Kenora to Winnipeg

It's starting to feel more like summer now. It was 63°F (17°C) this morning. By the time we broke camp and stopped to dump our tanks at the dump station, it was 10:15 when we left Anicinabe RV Park.

We stopped at the Canadian Tire Store just up the road to buy gas before leaving Kenora. We got 172.979 ltrs at $1.029 a liter; which converts to 45.521 gallons at $3.598 a gallon. We headed west on Hwy 17 through Kenora.

From Ontario

We stopped at the Manitoba Information Centre just across the border of Manitoba and Ontario to pick up maps and sightseeing brochures.

From Manitoba

It was after 12:00 when we got back to the RVs and we decided to have lunch before going on to Winnipeg.

We arrived at Traveller's RV Resort on the SE side of Winnipeg about 2:30 (123 miles from Kenora). Traveller's RV Resort is a Coast to Coast campground. We are in site 202. It is a pull-through and we have 50 amp electric and water and sewer. Symphony and Al are next to us in site 203. It really was feeling like summer this afternoon - 75°F (24°C)!

From Manitoba

We will be here for 7 days. Our site is pretty level for a gravel site. We don't have a patio, but there is grass between the RVs. There is plenty of room between the RVs which is nice. Also, garbage is picked up daily at the site.

Anicinabe RV Park

We moved over to site 8 this afternoon after the previous occupants left. Al & Symphony are on site 9. The hookups are the same as the ones on site 37 - 30 amp electric and water. Even though we are on the other side of the campground, we are still able to pick up the wifi signal.

We called American Home Base to have our mail sent to General Delivery at Pembina, North Dakota.

Anicinabe is from the Ojibway language and roughly mean "the People". The area here at Lake of the Woods has always been a gathering place for the aboriginal people.

We spent the day taking it easy and checking out the campground and taking photos. The RV park is on the Lake of the Woods - which is the second largest freshwater lake in Ontario.

From Ontario

One of the things we have seen along the highway on our trip through Ontario has been the inuksuit (plural for "inukshuk" - which means "in the likeness of a human"). It has been hard to take a photo of them when we're going along the highway. Some have only been a few stones stacked up and some are in the shape of a human. We finally got a great photo of an inukshuk!

From Ontario

The inukshuk were made in different forms to serve different messages - as navigation or directional aids, to mark a place of respect or memorial for a beloved person, or to indicate migration routes or places where fish can be found. They are made of unworked stones that are used by the Inuit for communication and survival.

7/19 Thunder Bay to Kenora

We left Trowbridge Falls Campground this morning a little before 10:30. We headed into Thunder Bay to get gas in the RVs before heading north to Kenora. We got 111.43 ltr @ $1.032 ltr which converts to 29.324 gal @$3.604 gallon. Because it was going to be difficult to maneuver the RVs into the gas station with the cars hooked up, we waited to hitch up the cars. We hitched up the cars in a large parking lot that was across the street from the gas station.

We traveled west on Hwy 17 from Thunder Bay. We found a place to pull off the road about 8 miles from Raith where we could stop for lunch at noon.

From Ontario

We arrived at Anicinabe RV Park & Campground about 4:30 after driving 307 miles from Thunder Bay. They didn't have 2 sites next to each other for tonight, so we will be on site 37 and will move to site 8 tomorrow. Al & Symphony are on site 9 for tonight & tomorrow night.

We're staying here for 2 nights and it's costing us $30.72 CAD ( $28.11 US) a night. We have 30 amp electric and water and we are able to pick up the wifi signal at the RV. The site is gravel and reasonably. There isn't a patio, but there is grass between the RVs.

From Ontario

Mike & I decided we wanted to check out Boston Pizza in Kenora for dinner. We've been seeing commercials for Boston Pizza ever since we got in Canada & the pizzas always looked good. We checked with Al & Symphony to see if they wanted to go, but they had met some people here that invited them to a fish fry.

We drove around the town of Kenora before going into Boston Pizza. We ordered a medium Rustic Italian and added pepperoni and Miller Genuine Draft. Our beers were $3.99 each and the pizza was $25.05. We definitely weren't disappointed in our meal - the pizza was just as good as it looked in the commercials.

Afterwards, we went back to the RV park. We'll be moving to site 8 tomorrow and will be next to Al & Symphony.

Al & Symphony arrive

Al & Symphony arrived here at Trowbridge Falls Campground this afternoon. They are in site 36B (30 amp electric) which is right behind us.

From Ontario

It was good to see them and we spent the rest of the day catching up.

They had a great time up at Armstrong Station. They had stopped by the side of the road before heading into Armstrong and a woman came by in her car and wanted to know if they were lost because they have Florida tags on their RV. Al explained how he had been stationed at Armstrong Station in the '60's and wanted to visit it while they were in Canada.

The woman invited them to park their RV at the lake by their cabin for the time that they stayed in Armstrong. Al & Symphony told us they had a terrific time.

Trowbridge Falls Campground

It was 37°F (3°C) this morning. I went into Walmart to do some grocery shopping before we headed over to Trowbridge Falls Campground. We spent the morning trying to call Al & Symphony to let them know about our change in plans on campgrounds, but our calls weren't getting through to them. After lunch we decided to go to Trowbridge Falls Campground, a Thunder Bay city campground, and get our campsites.

Mike called the office at Chippewa Park to leave a message for Al to let them know about the change in plans just in case we weren't able to call them.

It was only 7 miles from Walmart to the campground and we arrived there about 2:30. We both went into the office at the campground and had a great time visiting with the 2 ladies, Dolly & Barb, who work there. They both had a great attitude and were very funny. We also left a message for Al with them in case he should call.

We paid $125.70 CAD ($111.65 US) for 5 days. We are in site 36A - it is a double site with 30amp (36B) & 50amp (36A) electric service. The sites are gravel with electric and water hookups. The bathrooms/showers and dump station are across from our sites and there is a nice grassy area next to the bathrooms to walk the dogs.

From Ontario

It did warm up to 72°F (22°C) this afternoon and we had a little bit of rain

Marathon to Thunder Bay

It was cooler this morning when we got up - 39°F (4°C), but since it was sunny it didn't feel too cold. We left Neys Lunch & Campground this morning around 10:30 and headed west on Trans Canada 17.

We stopped for lunch about noon at a pull-off east of Kama overlooking Lake Superior.

From Ontario

While we were stopped for lunch, Mike called American Home Base to have our mail sent to Grand Portage, Minnesota which is about 40 miles south of Thunder Bay. If we have our mail sent to us in Canada it has to go through customs and there is no telling when we would actually receive it.

We pulled into the Terry Fox Tourist Information Centre around 2 p.m. After picking up some brochures at the Information Centre we walked over to the Terry Fox Monument which overlooks Lake Superior. The monument is set on a 45 ton granite base with a foundation of local amethyst and a 9 foot high bronze statue of Terry Fox on top. Terry Fox lost a leg to cancer at the age of 20 and embarked on a cross-country run for Cancer research - Marathon of Hope. Unfortunately on September 1, 1980 just northeast of Thunder Bay after 143 days, running 5,373 km (3,339 miles) he was unable to finish because his cancer had spread.

From Ontario

We then drove into Thunder Bay to locate Wal-Mart where we're spending the night. After parking the RV at Wal-Mart we disconnected the Vue and drove south to Chippewa Park to check out the campground there. We found out that they are in the process of updating the campground, so we decided to drive up to Trowbridge Falls Park & Campground to see what they have there. After driving up to Trowbridge Falls Campground and looking around, we decided to stay there.

Before heading back to the RV, we stopped at a Wendy's for dinner and then at Robin's Donuts for some donuts.

We drove about 170 miles today from Neys Campground. Al and Symphony are supposed to be here tomorrow. We do have 1 bar on our cell phones here in Thunder Bay, but we haven't been able to call Al to let them know that we're staying at Trowbridge Falls instead of Chippewa Park.

Neys Lunch & Campground

Today we just stayed here at the campground. We're leaving here tomorrow and going to Thunder Bay where we will meet back up with Al and Symphony.

We packed away stuff that we didn't need in preparation for tomorrow's departure.

This afternoon we went down to the store to wifi one last time.

John and Tammy were both there and we were able to get a photo of them. We told them how much we had enjoyed our stay there. John and Tammy and Betty and Cyril (parents) were really helpful . We always had a good time there at the store visiting with them.

From Ontario

Neys Lunch & Campground

It was a little warmer this morning when we got up 52°F (11°C). This morning we went up to the restaurant to have breakfast. Mike had the homemade pancakes with sausage and the rest of us had the Neys Special (eggs, bacon/sausage, home fries, toast and coffee). The breakfast for Mike and I came to $13.

While we were up at the store, Mike called on the pay phone to add more minutes to our phone card. We found out yesterday from John that our cell phones probably won't work until we get to Thunder Bay on Monday.

We spent the rest of the day at the RV doing some straightening up and housekeeping. Later this afternoon we all took a walk around the campground. It had warmed up to 61°F (16°C), so it was very comfortable. There are 14 sites here, so it's not a large campground. There are also 2 small cabins here in the campground. One of them, Mink Maison, is not too far away from our site.

From Ontario

The cabin is small, so the bathroom is outside - another opportunity for Mike and Al to add to their outhouse collection.

From Mike and Al's Outhouse Tour

We walked back to group camping area and another outhouse opportunity was there!

From Mike and Al's Outhouse Tour

After walking around for a while, we headed back to the RV for dinner. Afterward, Symphony and I went up to the store to wifi. Symphony and Al will be leaving us tomorrow to take a side trip up to Armstrong Station, Ontario. Al was stationed up there in the '60's and since he's up here wants to go visit it. Armstrong Station is about 160 miles north of Thunder Bay. We'll meet back up in Thunder Bay next week.

Wawa to Marathon, ON

It was 46°F (6°C) this morning and sunny. We left Wawa RV Resort this morning a little before 9:30 and headed north up Trans Canada Highway 17 to our next stop at Neys Lunch and RV Park about 12½ miles (20 km) west of Marathon.

From Ontario

We drove through the town of White River

From Ontario

and the township of Manitouwadge that advertises itself as the place you can go to "play in the extreme". The original name was Manitouwadj, which means "Cave of the Great Spirit" in the Ojibway language.

From Ontario

Trans Canada 17 is a major 2 lane highway, but we didn't encounter a lot of traffic today.

From Ontario

We stopped to get gas at an Esso station at Marathon. We got 150.263L @$1.140L for a total of $171.30 CAD which converts to 39.543gal @$3.763gal for a total of $148.82 US. We arrived at Neys Lunch & Campground around 12:30. We checked in at the office/store/restaurant. Tammy (one of the owners) was cooking and it really smelled good. We decided to come in for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Neys is a Passport America campground, so we are staying here for $11.90 US ($13.13 CAD) a day. We are on site 9 and Al & Symphony are next to us in site 10. We have 15 amp electric, water and sewer connections. The connections are located at the front of the RV sites. The sites are mostly dirt and grass, but they are relatively level. There is no dump station here, but most sites have sewer connections.

We have trees next to us that interfere with our rooftop satellite dish, so Mike set out our portable dish. We are able to pick up one local Canadian TV station out of Toronto. There is wifi here at the campground, but Symphony & I can't pick up the signal, although it can be picked up at the sites across from us. We also don't have any cell phone service here.

From Ontario

Later this afternoon we all went up to the store with our laptops to wifi and buy some souvenirs. Tammy's husband, John, was there and we asked him about no cell phone service. He told us that the only cell service in the area was for the local cell provider. He said that even other Canadian cell phones wouldn't work in this area. There is a pay phone just outside the store we can use.

It warmed all the way up to 66°F (19°C) this afternoon which felt great to us. We've learned that most Canadians are wishing the weather was warmer this summer, since they had an extremely cold winter.

Scenic High Falls & Silver Falls

It rained off and on most of yesterday and we all decided to stay at the campground for the day. We hoped that today's weather would be better so we could visit a couple of waterfalls near here. Yesterday we saw this RV in the campground that had been shipped over from Germany.

From Ontario

This morning it was 43°F (7°C) and no rain - it actually looked like we would have good weather today for sightseeing.

Our first stop this morning was Scenic High Falls or Scenic Magpie High Falls. The falls are about 1½ miles (2½ km) south of Wawa on Hwy 17 and then a 1½ mile drive down a gravel road to the parking area. Scenic High Falls are 75 feet high and 125 feet wide and there is a path to the right of the falls that takes you to the top of the falls. The source of this waterfall is the Magpie River which empties into Lake Superior.

From Ontario

Our next stop was Silver Falls near Michipicoten River Village which is about 6 miles south of Wawa. There are actually 3 Silver Falls on the Michipicoten River and the one we visited is the Middle Silver Falls. The road crosses the Michipicoten River and the falls can be seen from the bridge. We found a place to park off the road near the bridge and got out to take photos.

Then we drove into the Michipicoten River Village and down to the marina on the river which gave Mike and Al another opportunity to add to their Outhouse Photo Album.

From Mike and Al's Outhouse Tour

Afterward we went back to the campground for lunch before going into Wawa. Our first stop in Wawa was at Lion's Beach on Wawa Lake.

There next to the beach front boardwalk is a monument to mining - a huge 50 ton, 64 foot tall super heavy weight rotary blasthole drill named "JOY". It was first used in the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway and later in pit mining in the local area.

From Ontario

We stopped again outside the Lakeview Hotel to wifi and catch up on our email before stopping at the Post Office for stamps. Our last stop was at John's Valu-Mart for groceries before heading back to the RVs.

It did warm up to 73°F (23°C) and we actually saw the sun this afternoon. It turned out to be a perfect day for sightseeing. Tomorrow we leave here to go to Marathon.

Young’s General Store, Wawa, Ontario

It was 43°F (6°C) and foggy when we woke up this morning - then a light rain started. The campground laundromat is just across from us and Symphony and I did laundry this morning. We both tried to wifi this morning, but couldn't get a signal even when we went went up to the building with the public phone. We checked at the office and their internet service was out. They have had so much rain here that the phone lines were soaked.

After lunch we all got in Al's car and headed into Wawa. Our first stop was at the Wawa Tourist Information Centre. The first thing you see when you approach Wawa is the Famous Wawa Goose monument - the largest of its kind in Canada. It was erected in 1960 to commemorate the last link of the Trans Canada highway. This is the 2nd monument (1963) and it's constructed of steel. The original was made of plaster and wasn't able to stand up to the weather. Wawa means "Wild Goose" in Ojibway.

From Ontario

°
Once we were at the Visitor Centre parking lot, we saw the "Grandma Doors" - part of the 200 doors that honor women who were significant to Wawa's heritage and can be found at the Visitor Centre and in Wawa.

From Ontario

Our next stop was at Young’s General Store on the main road into Wawa. This is a combination general store and souvenir store. We stopped before going in to take a photo with "Henrietta".



We picked up a wifi signal outside the Lakeview Hotel. We sat in the car outside the hotel and Symphony and I caught up on our email.

Then we decided to head back to the campground, but first we had to make a stop at Tim Horton’s to buy some donuts. We don't have Tim Horton's in Alabama and have gotten "hooked" on their donuts; so it's hard to pass one by.

We've had light rain most of the day except when we were out sightseeing. It warmed all the way up to 55°F (13°C) today

Sault Ste. Marie to Wawa, ON

It wasn’t quite as cold this morning when we got up (41ºF which is 5ºC) as yesterday morning. We left Glenview Campground this morning about 10:00 and headed north on Trans Canada Highway 17.

About 11:00 we stopped at Batchawana Bay Provincial Park. It is a day use park on the shores of Lake Superior. We found a picnic table right on the bay and decided that this was a great place to have lunch. Symphony and I made lunch and we carried it out to the picnic table. I doubt we could have found a better place to have lunch - sometimes spur of the moment stops turn out to be the best ones!

From Ontario

After lunch we continued north on TC-17 to Wawa, Ontario. After traveling 133 miles from Glenview Campground in Sault Ste Marie, we arrived at Wawa RV Resort & Campground around 2 p.m.


We are in site #6 and have water and electric (30 amp) hookups. We are staying here with a Good Sam discount, so it is $28.75 CAD ($26.05 US) a day. Mike  had to use bungee cords to hold the electric cord in the socket, since the socket was installed upside down..

Site #6 is a back-in gravel site with grass and it is fairly level; however there isn't enough room to put our awning out because of the trees next to us. Al and Symphony are next to us in site #5. Even though we're in a back-in site, we've driven the RV forward in the site so our door faces Al and Symphony's door - much easier for visiting back and forth.

From Ontario

We have wifi here, but I'm not able to pick up the signal. Symphony can pick up the wifi signal in their RV - I think it's because of the way their RV is facing. There is a small building at the entrance with a public phone and a desk with chairs and we are able to pick up the wifi signal there. We have no Verizon cell phone service here, fortunately we have a phone card.

From Ontario

 We had light rain this afternoon and our high for the day was 55º (13ºC).

4th of July Fireworks

It was much colder this morning when we got up – 39º (4ºC).

We were in Gaylord, MI on July 1 and missed Canada’s 142nd birthday (Canada Day) which they celebrate with fireworks and various activities.

We drove down to the St. Mary’s River waterfront near the Station Mall in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario about 7:30 to watch the 4th of July fireworks. There is a riverside park along the St. Mary’s River and we found benches to sit on while we waited for the fireworks display to start at dusk. Did I mention when dusk was??? How about 9:30!

The 4 of us sat on the bench and watched the crowd around us get larger as it got later in the evening. Even though it had warmed up to 77º (25º C) this afternoon, it was chilly sitting on the waterfront waiting for the fireworks to begin.

From Sault Ste Marie

What can I say – the fireworks were terrific. Mike took movies of the fireworks with our digital camera and I was able to get some still snapshots from the movies that came out pretty good.

From Sault Ste Marie

I overheard one girl standing near me who said that the U.S. fireworks were better than the Canadian ones. Since we didn’t see the Canadian ones, we’ll happily take her word for it.
It was nearly midnight by the time we got back to the campground.

Soo Locks Tour

It was 50º F (10º C) and cloudy when we got up this morning. We spent the morning going through the travel brochures for area and planning where we wanted to go sightseeing.

We learned from the brochures that Sault Ste. Marie, MI is the oldest city in Michigan and the third oldest city in the United States. French missionaries and fur traders ventured into the territory in the 1600’s. Father Jacques Marquette, the legendary Jesuit missionary and explorer, named the European settlement Sault Ste. Marie in honor of the Virgin Mary. The French and British often fought over the area in the 1700’s. In 1820 the Treaty of Sault was signed and control of the area south of the St. Mary’s River was turned over to the United States in 1823. The Twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario are called the Twin Sault area – an International City.

After lunch we drove across the International Bridge ($5 toll) and crossed the border into the U.S. to Sault Ste. Marie, MI to go on the Soo Locks Boat Tour. We arrived at Dock #2 and purchased tickets ($21 each) for the 1:45 p.m. boat tour. When the tour boat arrived we boarded the Nokomis and took our seats in the forward seating area. It was still cloudy and the temp was in the mid 50’s, so we definitely needed our coats.

From Sault Ste Marie

On our 2 hour boat tour of the Soo Locks we passed by the Edison Building – a quarter mile long horizontal shaft hydro plant (the longest in the world), built from 1898 to 1902. We saw the Algoma Steel Plant, the Museum Ship “Valley Camp”, Canadian Bushplane Museum, M.S. Norgoma Museum Ship, and the Tower of History.

From Sault Ste Marie

On our tour we learned that the American Soo Locks are a designated National Historic Site. The first lock was constructed in the late 1700’s on the Canadian side of the river, but was destroyed during the War of 1812. The federal government took control of the modernized locks in the 1870’s. The Soo Locks are the busiest locks in the world. The two active U.S. locks are the MacArthur and the Poe and they handle an average of 10,000 vessel passages a year.
After our boat tour we bought some postcards at the gift shop and got a couple of Mocha Cappuccinos at the Dockside Cafe to help us warm up.

Before heading back to the RV park we drove down to the Aune Osborne Campground to check it out and stopped at a couple of places to take photos. We also stopped at The Totem Pole souvenir shop north of Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario to take photos of the Man and Moose.

From Sault Ste Marie

After dinner Symphony and I went up to the common room with our laptops to use their wifi service. Since it's still early in the season, we were the only ones up there.

Gaylord, MI to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

This morning we broke camp and drove the RV’s over to the dump station to empty our holding tanks. Mike changed out the sediment filter before putting some water in the fresh water tank. While Mike was doing that, I drove the car to Johnson’s Propane to have our portable propane tank filled. I paid $2.49 a gallon for the propane plus a $7 labor fee (the first time we’ve been charged a fee for filling the tank).

Mike and I met Symphony and Al at Wal-Mart Supercenter and after hitching up the cars, we were on our way to Canada via I-75. It was 66 miles from Gaylord up to the Mackinac Bridge. We crossed the Mackinac Bridge about 11:30 a.m. and paid a toll of $10.00 ($3 car, $7 RV) at the toll booth at St. Ignace, MI. After crossing into St. Ignace we drove past Castle Rock which we had climbed June 15 when we went on the Mackinaw Trolley Tour.

From Entering Ontario

We stopped for gas at a Citgo station in Sault Ste. Marie, MI where we filled the tanks in the RV and car ($2.759 gallon) before crossing the border into Ontario. We were charged a $10 toll to cross the International Bridge.  The border between the U.S. and Canada is halfway across the International Bridge where I-75 becomes Hwy 17B. Once we crossed into Ontario we had about a 15 minute wait before going through Canadian Customs.

From Entering Ontario

After answering the usual questions regarding the purpose of our trip into Canada, we were on our way. There was currency exchange office just past Customs and we stopped there to change some U.S. currency into Canadian. The exchange rate was $1 U.S. to $1.10 Canadian. Then we stopped at the Ontario Travel Information Centre to pick up brochures. They also had a currency exchange service there. Mike checked on the exchange rate there and we would have been better off getting our Canadian money there. Oh well, live and learn!

We arrived at Glenview Cottages and Campground  about 4:30 this afternoon - 130 miles from Gaylord, MI. We are in site #58 which is a pull-through and we have electric (30 amp) and water. Al and Symphony are next to us in site 59. We will be here for 3 days and are paying $31.19 Canadian Dollar (CAD) a day - $27.18 US Dollar. We have wifi in the campground, but we'll will have to go up to the office/common room.

From Sault Ste Marie