Oh Canada, part two, Manitoba. 1 - September.

It's the first of September.  Where has the summer gone?  It seems like only yesterday we were packing the RV and heading to all points south and east.  We camped the night at Bemidji, Minnesota KOA.  I'm still not sure how to pronounce the town's name (Bay-may-ji-ga-maug).  Early to rise again and it's off to North Dakota, a brief stop for lunch and then head back to Manitoba and continue our trip on the Trans-Canadian highway.

It's amazing how the surroundings have changed.  Our trip through Ontario the scenery was distinctive, lots of evergreens, rivers, lakes.  It looked different from our trip so far in the US.  Now that we're in Minnesota, it's different again from Canada.  We've entered lake country, after all Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes.  The land is flat.  We're about to enter the great planes of the US and southern Canada.

 

We cross the border and it's off to Winnipeg Manitoba

 

 

 

 

Typical views on the plains for hundreds and hundreds of miles.

 

We're approaching Winnipeg, Manitoba and check the GPS for points of interest in the area.  We find we are close to the ruins of a Trappist Monastery.  We decide to stop and stretch our legs. We find Our Lady of the Prairies.  It's a beautiful afternoon and the ruins are interesting.

 

 

 

 

The Abbey of Our Lady of the Prairies

 

After the visit to the abbey it's into Winnipeg and exploration of the city.

 

 

Manitoba Legislative Building

 

Bears in the park at the Legislative Building, "Bears on Broadway"

 

Winnipeg Human Rights Museum

 

Ruins of the Cathedrale de Saint Boniface

 

 

Union Station Winnipeg - there's a railroad museum inside

 

 

 

 



 

 

 



 

 

The main waiting room - under reconstruction

 

Why of course - we stop at any railroad museum

 

 

We love steam engines of any age

 

 

Inside the diesel

 

 

We're packed and ready to go

 

We have our ticket, all aboard.

 

Well, that's it for now.  We're ready to pack up and head west.  The next post will take us to Regina, Saskatchewan and on across the great plains.  Thanks for continuing to follow us.

 

 

 

Oh Canada!! 29 August - 31 August

Hello everyone.  I've got lots of pictures from the Auburn-Cord-Dusenberg Museum in Auburn Indiana and even more from Greenfield Village, the Henry Ford Museum, and the Ford factory tour.  I will post them as quickly as I can edit them.  For now, I'm going to pick up the blog as Raven and I are leaving Michigan to enter Canada.  We hope you'll enjoy the trip.

 

Views along Lake Huron

 

 

The beach at 40 Mile Point Lighthouse

 

Shipwreck remains on the beach at 40 Mile Point Lighthouse

 

 

40 Mile Point Lighthouse

 

The weather remained perfect.  We stopped for lunch and resumed the trek.  It felt like an appropriate time to stretch our legs as we approached 40 Mile Point Lighthouse.  Raven certainly was ready so we decide to explore.  What a pleasant surprise, a beautiful beach, a shipwreck remains on the beach and a quaint lighthouse on the western shore of Lake Huron.



 

The bridge from Mackinaw City to St. Ignace Michigan.  To the right of the bridge is Lake Michigan and to the left of the bridge is Lake Huron.

  We've camped the night at Straits State Park at St. Ignace Michigan.  We woke early, before sunrise and hit the road.  

 

Oh Canada, are you ready for us?

 

 

 

We cross from the US to Canada at Saul St. Marie and head for Thunder Bay.  It's a 500 mile day. 

 

 

Daylight comes but the rain continues

 

The rain stops but we still have fog

 

Raven is enjoying the view

 

A beautiful canyon along the way

 

A view of Lake Superior along the Trans-Canadian Highway

 

Raven talks about her day

 

We settle in at the KOA campground at Thunder Bay but before we connect we head into town for a gourmet dinner at the golden arches.  The menu is different in Canada, no sweet tea :-( and none of the new offerings that are available in the States.  Tired, we head back and crash for the evening.

 

Tomorrow we're headed back to the states to check off one of the items on my bucket list, to have visited all fifty states.  North Dakota has eluded me for the last 67 years so it's an opportunity to take a brief side trip and complete trekking through every state.  We'll cross back into the states at International Falls, Minnesota(sound familiar, in the winter it frequently is the coldest place in the US.  From there it's off to Grand Forks North Dakota and back to Canada at Emerson, Manitoba.

 

 

The morning starts like yesterday - mist and fog

 

There are signs about the moose ever couple of miles.

 

 

 

And then they appear, even in the daylight.

 

Guess we're up north, streams flowing to the Artic Ocean!!

 

 

We'll stop here for the night.  We return to the States and make it to North Dakota.  All fifty states.  Hurray!!

 

 

 

Ohio Time - Buckeye Lake to Hamilton - 23rd to 25th August

I've been anxious to visit Hamilton Ohio again and catch up with my cousin, Bill Peacher, and his wonderful wife, Judy.  Always the gracious hosts, Bill and Judy serve a wonderful lunch, fried chicken, corn-on-the-cob, fresh tomatoes, and slaw.  Judy has also baked a wonderful cake and Bill serves it with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

After the full stomach of delicious food, Bill and I take a trip down memory land.  I share with him a number of photos of homes of our family's past.  We also look at photos of the families of William and Ethel Peacher, our uncle and aunt.  We then settle in for an evening of golf on tv and off to bed.

We wake the morning of the 24th and enjoy a great breakfast of chip-beef-gravy on toast, eggs, sausage, coffee cake, coffee, and orange juice.  A full stomach of delicious food again.  Bill suggests a trip to the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. Sounds like fun, a museum in the old Cincinnati Union Station.  I'm always up for anything railroad.

 

 

View as we arrive

 

 

Inside the rotunda

 

The first exhibit we see is the "Cincinnati In Motion" - A model of the city of Cincinnati from 1900 through the 1940s with working trains, streetcars and inclines, as well as interactive computer stations that bring Cincinnati's history to life. The detail was amazing and the model was extensive. 

 

 

Downtown Cincinnati

 

Riverboat on the Ohio

 

Another view of downtown

 

Union Station - note the cars and busses passing right through the terminal to drop off or pick up train passengers

 

Cincinnati buildings

 

Roebling bridge across the Ohio

 

Early Red's stadium - the detail was amazing

 

Coney Island amusement park.  The roller coaster really flew.

 

 

 

From the layout of Cincinnati we stop for a brief talk about the history of the Cincinnati Red's and baseball.

 

The next exhibit is "From Settlement to 1860" - We experienced life in early Cincinnati through historically accurate scenes, music and letters, and words from people living in the area. We learned about historical figures from the time—from an early settlement woman, to a steamboat captain docked at the Cincinnati Public Landing. Discover Cincinnati’s role during the Civil War in our Jos. Brown Boat Yard exhibit. Learn about the “Brown Water” navy and how the western rivers were of strategic and logistical importance to the Union. We saw the Early Settlement, Regional Capital and then on to La Belle Riviere before ending up in Queen City of the West!

 





 

 

The Queen of the West

 

Learning about early printing

 

A view inside an early store.

 

Cincinnati Goes to War - We walk ahead through time and see scenes from Cincinnati during World War II

 

A Crosley in a scene from the period

 

Cincinnati Union Terminal - Cincinnati Union Terminal was a significant development in the history of Cincinnati transportation. One of the last great train stations built, Union Terminal has become one of the iconic symbols of the city and one of the most widely regarded examples of the Art Deco style. Since its opening in 1933, Union Terminal has had a long and storied history, from the exciting times of World War II to being the home of three museums.

 

 

A sketch of the terminal from the museum web site

 

 

Beautiful tiled mural showing the changes in transportation at the top and Cincinnati workers through time.

 

A wonderfully tiled ice cream shop - we sampled great hot fudge sundaes

 

We'd love to go back in time and ride a classic steam passenger train

 

Bill waiting to board the next train

 

 

The board room

 

The president's office

 

 

Beautiful artwork outside one of the lounges

 

One of the areas for dining

 

The view of the rail yards from the station tower

 

The board used by the dispatcher to control traffic into and out of the terminal

 

Winton Station

 

Back in the day Winton Station, just outside of Cincinnati was the station where we would arrive from Maryland to visit Uncle Victor and Aunt Marie, Bill Peacher's wonderful parents.  The trip on the B&O Diplomat was always a special treat for me.

 

It was a wonderful day with Bill at the museum and I thank Bill for another wonderful memory.  Back to Hamilton and Judy and Raven for more food and an evening watching golf and football and then off to bed.  Tomorrow, all to quickly, its time to pack and go.  Raven and I are off to Ft. Wayne Indiana and more genealogical research and Bill and Judy are off to Lake Erie for fun times with their friends.  Thank you Bill and Judy for another wonderful visit.  See you in the spring.