Cross-Canada with the MAHARG's

We visited Fort Wellington this morning.  Its history dates back to the war of 1812, when the americans were plotting to retaliate against the Brits previous attacks on the usa. The fort is well preserved, with earthen berms and horizontal posts to keep the enemy out.  The original 3-floor blockhouse still stands and they have furnished it, in part, with artifacts found when the latrine was cleaned out!

Just down the road is the site of Battle of the Windmill, where the Americans and Canadian sympathizers unsuccessfully hoped to launch an attack on Fort Wellington.  We climbed the stairs to the top of the windmill and had a great view down the St. Lawrence.

We celebrated our 45^th anniversary with an evening dinner cruise on the tall ship Empire Sandy.  A light off-and-on rain kept us moving around the deck to find a dry place to eat our dinner.  We passed a few small islands in the 1000 islands, a larger freighter and numerous small boats.  The evening was capped off with a blast from the ship’s cannon!

Labour Day weekend is here already and with it our plans to spend the weekend on the St. Lawrence river.  So, we drove from Ottawa to Grenville – just over an hour.  We passed a number of small towns and lakes on the way.  Every once in a while we’d see fields of hay or grain that have already been harvested.

Our campground is on the shore of the St. Lawrence and which gives a nice view of passing lake freighters, a lot of pleasure boats and the USA on the opposite shore.  The border crossing and bridge that spans the river are just down the road.

Folks are friendly as we settled in we heard from the seasonal campers that they celebrate Halloween here this weekend before the kids go back to school.

The highlight of the weekend was the tall ship festival in Brockville.  Six of them were moored around the harbour and we enjoyed deck tours on three of them, including the Bluenose II.  We walked back to the car through Canada’s first railway tunnel, which has become part of the city’s trail system.

Our first stop in Ottawa was the parliament building of course – to pick up our pen!  Unfortunately there were no tours available at the time we were there. We had taken a tour a number of years ago when we were in Ottawa. 

At the top of every hour the guards at the National War Memorial perform a ceremonial change – so we had our lunch while we watched.

Next stop was the mint.  Its main purpose is to produce specialty and collection coins.  Once again, we learned about the processes involved from rolling the steel blanks to rimming and specialty engraving and colouring.  A 99.999% gold brick was on display and Lyndon took the opportunity to lift the 30 pound brick worth nearly $800,000. 

Our travels to/from the various museums took us through the heart of Ottawa and while we waited in traffic, we enjoyed the stately old homes along the way.  We even drove past the sign for Paul Anka Drive.

The Canadian War Museum is massive, with a huge variety of artifacts from aboriginal weapons used before colonization to more recent conflicts and UN peacekeeping tours our Canadian soldiers have been involved in.

A few highlights: Hitler’s convertible Mercedes, a WW2 vintage remote control tank called Goliath, and a collection of portraits of American soldiers painted by George W. Bush after his presidency.

I had a good chuckle when I saw this board game – some things never change!

Lyndon enjoyed visiting the Canadian Aviation Museum.  Here are some of those pictures.

We took a drive to find where the gold mine tour would be happening tomorrow, and were pleasantly surprised to discover the mine was open today and that we could get into the next tour.

The tour is of an abandoned gold mine shaft in the city of Val D’Or.  Unlike mines we are familiar with in Alberta, the mines in this area seem to be within the town.  Our guide was a former mine worker who knew a good deal about the operational aspects of the mine.  Because it’s an actual mine we were required to don the appropriate safety gear; hard hats, headlamps, boots and coveralls (all provided as part of the tour).  We were driven to the mouth of the mine, and part way down the shaft on a modified articulating mine buggy – with seats and seatbelts!  The cool air hit us shortly after we entered the mine. 

We got off the buggy and took an extensive walking tour of the mine and were shown a simulated explosive demonstration (with lights representing the prescribed explosive pattern), a collection shaft that dropped 1600’ (he threw a rock down to demonstrate the depth), a cavern that had been cleared, lunch room and more.

With the high value of gold we were told that the tailings pile was being re-mined for remaining bits of gold.  Years ago the filtration system in the research lab was cleaned and thousands of ounces of gold were found in the filters!

This will be our last day in the Canadian Shield as we turn south towards Ottawa.  The highway has parts that are in great shape and other parts the opposite with bumps that send the dishes rattling the cupboard!!

The scenery is similar to Lake of the Woods, with heavy forest and massive rocks dotted with beautiful blue lakes.

A number of people were surprised that we chose to drive this northern route, but with a full week at our disposal we’ve thoroughly enjoyed this resource rich part of Canada.

French is a delightful language to hear spoken and our feeble attempts have been appreciated.  We particularly enjoy the sound effects that are woven into everyday conversation. Even the road signs mimic these sound effects!

Timmons, ON. Definitely feels like a mining town. Interesting to see most of the signs are bilingual.

Saw the McIntyre /Porcupine miners’ memorial.  The combined company was the first coal mining company that Lyndon worked for in the 70’s.  Tragic to read that death in the mines is still common. 

Unfortunately there aren’t any mine tours offered in this area.

Landscape slowly changes as we drove south.  Heavy forest gives way to the odd hayfield. We saw a few Amish/Mennonite farms and one horse and buggy on the shoulder of the highway.

Checked into Culver Park campground which is in the town of Swastika, ON. Unfortunate town name that was chosen when the word and symbol of the swastika meant good luck.  The town has resisted changing its name because of this original meaning.

Nearby Kirkland Lake has a new goldmine that will open soon and has boosted local spirit

Although the drive from Thunder Bay to Neys provincial campground follows the shore of Lake Superior, the trees are quite thick and so we’re only seeing glimpses of it as we drive. 

This travel delay brought to you by… Ontario Highways.  We were stopped enroute while a construction crew did some blasting.  Nice warm sunny break. Turns out the delay was because some of the blasted rock came down on a hydro line. Oops.

We stopped at Neys provincial park for the night; it’s on the shore of Lake Superior. We had a lovely long walk on the shoreline and we’re surprised at the steady waves rolling into the shore even though there was little wind and no passing boats.

Aug 20

I slept til after 9! Must be the cool night air🙂

Off to do some exploring of the local area. Our first stop was at an active amethyst mine,where we had a short tour and gathered up some nice pieces before we left.

Next stop was Ouimet Canyon.  It was definitely worth the drive!

Back towards Thunder Bay we stopped to visit the Terry Fox outlook where his cross Canada marathon ended in 1981.

Last stop for the day was back in Thunder Bay itself to get a view of Lake Superior and the massive grain terminals we grew up reading about in what was then called Ft William and Port Arthur.

Supper over the campfire, a walk around the campground to see the lovely beach, time to enjoy some reading before we enjoyed the night sky again …. And another day is over.

Aug 19

We watched the movie And They Shall Ask with M&M this morning, a sobering account of our Mennonite ancestors’ tumultuous history from Sweden to Russia and then on to various points around the world.  We are truly blessed to be on this side of those atrocities.

A warm and difficult good bye…it has been 3 long years since we last saw M&M, so much has happened. We are thrilled to see Marlyss’ hair growing back in with all those curls and to hear that she’s back at work, almost full time.  Their relationship has flourished and we thank God for their four precious years of marriage.  

And east we go towards Thunder Bay. The highway is in excellent condition and is surprisingly quiet.  Once in a while we can see the lakes we are driving past, but for the most part the drive is reminiscent of the highway to Grande Cache, with heavy forest and outcrops of rock.

Just before Thunder Bay we stopped at Kakabeka Falls-a beautiful set of waterfalls.

We booked into Sleeping Giant provincial campground.  It’s further off the highway than I thought, but it’s very nice.  We enjoyed stargazing and watching for satellites in the night sky.

We had a beautiful day to drive south through Lake of the Woods region.  The road winds around a number of lakes along the way. I had driven this route a number of years ago but it was Lyndon’s first time.

We arrived at my cousin Marlyss and Michael’s in time for supper. Their home is on the …river in Fort Frances, complete with a pair of nesting bald eagles!

After supper we gals took a short drive across the USA/Canada border to enjoy a delightful evening symphony put on by the local symphony who were just wrapping up a week of music camp.  What fun to share this with Marlyss – a first for the two of us cousins who share a huge background of music, but never a symphony together.

The guys, on the other hand, went a little west of town to Emo to watch the stock car races.  “Red neck entertainment” Michael said – right up Lyndon’s alley!!