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!!