31 July 2010 - Kenai AK

Day 39

It rained most of the night (but who cares about rain at night anyway). Today we drove the Seward and Stirling Hwys, it took us 5 hours to go about 255 km; and it was our turn to lead again; the roads were packed with traffic both north and south bound and we were not sure why (until we got to the campground). We had to drive around the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet, and the scenery was magnificent. The mountains were covered by cloud and fog for the early morning; but the ceiling lifted a little and gave us great views. There is still lots of snow on the mountains here, at a few points there was snow as low as the road; I almost wanted to stop and go out to make a snowball. The locals say it can be snowing here again in about a month (I think they were pulling my leg).

Today was the first day that we did not get sunlight since the rained-out day at the Calgary Stampede on 13 July. We actually had about 4 minutes of sunshine today while driving south; but, the rest of the day was overcast and drizzly. As we talk to fellow campers, they say they have had nothing but rain for the last 3 weeks - we have been so lucky.

We are in an area with a lot of Russian influence; many Russian's lived in many Alaskan communities before the US bought it. We have pictures of the Russian Orthodox Church that is here.

We are at the Beluga Lookout Lodge and RV Park, looking out over Cook Inlet (same as in Anchorage, it is a big inlet); the tides here are much like in the Bay of Fundy with low and high tides changing about 33 feet.

Today is the last day of the Sustenance Salmon Program, after today you can only fish with a line; but up to July 31, if you are Alaskan you can use nets (see picture) and catch 25 Salmon for the head of household and 10 more for each other person living in the house. That is a lot of salmon. The Kenai river was filled with people (many families making a full day of it) trying to catch their limit; they have tents pitched on the shore and campfires going to keep warm, the tide waters are very cold. The sea gulls were having a feast on the fish heads and innards that are left behind.

30 July 2010 - Anchorage AK

Day 38

Leisurely day in Anchorage. We drove to the Earthquake Park, it is a memorial site for the Friday March 27 1964 earthquake, the largest (9.2) to ever hit in North America. We drove through Lake Hope float plane airport (right next to Anchorage International) and actually drove across taxi strips. We visited the Ulu factory; they make the famous ulu knife. We went for lunch at the Snow Goose Pub and at the same time were treated to a practice session of the Blue Angels (the US Navy precision flying team). Apparently there is an air show for the next two days at the US Air Force base, just north of town; and as one local told us the Snow "Geese" from Canada were also performing - she really meant the Snowbirds; but who were we to argue with her... the attached picture is one of the fly bys.

We took a small hike on the coastal Trail, then headed back for an early happy hour....

Before that we called Jamie, Cassie and Hadley and talked to them via Skype (thanks to RC's stick, we had a good Internet connection) and we were treated to a second Blue Angel practice; this time six planes were used and we saw them from our campground.

Up to this point, it had been a sunny day; but then it started to drizzle and is still drizzling as I type this; so, Anchorage has now had 11 straight days with rain, with more in the forecast for the week-end.

That night the RV park put on a free soup & roll lunch, followed by a Rock & Roll concert - it was worth every penny we paid for it, and I mean that - it was good. We learned that as of this morning the Tok to Dawson highway is still closed - this is not sounding good.

29 July 2010 - Anchorage

Day 37

Today we drove from Healy to Anchorage; Bob and Ann led the way. Forecast for Anchorage is rain for the 10th day in a row; but they must have heard we were coming because it was sunny by the time we got there.

On the way we stopped at many places: We sampled yet another style of cinnamon buns (Bill ranked them 3 / 10); we stopped at the veterans memorial to view Mt. McKinley, but it was a wash out - from that location they have not seen McKinley for three weeks (we were so lucky to see it yesterday); we stopped at the Iditarod headquarters, toured the museum and saw some dogs in training.

We celebrated Bob and Ann's 44th wedding anniversary at happy hour. After dinner, a short trip to Costco for groceries we called it a day...

28 July 2010 - Denali National Park

Day 36

Another sunny day but temps went 7 C to 15 C - but a lot cooler up in the mountains at 4,000 feet. All traffic into Denali is well controlled, private vehicles can only go in 14 miles - our bus tour went in 63 miles. What a fantastic day: at the apex of the tour we were 35 miles away from Mt McKinley (20,320 ft) and we actually saw it (OK we only saw 80% of it, some clouds still blocked the topmost peak), apparently 75% of most bus tours don't see it at all. Mt. McKinley has been renamed a few times, the locals still don't like the political name of McKinley, they still refer to it as the original name of Denali.

As spectacular as seeing Mt Denali was, the wild-life we saw on the trip was just as exciting. Carole recorded all the sightings and according to her, this is what we saw: 1 Hoary Marmot, 1 Red Fox pup, 1 Wolf, 6 Dall Sheep, 6 Moose, 7 Snowshoe Hares, 13 Grizzly Bears, 14 Caribou, and a partridge in a pear tree...

The rarest thing we saw was the two grizzly cubs nursing from their mom; we were not close enough to hear the buzzing noise they make but the driver did get it all on his video.

On the way home we got pictures of a white water raft launch.

The attached picture is not at Mt Denali; but at one of the many stops on the way. Notice we all have our new jackets on. L to R we have: Bob, Marcel, Ann, Bill, Carole, Margaret, Sharon, Terry.

Tuesday 27 July 2010 - Denali

Day 35

One of our shortest drives today from Fairbanks to Healy (just north of Denali National Park), Bill and Margaret led the way. We got rain overnight again and again we got another sunny day. Woke up to 11 C but did not make note of the high for today. We drove south along the Nemana River (and even stopped in Nemana).

After setting up the 5th wheel, we drove to the Denali Park Visitor center, booked our tour for tomorrow and browsed around. It was guys night to cook again, so we went to Alaska Fish & Chips.

Got to bed early since we have the 5:05 am Tundra Wilderness Tour - we are on tour 3 of 33 for the day; can't believe 100 other people are up before us to go on tours 1 & 2; of course sun was up before us again. For the record I asked everyone to go back to EDT for the day, so our tour was from the reasonable times of 9:05 AM to 5 PM - EDT.

26 July 2010 - Fairbanks AK

Day 34

Happy birthday Tegan (2 days early). Today we had a video conference (8 am our time, noon their time) with Tegan, Michael and Niki for Tegan's 1st birthday, because we had a good Internet connection and could not be sure we would have the same on July 28th in two days.

This morning Sharon did laundry, I got an oil change and then we both did grocery shopping, and stopped at A&W on the way back for lunch. The interesting thing about Fairbanks is that we drove through days of wilderness, drove up and down many mountains and weaved through many valleys to get here. You might think we would find a wilderness town; but, on the contrary - we are in a city that is not different than any city in North America, other than they have 20 hours of sunlight per day all summer long.

In the afternoon we drove up to the El Dorado Gold Mine; we weren't sure if this was a play on words and that it was a gold mine for the mineral or a gold mine for the owners of the tourist attraction; in either case we had a great day and enjoyed it very much. All of us panned for gold, and all got lucky. Can't remember what everyone else found but between us, Sharon and I collected $44 worth of gold flakes. The attached picture shows all the ladies after collecting their gold (no wonder they are smiling!).

Exhausted once again we all returned to be rejuvenated by happy hour.

It was guys turn to cook again; we were all too tired to go out, so we just whipped up whatever and called it dinner.

P.S. - We had another sunny day started at 11 C and went up to 23 C.

P.P.S. - We hear that the "top-of-the-world" highway from Tok AK to Dawson City YT is still closed.

25 July 2010 - Fairbanks AK

Day 33

Today we drove from Tok AK to Fairbanks AK. Marcel and Carole led the way, and they led us astray to every food stop along the way; OK so I exaggerate; but we did have a lot of stops and it was a fun and easy drive. The mountain scenery was again very beautiful today - we took lots of pictures at every stop.

One stop was at the Tanana River (and it flows as fast as the Yukon river did) where the Alyeska Pipeline (from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez) crosses the river, it is very impressive.

We reached the end of the Alaska Highway in Delta Junction at mile post 1422. We took pictures and all the guys bought the same ball cap to commemorate the feat.

We also stopped for free ice cream at the Knotty Place; it turned out to be the most expensive free ice cream we ever had ($US37.50) because we could not pass up the great deals in the shop - we all bought jackets.

We stopped at a sausage place and bought and ate Yak meat; Sharon really likes it, so she is eating the rest.

And last but not least just before getting to Fairbanks, we stopped at the North Pole; as we are driving around the three traffic circles (Sharon and I are bringing up the rear today) and as we yield to traffic in the circle we see this old guy in a beat up old Ford pick-up; he has white hair and a big white beard, yep - it was Santa Claus.

We are at the Rivers Edge RV Park it is at N64.83944 W147.83446 - this is the furthest North and the furthest West that we have ever been; we will beat the west record later in Homer but this is the farthest north we will be.

On June 21 in Fairbanks - the sun sets at 12:45 am and rises again at 3 am; tonight it sets at 11:22 pm and will rise at 4:30 am; but, it will still be bright even at 2 am.

24 July 2010 - Tok AK

Day 32
Today we finally made it to Alaska. Today we led, and what a harrowing day to have the lead; the road from Destruction Bay YT to Tok AK is probably one of the worst open road (not to confuse it with the top-of-the world hwy) in North America (and the Cdn side needed the most work). Most of it is caused by frost heaves and the fact that the perma frost is always present. It took us seven and a half hours to cover about 360 km; but, happy hour today was enjoyed more than other days. The attached picture is all of us at the actual border; the custom’s office is not at the border. We are at the Tok RV Village for one night. It is a very nice park. Tonight they are putting on a variety show, we all plan to go to it.

23 July 2010 - Destruction Bay YT

Day 31

Today we drove from Whitehorse YT to Destruction Bay YT (on Kluane Lake), Bob and Ann had the lead. We learned today that the “top-of-the-world” highway from Tok AK to Dawson City YT is closed again, with no indication of when it may open again; so, did we ever make the right decision to reroute. We will revisit this topic in three weeks on our way back to see if we can go to Dawson city then. The owner of the Destruction Bay campground gave us a sockeye salmon and use of all his facilities; so, we BBQed it for dinner and made a pot luck – what a great meal; the picture of Carole shows what was left of the fish.Today is one month (31 days) into our trip. We left sunshine and 9 C to arrive in clouds and 11 C; then it rained all night. The clouds and rain cut off our internet access at the campground (a regular occurrence according to the owner) and although our cell service worked, the turbo stick did not (this will be posted the next time we have internet access).

21/22 July 2010 - Whitehorse, Yukon

Days 29 30

On Wednesday we drove from Teslin to Whitehorse; got here early and immediately went off to the Yukon brewery for a tour and sampling session. Their beer is pretty good - I bought a six-pack of Yukon Gold for latter sampling. That took care of a lot of the day; but we did find time for a little shopping. In the evening we went to the Frantic Follies show downtown; we all enjoyed it (Carole and Marcel enjoyed it last time thru here). It never really gets dark here; sun seems to go down about 11 and I am told it is up at about 4; but if you get up in the night for whatever and look outside it isn't very dark.

Thursday was a fun day (no driving). First we went to the visitor centre to get the update on the "top-of-the-world" highway. It is still one lane with a pilot car for 15 miles. We have decided to skip Dawson City for now, stop at Destruction Bay tomorrow then on to Tok AK the next. That puts us a day ahead of schedule for all future stops; then we hope, in three weeks on the way back, that the hwy is in better shape and we can go via Dawson City on the way back (stay tuned).

We toured the S.S. Klondike (picture attached); had lunch at The Deli; visited the Pepsi ball diamond complex; and stopped to see the world's biggest weather vane (the DC3 in the picture really does rotate with the wind).

Then we took a tour up the Yukon, thru Miles Canyon on the Yukon River. The Yukon is the fastest flowing river we have ever seen. After the boat ride we drove to walk over the bridge (pic attached).

20 July 2010 - Teslin YT

Day 28

Another short drive day under 275 km; low 14 high 24 started cloudy ended sunny. Today we continued north / west and the highway took us back into BC for one last visit. We stopped at the continental divide (for cinnamon buns) and we stopped at Rancheria Falls recreation site for a short hike and a view of the falls. We arrived at Teslin before 2 pm and had the afternoon to relax, go to the museum and play a round of miniature golf. The first attached picture is at the Teslin bridge (the longest spanned bridge on the Alaskan Hwy), the second shows L to R: Bill, Bob, Carole, Margaret, Sharon, Marcel, and Ann; Winston (seated in the first row) at Rancheria Falls. If you double click on the picture it will expand and you can see the faces better.

19 July 2010 - Watson Lake, Yukon

Day 27

Today we left BC and arrived in the Yukon; and we did that 6 times since the road meanders around the border. Another short drive today which gives us time to do things at our destination. Today, the ladies shopped (and bought next to nothing; saying it was all too expensive), we went to the Northern Lights Centre for a show about the aurora borealis, then to the sign post forest and visitor centre. The forest has 68,000 signs placed by people who have come through here. The first one was by a private in the US army in 1942, it blossomed from there. Marcel found the sign from Brian and Leslee that they posted years ago.

On the drive today we saw: one young grizzly (at least we think since it sure did not have the right colours for a black bear), one black bear, and a herd of six horses on the road (we thought they were wild, until we heard a bell on one of them).

It was guys night to cook, so we ate out tonight...

I think I mentioned earlier that the 'top of the world" highway was closed and we may have to change our itinerary; we heard today that the road from Tok to the Alaskan border with the Yukon is now open (many thanks to Rosemarie for getting her sister to contact the Governor for us). We hear 15 miles of road was washed out in the flooding, and one lane is now open with the help of a pilot car. We all want to get to Dawson city; but that decision will be made in 2 days when we get to Whitehorse and see the most current report.

18 July 2010 - Liard River Hotsprings Prov Park BC

Day 26

Probably the best scenic drive of the trip so far. We headed through the north part of the Rockies. Lots of ups and downs but no issues with truck or trailer. Muncho Lake was probably the most picturesque; but the stop at Tetsa River for their famous cinnamon buns was the most enjoyable. We stopped at Summit Pass (4250 feet) the highest point on the Alaskan Hwy. The temp had dropped to about 14 C; but, with the wind it felt much colder; by the end of the day when we were lower it was back up to low twenties. Not only was the landscape breath-taking but the wild-life was amazing: on the road today we saw (and have pictures of) Stone Sheep, Caribou, Moose, Black Bear, and Bison.

We ended the drive when we reached the Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park. It is a beautiful park with about 50 sites; it is booked solid every night; but we arrived early enough to get in. We all went down to the hotsprings for a dip; boy was it hot; but afterwards felt so relaxing. The campground had no electrical sites but that did not matter, we used the generator.

The days are getting longer, the nights are getting shorter and we still have further north to go; and each day we are reaching the furthest north we have ever been.

P.S. No internet, no cell service, just lots of peace and quiet; it is wonderful we are in the middle of nowhere in northern BC. This posting will occur the next time we have access...

17 July 2010 - Fort Nelson BC

Day 25
Today we drove from Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson BC. We started in completely sunny skies but by noon we had partially sunny, then we drove through at least 3 downpours. We arrived to sun in Fort Nelson. It was about a 6 1/2 hour drive - the best part of the drive was the beer and the Woody's at the end of the long day.

16 July 2010 - Dawson Creek BC

Day 24

Today was a long drive day: Edmonton to Dawson Creek BC - 590 km; but, it wasn't too bad, we left the rain behind in Edmonton and drove in sunny skis most of the way. The day started at 12 C and ended at 23 C.

Dawson Creek is known as the start of the Alaska highway, the US military arrived here in 1942 to build the highway to Fairbanks. The town went from 500 to 10,000 people overnight. We drove around and found all the picture spots, only one is shown here.

With the luck we have been having at the casinos I bought some lotto Max tickets just before the deadline tonight - I'll let you know how that turned out.

We learned today that the "Top of the World" Highway in Alaska from Tok to Chicken is closed. There was a wash-out. Our original itinerary would have us there in 5 more days. We may have to change that. Rosemarie's sister told us we could call her if we needed anything; she lives in Anchorage; Rosemarie would you please contact her and tell her we need her to call the governor and have him get that fixed pronto.... too bad Sarah is not still the gov, I'm sure she would have had it fixed by now.

15 July 2010 - addendum

Day 23

Sharon really liked the picture of the art gallery, so here it is, so you too can enjoy it.

15 July 2010 - Edmonton

Day 23


(My apologies for posting this late - I typed it all in and forgot to submit it. WTB)




A busy day in Edmonton; and a lot of fun. We went to the WEM (West Edmonton Mall). Unless you have been here you would not believe how big it is. We covered the whole thing and took lots of pictures (sorry I only put one on the blog, but we still have the others). I think I was most impressed by the water park. I wanted to rent some skates and go on the ice rink - but we did not have enough time. We had a late lunch at the WEM, then headed downtown to see the buskers street festival. It gave us a chance to see office buildings and see that Edmonton is a city like any other city. The buskers were what you would expect. After about an hour of that we had seen enough; so, since we were parked next to the casino Carole and I had to convince the rest that we should go make a donation. In they went kicking and screaming; and out they came with 3 of us being winners - I was in third place with winnings of $27.75 (Sharon lost $5).



One last comment about the campground. One guy driving his 5th wheel out obviously did not check his hitch and dropped his trailer on his truck - what an ugly sight; and Marcel, Winston and I were walking in the morning and hear this awful bang and 40 feet away we see a trailer fall off it legs and tip forward, as we get closer we see the trailer behind it pushed forward and off its legs and then find a B-class had either backed into it or was left in gear without a driver and ran into it, an even uglier site (pun in 10 did).

13-14 July 2010 - Calgary/Edmonton

Day 21 22
Remember that guy I saw building the arc back in Manitoba; well he either moved to Alberta or we saw is twin. On my Mom's birthday we are in the coldest place in all of Canada. The day started at 6 C (hit a low of 5.5 overnight) and only went to a high of 12 (I wore my ski jacket today if you can believe it). The forecast also called for 100 mm of rain. We did not get that much but we got enough that for the first time in the history of the Calgary Stampede they cancelled the chuck wagon races and the evening program. That is why we have no picture today - we were at the stampede but it was cancelled; we saw the show bands and other stuff instead, then went out for dinner.

Wednesday morning hit another low of 5.2; we said our good-byes and we left the Titanium rally and the 8 or us drove to Edmonton. We are at the Glowing Embers RV Park; but, the good news is the sun is out again, and the temperature is back to normal. The sun seems to set later and rise even earlier here; but in fact it is not much different than Calgary.

11-12 July 2010 - Okotoks, Banff, Lake Louise

Days 19 & 20

We passed, on the group tour today since we saw Drumheller on the way into Calgary; so, instead we had a leisurely morning, then joined 3 other couples and went to visit the Chinook Honey Farm in Okotoks (just south of Calgary). Art the beekeeper has a 300 hive operation, which is a very very small operation for the west, He gave us the deluxe tour, I think the others enjoyed it as much as it did. They also have a Meadery (that's a winery that makes wine from honey); the tasting was fun, we bought a few.

The bus tour today went from 8 am to 6 pm. We stopped in Banff, went up the Sulphur Mtn gondola (the mountain aromas reminded both of us of hiking at Snowbird); went to Morraine Lake; which is very near to Lake Louise and is famous for the picture on the back of the old $20 bill. It rained at Lake Louise, so the pictures suck. The hotel has changed so much from when we were here last.

7-10 July 2010 - Cochrane/Calgary AB

Days 15 to 18

We arrived at the rally site on July 7th; we are at the Spring Hill Campground just north of Cochrane AB. There are 36 rigs here (all Titaniums but one, Bill & Margaret just downgraded to a Landmark) we already knew 15 of the couples and I am sure we will know the other 21 by the time we leave. It is beautiful here, from the campground we can see the Rockies, I just haven't got up early enough to take that perfect picture yet. Early enough would be 4:30 ish cuz it seems to be bright here from 4:30 to 11 PM.

On Thursday night we went to visit an old work colleague of mine (Bob Sowtis) ; Bob BBQed the best western dinner Sharon and I have ever had (and the beer was pretty good too).

Friday we spent the whole day at the Stampede, it was opening day, the weather was the hottest we have yet to see, the sun was out all day and the rodeo was fantastic. On the way into the grounds we all passed Elvis Stojko on the street, Sharon recognized him, we all stopped, went back and got a picture (LtoR Diane, Sharon, Carole, Lori, Elvis, Sue and Marilyn). We had great seats in the grandstand (in the shade); compared to the rodeo we went to in Holstein ON last year, this was a lot more fun, a bit classier, and 100 times bigger and that is not to take anything away from Holstein. After the main show we toured the grounds; in many respects that part is like the CNE and the Royal winter fair rolled into one; but, about 4 times bigger. We also saw an Ice skating show with Elvis Stojko and Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir.

Today we went to the Chinook Mall for the free Stampede breakfast (there is at least one somewhere in Calgary every day of the stampede). The pancakes and sausages were great. Last year, they say this event served 75,000 people, and they say the wait time never exceeded 10 minutes. Clearly there were thousands there this year and we only waited 10 minutes - you have to see it to believe it. From there we went to Heritage Park, a Historical Village set in 1910. We left 5 minutes before the rains started, and it is still raining now, thus explaining why I had the time to sit down and put this together.

6 July 2010 - Drumheller AB,

Day 14

Today we woke to 13 C and hit a high of 25 C ; with sun all day. Sorry to hear that those of you in Ontario are in sweltering heat.

Today we started out by spending the morning at the Royal Tyrrell Museum; then

we went to Wayne AB to have lunch at the Last Chance Saloon; after that

we walked over the swinging bridge over the Red Deer River; then

we went to visit the Hoo Doos; later

we went to see the biggest dinosaur; then we went back for dinner and a rest; and last but not least

we went back to the museum to finish what we did not see when the crowds got too big.

And for those that didn't know; the namesake of the Tyrrell museum was Joseph Burr Tyrrell, and yes he is a relative of ours (he and I are 2nd cousins, twice removed). He was a geologist, not a paleontologist; be he did find the first dinosaur bones near Drumheller while he was searching for coal.

5 July 2010 - Drumheller

Day 13

Today was a long drive, the longest so far of any day. We drove in rain about 75% of the day; but as we get to Drumheller at 5 PM, the sun comes out, the day warms up and we get to enjoy sun again. But it is cooler today - about 18 C.

The rain also stopped as we walked the Union Cemetery in Viscount SK. This is the last of my genealogy searches on this trip. The attached picture shows the grave of Ellen Burr (nee Espey). Her nickname was Nellie and she was the 4th wife of John Burr and my great grandmother.

There is so much water in the fields in MB SK and AB that I said to Sharon that I thought I saw two guys building an ark; she almost believed me...

Tomorrow we tour Drumheller and area.

4 July 2010 - Humboldt SK

Day 12
A quiet day today, we read a bit, we walked a bit, we napped a bit, we drank a bit, we watched TV a bit and generally just rested up for a long drive to Drumheller tomorrow. It was a sunny day all day, the locals were ecstatic that they have had 2 days without rain, although more is forecast for tomorrow, but we will be gone.

3 July 2010 - Humboldt SK

Day 11

Big thunder storm last night but cleared up by the time we pulled out; we arrived in Humboldt SK to sunny skies.

Went to the museum and after a few hours we found the current location of Burr SK ( about 20 km south of Humboldt on Hwy 20, on the old railway line, where the first grain elevator was built). Today Burr has three houses, an old hotel, a post office and a municipal office. We also found the location of the homestead of John Cleever Burr, the founder of Burr and the original post master. The first post office was at his homestead - when we figured out that Burr had two locations it all made a lot more sense. It was a map in the museum from 1914 that solved the puzzle. Then we drove to both those places. We have lots of pictures, more than posted here. We had problems getting to the original homestead - at least two roads are flooded out; but we went around the long ways and got there.

This the furthest west we have ever driven in Canada....

P.S. forgot to tell you who J.C. Burr was: He was my grandfather's older half-brother (different mothers).

2 July 2010 - Hamiota MB

Day 10

I am sure many of you are wondering where and why we would go to Hamiota. Well it is half way between Winnipeg and Humboldt SK, so it made it a good candidate and it is the homestead of my great grandfather - John Burr.

We drove around town, found the museum (but it was closed; only open to the public during the fair, which is in 3 weeks), so we went to the library and the ladies there were wonderful, they looked up where I could find NW section 23 twp 14 range 23W (the old Burr homestead) and showed me it was 3 miles east of town and 2 miles north - so we went there. We also found the quarter section that my grandfather's half-brother (Ed) owned in NW 22.14.23W. Both are big farms today with no buildings on any of them. We have pictures. The library ladies also found the row and section in the graveyard for John's plot (saved us hours of walking and searching), and next to it is the grave of his first daughter (Maggie (Burr) Butcher).

This is the furthest west we have ever been while driving in Canada.

Canada Day - Winnipeg

Day 9

We got to Winnipeg shortly after noon. We met my second cousin Ada McNeill (and her son Jeff) and they drove us all over Winnipeg. We saw the mint we stopped at the Forks Market which was alive with Canada Day celebrations, but did not stay for any of the many concerts. We walked over to Portage and Main (what a huge intersection). Each corner has a bank on it; then of course the trivia question is - which major bank is not there. We then went to diner at Ada's Mom's (Laura Burr, Laura helped me catch up on a lot of my genealogy) and met Ada's husband Keith, who is a fastball umpire as well, so he and I had lots to talk about. This is the furthest west we have ever been while driving