Week 2 – Winnepeg to Sudbury

September 24, 2004 –

Today was tour Winnipeg day. Started off by going to the Royal Canadian Mint for a tour this morning. (They are very uptight – don’t allow you to take samples or pictures). The Winnipeg Mint is responsible for producing all of the Canadian coins in circulation, plus coins from over 60 other countries. They can produce 15,000,000 coins per day.

This afternoon we went to “The Forks” – traditional meeting place at the junction of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers. We also walked across a new footbridge to St. Boniface to see the cathedral and the St. Boniface museum. The museum was dedicated primarily to Louis Riel, and was housed in the old Grey Nun’s residence. It was interesting for the kids to see people speaking English and French – with people switching back and forth so easily.

We headed back across the bridge to the Manitoba Children’s Museum – where the kids played for a couple of hours. It appears to have gone through a really hard summer – as some of the exhibits were not working the way it was supposed to – but were interesting none the less.

September 25, 2004

Out with Tammie and Kim Marks to the Amazing Corn Maze today – a 15-acre corn patch with a maze cut into it. Apparently they change the maze and theme each year and this year’s theme was the solar system. The object was to make your way through the maze – to find 9 signs – and match them up with the clues that you had – and then get your scorecard punched at each sign. Easy right? – Not! With all the rain that they have had in Winnipeg – there was better than 6 to 8 inches of mud and water in the cornfield. It was very slippery and wet. To add to the fun – the course would not allow shoes and socks – so you took them off, rolled up your pants legs and headed in. To top it off they did not tell you this until you got there – so you didn’t have a chance to bring proper clothes..

We were over two hours in the maze – and although the boys and Pat made it all the way through (meaning that they found their way out) – they missed two of the checkpoints. This, however, still seemed to be considerably better that most of the rest of the people that were there at the same time. Everyone came out muddy – but none of our group did a full-face plant or butt sit – like many of the others were saw. We were still washing mud out between our toes and nails for several days later.

September 26, 2004 –

Well it’s time to head off down the road again – in the direction of the rising sun. After getting in some last minute visiting with the Marks – got rather a late start so we do not plan to make many miles – however the lack of campgrounds did not make this easy. Stopped a number of times for short walks – and ended up pulling into Atikokan – the headquarters for Quetico Provincial Park. Nice little campground – tucked away by the river and run by the local golf and curling club.

September 27, 2004 –

Up this morning and into Quetico Centre – a private institution dedicated to learning. The people were really friendly and helpful – especially when Pat got the rig and toad jackknifed at the turn around. This would be a wonderful setting for conferences, etc – very quiet and picturesque. It has been in operation for about 40 years – with some rustic buildings and canoeing right outside your front door. They do a lot of Team Building and Strategic Planning workshops. Currently they are offering a three-day project management certificate – out of the University of Winnipeg – but I am not sure that the Ministry would pay the $2400 price tag for Pat – but it’s always worth a try.

We continued on towards Thunder Bay. Stopped at Kakabeka Falls – and walked some of the portage route around the falls into the river systems that the trapper and voyageurs of old used. Then into Fort William and sent the afternoon touring around the largest trading fort operated by the North West Company. The Fort had some really great exhibits – although the local guide could have been a bit better. It would be interesting to see when it is in full summer operation with all the people in costume and character – however the lack of people meant that we could poke around and see things at our own pace.

On to Wendy and Dawn’s place – about 70 km outside of Thunder Bay – in a little area called Pearl. They have a beautiful home right on Lake Superior – and it is wonderful to just sit down among the big rocks and listen to the waves.

September 28, 2004 –

Spend the day in and around Thunder Bay. On the way into town stopped by the Terry Fox Memorial – which overlooks Lake Superior – very picturesque if it wasn’t for the highway right below.

We then headed into town for some shopping and to do some exploring. Thunder Bay has some really nice old buildings – but there seems to be neither rhyme nor reason as to how they are used or restored. You will have a grand old building being allowed to decay fall down – beside a little shanty – which houses a business.

We spent the afternoon at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park on a peninsula outside of Thunder Bay. Drove through a little town of Silver Islet (old mine and fishing town) – that was full of quaint little cottages along a narrow windy single lane road (good thing we left the motor home behind). Did about a 5 km walk around a habitat trail that was not well maintained – but interesting and was good for the exercise. Lot’s of time for Pat to get his artsy pictures.

Back to Dawn and Wendy’s for a great supper and visit…

  
September 29, 2004 –

Left Dawn and Wendy’s this morning and on the road again around Lake Superior. The kids are starting to get tired of always seeing Lake Superior on the right hand side. The road is hilly – so I would imagine that our gas mileage will not be all that great. This is also added to by the fact that we hit our highest gas prices yet – 98.9 per litre.

We took a short stop at White River. White River is known for two things – one being the record holder for the coldest recorded temperature in Canada – minus 78 degree F. The other is that it is the place where Winnie – the bear was originally bought before he was taken to the London Zoo where he became the inspiration for the Winnie the Pooh stories.

We continued down the road a bit further and into Wawa – to get the mandatory picture beside the Wawa Goose. We also tried to get some information from a less than helpful Information Centre in regard to campgrounds in the area – and eventually gave up and continued down the road to Lake Superior Provincial Park.

The Park itself was very nice with only about 6 other units staying there. The waves on the lake – due to the wind – made it look and feel like the ocean. The beach was full of all sorts of round water washed stones – and that water was not as cold as we would have expected. Had time tonight to make a campfire and roast some marshmallows – before turning in for the night.

  
September 30, 2004 –
Up this morning and off to see the pictographs. The rock art are located on cliffs at the lakeshore. To get to it you have beautiful walk down through a cut in the rocks – and when we got there – the waves were calm enough to get out on the cliffs to see the drawings. Although the site is closed for the season – we were still able to get in and take a look. Unfortunately many of the pictures have faded due to the weather and people touching them.

We continued down the road and finally came to the end of Lake Superior today at Sault Ste. Marie. We spent a couple of hours walking around the locks and watching boats move through them. Many of the other attractions – ship museum, etc. were closed although advertised as being open – maybe a one person operation in the off season and the person didn’t feel like showing up today.

The kids actually cheered and as they said good-bye to Lake Superior. We continued to drive a little later than we wanted today due to campgrounds being closed and ended up stopping about 45 miles out of Sudbury. Private campground – that was nearly full with people that were fishing at a nearby lake. Had to do a bit of playing to get the rig in the last spot that was left (it is a pain that you really can not back up with the Toad on it).