Alberta! Wild rose country!

We are currently in Alberta. Only one province away from home! We can hardly believe we've come this far! When we left Vancouver last October we had no idea what was in store for us, or how challenging it would be! Seriously folks, it's been a lot of work! A fellow RV'er Jim, back in Needles California, said to us….."You're going to do what?! Well, you'll only do that once!" Well Jim, you are correct! Haha! That said, what an experience! We don't regret it for a second! OK, enough nostalgia! Back to Alberta! We decided to treat ourselves again to an actual campground! Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park (in Alberta & Saskatchewan) The plateau of the park is 200 meters above the surrounding prairie. Making it the highest point between the Canadian Rockies and the Labrador Peninsula! Hard to believe! The park consists of lakes, rolling hills, grasslands, and even a ski hill! We stayed at Elkwater Lake with about 5 other campers... Until the long weekend rolled around! The best part of our stay was the night sky. No city lights, and no visible moon on this particular evening! Pure darkness except for the stars and campfires. But the best part was when the Aurora Borealis appeared!! It was spectacular!! It went on for at least an hour, and was better than any planetarium show! The only sounds were the crackling of the fire and our fellow campers oohing and awing! So amazing! So lucky! All righty, on to some photos! No Northern lights unfortunately, I was to busy frozen in my chair with my mouth hanging open!

Our lake shore property! 

Ok, perhaps this isn't exactly hard work….

One of the many trails!

A fellow neighbour!

The "Loner" 

During our 3 days of camping we took a drive to explore the park and surrounding area. A beautiful part of Alberta! Something unexpected when you always picture endless skies and fields of golden wheat!

Darn traffic!

Reesor Lake, which is also located in the Cypress Hill's park. It is another area to camp with primitive sites (no amenities), and a little harder to get to as you can see from the picture below! 

A little off road driving! Graham in his glory!

This is a B&B and dude ranch, dating back to 1904. I so want to come back here!!

Reesor Ranch welcoming committee! This guy was on his back waiting for a belly rub before we got out of the car!

Another roadside stop. This is a historical plaque, marking the area where the first mounted police officer was killed by violence. Constable Marmaduke Graburn was shot, his killer was never found. 

Battle Creek. This tiny creek makes it's way all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico! 

We are West coasters… but I have to say, we love it here!

Saskatchewan! Land of living skies!

We departed Saskatchewan 2 days ago, and I have to say, we had a great time! The weather finally smartened up and we managed to get a few tourist visits in! First stop was Regina's RCMP Heritage Centre. A beautiful building designed by Arthur Erikson. Once again our timing was perfect! We arrived just as the Sergeant Major's Parade was starting up! A display of roll call and inspection, including the cadet band!

The RCMP Academy training grounds

A spiffy cadet!

We also stopped in Moose Jaw to get a photo of the giant moose. Can't miss that! Moose Jaw is a city with a very colourful past! The town has a series of underground tunnels connecting the downtown buildings. The construction of the tunnels started in 1908 with the purpose of hiding Chinese rail workers who were escaping persecution during the "Yellow Peril" (slavery), and for unpaid head taxes. Not a shining moment in Canada's history. In the 1920's the tunnels were used for rum running during the U.S. Prohibition. It is said that Al Capone visited Moose Jaw during the bootlegging!

Mac the Moose! The largest moose in the world!

T@b vs Snowbird!

Downtown Moose Jaw

A great dog park in Swift Current!

A prairie vista!

Love, love this shot! I should have been a cowgirl!!

Manitoba! Land of a 100,000 Lakes!

100,000 lakes and they aren't kidding! We enjoyed a brief but relaxing time in Manitoba! We finally hit a campground at Falcon Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park. A beautiful lake with a small town built around it. Everything we needed for 2 nights of decompression! Our last week was a tad stressful with a ton of driving and restless sleeps in some noisy Walmarts and rest areas. The weather is another sore subject. Since are return from Portugal the weather has been hit or miss. Two nights ago we thought a tornado was whipping through the town. Our little trailer felt like it was the house from Wizard of Oz, not to mention the driving rain that was pelting us. Not pleasant… Especially when I keep hearing from friends and family back home in Vancouver that it has been the most beautiful summer ever! Zip it people! Ok, enough whining, our days have been rewarding with lots of scenic stops, swims for Mango and a little sticker shopping thrown in!

Our Manitoba arrival and customary stop at the visitor centre for info and stickers!

Our beach front property at Falcon Beach! Not to shabby!

Picnic time! 

As you can see from a lot of our posts, we never do without food!

A great spot for Mango to dive off the rocks!

During our Manitoba visit we took the opportunity to check out the town of Brandon, the home town of a special peep, Raymundo! Brandon is the second largest town in Manitoba and named after the local "Brandon Hills". Brandon is a hockey and curling town, with the long standing Brandon Wheat Kings which played in the Stanley cup in 1904. The team was later inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame! Way to go Brandon!

Here's lookin' at you Kidd! 

Brandon College. A beautiful old building, established in 1890.

Unfortunately the city had a lot of flooding this year. As you can see, the Assiniboine River is still higher than it should be. Tree's, light standards, pathways and picnic tables are still under water.

On that sad note…. Here is a photo of our current status. Location and weather! But don't despair! (That's a pep talk for myself)…. The sunshine returns tomorrow! Woo Hoo!!!

Remembering a Canadian hero

While driving through eastern Canada one will notice many memorials to a courageous young man, Terrance Stanley Fox. I'm guessing most of us are familiar with this amazing Canadian? After losing his right leg to bone cancer in 1977, and while in remission, Terry decided to continue fighting the disease, raising awareness and money for cancer research by running across Canada. A 5300 mile/8530 km journey, running 26 miles every day, for 143 continuous days. Sadly, once Terry reached the Thunder Bay area, having ran a total of 3339 miles, his cancer had returned, forcing him to stop his Marathon of Hope, and return home for treatment. On June 28th, 1981 Terry lost his battle, but the spirit of him lives on around the world. To date over $650 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry's name. We stopped at the Thunder Bay memorial to pay tribute to Terry and all of those who have been affected by this disease. It was a pretty emotional stop for both of us. Let's hope a future without cancer is around the corner.

A man was playing bag pipes as we approached the memorial. Lump in throat time.

This quote was on the Ottawa memorial. Small or big, we should all strive for this.

Ramblings from the road!

Well folks, here we are in Dryden Ontario! We left Toronto on Monday morning, and with Graham's superb driving skills we have made it this far safely! I just have to say, Ontario is a really, really big province! From Toronto to our current location, it was 1717 km. and we still aren't at the Manitoba border! Anyhoo! With some long driving hours, we have made it up and over the Great Lakes! The scenery was beautiful, we can now see why people love their Cottage Country vacations! Again, we took the free camping option and stayed at a Walmart in Sudbury. Home of the Big Nickel! Which I forgot to get a photo of! Oops! We then had one night at a Winnie the Pooh rest stop! Yup! You heard me right! The small town of White River is famously known for the small black cub that later became the bear from the children's Winnie the Pooh books! As the story goes... Back in 1914, Lt Harry Colebourn of the Army Veterinarian Corps, purchased the cub while on route overseas (he thought it would be a good mascot, interesting)… He named her Winnie after his home town of Winnipeg! So when Harry had to go serve in France, the bear was kept in the care of the London Zoo. Winnie eventually became a full time resident, loved by all, including the famous author A.A. Milne and his son Christopher! All righty, must wrap up this post! I start you off with some photos of our Bobby Orr sticker quest!

Mango is super impressed! "Who is this Pooh anyways?!!"

One of our many quick sticker shop stops!

Bobby Orr Hall of Fame! As of July 1st closed Mondays! Our arrival day! Excellent!

As you can see we drove all around Parry Sound, Bobby's home town. Looking for a #4 sticker! No luck! Not even at his cousin's deli below! Geesh!

Thankfully we did leave Parry Sound with DQ dipped cones! Phew!

A quick dip in Parry Sound!

One of a few great Rest Stops! 

A quick dip in Jackfish Lake! 

Nice trailer!

Lake Huron 

Are we there yet? 

Lake Superior and the superior dog!

"You lookin' at me?"

Crossing over to Central Time! Getting closer to home!