Jul 29, 2012 - North Bay

Une journée de route plutôt longue. Une fois que nous quittons les rives du lac Huron, nous entrons dans bois et il n'y a pas tellement de beaux points de vue. On traverse Sudbury, une ville minière qui ne présente pas beaucoup d'intérêts à nos yeux. Ils ont dû faire de nombreuses plantations d'arbres pour reconstituer la forêt environnante détruite par les émanations de soufre provenant de la production du cuivre. Au moins l'homme a réussi à corriger en partie les erreurs du passé. Nous arrêtons notre route à North Bay sur le bord du lac...

Sep 6, 2011 - First Day

I started off the day in Boucherville, QC. My morning was fairly unnoteworthy. I suppose that one would expect my first presentation to be more interesting, but all I really did was set up the equipment and watch the show; the sponsors and higher-ups did all the talking on this one. Once the show was complete, I packed everything up and headed out for my long drive. The drive actually went alot quicker than expected. Google maps estimated it at about 8.5 hrs but it was less than 7 in the end. It was a nice drive too; listened to some...

Aug 3, 2011 - North Bay, Ontario

Spragge, Ontario was left behind around 0900 as we headed for North Bay, Ontario where Ross has a cousin Joan and her husband John that have lived in North Bay more than thirty years. The trip took about three hours and for most of the trip we had rain which stopped about thirty minutes out of North Bay. We arrived in North Bay around 1230 and after we settled in and set-up we drove into North Bay to the Visitors Center. Ross called Joan from the the Visitors Center and we were invited to stop by. We needed to use the internet since we had...

Jul 16, 2011 - Crossing the border into Canada.

We woke to discover that our black and grey tanks were full and we were out of water. Maybe I forgot to take care of that when we left home. Fortunately, a Michigan state park was a few miles down the road, and the ranger was kind enough to let me dump my tanks and take on 75 gallons of water, politely not noticing that I didn’t have a Michigan state park sticker on my windshield. With that task taken care of, it was off again, heading for Sault Ste. Marie and Canada. I stopped for gas, noting that it took 65 gallons to go about 588 miles,...

Feb 15, 2011 - A bit funnay...

Today was a long day...getting used to the tube system though. We leave the hotel around 8:00 am, take several tubes/double decker buses to get where we need to go but it's all good. The course is extremely good and I have developed a great fondness to photography. Amazing. After class we went to Westfields Mall which has Gucci, Louis Vutton, Versace, Yves St. Laurent and Coach. All the name brands you see in popular magazines! I didn't even want to go inside to look at the prices...but did some window shopping! Some other differences we...

Feb 14, 2011 - First 48 hours of London

We arrived in London on 6:00 am (1:00 am Ontario time!) and we managed to stay up all night and day. Lagged and delerious!!!!! Some funny stuff (differences) about London *Cobble stone everywhere *They thought I was an Aboriginee...lol..or Inuit *They call the bathroom a "lou" or "toilet" *Notice less smokers *Their portion sizes are tiny compared to us (even their bottled beverages are smaller) *They call an elevator a "lift" *The housekeeping staff come at any time and walk in your room (like at 1:00 am to bring us towels! lol) *They...

Feb 6, 2011 - T-6 days--getting nervous!

I have six more days to prepare for my trip. All documents in order, check. Itinerary, check. I'm wondering what to pack. The weather is supposed to be between 2 - 10 degrees celcius. Cloudy, I'm sure. No snow as far as I know. I have to bring some outlet adapters so I can do my hair in the mornings.

Sep 18, 2010 - Flying with Darren in Tamagami

It poured, and I mean poured, down rain in the morning. We went to Northland Traders in town. I remember Grandma taking us there. Bought a few things and then headed back to Aunt Judy’s for lunch. She made a sweet potato soup with ginger and some chicken wraps. Super yummy – here I go talking about food again. Then we got the best treat! Judy arranged for a scenic flight tour with my cousin Darren flying. We were worried the weather would stop us, but it turned out to be perfect. Darren took us up around Bear Island, and landed back at...

Sep 17, 2010 - Traveling to Northern Ontario

You know how you get a song stuck in your head? This trip Willy Nelson’s “On the Road Again” is what’s been running through my head every morning as we hit the road. Bev was able to join Dad and I for our journey up to Northern Ontario which we were thrilled about. Our first stop was in North Bay to have lunch with my Uncle Tony. Uncle Tony makes the absolute, hands down, best spaghetti sauce in the world. You know what he does? He keeps it simple and takes his time. You know what I do wrong? I put too much stuff in and I rush it. Big...

Jul 18, 2010 - Quickee

Our next stop outside of North Bay was a quick overnight, but did have a few problems involved. We stopped at a campground along Lake Nipissing and they had an easy pull-through which meant we didn't even have to unhook the jeep from Louie. We pulled in, got set up, and found that the power was not right, supplying us with less than 110 volts. We had plugged into the neighboring connection as the unit next to us was using ours and figured it was because his was not working right. We got the manager, he changed the plugs, and it was still...

Jul 8, 2010 - The Thunderstorm

Happy 63rd Birthday to me. Although I only feel like 62. Just kidding. Hanging around 9 and 10 year old grandchildren for extended periods of time tires you out but gives you a whole different perspective on life. We took a picnic lunch to the beach we found yesterday and had a short stay as the weather looked like it was going to turn nasty. (thunderstorms)

Jul 7, 2010 - Boating on Lake Restoule

Today we went on a longer boat trip to the west end on Restoule Lake. It's a good size and because it runs west to east the waves can become quite large however today it was glassy calm. At the end of the lake we found some gently sloping rocks and we all went for a swim. Just as we were finishing another boat came in just around a small point and we discovered a small cove with a beach. Looks like a destination for a picnic tomorrow. We watched soccer again this afternoon, swam before dinner and then more hilarious charades.