Hello friends, it has been quite a few miles and many more kilometers since we last updated you on our ramble across Canada. We left off in Calgary without much written about it. I shall rectify that now.
For us it was unexpectedly cosmopolitan. With all the high rise buildings connected to each other via the Plus 15 skybridges, especially during their harsh winters, once you reach part of the network, you can walk all through downtown without going outside into the elements. These passages are lines with all sorts of businesses including restaurants, cafes and convenience stores. I think every optometrist and dentist in the city is in there as well. It is a very walkable city and with the mild weather we had, we walked over 10 miles that day.
We stayed in the ultra hip Kensington District. Great little coffee shops and (key word) trendy restaurants. I believe there was even a place for tattoos and cannabis.
Speaking of the weed, as we drove into Canada way back when, the border agent asked if we had any. (I refrained from asking if the dude wanted a toke.) I told hm we did not but I’m pretty sure it is legal in Canada. Like bringing a beer across. He assured me it was but none can be brought in – they must be protecting the Buying Local campaign. Since being north of the 49th parallel, we have seen pot shops on almost every street – often several per block and always with great names.
Something else very common here are A&W Root Beer places (founded in Canada & the world’s oldest fast food chain.
The next morning we continued our directed roaming eastward. Our next pause was in the not quite booming metropolis of Drumheller (pop 7,982 people and about 10,000 dinosaurs) about 90 minutes away (Some of you expressed interest in our routing and stops). We planned this to spend no more that about 4-5 hours in the car each leg. Somedays like this are much shorter trips than others because there is nowhere 4 hours away but there is 6-7. Way too long, so we split it where there is an interesting place to stay.) As I write this we are in Toronto and have driven about 3,000 miles – just under 5,000 km. (I will pick up in Toronto with the next chapter)
We stopped for a picnic lunch in Drumheller featuring leftovers.
Drumheller is known as the dinosaur capital of the world. Many are in the world class Royal Tyrrell Museum. It is worth a detour to this town just for the museum. (If you are close enough, that is.)
I was a bit disappointed they did not have my favorite childhood dinosaur – the Struthiomymouse. I will have to talk to the director….on our next visit!
There are even more dinos scattered all over town. Including the world’s largest T-Rex.
We also took this opportunity to do some laundry and get a little religion followed by a beer in Drum’s best little brewery.
This is the Badlands area of the country. Some nice scenery here but very different from a few days ago. The snow is gone and the prairies are starting.
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was next on our list. The weather (you saw the dino pics above) took a turn for the worse in SS but as hearty northwesteners, we persevered. Grabbed our brullies and went in search for a monument to one of Nancy’s favorite voices –
We have been staying in a variety of hotels. The Sas one was built for railroad travelers and was quite nice.
Driving can make a person develop a terrible tirst:
The Town of York (Yorkton) was next on our list. Looking for lunch along the way, we discovered this little Canadian secret society:
The prairies started around here. Maybe earlier or later, I have been a bit hypnotized by mile after kilometer of not a whole lot. I stood in the middle of the HIGHWAY to take photos of the coming attraction and the previous hit. (These pics may be of further east of this part of Saskatoon- hard to keep track in this vast landscape.)
Speaking of vastness, let’s discuss the SIZE of Canada. This place is the 2nd largest – bigger than the US by 300,000 square km. But, the US has almost 300,000,000 more peeps! Where do we put them all? Nancy & I have noticed the lack of humans just about everywhere. The cities are ‘normal’ but the small towns are REALLY small.
This makes stopping on the road for lunch a bit problematic as there ain’t no places to stop frequently. But, if we wanted to stop ON THE ROAD,, we could – kinda like Iceland. If we see something to photograph, we do not need to pull over, just stop in the middle. We expect that will change now that we are much more easterly where the population likes to hang out. The west is wide open.
After the prairie land, the farms (BIG) and forests (ditto) started up. Huge farm machinery dealerships are fairly common.
Back to Yorkton: Like many little towns we hit, we can find a comfy bed, a very good meal (with a few exceptions), a nice coffee shop and microbrewery. Ahhh, civilization!
A couple more comments on the nuts and bolts of trans continental driving. How nice it is to have the mod cons of GPS nav systems, satellite radio and audio books from the Edmonds Library and the Edmonds Bookshop to keep us going in the right direction and with enough entertainment to retain a speaking relationship! However, Minister whoever is in charge of highway rest stops, get off your duff & build some! Jeez Louise, what is a lady to do?
Next up for us was Winnipeg- a great stop. We had a lovely hotel right on the (way to high) right on the Red River. This one and the adjacent Assiniboine River are in flood stage so we could not walk along the well laid out trails without fins and gills.
We had a lovely time in Winnipeg including a 12 mile walking day.
That Italian restaurant I mentioned – Cibo is worth the stop (proof below). Unfortunately, many of the attractions and museums we wanted to visit in “the Peg” were closed when we were there. Timing is everything in baseball and traveling.
Next stop on our traverse was the burg of Fort Francis. This place is on the banks of Rainy Lake. They had quite a winter and spring and the lake is at record levels. Pity we can’t distribute water to where it is needed from places where it ain’t.
So, the next morning before heading to the maybe-one-day bustling sticks of Thunder Bay, we had breakfast in FF. I ordered pancakes for the first time almost salivating over the beautiful Maple Syrup to come. Ahem, isn’t it a federal law in Canada you can NOT serve something called ‘pancake syrup’? Maybe when the rest stop minister is done with that chore he can work on the syrup issue??
Outside TB, we came across a beautiful and very powerful waterfall – Kakaeka Falls…apparently this is where caramel sauce comes from!?
So, Thunder Bay. Sometimes in my research for this trip, I did not do the best planning on hotels. This one is at the bottom. It looked great but…
This hotel was not in the best part of town despite the view (our first) of Lake Superior. But, right across the street was an amazing restaurant called Seler (with an upside down letter e on second e) (very hip for Thunder Bay!?)
After driving off from the shangri-la that is Thunder Bay, we had a total of 700 km (about 420 miles) to the next day’s town – Sault Ste Marie. We decided to push on all the way and pick up another day in Toronto. Since we had reservations in each place we needed to call the hotels and all was well – other than facing a very long day of driving. (All of our nights for this trek had been reserved months ago.)
Fortunately we had beautiful scenery along the way. This is certainly Lake country. Not just the Great ones but around practically every bend in the road is another beautiful lake.
SSM is right on Lake Superior and was a good place to spend my birthday. Another country off the b’day list – 8 so far and about 190 to go. I best take care of myself if I want to celebrate the day in each country!
Some of you have heard of the huge storm in this area on the weekend. We experienced the fringes of it Saturday. We were out and about in this border town when it hit. Oh my, did it hit!
Within 30 seconds of this photo we were back in the car (good thing we did not walk to town) as the heavens opened up with torrential rain, lightning and thunder. We found shelter at a nearby hotel.
SSM has a sister town across the International Bridge in Michigan- also called SSM. I have heard of the US town as they are frequently the coldest place in the US each winter.
I think the tough winters in Canada lead to annoyances like really bumpy city streets – potholes everywhere. Also for some reason (probably related to the weather), many city streets have very faint or no lane lines.
We have had many locals express surprise that we are Americans. Maybe we have picked up the accent or much more likely we are nice people, just like Canadians. We have all heard for years about the nicety of Canucks and it is true. Every interaction has been just a joy. We have come across very few Yanks here – maybe 5? Also almost no US license plates – again about 5 in almost three weeks. It is a bit odd to us though that we are in a different country and we are well aware of that but we are fitting in both language and lifestyle.
Back to photos – Nancy is continuing her goal of photographing every picnic table in the world.
We made it to Lake Huron and I had to do my traditional feet in water – I missed that in Superior but we may be on the US side on the way home so don’t fret.
One nice thing about being in a Commonwealth country is the availability of evocative foods from Australia- these bring me back – best cookies you can buy in a grocery store.
We have found a few roadside attractions including a really big goose (Canada goose most likely) and a Big Loonie – the dollar coin.
Our last night on the road before the biggest city here (Toronto), was Sudbury. Greater Sudbury that is. Again, a smallish town. We were able to find a great tapas restaurant. Oysters Rockefeller, Duck Tart and a Gilda (anchovy wrapped around olives and peppers)
Well, Family and Friends, that is it for Chapter Two. We have another day in Toronto then onto the big waterfall, and then the other big cities – Ottawa, Montreal & Quebec before pushing to the Atlantic. Expect some more scintillating prose and museum worthy photography.
Expectations…sigh…
Until the next time, the big loonies say take off, eh?
Chris and Nancy
chrisnnancy 