Canada Update:
We are now in Dryden, Ontario and are making the swing toward home. After leaving New Brunswick, we spent an extra day in Quebec City staying at Camping Transit and taking the ferry over for the day. We did the shops and had a wonderful lunch at a little Italian Restaurant. This is the best way to see Quebec City.
The next day we drove to Ottawa staying at Recreationland RV and Trailer Park. We didn?t make reservations and to our surprise, they had only one site left and it was ?crappy?; but we were able to get internet satellite and TV. The first day we were there was just beautiful and we located a fabulous dog park for Charlie. It was off leash with scads of dogs running everywhere. Canada is known for its great dog parks. This one was on maybe 40 acres with fencing around the perimeter and open in the front. We met a very nice man and walked the park with him and his dog. Charlie was in heaven.
The next day we toured Parliament and the downtown area in downpours with very cool weather. We were glad to be inside. These buildings are very beautiful and ornate. We had to go through tight security; but our tour guide was full of information. We learned that Queen Victoria is/was a very loved queen and did a lot for Canada.
After Ottawa we headed toward Thunder Bay and took the most northerly route up Highway 11. If you decide to do this route, be aware there are very few campgrounds if any. Most are back off of the main highway with low branches and dirt roads. However, it is very beautiful drive with lots of small lakes. We spent two nights boondocking; the first at a Walmart that was actually quite good. The second at a Huskey?s truck stop, which worked out just fine. We were planning on taking 3 days to do the route of 600 miles; but the last day we couldn?t find anywhere to stay, so we pushed and drove close to 400 miles to get to Thunder Bay. We had been in Thunder Bay at the KOA at a previous visit, so sprung the extra costs and headed there.
As I?ve mentioned before, great things can be found out in a campground laundry. While doing the laundry I met a couple from Alberta, CN who were in Thunder Bay bear hunting?yes, I said bear hunting. They were about our age and had a toy hauler parked about 15 miles north of our campground. They hunt with power ?cross bows?. In the toy hauler they carry an 8 wheel thing similar to an ATV. They had a name for it; but I?ve forgotten. It was for transporting the game back to camp so they could dress it out. At any rate, they bait bear traps then sit back and well, you know the rest. Fascinating folks. They gave me a recommendation for a restaurant in Thunder Bay called ?The Prospector Steak House?. It was fabulous!
I spent several hours on the internet trying to locate a place where Tim and I could camp and either hire a guide or rent a boat so that we could fish for Walleye. I found one that looked somewhat good, called and because it is Labor Day weekend they had an over fill site that sounded like it might work. Many of the fishing resorts/campground were like we found on the road to Thunder Bay?.off of the main highway quite a ways and hard to get to, so we felt lucky to have gotten a spot.
We took off for Dryden and the ?Bonnie Bay Resort?. However after juggling and manipulating for well over an hour, we could not fit into their extra site, so we left. Both of us were very disappointed as we had wanted to spend some days fishing and hanging out on the lake.
This really threw us off, especially with a place to stay for the long weekend. Stopped at a Walmart in Dryden and decided after we had a look around that we didn?t want to stay there. Discouraged we trudged on looking for truck stops or other places where we could spend the night and regroup. And a little overwhelmed as we thought we had the weekend planned. As we were driving down the road heading to Kenora, I caught sight of a campground tucked back in the woods. Both of us were tired and really didn?t want to keep going, so we turned around to see if they had a site and if we could fit. They did?.we did?satellites both work and we are gonna wait the weekend out here. The campground is very-very nice. It?s in an open area with trees, large expansive camp sites and we are all very happy; including Charlie who can run to his heart?s content. After checking in we found out that the lake we wanted to fish is very poor and no one in the area fishes it. Guess someone was looking out for us.
We are beginning to get toured out and are missing home, so we?ve redone our route going to Winnipeg then Regina. At that point we will head due south cross back into the States and spend a couple of days in Yellowstone. After that we will go down Highway 93 and Tim can do his Highway 50 which he has wanted to do for years, then onto Reno and 395 toward home.