tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75385879449893930052024-03-13T01:18:16.837-07:00Our Yukon AdventureUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-25055450105428523432009-07-27T07:10:00.000-07:002009-07-27T07:11:44.825-07:00The next trip!The blog for this year's trip is here: http://ourmaritimeadventure.blogspot.com/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-515429824762465912008-08-15T19:35:00.001-07:002008-08-15T19:53:16.971-07:00A few statsKilometres driven: 16,368<br />Nights in parking lots: 3<br />"Where to Eat in Canada" meals: 14<br />Pounds gained: 3 (only!)<br />Money spent on gas: $1918.18<br />T-shirts bought: 3Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-65576819554423281862008-08-15T19:18:00.000-07:002008-08-15T19:34:38.476-07:00Day 35: Englehart to Toronto, ONTechnically, the day started in Kirkland Lake, which is where our hotel was; thus adding a half-hour on to my day's drive! My Mom insisted that my Dad try driving the bus. She said that otherwise he wouldn't understand just what a feat it had been for me to drive halfway across the country in it. So, Will went with Mom and I went with Dad, and after I started it for him (Bobby does love me best) he drove me as far as North Bay.<br /><br />We stopped at the <a href="http://www.thornloecheese.ca/">Thornloe cheese factory</a>, where we always stopped when I was a kid for cheese curds. The factory had been bought by Parmalat, who then decided to close it. Fortunately for me, it was bought out by area milk farmers, and they're still producing those toothsome, slightly rubbery cheddar cheese curds that I love.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SKY8KB5mSwI/AAAAAAAAAFU/hr_Bn3zqP2w/s1600-h/HPIM2088.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SKY8KB5mSwI/AAAAAAAAAFU/hr_Bn3zqP2w/s400/HPIM2088.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234937759871159042" border="0" /></a>We also made the absolutely obligatory stop at the <a href="http://www.highwaybooks.ca/">Highway Book Shop</a>, in Cobalt, ON. They have 350,000 books in a delightful warren of additions to the original building, still presided over by Dr. Pollard, the same gentleman who founded the store in 1957. I'm not sure Will really thought it lived up to all the excitement I'd felt about going there, but I did help him pick out a few books to get him through the final hours of the trip.<br /><br />Lunch was in Temagami, where we had the worst meal of the trip at a restaurant I won't name for you. We drove on to North Bay, where Mom and Dad were splitting off from our route. There I discovered that I'd left my bag - including my camera - at the restaurant. Driving back to get it would easily put another two hours of driving into my day, getting me home after dark, but Mom and Dad wouldn't hear of it. I'll feel guilty about this for years, I'm sure, but I let them go back and get it, and I drove on! They put in the extra kilometres (thanks, folks), and mailed it express to me the next day.<br /><br />Will and I got McDonald's, which we hadn't done since the first week of the trip, and cursed the slow road at the top of the 400. It turned out to be a fender-bender that everyone was gawking at, and after that we moved quickly, despite it being a long weekend and tons of people coming back into town. We were home at 8:30pm and had time to unpack a little bit, bathe and shower before going to sleep in beds that had grown unfamiliar after so much time!<br /><br />Total: 13,638km.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-88711864245790107382008-08-07T06:27:00.000-07:002008-08-07T06:29:03.798-07:00DCMF writeup on CBC<span class="r"><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2008/07/25/f-dawson-music-fest.html">http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2008/07/25/f-dawson-music-fest.html</a><br /><br />CBC has a writeup on the Dawson City Music Festival, with the typical snarky user comments.<br /></span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002393898779185447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-70905393276724160312008-08-06T08:47:00.000-07:002008-08-15T19:18:32.782-07:00Day 34: In Englehart ON, August 3We started the day at a church service held jointly by all the churches in town, big enough to be held at the arena - mostly my Dad and I wanted to hear the choir! We did meet up with some of our cousins there that we hadn't seen yet, so it was good to catch up with them. In the afternoon we drove out and through all my dad's old stomping grounds; down to the farm, where all the outbuildings are gone, but the house he helped his dad built when he was 12 is still standing; to the cemetery, where I told Will about his great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents that are buried there; and through a bunch of the surrounding countryside.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SKY44wsfU5I/AAAAAAAAAFM/vOCYIt_gPZc/s1600-h/james+christina+nelson.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SKY44wsfU5I/AAAAAAAAAFM/vOCYIt_gPZc/s400/james+christina+nelson.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234934164660114322" border="0" /></a><br />The evening ended with a drive back down to Charlton, a lovely beach where the fireworks were held. The town of Englehart had gone together with Charlton and Dack (local counties?) and bought a TON of fireworks - I think I heard that they went for a solid 45 minutes! It was certainly long enough that the little girl sitting in the next group lost interest, but I loved it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-66506826868397476942008-08-05T08:20:00.000-07:002008-08-05T08:21:53.852-07:00We're home!Will and I arrived home at 8:30pm yesterday, Monday August 4, as scheduled.<br /><br />More later as I get used to being home again...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-40930245770957124622008-08-02T17:04:00.000-07:002008-11-18T14:21:10.643-08:00Day 33: In Englehart ON, August 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SJT3W6EKQ2I/AAAAAAAAAFE/dwoslhUYHeE/s1600-h/DSC00157.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SJT3W6EKQ2I/AAAAAAAAAFE/dwoslhUYHeE/s400/DSC00157.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230077040199877474" border="0" /></a><br />This isn't supposed to be a blog about the Englehart reunion, so I'm not sure how much to write here. We attended the parade today, which had some really wonderful old cars and tractors, and even snowmachines! The high school was open and my Dad got to meet up with some of his old friends from his youth, and it was neat hearing them reminisce about their families and hijinks. By the time we'd seen everything and everybody there, it was 4pm, and time for Mom and Dad to get ready for tonight's dinner-dance to be held at the Arena. There were only 500 tickets available, and they sold out early; apparently there were 1400 people at last night's event, so there are plenty of attendees here. So, Will and I are hanging out at the hotel in Kirkland Lake, conserving our energy for tomorrow's events, which will wrap up with fireworks at dusk.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-29088957427501783862008-08-02T16:54:00.000-07:002008-11-18T14:21:10.834-08:00Day 32: Hearst to Englehart ON, August 1Driving the extra distance to Hearst made it reasonably easy to reach Englehart in good time, our destination for this leg of the trip. My father was born and raised on a farm just outside of Englehart, and went to high school in town. The town is celebrating its 100th anniversary this weekend, and with Mom and Dad going, Will and I thought we'd join in the fun if the bus held up and we made it there in time.<br /><br />As it happened we arrived around 3pm, beating Mom and Dad here! I picked up their registration packages at the town hall for them, so that once we arrived we could just go straight to the hotel. We're actually staying 30km away in Kirkland Lake, since there was nothing available in town.<br /><br />After a nice prime rib dinner at the dining room at the Howard Johnson's, it was early to bed for all tired drivers and their passengers.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SJT1YNnKd3I/AAAAAAAAAE8/NAgc_j9etgc/s1600-h/val+rita+church.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SJT1YNnKd3I/AAAAAAAAAE8/NAgc_j9etgc/s400/val+rita+church.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230074863603578738" border="0" /></a>There's a very pretty little church in Val Rita. It's odd for me to be back in a French- speaking area of Ontario again; when you're in Kapuskasing, for instance, you're more likely to hear French spoken around you than English.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Total so far: almost exactly 13000km!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-85658869419676180462008-08-02T16:39:00.001-07:002008-11-18T14:21:10.843-08:00Day 31: Ignace to Hearst ON, July 31When crossing the provincial border the day before, I still felt a long way from home when I realized we still weren't even in the same time zone as home! When I gassed up in Upsala I was confused by their clock, but they told me they keep Thunder Bay time rather than Winnipeg time. There didn't seem to be much more than a gas station and three houses in the town, so I guess they can feel free to do that.<br /><br />We got to Thunder Bay a bit after lunch and got to visit again for a couple of hours with Jon and Rebekah, and admire Jon's trophies from his weekend of observed trials biking in Duluth. I think he's there again this weekend, riding in a class up from last time, so I'm eager to hear the results from that. Hot running water has become a bit of a novelty for me, so I also took the opportunity to wash our dishes in their kitchen sink, and by 4pm we were off again; of course, I'd managed to forget my keys again, and Jon had to deliver them to me in the north end of town. (Thanks, bro!)<br /><br />Will and I stopped in Longlac for pizza and to fill up on gas (brother's orders - it's 200km to the next gas station), and I felt I could still drive for quite a while. I figured if there was a campground, we'd stop, but it's just the same as I remembered it; for 150km there's almost nothing at all, just an art gallery/store that I didn't remember. There aren't even houses, just countless trees on both sides of the road. I watched carefully for moose and deer, but the only wildlife we saw was a rabbit that wisely hopped off the road, and a partridge-like bird that unwisely flew right across our nose, but didn't get hit.<br /><br />We reached Hearst about midnight, and I thankfully pulled into the Husky parking lot to put down the bed in the back and collapse into sleep. The humming of the refrigerated truck next to us didn't even keep me awake.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SJTzbzL5WwI/AAAAAAAAAE0/X06_W3lMbyI/s1600-h/HPIM2072+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SJTzbzL5WwI/AAAAAAAAAE0/X06_W3lMbyI/s400/HPIM2072+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230072726206110466" border="0" /></a><br />Total so far: 12611km.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-65912911173889579092008-08-02T16:31:00.000-07:002008-11-18T14:21:10.852-08:00Day 30: Virden MB to Ignace ON, July 30After an uneventful morning's drive into Winnipeg, we managed to get to a restaurant close to lunchtime. Will picked the Bistro Dansk from <span style="font-style: italic;">Where to Eat in Canada</span>, and I ended up with a great schnitzel while he ate a chicken and vegetable soup with dumplings. "This is like yours!", he complimented me.<br /><br />I had a bad case of yellow line fever by then and couldn't seem to stop driving; I pushed us on and we covered a record 750km by the time we stopped for the night in Ignace, stopping just briefly in Dryden for supper at the Husky. Our night's stop at the Davy Lake Campground was one of the nicest we've stayed at; along with a nice new comfort station we had a huge lot with dozens of trees around us. I was sorry to arrive so late, when there was a nice beach too.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SJTv4L6pqkI/AAAAAAAAAEs/IQVwFptilUk/s1600-h/HPIM2068+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SJTv4L6pqkI/AAAAAAAAAEs/IQVwFptilUk/s400/HPIM2068+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230068815834491458" border="0" /></a>Looking at my camera card, I see that I was so busy driving that day I didn't take a single picture. Will took this one of his new woolly mammoth helping to navigate, so I'll have to give you this one instead!<br /><br />Total so far: 11846km.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-45468505678916875682008-08-02T16:09:00.001-07:002008-11-18T14:21:10.860-08:00Day 29: Herbert SK to Virden MB, July 29We've been pushing to get an earlier start to our days, but lost a half-hour looking for my bus keys this morning. I eventually gave up and left a note for the hotel owners, and used my spare keys to drive off with. Fortunately there is a spare fuel cap key too, or we wouldn't have gotten far.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SJTuDd0g9tI/AAAAAAAAAEk/k-Kp6NwHoiw/s1600-h/HPIM2052+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SJTuDd0g9tI/AAAAAAAAAEk/k-Kp6NwHoiw/s400/HPIM2052+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230066810595899090" border="0" /></a>The view of Regina from the west; those buildings in the middle are 20-30 stories tall.<br /><br />In Regina we stopped for lunch at the Willow, a fancy restaurant on the shores of the Wascana River in town. Everyone there looked like they were on an expense account, so Will and I in our grubby shorts and sandals asked for a table on the patio. I needed coffee, and fortunately theirs was excellent; so was the "land" chowder, the cucumber panzanella (bread salad) and Will's short ribs, which came with a sweet potato and jalapeno salad and swiss chard.<br /><br />The Science Centre was only a couple of blocks away, so we could hardly pass up the chance to go, even though we'd gone two years ago. That had us leaving Regina pretty late, and we debated whether to stop in Indian Head for another <span style="font-style: italic;">Where to Eat in Canada</span> meal that day. Will convinced me to do it, although I worried when I realized that it was actually at Katepwa Point, 25km off the main highway, adding more than half an hour to my driving day (depending on the condition of the road). To add to that, the restaurant when we found it was closed; their "spring" hours are only on Friday and Saturday. <img src="file:///G:/DCIM/101MSDCF/DSC00251.JPG" alt="" />"Spring"? Is it not the end of July? Is that not summer pretty much anywhere?<br /><br />Fortunately the view, the scenery, and the beach made up for it. Saskatchewan is flat and a yellowy-browny-green, as you probably know. Fifteen kilometres up the road we found ourselves driving down into the Qu'Appelle River valley, lush and green. It's the same type of valley we were seeing in Alberta, but without the crazy striped layers of rock; it's all grown over with trees and grass. We sat on the beach and ate peanut butter sandwiches, leftovers from lunch, and Fudgee-O's.<br /><br />I managed to drive for a few hours longer, and we ended up across the border into Manitoba. The night's stop was a Lions campground in the tiny town of Virden, MB. Once again we set up in the dark and didn't end up seeing any of our fellow campers, all of whom seemed to be tucked up in their 30-foot rigs watching satellite TV. You can camp there for $15 a night, or $1550 a year; with flush toilets and free showers, I started wondering why Mike and I didn't just sell the house, retire, and live there. I decided the road was starting to make me crazy.<br /><br />Total so far: 11096kmUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-1508274458054477802008-08-01T17:49:00.000-07:002008-11-18T14:21:10.879-08:00Day 28: Drumheller AB to Herbert SK, July 28<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SJTl09hzMwI/AAAAAAAAAEc/WU9u_RyhaX4/s1600-h/HPIM2034+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SJTl09hzMwI/AAAAAAAAAEc/WU9u_RyhaX4/s400/HPIM2034+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230057765316276994" border="0" /></a>We took the scenic route out of Drumheller, stopping at the World's Largest Dinosaur statue at the information centre in town, then at the Hoodoos that aren't too far away. They were smaller than I expected, but still pretty neat formations; pretty quickly I got fed up with the tourists who wouldn't observe the plentiful signs asking us to stay on the path and not touch them, and we took off back for highway 1.<br /><br />We came into Medicine Hat in time for a very late lunch at a place called Zucchini Blossoms, which <span style="font-style: italic;">Where to Eat in Canada</span> describes as "a casual cafe with someone in the kitchen who knows how to cook". We had grilled sandwiches that were delicious (mine had marinated pork tenderloin, Will's was provolone and salami), and since they were closing momentarily, took dessert with us to go on our own plate from the bus. I quite liked Medicine Hat from the quick look at it I got, although I did wonder at first at a city that would choose as its motto "The Gas City".<br /><br />We made it quite a ways into Saskatchewan and stopped for the night at the Lone Eagle Motel in Herbert, which also has camping out back. We were the only campers there, and had good first-base seats for a baseball game on the diamond on the other side of the fence. The bathroom had the oldest coin-operated controls I've ever seen outside of a museum, but for five minutes of hot water for a quarter, I wasn't going to complain!<br /><br />Attractions included a playground for Will with entirely homemade toys, and two alpacas in a pen that were receiving special attention from the owners. As well as the motel and campground, they keep a herd of 90 alpacas. They get anywhere from 400 to 500 pounds of wool from the herd each spring when they shear them, the owner said.<br /><br />Total so far: 10554kmUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-74889782726634330292008-07-31T09:17:00.000-07:002008-07-31T09:22:13.033-07:00Solar car<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/07/31/solar-car.html">http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/07/31/solar-car.html</a><br /><br />CBC has a story about the solar car we encountered during our trip. We followed it for a while northbound (the bus isn't quite fast enough to easily pass even a solar car on the highway), and even got a photo with both the solar car and a moose in the same shot.<br /><br />On the way back after the music festival, we encountered them again, at a gas station this time, with us going south and the solar car still headed northbound. Kirsten and Will went over to talk to the driver and crew, and found out that they were headed to Inuvik.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002393898779185447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-16622970928833098602008-07-30T18:14:00.000-07:002008-07-30T18:15:35.045-07:00Quick noteWe're in Dryden, so we've made it into Ontario! <br /><br />As we passed the "Welcome to Ontario" sign, Will said "yay! We're home!".<br /><br />Of course we still have five days and 1800km left before we actually get home...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-74747900045128863522008-07-29T21:01:00.001-07:002008-07-29T21:03:53.693-07:00Location updateKirsten asked me to post an update tonight so all of our loyal readers know that she and Will are safe and sound. They are in Virden, Manitoba, hopefully making it to around Dryden tomorrow, going through Thunder Bay on Thursday, and arriving in Englehart on Friday.<br /><br />A fun time was had this afternoon at the science centre in Regina after lunch at another Where to Eat in Canada restaurant, but it's contributing to an ever-increasing "must-drive" distance every day in order to get to Englehart on time!Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002393898779185447noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-35801773724214976572008-07-27T23:57:00.000-07:002008-11-18T14:21:10.940-08:00Day 27: Calgary to Drumheller AB, July 27Will had specifically wanted to see the science centre in Calgary, so we did that first thing on Sunday morning. I tried hard to like it, but it was all too juvenile (mostly aimed at 3- to 7-year-olds) and mostly too old; lots of exhibits were broken or otherwise not working. They've got a big fund-raising campaign on for a new science centre to be completed in 2011, and even Will ended up asking if we could come back then.<br /><br />There's big money in Calgary these days, which means lots of good restaurants; unfortunately most of them are still closed on Sundays. We topped up at a grocery store and headed to Drumheller.<br /><br />As you head up highway 21 from the Transcanada, you suddenly start to see these big (perhaps 20 m tall?) holes in the landscape. The sides are worn away, and the bottoms are flat; I'm still not sure what causes them, although I hope to find out tomorrow. The road started dipping into them, and by the time we were in Drumheller they were spectacular, and we were surrounded by the walls of these crazy formations. The town itself was bigger then I expected, and far too commercial and touristy for me to like. I managed to get us lost on the way to the big museum I wanted to go to, but fortunately it's an absolutely world-class museum and I was happy again moments after walking in. The Royal Tyrrell Museum houses some of the most magnificent specimens of dinosaur bones found in the Canadian Badlands, and they're displayed very well. (I couldn't help but remember the poorly-curated Costume Museum).<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1vuxQzNeI/AAAAAAAAAEM/8JUSjuxO6Vs/s1600-h/HPIM2001+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1vuxQzNeI/AAAAAAAAAEM/8JUSjuxO6Vs/s400/HPIM2001+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5227957591735481826" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here's Will hamming it up with a <span style="font-style: italic;">Dunkleosteus</span> skull.<br /><br />I had wanted to stay in Midlands Provincial Park, since it's in the middle of the Badlands, but it's day-use only. Instead we're at the "Dinosaur Trail RV Park"; everything is named about dinosaurs here and has statues of them all about. Will was particularly fond of one painted to look like a robot. He finally managed to find some kids to play with in the playground, and I'm finally up to date on our blog!<br /><br />Total so far: 10<span style="font-size:78%;"> </span>007 km!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-59415532860249438572008-07-27T23:36:00.000-07:002008-11-18T14:21:10.995-08:00Day 26: Jasper to Calgary AB, July 26Today was running hot and cold attractions, starting with the hot springs at the north end of Jasper National Park. It was a bit out of our way, but Will desperately wanted to see it, and I figured a hot soak would do me good too. I'm glad we went to the Liard Hotsprings in the Yukon, because there you get to actually go in the natural springs; in Jasper they pipe the hot water into a regular swimming pool, and it's just like going to your local community centre for a swim, except for the 40 degree water. After half an hour we were bored and took off back to Jasper and the "Icefields Parkway", which I had read was the prettiest stretch of roadway in Canada.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1q-clcxFI/AAAAAAAAAEE/Nz1hm482tMM/s1600-h/HPIM1954+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1q-clcxFI/AAAAAAAAAEE/Nz1hm482tMM/s400/HPIM1954+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5227952363504714834" border="0" /></a>It's certainly hard to beat glacier-topped mountains with their icy blue-green creeks. I had carefully not mentioned the Columbia ice field to Will, since I figured things would have changed since I was a kid, and you wouldn't be able to actually go out onto the glacier anymore. And of course you can't; the receding glacier has formed a large lake and river underneath, and the toe is unstable now. Will was disappointed not to have a chance to pelt me with glacier snowballs, but the big graphic poster about a nine-year-old boy who fell in a crevasse and died of hypothermia before they could get him out seemed to convince him he was safer where he was. They have markers showing where the glacier used to be, and there was one for 1982, pretty close to the time I was there. It's amazing how much it has shrank.<br /><br />For the record, we reached the highest altitude just before the ice field; at 2035m above sea level, it was the highest we'll get on this trip! Bobby did just fine, although there were hills we were climbing at 30 km/hr, and the dipstick for the oil was a bit too hot to comfortably hold, for the first time ever. The cylinder head temperature never got higher than 350, though.<br /><br />From there it was off to Lake Louise, although by then we were getting a bit saturated with scenery. I didn't attempt to show the lake to Will; he has been converted to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Where to Eat in Canada</span> way, and had picked a restaurant on the "old road" from Banff to Lake Louise. This is probably the road we travelled when I was a kid, so we headed off on it to find the Baker Creek Lodge, which did indeed have marvellous food (I had the lamb, Will had mac'n'cheese, and we split a chocolate paté for dessert). I drank two cups of coffee, which I estimated would get us as far as we needed to go that night.<br /><br />The road was winding and dark, although there was still light enough to see a confused-looking wolf on the side of the road. We took the first opportunity to get back on the main road, which south of Lake Louise is a major highway, rather than the simple two-lane road we'd been on since Jasper. Most of it is fenced to keep wildlife off, so they've built these crazy wildlife bridges they seem to think will give the deer and what-not a safe way to get across. Perhaps they work, but if I was a deer I think I'd find them a bit too exposed.<br /><br />I had wanted to get to Calgary before night, and amazingly, we did (it helps that Calgary is so close to Banff). It was late and I was exhausted, though; fortunately it was easy to find the Calgary West Campground, which is inside the city limits and right off the Transcanada. The noisy neighbours (who were all there for a folk festival, coincidentally enough) didn't bother me in the least.<br /><br />Total so far: 9820 kmUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-54525275086912347002008-07-27T23:24:00.000-07:002008-11-18T14:21:11.015-08:00Day 25: Vanderhoof BC to Jasper AB, July 25I had planned to send postcards to a few people from Prince George, since I figured it was a recognizable town that people know. From what we saw, it's pretty ugly and populated by drug addicts; we ate at a <span style="font-style: italic;">Where to Eat in Canada</span> restaurant on the corner of a street lined with pawn shops and payday loan providers. Will and I beat a hasty retreat out of town and soon saw the Rockies ahead. Here's our first glimpse, taken by Will through the windshield;<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1opiGxgoI/AAAAAAAAAD8/VBkUOXv1sd8/s1600-h/HPIM1908+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1opiGxgoI/AAAAAAAAAD8/VBkUOXv1sd8/s400/HPIM1908+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5227949805186155138" border="0" /></a><br />We made it into the actual town of Jasper while it was still light, and found a <span style="font-style: italic;">Where to Eat in Canada</span> restaurant. My oat-crusted salmon was unbelievably good, including the bacon & spinach frittata that came on the side. My enjoyment was blunted a tiny bit by not being sure where we were going to sleep that night, and sure enough we ended up in overflow camping. Unfortunately we did some extra miles driving to a campground we had been told had spaces, which didn't by the time we got there. It was dark by then and I was driving with a white-knuckle grip on the wheel, convinced somehow that this was going to be my night to hit a deer. On the way to the overflow lot I saw an oncoming car suddenly veer off onto the shoulder; I braced myself and sure enough, there was a downed deer in my headlights a second later, sprawled over the centre line. I guess I'm glad it was the other car that actually hit it, but I felt bad nevertheless.<br /><br />I still haven't gotten used to the fact that when it gets <span style="font-style: italic;">dark</span>, it's actually <span style="font-style: italic;">dark</span>; you can't see to do stuff like back into a parking spot. This made getting set up for the night annoying, and all we really did was put down the bed and collapse onto it. It was a cold night and I regretted not getting out all the sleeping bags later.<br /><br />Total so far: 9294km (2632 of them by myself)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-82332082111318100442008-07-27T23:10:00.000-07:002008-07-27T23:24:22.904-07:00Day 24: Meziadin Lake to Vanderhoof BC, July 24All too soon in the morning we had finished the Cassiar highway and turned back onto 16, the Yellowhead highway, eastbound and away from the coastal mountains. We seemed to be in civilization fairly soon, with small towns and then farms appearing. We tried to find a <span style="font-style: italic;">Where to Eat in Canada</span> restaurant that was supposed to be in the vanishingly tiny town of Telkwa, but had no luck. (We assuaged our disappointment with the A&W in the nice little town of Houston).<br /><br />At some point around dinnertime I noticed that the coastal mountains were no longer visible behind us, but at the same time, there was no sign of the Rockies up ahead. Clearly central BC was a lot bigger than I'd realized!<br /><br />Vanderhoof, BC is the home of "Dave's RV Park", and Dave has got to have the newest and nicest facilities I've seen this trip. You pay for laundry on the honour system; give him $4 per load in the office and you get the code for the door, and have the run of the place. The showers and bathrooms looked like he'd just finished grouting them the week before; no rotten wood and cheap vinyl here! It actually got dark enough to see stars, which made me realize that it had been quite a while since I'd seen a proper night sky.<br /><br />Total so far: 8734kmUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-52201268440328606602008-07-27T22:45:00.000-07:002008-11-18T14:21:11.054-08:00Day 23: Boya Lake to Meziadin Lake BC, July 23I got to spend the entire day driving the Cassiar Highway, which was a delight. It was rough in spots, but nothing worse than the road to Dawson City. We were driving alongside the Cassiar Mountains, then eventually next to the BC Coastal Mountains, which are also beautiful; pointy and snow-topped.<br /><br />Our first stop was quite early on, in a community that calls itself "Jade City", but really only has a population of 12 and one business, a jade store. Apparently this one site supplies 90% of the world's supply of jade; up from 75% a few years ago. People expect to buy jade souvenirs when they visit Asia, so now Canada exports jade figurines to Asia for the tourist trade!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1hQBVRk_I/AAAAAAAAAD0/194BnOYhTbA/s1600-h/HPIM1897+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1hQBVRk_I/AAAAAAAAAD0/194BnOYhTbA/s400/HPIM1897+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5227941670310482930" border="0" /></a>We stopped again to see and take pictures of a couple of dozen totem poles that are in a little village whose name I have to look up. There is a museum there, unfortunately closed, but under its porch roof are a huge pile of old totem poles, presumably awaiting restoration.<br /><br />Dinner was the Bell 2 Lodge (named for the fact that it's the second place the road crosses the Bell River). It's the newest, and possibly the swankiest, spot to stay on the whole Cassiar; their main business is heli-skiing, so the people who come have serious money, I guess. My pan-fried trout would satisfy the pickiest of expensive appetites.<br /><br />We stopped for the night in another beautiful provincial park, this time Meziadin Lake. The park had pit toilets and no showers, but they had wifi access available! Of course, that was only until 10pm when they turn the generator off for the night. There was a Westfalia from California in the site next to us, and the owner came over to chat and discuss routes with us, since they were considering going to Whitehorse. I was able to point out where the gas stations were (two that were listed in the Milepost were closed, causing me some slight worry earlier that day). They carry an extra 10 gallons of gasoline with them, which seems excessive to me, but I guess services must seem far apart to them up here.<br /><br />Total so far: 8185kmUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-49227136495802032542008-07-27T20:44:00.000-07:002008-07-27T20:48:17.448-07:00Day 19 (filling in the blanks)Kirsten's vague recollection of the Whitehorse Blues All-Stars makes sense, because we only stuck around for a couple of their songs. We left the main stage tent and collected Will from the playground where he was happily playing on one of those giant platforms that spins around, and went back to the bus to get it ready for bedtime. We left Will there to read, since he wasn't too keen on more music that night, then Kirsten and I arrived back at the main stage when the Good Brothers were a couple of songs into their set.<br /><br />Kirsten and I left after that and she went to Diamond Tooth Gertie's, as she noted. Will was still reading at ~1am when I arrived back at the bus, and we went to sleep.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002393898779185447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-19388577519296013302008-07-27T20:33:00.000-07:002008-11-18T14:21:11.071-08:00Day 22: Whitehorse YT to Boya Lake BC, July 22Mike had to set a 5:30am alarm, which was a bit of a shock to everybody's system. His flight was at 7am, and I believe had three parts; to Vancouver first (which seems like the wrong direction, but it's the only place Air Canada flies to from Whitehorse), and then Calgary or Edmonton before finally getting to Toronto. Will and I saw him off in our pyjamas, then had breakfast in the airport parking lot before getting on with our day.<br /><br />The first part of the day involved the Beringia Interpretive Centre in Whitehorse, which is pretty awesome. I had no idea that large parts of the Yukon and Alaska were not covered in glaciers and ice in the last Ice Age; in fact, although the temperature was cold, the grasslands supported the big Ice Age creatures we think of, the woolly mammoth and sabre-tooth cat.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1Z--NIVCI/AAAAAAAAADk/4xx1FwdcafM/s1600-h/HPIM1853+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1Z--NIVCI/AAAAAAAAADk/4xx1FwdcafM/s400/HPIM1853+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5227933680831845410" border="0" /></a>Here's Will on a model of a baby mammoth outside the centre. It was quite chilly out; even in our sweaters we were cold that day.<br /><br />After that it was back east on the Alaska highway, the way we had come, until we were almost at Watson Lake. Where the Cassiar highway starts, there was a little place called "Sally's Cafe". It seemed to be in a trailer and had only three tables, but the soup was good. The son of the owners introduced himself and was making small talk with me while we waited for our food. I told him about the trip and asked him some questions about how high school is handled in that remote region (he went in Watson Lake, but the school bus only took him partway home, so he hitchhiked the rest of the way).<br /><br />As I left the restaurant he handed me an envelope and said it was a gift, but I was distracted by Will not feeling well and opened it up only a ways down the road when I remembered it. I was astounded to find three $100 bills in it, with a note. I guess with my moth-eaten sweater and our 30-year-old vehicle, we must have looked destitute. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the money, but every time I think of it I'm amazed by the kindness of complete strangers. Maybe I don't need the money, but I probably did need the reminder that not everyone is out for whatever they can get in this world.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1cPTcSdtI/AAAAAAAAADs/V6uL39614TY/s1600-h/HPIM1874+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1cPTcSdtI/AAAAAAAAADs/V6uL39614TY/s400/HPIM1874+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5227936160433731282" border="0" /></a>By then it was getting late, so we stopped at the first provincial park on the Cassiar highway, which was at Boya Lake. The road was rough and under construction for the first 20km, then winding and narrow, so I was glad to knock off for the night. It was still light quite late, of course, and I took a dozen pictures of the ridiculously beautiful sunset and scenery from our campsite. I mean, really; is this not a spectacular country we live in?<br /><br />Total so far: 7706 kmUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-53019585352246041472008-07-27T20:21:00.000-07:002008-11-18T14:21:11.093-08:00Day 21: Dawson City to Whitehorse YT, July 21Three weeks into our trip, and the dawned bright and sunny - heartbreakingly for the festival organizers, I'm sure, who had three straight days of drizzle over the weekend.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1YHR44ujI/AAAAAAAAADc/iPDcsvTDjcc/s1600-h/HPIM1837+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KPDu085R9c8/SI1YHR44ujI/AAAAAAAAADc/iPDcsvTDjcc/s400/HPIM1837+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5227931624531343922" border="0" /></a>Here's a picture of Bobby in the campground; the blue thingies sitting on the ground are dredge buckets, of which there are so many left over in Dawson that they use them as planters, and in this case, as the markers that have the campsite numbers on them. The hill in the background shows the "moosehide slide", an iconic site in Dawson that can be seen from everywhere in town, and was used by First Nations peoples for generations as a useful landmark.<br /><br />It took us quite a while to get ready and out of town, since we were all tired from the weekend. We also wanted to take advantage of the hot showers one last time, get Will's "passport" stamped at the Museum, and get a picture of the three of us. It was probably noon before we were rolling down the Alaska Highway back to Whitehorse. We had a late lunch at the Moose Creek Lodge, where they managed to make a simple grilled cheese sandwich a thing of beauty, not to mention the homemade cream of mushroom soup. I had a cunning plan in Whitehorse, which was to park at the Wal-Mart and walk to Giorgio's; I thought it was probably the only Where to Eat in Canada Restaurant we'd get a second chance to visit, and also gave us an opportunity to split a bottle of wine. Their steak is excellent, as expected, and Will liked his linguine with meatballs so much the first time that he had it again.<br /><br />Sleeping in a Wal-Mart parking lot is fine, and there were literally dozens of RVs in the parking lot of the one in Whitehorse. Since we don't have a 'real' RV, we have to plan our washroom usage. Fortunately this one was next to a Starbucks that opened at 6:30am, but I forbade Will to drink anything in the late evening anyway, just in case.<br /><br />Total so far: 7208 km.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-34429174931491588902008-07-24T23:50:00.001-07:002008-07-25T15:11:27.658-07:00Day 20: DCMF day 2, July 20We didn't have anything on our schedule until 12:45 on Sunday, and that was the Gospel hour workshop at the Palace Grand Theatre. The theatre is a reconstruction of a vaudeville theatre that was built in Dawson at the height of the gold rush, and it's a lovely wooden building, carefully finished, holding about 500 people on the main floor, balcony, and boxes. It's a wonderful intimate setting for concerts, although the stage was a bit small for the 10 or more musicians they had crammed on it. Nicole Edwards was the de facto host, but Ken Whiteley's enormous good nature made him for all practical purposes the actual host. There was a woman seated at the piano that hadn't been mentioned in the program, but I knew who she was from the "Fiddle Rush" posters in the lobby; her name is Annie Avery, and she seems to be the artistic force behind those Yukon musical plays.<br /><br />Ken Whiteley started things off by picking a song, and calling out people's names as he invited them to improvise a verse on their instruments. Annie was one of them, and I was happy to see that she got a huge round of applause as she finished up; she beamed a huge smile out at the crowd, never missing a note. I don't remember much from the middle of the workshop, just the usual round of tunes with everyone on stage joining in either at the beginning if they know it already, or as they figure it out. Justin Rutledge showed up late and tried to hide behind one of the speakers, but Nicole brought him out to play a tune; he deferred to David Baxter, the bassist he plays with, and David played a great gospel tune (I remember he said it was the only one he ever wrote for his mother) and got everyone involved as well. The workshop finished up with the Good Brothers, with one of their wives singing a version of "I'll Fly Away" that grated on me; perhaps I've been too influenced by the Alison Krauss version. The three people behind me were very clear that they didn't like Justin Rutledge, and all but boo'd when Nicole asked him to play a song; they were there for the Good Brothers, it turned out.<br /><br />Mike and Will had gone off early in the gospel hour for the main tent, where there was a rock'n'roll workshop scheduled that Will wanted to see. I stuck around and kept our seats for the next Palace Grand event, which was a taping for CBC Fuse involving Basia Bulat and the Done Gone String Band. We hadn't seen any more of Basia yet, and we knew the other band from two years ago when they played; Mike wanted to see a bit more of them. The show was good, although it went a lot longer than expected; you can't tape a 50-minute radio show in any less than 70 minutes, it turns out. I think they really only did four songs; two of each group's, with the other group joining in. The Done Gone String Band has only been together three years, and I could see a clear difference in their playing from two years ago; the two kids in particular are not only taller but better players, although the fiddle-playing daughter still looks sulky most of the time to me, not to mention flat on her high notes.<br /><br />The run-on taping made us late for the potluck, an event unique to the DCMF. They randomly assign all the individual band members to groups of about 7 or 8, and each group has to come out and play a song. I'm not clear whether they have time assigned to them to get ready, or if they have to fit it into their weekend; it's often clear which is the driving force in each group. They often do covers of popular songs but put a slant on it; all I really remember from this year is a group calling themselves "At Your Service" who did a re-telling of "The Cremation of Sam McGee" in musical form. (It's a Robert Service poem, if the pun is escaping you, and particularly appropriate for Dawson City, of course). I was hungry and heard a good deal of the potluck through the tent out in the concession area while I waited for my chip truck fish & chips, which were "crispy cajun" flavoured and excellent when I finally got them.<br /><br />After a break back at the bus it was time for the final evening of the festival, which had crept on us. We planned to go the Palace Grand first, if we could get a seat; the smaller venue tends to have less emphasis on music one can drink and dance to, and we'd already done the main tent the previous night. Checkout time at our RV park was 11am, and I was astounded at how many sites had emptied out Sunday morning; it looked to me like half the sites were empty. Mike pointed out that many were just parking on the street instead, but I think the third straight day of rain was sending many people home early.<br /><br />In any case, seats for the evening were no problem, even though there was a huge lineup at 6:45pm just before they opened the doors. At just after 7pm they started with Torngat, a trio made up of two Franco-Ontarians and one Anglo-Quebecer; the announcer pointed that out to explain that there would be no lyrics in the music. The horn player in the group is Pietro Amato, whose other group Arcade Fire is, to put it mildly, more well-known than Torngat. I used to play the horn and I was astounded at the things he made his do; strange noises with no explanation I could see, taking the mouthpiece out, and playing it with one hand while he played the snare drum with the other. He also had bare feet so he could work the pedals they made extensive use of. It was inventive and riveting stuff, and the audience loved it.<br /><br />8pm brought Nicole Edwards out, and I was happy to see that Annie Avery was her piano player. She also had a drummer, plus a bass player who apparently came from France to do this festival, and she did a set of jazz standards; "Someone To Watch Over Me", "La Vie en Rose", and the like. It struck me that Annie looked just like - and I can't find a way to make this sound like the compliment it is - Fozzie Bear when he plays the piano. She has a big mop of brown curls and when she gets going she bops back and forth, occasionally looking out at the audience and beaming a big smile.<br /><br />The Done Gone String Band was up next, but we had seen them earlier in the weekend, so we headed out for a bit of a break back at the bus. We tuned in the radio to the live broadcast and heard a bit of Threat from Outer Space in the main tent; enough to know we didn't really need to be there to hear it live. By 10pm we were there in person to see Basia Bulat again and see the crowd's reaction; I still hadn't heard more than three songs of hers in a row, and wondered if her voice would grate on my nerves after a while. It turned out to grow on me, and I quite enjoyed the set. She started out with a solo rendition of "Hush, Somebody's Calling my Name", which my choir did in our last concert. The rest were all songs from her current album, which is shortlisted for the 2008 Polaris Prize. Let me assert right now that I believe she'll win it; Owen Pallett was the festival darling two years ago just months before winning the 2006 prize, and Basia's on the same path for sure. I do think the Weakerthans album is stronger, but I haven't heard them out and about at festivals, so I don't think they'll win. The audience certainly liked her, and were even crowd-surfing!<br /><br />The last act was the Good Family; comprising the Good Brothers, the Sadies, and the spouse that had sung at the Gospel hour. (Mike said she thinks she's Emmylou Harris, but isn't.) It was a perfect way to round out the festival; and once again I was transported back in time when they played "Fox on the Run". After getting everyone back on stage for one last number, the festival wrapped up promptly on time at midnight with one last thanks to everyone who came and who helped.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538587944989393005.post-61008871707115203452008-07-24T22:00:00.000-07:002008-07-24T23:55:05.980-07:00DaylightI mentioned that it was pretty light out in Dawson City at midnight; here's a bit of data to illustrate what I'm talking about.<br /><br />This is today's time of sunrise and sunset in the major centres we've been through, together with the length of the day:<br />Toronto, ON 5:59am 8:49pm 14hr 50min<br />Winnipeg, MB 5:48am 9:21am 15hr 33min<br />Saskatoon, SK 5:17am 9:09pm 15hr 52min<br />Edmonton, AB 5:37am 9:42am 16hr 5min<br />Dawson Creek, BC4:53am 9:21pm 16hr 27min<br />Whitehorse, YT 5:19am 10:54pm 17hr 35min<br />Dawson City, YT 4:57am 11:49pm 18hr 52min<br /><br />As you can see, the days are about four hours longer in Dawson than they are at home. That's only part of the picture, though; twilight lasts far longer up there, so the effect is magnified.<br />Tonight (it's actually the 24th as I write this) I'm seeing stars for the first time in over a week. It's midnight, and I'm in central BC, so it's dark enough out to see them.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0