This year
our annual 4J’s road trip began a month earlier than usual which saw us leaving
in June after school ended. Leaving more than a month early was allowed by
DaddyJ taking vacation time (those of you who know him well will find this to
be surprising) in June, not waiting until the business year at the end of July.
This it would turn out would be only the first of the shocks he had in store
for the kids and I who would see something NEVER seen before on a summer
vacation!
This year’s
road trip had us heading out to Thunder Bay, Ontario and to Northern Lights
Lake for almost two full weeks. I must say it was so nice to have those extra
days for the annual road trip rather than the usual eight or nine days that we
cram it all into as it allowed for more time to relax and enjoy the sights. I
dare say that DaddyJ may even have seen the value in taking 9 vacations days,
double the number ever taken for a vacation!
Our trip
began at 5pm on Monday evening with us heading off to Medicine Hat for dinner a
mere 300km away. After an incredibly busy end of the school year, the draining
effects of the flooding on my time at work and the usual chaos of packing for
the trip I was so exhausted that I did not stay awake after the first 30kms of
the drive. So for me the first three hours went by in a flash and we were
having dinner at Arby’s. At the time, Medicine Hat was preparing for the
incredibly swollen rivers making their way from already flooding devastated
areas to them. After days of watching the Bow and Elbow here in Calgary, we
could see that the river was getting very high and fast out there too.
Thankfully, the flooding would not be as bad out there as they had predicted
and people were well prepared.
Happy to get
out of the potential flood zone, we were off to Winnipeg, MB. Only ten and a
half hours of driving for DaddyJ. The 1035kms went by with us following the
massive storm that had brought all of the flooding to Alberta across
Saskatchewan and into Manitoba! While driving through western Saskatchewan we
encountered a massive lightening storm with howling winds and a biggest tumble
weed I have ever seen. It was so big that it came up to the top of the hood of
the car! After it ripped across the highway, both DaddyJ and I let out a
chuckle as it was like something out of a spaghetti western movie. We arrived
in Winnipeg just before 6am and headed in for a delicious breakfast at the
Pancake House.
After
breakfast we toured the sights of Winnipeg and headed off to the Royal Canadian
Mint. While the LittleJ’s and I did the tour, DaddyJ tried to get a quick nap
in the car. Given that the temperature was already +24 with 80% humidity at
9am, it was a short nap!
We really
enjoyed the tour of the Winnipeg Mint. It is significantly different from the
Ottawa Mint which we visited a year previous. This location makes the
circulation currency not only for Canada but also for 73 other countries. The
automation at this location is sight to behold. Where else can you see them
making 750 coins a second, or 20 million a day when running three shifts a day!
After
Winnipeg, we were off to Kenora, Ontario. I must confess I was shocked at the sheer
beauty of Lake of the Woods. It has that jaw dropping effect ... Our pit stop
included a delicious lunch looking out on the lake. After a wonderful Italian
meal we were once again off with DaddyJ’s anticipation becoming palatable to
the rest of us.
A few short
hours later, by comparison to the previous legs, we into the outskirts of Thunder
Bay and at our first stop, Kakabeka Falls. The falls were quite nice, and the
water is surprisingly red. It was a great first stop and our first chance to
see massive volumes of granite.
After that
we were into town to see the sights of Thunder Bay. While in town, we enjoyed
seeing all of DaddyJ’s favourite spots, the schools he attended and eating at
the town favourites:
Visiting the
Amethyst Mine, the largest of its kind in Canada and watching the kids hunt for
good specimens.
Stopping at
the Terry Fox memorial over-looking Lake Superior.
Visiting
Centennial Park where DaddyJ had run more than a few cross-country races.
Eating the
most delicious Finnish pancakes ever at the Hoito! In fact, they were so
delicious we ate there four days in a row. I hear that both Rick Mercer and You
Gotta Eat Here also had very good visits while in town. Eating the Persians, a
fried doughnut that is like a cinnamon bun (without the usual amounts of gooey
sugar) topped with this light pink icing. They too were quite good.
We enjoyed a
trip to Lakehead University, where DaddyJ did his undergrad degree and oddly I
did not take any pictures! While touring the campus and shopping at the
bookstore we ran into some staff members who seemed convinced we must be lost.
I explained that we were visiting the Alma Mater of DaddyJ, and this led to udder
SHOCK on their part. “Really, you went here?!! Oh, well your Dean is still
here, I am sure that he is still in his office, you should call extension XXX
and pop over to see him. WOW, you went here!” I am still not sure if the shock
was that someone came back to visit or that he had gone there, LOL. The second
best part of the on campus visit, as we are looking out this window into a
serene field before a small lake, with a canon, which causes DaddyJ to blurt
out in our peaceful moment “You know, that canon still worked when I was here!”
This led to our explaining to our kids how the Engineering Departments at every
Canadian Uni I know have to play some dumb prank in their grad year! Seems that
using the canon was his prank.
We went to Chipewyan to see the Sleeping Giant across Lake Superior, you know I understand why they named it that now. Really, it is the largest fresh water lake in the world, but when you can spend 15 hours driving the short side of it, is it not time to call it a SEA? LOL Anyways, the Sleeping Giant is the "mountain" across the lake that looks like a giant laying down on his back sleeping.
We visited
historic Fort William, which was a Scottish run trading post for the North West
Company. We had a hilarious and knowledgeable tour guide Sally (or if you did
not like the tour, her name was Isabelle) who managed to bring the history of
the place to life in an engaging way. Given the kids and I’s recent trips to
Fort Calgary and the Glenbow museum to learn about the fur trade and our
knowledge of trapping in David Thompson country around Jasper, we found it interesting
to see that this was where the furs headed off to Europe. For me the most
striking thing about trade here in Fort William was that each fur was worth
less in trade by the time if got here. It cost far more pelts to buy a gun, ammunition, traps, fabric etc once you had portaged them across the country than it did at Fort Calgary.
Given that you had taken your 90lb packs by canoe over 3000kms, this seemed
counter to the current market conditions. We learned all about the practice of
having a country wife and a European wife. Turns out if you wanted to live
through the winter, it was far more useful to have a country wife who knew the
way of the land verses a European wife who could make a needle point about how
you starved and froze slowly. DaddyJ shuttered at the thought of two wives! LOL
ScoutJ on the other hand seemed to be pondering the whole thing! The second funniest thing that Sally said was
in response to one gentleman commenting on how heavy the packs were for them to
transport, to which she replied, “But not to worry, they were sturdy little
French Canadians” It was quite funny as BrownieJ and I were fairly sure that
the travelers might not have appreciated that description of them!
One of the
best parts of our time in town was
meeting DaddyJ’s university friend “Tbaytel” who DaddyJ has remained friends
with since University. He has a wonderful partner, DeTbay and an amazing
daughter LeTbay. BrownieJ and LeTbay hit it off over a love of Phineus and Ferb
like butter on hot bread! Our time with them began with a trip to the Keg for
dinner and a chance to meet while the boys caught up on life. Then, very
thoughtfully they generously had us over on Friday evening for a fire and
delicious food. For any of you who know my husband, once there is beer and
burning involved, the fun really begins!
The whole
drive to Thunder Bay was absolutely worth it as soon we saw DaddyJ yucking it
up with Tbaytel! There are not a lot of people that my husband truly enjoys
spending time with, let alone people whom he keeps in contact with after not
seeing for fifteen years. It was not just watching the guys laughing over their
shared past, or catching up on the people they know but the real joy that it
brought DaddyJ to hang out with his friend.
Truly, these
are wonderful people. LeTbay is a smart, kind and thoughtful young lady who is
generous in her time and friendships. She is very respectful of her parents,
does well in school/sports and seems to have surrounded herself with great
friends. For a fourteen year old, she is the whole package and someone that I
hope BrownieJ will grow up to be like. DeTbay is an amazing Mom, who takes a
true interest in her daughter, her friends and her likes. This is a Mom who has
been to the Cody Simpson and Maroon Five concerts in Minniapolis which is a
five hour drive away. That is a trooper who will suffer through screaming
tweens at Cody Simpson! Not to mention, she is a great hostess who makes her
guest feel very welcome and serves wildly delicious food. Considering we were
thrown together through the friendship of our spouses, I really lucked in
meeting such great people.
Now,
TbayTel, aka Jethro, he is genuinely funny! This is a man who is thoughtful of
his family, enjoys his life and has fun. I can see how he and DaddyJ have
gotten along for so long, they are both family men focused on giving their
families a good life, doing a quality job at work despite all and a LOVE of
burning things. I must say the Tbay family really was a huge part of making our
time in Thunder Bay as great as it was. Thank you for the wonderful memories,
the generous hosting and TBayTel, thank you for going out of your way to make
us feel welcome by sharing some insight into DaddyJ’s youthful days at home.
MUH HA HA HA!
After our
time in Thunder Bay we were off to Northern Lights Lake (NoLiLa) which was
DaddyJ’s favourite childhood lake to visit in his summers. It is about an hour
and one half outside of the city, with the last stretch being half an hour down
a dirt road past the last cell tower. It would turn out that being out of cell
range, without television and limited SLOW internet access was WONDERFUL. It
allowed DaddyJ to continue on the NEVER before seen trend of not hopping onto
every staff call all vacation long, so nice not to be making sure that were are
in cell range for the thirty minute calls and not replying to every important
email that makes its way to his phone. Quite honestly, other than during
Christmas vacations when cellular service is a zillion dollars, we have never,
ever, once seen this happen. It was FANTASTIC, it was a real vacation from work
for him. Given how relaxing and wonderful a time it was, I think that we just
might be able to convince him to try out this fancy new vacation method again,
here’s hoping!!!
We enjoyed
doing absolutely as little as possible at the lake. Every day we headed down to
the beach, which was made up of soft brown sand, set up our chairs and spent
the next eight hours there. We jumped off the dock into the armpit deep water,
swam, read, ate, drank and absorbed lots of vitamin D for our bones. The
temperature hovered in the 30’s each day which really helped to warm up the
water. The day we arrived, it had been raining out there for three days and the
water temperature had risen five degrees to 69˚f! Okay, even by Alberta/Montana
standards, that is quite cool, so as the week went on and the water got warmer
it became very pleasant.
The kids
made many new friends. ScoutJ was popular with the girls and BrownieJ enjoyed
everyone! We saw several people launch their fishing boats with quads, not
something we have ever heard of, nor it turns out anyone we know out here or at
Bowcycle (huge quad dealership)! It is a whole new use of a quad. We also
learned that when the waves are moving left to right at a 60˚ angle, it is the
“Walleye Chop”! That phrase will be used for years to come in our house. We did
not see many people catching Walleye or the other fish in the lake as it was so
hot. Funny after years of being on fishing trips in far too many remote places,
it is impressive the knowledge that you retain. There were several times that I
found myself announcing to DaddyJ under my breath, might as well save that bait
and gas, it is FAR too hot to catch anything this evening, no fish will be
rising through that warm water for food. LOL who knew all the stuff that is
stuck in your brain.
On the
Saturday night, the campground owners put on a nice Canada Day celebration.
There was a live band who did some good covers of the usual songs and fireworks
on the beach. They even lit some Chinese lanterns which looked like they just
might catch in some of the very tall tress surrounding the lake! Haha, that
would have sucked.
Northern
Lights Lake is magnificently lovely. Our cabin was close to the water, had everything we needed like a stove, fridge (so nice not to have to get ice everyday), a flush toilet, shower and lots of beds. What I most enjoyed was that we spent
hours enjoying the water before heading up to our cabin to have dinner and then
sit around the fire reading and swatting the HORDS mosquitoes that came out
each evening. On our trip, ScoutJ and I each read two books and DaddyJ J
completed the Steve jobs book! Seriously, DaddyJ reading, it was like a whole new guy had joined us.
Hopefully not just for this trip home.
On our last
day at the lake, we took one of the fishing boats out for spin. It is one of
those standard metal fishing boats with a 20hp motor. It did the trick and let
us see some of the many little islands in the lake, check out the summer homes
and generally be snoopy. Really, the whole trip around the lake was a chance
for all of us to reminisce about all of the fun that we had on our trip.
With our
time at the lake over and a Canadian Scout’s Jamboree back in Alberta to get
home to, we were off on Friday morning. I think that the trip was the perfect
length of time as we were all feeling good about getting home to our house. We
made a quick stop in Kakabeka Falls to see TbayTel who had a great surprise
for all of us, a big box of Persians to take home! Yippie, the doughnut hero
TBayTel.
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| Tan lines fade, memories are forever! BrownieJ eating the biggest breakfast meal ever! |
Next we
headed back to Kenora for dinner where we went to Bijou a great steakhouse
where ironically DaddyJ and I had walleye which was amazing. (I think my mouth
is watering just writing about it!) A quick walk around the waterfront and we
were back in the car to head to Winnipeg. After a quick pit stop we were off to
Moose Jaw SK.
Moose Jaw
was the stop we made so that we could see where my Dad’s family lived when they
first arrived in Canada. We were able to see the house where they first rented
the front room when Grandma arrived from China, where the kids went to school,
the church they attended, the place their store was and it gave us the chance to
place flowers on the grave marker of my Grandparents. It was surprisingly
moving opportunity to see their lives come full circle.
Six years ago, BrownieJ and I went to the village that my Grandfather was born in and the beautiful house they left behind for a better life in Canada. Then to have this occasion follow it up with where their lives in Canada began was like reading the perfect ending to a book you loved. I can hardly believe all that they did to bring my life to this point of seeing my roots. How truly lucky we are.
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| Top Right, The House Grandpa was born in, Top Left, their house before they left, Bottom Left their first house in Canada, Bottom Right, their final resting place |
In the end,
I think that this trip was a great way for the kids to learn more about where
they come from. Without realizing it, our trip sort of became a cool history
lesson crossed with an episode of “where do you think you come from?”. It was amazingly fun to see DaddyJ’s hometown,
relive his childhood favourites and to make our own memories in Thunder Bay. We will all remember the trip, not just
because to has taken 15 years to get him home but for just how relaxing a
driving trip half way across the country can be! Who knew Thunder Bay and Northern Lights Lake would
be as fantastic as they were. Thanks for the memories Road Trip 2013!
