originally the trains were pulled by donkeys, who were by far the best treated of all the mine employees. They lived underground but were brought up every few weeks for R+R. They were very smart. When the whistle blew for shift change, they would just sit down and not budge until a new crew arrived. Also, they could understand commands in the many different languages used by the immigrant miners. The mine was cold, about 50 degrees. Today it has lighting enough so that you can see the rock face and to find your way around, but it certainly isn't bright.














The guide showed us what it would look like by candle light, which was first used. The miners were looking for hematite, which was layered in with other rocks, especially greenstone and Jasper.





We exited the mine and looked around the buildings on the surface. This is a tour that we would recommend to anyone.








It was fascinating and we could have stayed much longer, but we had places to go and wolves to see.














Next stop was Ely, where I spent many a happy day with my canoe friends. It was a bit strange to be there without the other Maries. We went to the International Wolf Center and caught one of the enrichment programs. The Center has both an Exhibit Pack and a Retired Pack. The Exhibit Pack has 4 members, and the program was both to provide enrichment for the wolves and educate the public.





It consisted of having the Curator hide food bits around the enclosure, then the wolves found them.






It brought them near the viewing windows, and also stimulated a lot of pack behaviors. The dominant male wolf was retired a couple of weeks ago, so now there is a void for that position. There are three males and one female in the Exhibit Pack, and the dominant female is making the most of being the Queen! She took treats away from others, chased them away from food, and in general was a real pain.






The males seemed to accept the behavior, as they are waiting for her to choose who she will pair-bond with.





We went back to town and stopped to view the pillow rock made of Ely greenstone.





It is 2.7 billion years old. Then lunch and we began the long ride down to the coast of Lake Superior. We then drove up the coast to Thunder Bay, Ontario, arriving at Ann Amadon Fennell's home at about 8:15pm.








Ann and I went to high school together. Her daughter, Catherine, was also home so we had a "family" dinner and spent the evening chatting. It was a long, full day but so good to be with friends.

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Strip-Searched at the Border

OK, we weren't strip-searched, but Bill said that would get your attention. We left our beautiful, mosquito infested campsite and continued to drive around Lake of the Woods. We came to Beaudette, MN, and there was Willie Walleye on the corner.









Willie is a statue of a walleye (that's a kind of fish we don't have in NH, for all you non-angler types) that's more than 40 feet long, and weighs almost two tons. In this part of the world, fishing is the sport of choice, and walleye is the fish of choice. Many towns in MN, WI, and ND call themselves the "Walleye Capital of the World." Beaudette does not do this , nor does it call Willie the "World's Biggest Walleye," but Google says that if a statue is what wins a place the title, Beaudette has definitely won. We include it on our list because it sure was big!

We tried to continue along the road around the lake, but were thwarted by road construction that had a detour of at least a hundred miles, perhaps more. Someone said it was two hundred miles, but we have no definite figures. At any rate, much of this area is National Forest or land that has been preserved in some other way, thus there are few roads through it. Our other option was to go through Canada to International Falls, MN, which we did. We had to exit the van while it was thoroughly searched- for handguns. I hoped it was because we looked like suspicious people, but the agent said it was because "your number came up." We didn't take any photos of the search because we didn't want to upset the Immigration officials, even the Canadian ones who are really nice, because we still need to get through Ontario and Quebec to get home.

Now we are camped on Lake Vermillion in Soudan, MN.









Vermillion is a big lake, and the wind is blowing, so there is lots of wave action.









I took this photo of a mother Golden Eye duck and her very large (13 babies) family trying to ride the waves.











The sun was about to set into the lake when we noticed these lines across it's face.





Hopefully the wind will stick around so the mosquitoes won't. In closing, let me just say "Thank you, God, for screen tents!"


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