Minnesota and Winnipeg 2024_08

  Saturday August 31st Today was definitely a traveling day for seniors. Nothing like the Roadtrek days when Karl was up at 5 am and hauled me out of bed at 6 am to “get on the road”, lol!! So we had a leisurely picnic breakfast in our room, finally using the toaster and egg cooker that was part of my scathingly brilliant idea to save money on restaurants.   It actually turned out great.   Our room was cozy with a table and chairs and a kettle that the girl in the office kindly gave us to make tea.   I have to say that the scenery was beautiful with lots of small lakes and gorgeous views everywhere.   We only drove about 6 hours today, from Kenora toThunder Bay, but there were long stretches between towns.   I even saw signs that warned you to check your fuel (before passing a gas station) because the upcoming area is not well serviced.   A lot of the names in Kenora and in fact most of the small towns were definitely indigenous.   Not a lot of ex...

Friday August 30 This morning Chad, Charlie and Diana's oldest son who is a professional basketball player, came to visit, and Diana made a wonderful big breakfast complete with eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, and fruit. Chad is the typical son. He came into the house, hugged the dog, opened and leaned into the refrigerator to see what was there, lol! Seriously he did hug his parents first. Sounds like his schedule is not quite so busy now.   He played the summer season with the Winnipeg Sea Bears and they just finished.(professional basketball team). But he was interested in what we were doing and how our holiday was going too, which was really sweet.   Funny to see Diana’s little dog jump up into Chad’s arms for a cuddle! (Chad is very tall, 6’11”, I think) Diana loaded us up with sandwiches, fruit, and a g-f banana loaf for our trip home, and we set off for Beausejour to see Margaret and Phil.   Their house is about the size of ours.   It’s cosy and totally reminds m...

  Thursday August 29th Today started off rainy.  Apparently there was a thunderstorm last night that kept little Hadley (a 12 yr. Old Bishon/Poodle cross) trembling for a good part of the night.  We heard nothing in our beautiful basement retreat!! And…. I slept in “again”!!  We were to meet cousin Margaret and Darwin Knutson, and Trudy, for breakfast at 9:30 am. Issue was that our car wouldn’t start yesterday - Karl and Charlie decided it was a dead battery. So pending an answer to that issue, Diana offered to lend us one of their cars.   We arrived at Lee’s Restaurant (a legion) at exactly 9:30 thanks to handwritten instructions from Diana we carefully followed.  (Even a GPS can mess up). The parking lot was really crowded - we were worried that we might have to wait, but the hall was huge.   Breakfast came loaded with luscious food - truly better than any breakfast special I’ve had anywhere before!!  We chatted with Darwin, Margaret, an...

Wednesday August 28th We slept in a bit today - perhaps the pace of the past few days has caught up with us! The morning was spent relaxing and chatting with Diana and Charlie.   Their home is so comfortable and they have truly made us feel welcome.   Charlie showed me around the yard.   They have a large lot with a deck and an above-ground pool, and also vegetable gardens, apple trees, and large grassy areas. Jessy (their youngest son) works in aircraft maintenance so he’s very mechanical.   You should see the ’67 Mustang he restored - he obviously has talent!! I really think that Jessy gets his talent from Charlie because I also saw a '58 Meteor in the driveway, and a couple more cars in the garage that he and Jessy are working on!! So Diana had contacted several of our Manitoba cousins and invited them to her house for 2 pm. this afternoon.   We could never have been able to get around to visit so many in the few days we are in Manitoba.   It was an incr...

  August 27th - Canada, Here we come! The sun was out this morning predicting a more comfortable day.  I love the heat, but there are limits, lol! Most of our day was traveling through Minnesota.  Again, lots of trees and lush views but as the day wore on, less forest and more open farmland.  By the time we crossed into North Dakota, everything was flat with huge open fields of crops! It’s interesting to be able to see for miles!! And miles…. We stopped every hour or two to switch drivers.  Not an issue when the roads are so straight with no hills.  And a speed limit of 70 mph in Minnesota and 75 in North Dakota!!  We have the GPS on now all the time but Karl is still checking his trusted maps (when I’m driving)  to ensure that we stay on track today!! We stopped for gas just before the Manitoba border to fill up with US gas (which I calculated cost us the equivalent of 1.08 / litre in Canadian funds) and found the duty free store!!  Fin...

Our second day! On the road, and today our goal was to find Wabasha, the location where some parts of Grumpy Old Men were filmed.   Today the scenery was so much nicer! We travelled mostly in Wisconsin which appears, other than the occasional city, to me almost all farms and lush, green, rolling hills. The hills are almost high enough to be considered foothills, but to my knowledge, there aren’t any mountains around.   Yet, they are beautiful with very old-looking rock formations cropping out of or on top of them.   I have to say that the Rest Stops in Wisconsin are better than anything we have in Canada.   The buildings are large, clean, spacious, and there are always park-like grounds with picnic areas and places to walk dogs.   We had a picnic lunch at a rest stop today. We could definitely take some ideas from our American cousins.   I’d far sooner stop at one of these stops than the EnRoutes in Ontario that essentially pedal fast food.   But the w...

  Sunday, August 25, 2024 A road trip, our Grand Adventure for this summer!!   We planned to have an early start, but best laid plans don’t always work out.   Poor Max did not seem to understand that he’s not coming this time.   But we reassured him that he would have a great time with Dawn, our gracious house-guest and doggy-sitter. Remembering our Roadtrek tours, only better, right? Because this time we get to take our time and check out all the scenery…. Okay, so that might not have happened, lol.   Today was mostly about driving along major highways between big cities.   We did notice all the trees (between the cities). So many billboards advertising everything from hospitals and surgeons to lawyers who will help you if they (the doctors) happen to mess up.   Lots more about casinos and just about anything you can think of.   One even said “I hate …. “ someone’s name.   Okay that one wasn’t nice and perhaps it referred to a politician see...

It's time for another car trip, now that the 'Covid Crisis' is pretty much done. For many years, Karl has wanted to see Wabasha, Minnesota, the town where one of his favourite movies was filmed (Grumpy Old Men). So, we decided that this was a good time to do it. And while we are out that way anyway, we'll scoot up to Winnipeg, where Joanne's mother's family is. Quite a few cousins & aunts there! Tomorrow we leave, hoping to make it to the Chicago area on the first day. Ideally we'll get just through Chicago tomorrow we that we don't have to deal with Monday morning rush-hour traffic the next day. More news as it happens! Come travel with us vicariously on our adventure! (And wish us a healthy car this time!) The plan is to go via the USA and return via the Canadian route