Days: 19 to 35
Dates: July 24 to August 9
Wow how time flies! At some point I will post some pictures of our time in Montreal, but being a Matron of Honour means that there was no time to even think about blogging.
Sunday, 9 August 2015
Day 18
Date: July 23, 2015
Location at the beginning of the day: Waterloo Ontario
Distance to drive: 620 km
Hours to drive: 6
Destination: my sister’s house in Dorval
Planned activities: reach our furthest destination
Quote of the day: “Here
we come Montreal!”
“I
hate Toronto traffic!”
One
quote by the oldest person in the truck and the other by
the
youngest. I am sure everyone can guess
which is which.
It was bittersweet leaving this morning. We are on route to our furthest destination,
which involves all sorts of exciting events including Suzanne’s wedding, but we
had such a great time with Chad’s extended family in Waterloo. They were so welcoming and hospitable. It was amazing to get to know them! We look
forward having them out to our place and to visiting them again in the future.
Traffic in the Toronto area was crazy. We were bumper to bumper, surrounded by semi
trucks, going less than 30 km/h at 10:30 am.
We have now entered Quebec and we all can’t wait until we
reach Suzanne and Darren’s.
Day 17
Date: July 22, 2015
Location at the beginning of the day: Waterloo
Distance to drive: 0
Hours to drive: 0
Destination: probably another visit to Jen’s pool
Planned activities: another family dinner because we all had
such a great time the night before
Quote of the day: No words just laughter!
Today (okay yesterday because I am writing this while
traveling to Montreal) we spent more time in the pool with Jen and Kelly’s son
and then we had another family dinner.
The whole group managed to Skype Chad’s parents after dinner and it was
a full Wagner reunion.
After the kids went to bed, Chad, Jen, Kelly, her son and I
sat out on the back deck. We talked
about all sorts of things, but what I will remember the most is the
laughter. I can’t remember the last time
I laughed so hard.
I can’t believe I had so little to write about today because
it was such an amazing day. I guess that
words just can’t describe it. I will
have to try to attach some pictures.
Day 16
Date: Tuesday July 21, 2015
Location at the beginning of the day: Waterloo Ontario
Hours to drive: about an hour of touring around
Destinations: two of the houses that Chad lived in as a
child and then his cousin Jen’s house
Planned activities: a trip down memory lane for Chad and
then a pool party at his cousin Jen’s house with a bunch of his cousins
Quote of the day: “Why don’t we have a pool?’
Late morning we packed the kids into the truck and started
our tour. First we drove past a house on
Highpoint Avenue in Waterloo where Chad lived from when he was four until
nine. Next we took a trip into the
beautiful countryside. I never realized
how much of Canada’s produce was grown in southern Ontario. We drove through small communities that still
have a sizable Mennonite population. We
saw more than one horse drawn buggy driving down the street and there is even a
designated lane for them.
When we arrived in Nithburg (not much more than a street) Chad
could suddenly remember everyone that lived in each house and could tell us
what was the same as when he left in 1986 and what was new. I could envision a ten-year-old little boy
running through the fields, fishing in the Nith River, playing in the rapids or
knocking on his neighbour’s door to ask if he could fish in his stocked bass
pond. A very cool childhood!
Now off to the pool party at Jen’s house! We were the first to arrive. I put lifejackets on the girls and then the
little one hoped into a pink Hello Kitty inner tube and into the pool they
went. They spent most of the next seven
hours in the pool. The little one even
jumped off the diving board a handful of times.
We were quickly joined by Kelly and her son, as well as Chad’s other
Glen and his wife Kristen and their son.
A great time was had by all!
Day 15
Date: July 20, 2015
Location at the beginning of the day: 9 Mile Hill Rest Area
in Michigan
Distance to drive: just over 300 miles
Hours to drive: just over 5
Destination: Chad’s cousin Kelly’s house in Waterloo Ontario
Planned activities: cross
the border and successfully back the trailer up in Kelly’s driveway (only the
second time that Chad will be backing up the trailer)
I have to give the state of Michigan credit for the most
amazing rest areas I have even encountered.
Their rest areas are more like parks.
They have beautifully maintained gardens, trails and some even have
playgrounds. You even have to enter a
building to get to the bathrooms, which were incredibly clean. This is a far cry from the rest areas in some
states that had no potable water, no soap and in order to wash your hands you
had to try to catch the couple of trickles of water as you pumped a button.
Whichever government built the between bridge Port Huron
Michigan and Sarnia Ontario saw an opportunity to make money. They built a toll bridge with a border
crossing at either end. In order to get
in or out of the country in that region you have to use the toll bridge. After waiting in line for the toll bridge and
then the border we had an uneventful crossing into Canada. I wish I could say the same about the
adventures of backing a trailer into a driveway. I will let Chad tell you in his own words www.epicorzenroadtrip.blogspot.com
.
Luckily we were greeted by Chad’s cousin Kelly and her son
who had made us a delicious dinner and prepared their basement for us to sleep
in.
Day 14
Date: Sunday July 19, 2015
Location at the beginning of the day: Gogebic State Park
Distance to drive: between 600 and 700 km (depending on how
the day goes)
Hours to drive: between 6 and 7 hours
Destination: our final stop ended up being 9 Mile Hill rest
area in Michigan
Planned activities: drive
Quote of the day: “Krist! Good thing we need gas!” Check out the picture of the gas stations (I don't have time to post the picture right now. Krist is a gas station chain. Someday I will update this post with the picture.)
We bid goodbye to Gogebic State Park. We will miss the view, but I think that we
have donated plenty of blood. Good thing
the wedding isn’t for a couple of weeks because my legs are covered in bites
and both of my girls have them pretty much everywhere including their faces.
We were on the road by about 11:45am. I passed the girls their present bags (each
day we travel the girls get some new or borrowed books and a little activity to
keep them busy) and they were happy. I
decided that now that my speech for the wedding is complete and my blog entries
are up to date, I could work on my knitting project. I will need three balls of yarn to complete
the project and I am about ¾ of the way through the first ball. I was a hoping to complete the project on
the road trip, but I have lots of time.
I am not going to share with you what I am making because it is a
present and I want it to be a surprise.
I figured I would finish my row and then take a picture of my
progress. I have been trying to take a
picture after each day I work on it.
Three stitches in I saw a loop off the side multiple rows down. Oh no I dropped a stitch (or something like
that)! I don’t really know because I am
not much of a knitter. I have yet to
complete knitting project and the furthest I have even gotten is the scarf that
I started knitting while on strike. I
have discovered that knitting is very therapeutic. You can still carry on a conversation, while
knitting. Most importantly when sitting
around for long lengths of time you can feel like you have accomplished
something. Back to the dropped stitch: I
know that my mom or other avid knitters would take out their needles and have
the problem solved within minutes. I am
not an expert knitter. In the past, if I
have made a mistake, I have stopped and taken it to my mom to help me fix
it. If I opted for that I would be
waiting a week and a half before I could knit again. I decided to try to fix the problem by
myself. Well… four 60-stitch rows and an
hour an half later (I took off one stitch at a time to make sure that I didn’t
drop any stitches), I discovered that the yarn had split and that the loop was
actually only half a stitch. The
important part is that I managed to fix the problem and by the end of the day I
was further along then when I started.
Chad and I are now finishing my birthday bottle of wine and
sorting out the details for tomorrow.
Two more driving days before we reach our furthest destination and we
get to rest in Waterloo with Chad’s cousins for a few days first. It was crazy to see a sign for the route to
Detroit. We are soooo far from home.
Day 13
Date: Saturday July 18, 2015
Location at the beginning of the day: Gogebic State Park
Distance to drive: 0
Hours to drive: 0
Destination: nowhere
Planned activities: relax
Quote of the day: “I don’t think this is what I asked for,
for my birthday!”
I have officially decided that I am no longer celebrating my
birthday on July 18. It has nothing to
do with getting older, it just seems that over the last few years, when I
decide to celebrate my birthday things don’t turn out. My day started at 3am when it started to
rain. I got out of bed to close the two
roof vents and windows so that we wouldn’t get wet. The people next to us started up their motor
home to warm up before they left at 5am.
Soon after that the rain really started coming down, so I had to go
outside to pull the towels in so that they didn’t get soaked. Upon returning to bed I realized that the
artificial grass that we have at the entrance of the trailer is larger than the
awning and was currently getting wet.
Once I folded in the grass, I returned to bed and realized I had just
received my first birthday present: a massive mosquito bite on my cheek. The sun was barely up and my day was off to a
spectacular start.
My wish for the day was a relaxed day at the campsite. I don’t think I got to sit because the little
one was crabby and demanding most of the day.
My only reprieve was when Chad took each girl out for a boat ride in the
seven foot inflatable zodiac. Not a
problem I had dinner to look forward to.
Chad was making steak, potatoes, Caesar salad and we had bought a nice
bottle of wine. I read my book by the
fire, while Chad cooked dinner. By the
time we were ready to eat the mosquitos were so bad that we couldn’t even eat
our food without eating them. We decided
to continue our meal in the truck because we had already collapsed the table in
the trailer and the girls were asleep.
We jumped into the truck to realize that it was crazy hot from the sun
beating in the front window all day.
Unfortunately we didn’t have a choice.
I took off my hoodie and rolled up my sweatpants.
Quote of the day: “Not exactly what I had envisioned for
your birthday dinner dear!”
Day 12
Date: Friday July 17, 2015
Location at the beginning of the day: a rest area outside
Superior Wisconsin
Distance to drive: 140 miles
Hours to drive: 2.5
Destination: Gogebic
State Park in Michigan
Planned activities: grocery shopping and checking out the
campground
We had a short distance to travel today, so we took our time
in the morning and when we went shopping.
Our campsite is right on the lake and the girls are very excited about
the mallards and their ducklings that keep swimming past. This is the first time that we have really
settled into a campsite. We pulled out
the awning and put the artificial grass down on the one side of the
trailer. Within minutes the girls were
asking for their bin of toys and they staked out a shady spot on the turf. I offered to set up a blanket for them, but
they were happy where they were. I sat
down in my chair and let out a deep sigh.
Some people dream of living in a big house when they grow up, but when I
was younger, I would dream of getting to go camping all summer because that is
what I did in my childhood. I never
thought it would come to fruition because most people don’t get the summer off
and even fewer want to spend their entire summer camping. Magically somehow, here I am and I couldn’t
be happier. The campground is far from
perfect and we will probably not return, but none of that matters.
Day 11
Date: Thursday July 16, 2015
Location at the beginning of the day: Winnipeg Manitoba
Distance to drive: 624 km
Hours to drive: 7
Destination: a rest area near Superior Wisconsin
Planned activities: driving, driving and driving
Quote of the day: “I need to pee!” The little one was
obviously well hydrated today because we stopped to pee many, many times.
We managed to leave by 10:30, which seems reasonable until
you add in all of the bathroom stops we had to make. We spent most of our day driving through the
Minnesota countryside filled with lakes and bushes. Today was the first travelling day that it
rained. At points in time the windshield
wipers couldn’t keep up with the rain.
Overall I am incredibly impressed with what great travellers
my girls are. I have fewer stories to
tell about them because they are spending more and more of the time on the road
reading or playing. I am actually
getting to sit and relax on occasion.
Although today I spent more of the day navigating, working on my speech
for the wedding and continuing my knitting project.
The weather has cooled off a bit, but the humidity is
crazy. The windows on the inside of the
trailer are almost dripping.
Day 10
Date: Wednesday July 15, 2015
Location at the beginning of the day: Winnipeg
Distance to drive: about 100km round trip
Hours to drive: about 3
Destination: Grand Beach
Planned activities: visit with my Uncle Neil and Auntie
Maureen
After visiting with my Uncle Neil (my dad’s youngest
brother) and his wife Maureen, I relived some of my favourite times as a
child. Chad and I took the girls to
Grand Beach. The water was warm and
stayed shallow a good distance out because of all of the sand bars. After some time in the water, I sat down in
the sand and built sand castles with my girls.
I even drizzled sand on top like my mom had shown me when I was
little. The girls seemed to enjoy
themselves. I hope the little one
doesn’t have an upset stomach tomorrow morning because she drank a bunch of
lake water.
Day 9
Date: Tuesday July 14, 2015
Location at the beginning of the day: Winnipeg
Distance to drive: across town
Destination: the zoo
Planned activities: visit the zoo and get together with
family for dinner
Thank goodness for the clouds today. We spent the middle of the day exploring the
zoo with Lori and her kids. The kids
loved it, especially the new polar bear exhibit and the butterfly pavilion. By the end we were all exhausted.
Once we returned to our Winnipeg home, we were greeted by my
Aunt Diane (my mom’s only sister). My Uncle Sid (the eldest of my mom’s younger
brothers) and his wife Brenda appeared shortly after, followed by my cousin
Jed. We had an evening filled with good
conversation and some family humor.
Day 8
Location at the beginning of the day: Winnipeg
Distance to drive:
across town
Hours to drive: 1
Planned activities: a water park and a look at the house my
mom grew up in (I originally thought that we had other plans, but with
everything going on the day that we left I mixed up the days)
Today I am grateful for my husband and children. I made them drive half an hour, so I could
spend two minutes looking at the house that my Gramma lived in, when I was a
child. I had tears in my eyes as we
drove away. So many memories…
The most exciting part of the day was when we stood on the
back deck of Rod and Lori’s house and watched a tornado forming out of the
clouds to the south. I have seen more
fascinating weather during this trip than I have so far in my life.
Day 7
Location at the beginning of the day: Rugby, North Dakota
Distance to drive: 222 miles
Hours to drive: 4
Destination: Winnipeg Manitoba
Planned activities: arrive at Rod and Lori’s house at a
reasonable hour
Quote of the day: It is now Thursday July 16 and I have been
so busy visiting and relaxing that there is no way I remember what anyone said
Sunday.
We spent far too much time watching the amazing lightning
and not enough time sleeping last night.
We pulled into my cousin’s driveway late afternoon. We were greeted by Rod, Lori and their two
kids. The girls had a blast playing with
their second cousins, especially when Rod built a 100 foot slip and slide down
the hill in their backyard. My two girls
and their oldest ran up the stairs and slide down the slip and slide for
hours.
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