Manitoba - Sask - Alberta - to BC!

Since our last post we have driven from Oak Lake, Manitoba through Regina, Moose Jaw (where we had to stop and see the 10 metre high moose - see pic) and to Swift Current, where we spent the night. The following morning we drove to Didsbury, Alberta to see our friends the Pearsons. We had a lovely visit and the children had great fun running and playing and of course, playing Wii. Thank you Pearsons for your hospitality, it was very nice to see you all again.

We left the Pearson's today and are currently in a Revelstoke campground. It is the same campground we started our trip with, so it is fitting that we end our trip here. We were going to make one more stop, but unfortunately, we have to be getting back home. (Sorry we will miss you, The Other James Gang - for now anyway) We will be getting home around 7 or 8 tomorrow night. I think everyone is looking forward to it. We all need a vacation from our vacation!

The pics below: Nate with his suckie taped to his forehead. Why you might ask....well the children got tired of him losing it and them trying to find it, so they solved the problem. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite get it in his mouth. Oh well, nice try. The next pic is of the big moose in Moose Jaw, SK and then the children standing in a wheat field, showing off the beautiful landscape of SK. Next is David and I, Tammy and Sean Coyle and Laurie and Damien Pearson at the Pearsons the first night we got there and then all the Pearson and James children on the front steps and finally, the Pearson children waving good bye to us today. Oh, I forgot Nathan watching trains in Field, BC today on our way to Revelstoke. He loves trains during the day, but not at night! He will cry when he hears the horn blow at night...every time, several times a night!!!!!

I think I will write a final post when we get home, so for now I will sign off and see all our BC friends and family very soon. For those outside of BC, we really enjoyed seeing you all again. Thank you all for your hospitality and we hope to see you again soon.

Just Keep Driving, Just Keep Driving....

Well, we don't have very much to report...well nothing too exciting. We left Sault Ste Marie and drove to Schreiber, ON which is about 2 hours before Thunder Bay. We were hoping to get to Thunder Bay, but we ran into a little RV problem. We thought that the transmission was acting a little funny, so we stopped in White River, ON at a Husky and talked to the mechanic there. After some checking and some deliberation we decided to go on to Marathon and see how it was acting. We took the number of the 24 hour towing co. and headed out. The RV acted just fine so we continued to Schreiber. It was getting late so we found a campground and had supper and went to sleep. The next morning we went into the Ford dealership in Schreiber and Dave talked to the mechanic there who came out and checked the trany fluid and short story, all seemed fine and we continued on our journey.

After Schreiber we drove to Dryden, ON. Not much to report, just driving and sleeping at the campground. There is a pic of Kate and Becca playing at the playground at the campground in Dryden. (Side note: Dryden is the home town of Chris Pronger, for all the hockey fans out there, and we camped next to a fellow who once coached him)

Anyway, today we drove to Oak Lake, Manitoba. What....you never heard of it? We hadn't either, but it is a lovely little town with a very nice campground. It is about 2 hours from the Manitoba/Sask. border. Tomorrow we hope to at least get to Swift Current, Sask. and then on to Didsbury, Alberta to see the Pearson Family the following day. (See you Tues. Laurie and Damien! - if plans change we'll let you know)

In one of the pics below, you will see a guy on a motorcycle. I don't know if you can see it very well, but he has his dog on the back of his bike. The dog was wearing a bandana and a little skull cap helmut. It was very cute. There is also a pic of Landon and Becca on the ferry and Nathan, bored with the scenery, so he has picked up a book to read....he's very gifted!!! :)

Well good night all. TTYS

Back in Sault Ste. Marie

Hello everyone! Yes we are finally blogging again. Where I last left off (I think), we were in Essex, ON staying at my grandma's house. We had surprised her with an unscheduled visit. We arrived the day before Becca's birthday, so we got to spend it with Grandma. We went to the Dairy Freez for her birthday lunch/supper (it was around 3:oo in the afternoon). And yes, Mom, this time I had a Boston Cooler and yes, it was delicious! Later in the evening Uncle John and Aunt Aileen came down to have some birthday cake with us and for a visit. The next day we just hung around Grandma's house and went to my friend, Kim's house for dinner. We had a great visit with her and her husband, Paul and daughter Kiana.

After spending a couple of days in Essex, we headed back up north to the cottage on Dyer's Bay. We enjoyed ourselves so much there that we ended up staying a little longer than originally planned. Well, today we cleaned up around the cottage and caught the ferry from Tobermory to Southbay Mouth on Manitoulin Island and drove the rest of the way to Sault Ste. Marie, ON. We pulled in around 11pm, had a bite to eat and got everyone into bed. I will try to upload a few pics of our Essex and cottage stay. Tomorrow we are off to ThunderBay, ON. Getting closer and closer to the west!!! Yeah! TTFN

Hopewell Rocks, NB

Here are a few pics of us at the Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick. They are at low tide (obviously). There was almost 500 ft. of beach at low tide and a few hours later there was 41 ft. of water covering it. It is the highest tide in the world. As you can see from the pics there was also lots of mud! They had a wash station with 4 hoses for everyone to clean themselves up with at the top of the stairs (thankfully). The children had lots of fun getting muddy, but they didn't enjoy the cold hose down afterwards!

The next morning we left Hopewell Cape, NB and headed north to Edmunston, NB where we found a lovely campground along a river. The children fed the ducks, we had dinner and went to bed. In the morning, they fed the ducks again and we headed out on the road again. We drove right through Quebec, only stopping for gas and washroom breaks. We were hoping to stop at Cardinal, ON along the St. Lawrence river, but I gave Dave the wrong campground number to call and he reserved us a KOA campsite in Kingston, ON. Kingston is about an hour and a half farther from Cardinal. It was too late for us to call and fix the problem, so we just kept on driving. We pulled into Kingston KOA camp around 10:30pm.

The next morning, which is today, we drove from Kingston to Essex, where we surprised my Grandma with a return visit. We got here (Essex) around 7:30pm. We've had dinner and Skyped my parents and now we are going to bed. Tomorrow is Becca's birthday, so we can celebrate with grandma.

The Big U-Turn

Well, I'm sorry that the pics are not in order, but I'm not sure how to move them around on the blog and they took long enough to upload the first time that I am not willing to start all over. Please accept my apologies...or not it's up to you. :)

Today was just a driving day, so I will talk a little about yesterday. I already told you most of it, but here are a few pics of the big U-turn home. We were at Hirtle Beach, Nova Scotia. Dave brought the RV down the road and around the parking lot (the U-turn) while I videoed the grand event on his phone and took a few snaps. The children are waving goodbye to the Atlantic Ocean and the east. West coast here we come!!!

It is nice and a little sad to be heading back. We have really enjoyed this marvelous adventure. The opportunity to see so many things and so many friends and family has truly been a blessing, but we are also glad to be heading home. We miss our house and our friends and family back west. So here we come!!!

We had a celebration dinner at the Grand Banker where Dave enjoyed another lobster. He also figured out our halfway mileage and gas bill. Here are the results....are you sitting down.....We have driven 9,351 km!....We have paid $2,584 for gas! Dave says OUCH! Oh well, another $2,500 more to go!

Today we are at Hopewell Cape just up the road from the Hopewell Rocks (That's in New Brunswick, for those who may not know). Tomorrow we hope to walk on the ocean floor while the tide is out and watch as the world's highest tide (50ft.) comes in. So hopefully we will have some pics of that for you in the next couple of days. We will be here until Tues. or Wed. and then we are off to Quebec again.

Oh, has anyone heard if Susanne has had her baby? Just wondering how it's going over at the Paiva's household. We're not sure if we should pop by and see them on our way through Ottawa again. We would like to, but don't want to disturb if there is a very brand new little one.

Well, good night to you all. Will see some of you soon. God bless.

HAHAHA....I just looked at the order of the pics and it looks like we are waving good bye to Nathan on the beach....hahahaha! No, we didn't leave him there. He looks so all alone on the beach there...almost kinda sad when you look at the pics in that order! Don't worry we haven't lost anyone yet.

Halifax to Lunenburg

Okay, this will be a quick overview of the last few days. It is getting quite late here and we off to the Hopewell Rocks tomorrow, so we would like to get to bed. It is only 8:30 pm back home, but 12:30 here.

Our next day in Nova Scotia, we headed up to Windsor to see the birthplace of hockey. It was a cute little town. We went into the Hockey Heritage Centre and were greeted by a wonderful woman named Cathy Peterson. She was very friendly and helpful and she showed us around and let the children try on some of the hockey jerseys. There is a pic of Zach wearing a Canadians jersey signed by Jean Beliveau standing in front of a seat from the Montreal Forum. The children learned some things about hockey long ago and got to play some of the old table top hockey games. From there we went back to the Halifax Harbour. We went into the Maritime Museum. It was very interesting and there were even two boats you could get on to see. Afterwards we had Beavertails on the harbourwalk and headed back to camp.

The next morning we were off to Peggy's Cove. What a beautiful little village. We talked with a local who said that only 35 people live there all year long. There were well over 35 people there the day we were there! Lots and lots of tourists, but breathtakingly beautiful. After we enjoyed a walking tour of the village and saw the lighthouse (and yes the souvenier shop!) we went to see the memorial for the Swiss Air 111 flight that had gone down in the water.

From Peggy's Cove we drove for about 2 hours south to Lunenburg. Lunenburg is a beautiful little town where the Bluenose II usually resides, but unfortunately for us it is in dry dock for repairs and we couldn't see it. Oh well, the town is something to see itself. It has been declared an UNESCO World Heritage Site, so all the old buildings and houses are still here. Quite something!

About 30 min. from Lunenburg we went to Hirtle Beach to swim and play in the Atlantic Ocean. The children had so much fun. It was a perfect day for it, not to hot and not raining!

Around supper time we packed up and went back to Lunenburg for a celebration supper. We were celebrating the turning from the east to the west. This is our last easterly stop. From here on out we will be heading back west. Pics of our big U-turn will be on the next blog. But you can see Dave today, enjoying his lobster...bib and all!

Halifax Harbour

Today we spent the day down at the Halifax Harbour. Our first order of business was trying to find parking for the RV in downtown Halifax, but we stumbled upon Pier 21. They had lots of parking for only $10 for the whole day.

Pier 21 is where all the immigrants from Europe came in by ship. They say that 1 in 5 Canadians today can trace back a relative that came to Canada through Pier 21. It is now a museum. It was our first stop and yes there was souvenier shops and yes we spent a bit more money.

From there you can walk along the Halifax Harbourway, which is long boardwalk along the water. We saw all kinds of ships. Canadian Navy ships, submarines, the tall ships, cruise ships and all kinds of sailboats and pleasure crafts.

We took the Theordore Tugboat tour of the harbour. It was alot of fun. We learned alot about the harbour and we toot tooted at all of Theordore's friends. I don't know if you all remember the kids show Theodore Tugboat, but my older ones used to love it. They even let the children be captain of Theodore for a brief moment. They got to sit in the captain's chair and even wear his hat. There are pics below of all of us on the back of Theodore and a few of the children in the captain's chair.

There is also a picture of the children and I standing on the boardwalk with George"s Island behind us with the lighthouse.

Tomorrow we hope to see the Maritime Museum and maybe the birthplace of Hockey in Windsor, NS. Zach had written an essay a while back on the beginnings of hockey and we thought it might be interesting to see the place he wrote about. It's only about 20 min. from the campground.

Nova Scotia is the last point eastward for us. So we will be doing the big U-turn back to the west in a couple of days! It has been exciting, but also a little exhausting. We miss our home and all of those back home. But we are very thankful for this opportunity and the blessing of seeing some family and friends we haven't seen for a long time. God had been very good to us and we are thankful for his tender mercies and loving kindnesses.

Wonderful PEI

Where did we leave off?.....Sat. I think. Anyway, I believe the next day (since the last post) was Sunday. We had church with the Woods at their home. We were joined by another family. After church we all enjoyed a very yummy chilli lunch together. We stayed for only a short visit after lunch as we had plans to see the fictional town of Avonlea.

We got to Avonlea fairly late in the day, but I think we managed to see most of it. We dressed in costumes and had our pics taken (see below), went on a horse-drawn wagon ride, pony ride and enjoyed a pig race! Fun was had by all.

The next day we went the long scenic route to Charlottetown. We found a nice beach community called Victoria Beach (I think!). The children played at the beach, collected sea shells and a little bag of red sand. Just up the road, we found a seafood shop and went inside to buy lobsters, mussels and some haddock.

In Charlottetown, we went to the Founder's Hall and learned all about the confederation of Canada. Who knew that came about in PEI.....it was news to me. Anyway, after our history lesson we went back to the Wood's house for supper. We cooked up the lobster, mussels and haddock. The children were intrigued by the lobster. The boys got right into the disassembling process! We had a great time and I think most people enjoyed the lobster and even the mussels.

The next morning (which is today) was the day we were leaving. We had breakfast with the Wood family and morning devotions. We cleaned up and got ready to go and then we all went out on the front lawn for group pics. (see pics below) We even managed to fit all of the Wood family and our family into the RV for a group shot. Why you might ask....I say....why not!! We really had a great time reacquainting ourselves with the Woods. Thank you sooo much for your hospitality and gifts. We will miss you and hope to see you again soon (maybe in BC??) :)

We are now in a KOA campground just outside Halifax in a little place called Upper Sackville. Tomorrow we will head into Halifax and see some of the sights, but that is another tale for another time.

Again, we miss you all and think of you all often. God bless.

Oh, I almost forgot, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEY!!!! We wish we could have been there with you, but we hope you had a wonderful day.