Day 4 - Canadian Maritimes - Waking Up to a T-rex, Autum Leaves and a Quilt Shop Stop

We woke up next to the golf course in the Department of Ministries parking lot in Verney.  There was a special golfing event going on, I think they call it a scramble? Must have been a benefit for some charity. People were walking around in these inflated T-Rex and raccoon costumes selling raffle tickets. They were going from golf cart to golf cart and it seemed like everybody was having a lot of fun.

We finished up a few little tasks and cooked some breakfast. It was time to start putting some things away and get ready to hit the road again. It was a wonderful stop overnight after our long stressful afternoon at the Mercedes dealership. I'm glad they made it as painless as possible. Except of course for the pocketbook. But we keep laughingly say that each day we stay at a free campsite, it's another $35 back in our budget.

Now it was time to move on down the highway. I had marked an extra special spot on the map and we were getting close. We were about 13 miles away from a small town called Sturgeon Falls, in the community of West Nipissing. 

We had stopped at this particular little shop 3 years ago. Steve had seen the sign from the highway and suggested going there. Now who am I to ever pass by the opportunity to stop at a quilt shop? 

When we had stopped there 3 years ago, I was able to procure all of these discontinued fabric prints, 20 of them and all, of the Stonehenge series from Northcott Fabrics by Moda. 

Originally, years before, I had made this same pattern as a quilted wall hanging. It's quite large. And I hung it up in my She Shed to admire and display. Every time my oldest daughter came over, she kept oogling it. They had just built their beautiful cabin up north and she insisted it would look perfect on the wall in her cabin. So the wall hanging went to the cabin, and I knew the fabrics were discontinued and I could never make it again. 

That is why I was so excited to see these fabrics when I walked into Buttons Quilt Shop 3 years ago!

Back then, I was so excited, that I accidentally went down the wrong column of the pattern instructions, which I had on my phone, and did not buy enough fabric at that time to complete a queen size quilt. After I got home and started washing up my newly cut fabric, I discovered my error. The kind owner, Nancy, via email, agreed to go back to the 20 different bolts and cut the remaining segments of yardage that I needed. I had made a mistake of also calculating between meters and yards. She cut all of the extra fabrics for me and mailed them from Canada down into the United States. Now I had enough to complete that quilt as well as the two throw pillows. I even made some matching hot pads and coasters for my daughter's cabin.

That made me very happy! 

I used them to create the beautiful queen size quilt and two throw pillows that now resides on the bed in our motorhome today. The pattern is called Winter Solstice by Patti Carey. 

As you can tell, I am quite proud of how this quilt turned out. If you look really close, you can see the detailed stitching I did to make the pine trees diagonal zigzags and the mountains jagged peaks. Then the sky parts are swirly stitches.

Now, just this last year, I finished up a smaller version from some more of the scraps to make a lap throw quilt to ride on the love seat of our motorhome. It is also to prevent Little Nick's claws from damaging the imitation leather / vinyl of our love seat.

So that was my love affair with the Stonehenge Fabrics. And Buttons Quilt Shop played a big part in that. So of course, we needed to make another stop there today. 

I got out of the motorhome on the street in front of the shop, I noticed this beautiful little red leaf sitting all alone on the sidewalk. I even stopped to take a picture of it. Was it a hint of what I was going to find inside???

We were able to park right in front of the shop with the motorhome and trailer in tow. It's a little city street it's actually called Main Street, but it was not too busy. Steve stayed in the motorhome with the dog and I promised to not hurt my knee coming out dancing and frolicking like I did last month in Eagle River. Lol! 

I got inside, and asked permission if I was able to film throughout the shop. Yes, they granted it and I promised to give them a good positive segment on my blog as well as my YouTube channel: 

I wandered up and down the aisles and over into the new addition that they've recently added. Now they have a large classroom area as well as a full room of beautiful knitting yarns and a little rigid heddle loom and some other weaving equipment. The shop has grown and the previous owner Nancy, has now retired. 

One certain line of fabrics caught my eye, with the clue of the leaf that I saw outside on the sidewalk. I knew this was going to be my next quilt fabric obsession. Just look at that!

The "leaves and berries" fabric for Henry Glass & Co. featuring a leaf-and-berry design comes from the designer Stacy West (collection: The Fox Homestead)

I also grabbed enough yardage of the coordinating fabrics to go along with the main bolt that caught my eye. This time, let's hope I have enough to do a complete quilt?? 

This came out of my budget for souvenirs for the trip. Yep, this was MY souvenir! 

We consulted our favorite little app called "PARK4NIGHT" and found a listing for a sweet little park on the banks of the Ottawa River. It was in a town called Deep River. It was just enough driving distance for the day. 

We pulled in and made ourselves comfortable for the evening. What a beautiful little park!! There were two other camping vans and a couple other vehicles there. The vehicles were just people that were enjoying the beach. The two vans would stay overnight in the lot, along with us, parked far off to the side out of the way.

Not only do they offer free overnight stays, but they have a beautiful clean new bathroom with flush toilets and hot water. Outside they have a spigot and a water hose coiled up on a reel for anybody to use to fill their RV. How welcoming is that?

We took a stroll down by the beach. We couldn't bring Nick all the way down, as there are no dogs allowed. But we went as far as we could to look around a little bit. The tall beautiful pine trees surrounding the edges of the water gave a nice shady area for those who wanted to relax by the beach. 

There were a couple flower gardens that were creatively repurposing some old canoes. How cute is that? 

The last gasp of beautiful color before winter sets in. These were amazingly bright and beautiful. At first I thought they were some type of petunia. I'm not sure though. I would like to know. The leaves look a little different. Does anybody have any ideas?

We also noticed the long rubber track lined up to go from the parking area all the way down to the edge of the water. These are for people with mobility scooters or wheelchairs. What a great way to include them in the summary fun.

After dinner, we walked back down to the beach to enjoy a little bit of sunset. It was so pretty, and very quiet. We were going to have a peaceful night's sleep here for sure.

We left Nick behind in the camper because he wasn't allowed down there. But he didn't seem to mind...

And now for the "twist"... Remember how I tore my meniscus coming out of the quilt shop in Eagle River a month ago? Well here it was, another quilt shop day... And sure enough, all I was doing was reaching up to put some things away in the cabinet and kind of hyper extended my knee. You know when you lean so far forward and bend your knee backwards a bit? Just to gain stability I was pushing backwards and SNAP!!! It suddenly went out on me! 

Immediately, I was feeling the same way I was a month ago. My knees swelled up and I couldn't walk. Oh no! We didn't bring my crutches along, but I did have my knee brace. Steve had some really good cream to help with swelling of the joints. We put that on and I braced up for the night. This was distressing. Was I going to be spending the rest of our vacation trying to hobble around on crutches???

Here is the video that goes with today's blog: 

140 miles traveled today 

686 miles traveled so far

VACATION - Looping Around Lake Superior - Day 5 Kakabeka Falls

It's raining 

it's pouring 

the old man

 is snoring!

THIS BLOG BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE COURTESTY 

OF A HOTEL FREE WIFI IN KAKABEKA FALLS, ONTARIO, CANADA

We left Thunder Bay in the middle of a dreary icky rain stormy morning. We decided to change course a little bit and head west over to Kakabeka Falls. It was only about 20 miles of travel time. We had been here once before but it was 20 years ago.

When we got there, we had to make a decision. Should we just hang around in the parking lot and pay the daily fee to see the falls in between rain showers? The daily fee was payable in increments of 1 hour, 4 hours, or full day.

 Or should we just register at the office and take a campsite for the night? That way we could go over to the falls anytime in between rain showers and enjoy some nice peaceful woodsey scenes out of our windows?

We went in the park office and spoke with the very pleasant gal working there. They had plenty of campsites, even on a weekend, and they were all electric sites. None of the non electric loops are even open anymore this season. 

So for $41.25 CN we decided we are going to camp for the night at a campground with electric hookups. That way in the morning we can top off our fresh water tank and dump our holding tanks. 

The gal marked on the map which sites that were already occupied. There are no reserved sites this time of year, but perhaps someone has paid for a site and left to go to town for supplies leaving it unoccupied. We took the map and drove up to the campground to select what site would work out best for us.

It's a beautiful campground in a lovely wooded setting within array of roads going mostly in North and South long oval loops. There are few cut through roads and it makes it kind of puzzling to figure out where you are. 

The one thing that is really strange about this campground is that all of the electrical posts are way up near the road. The posts are shared between two campsites and sometimes they are situated way deep in the brush. Most of the time thought they are right up next to the road. This makes a very difficult when you back in your RV and most power cords exit from near the back end of your rig. 

So that is why they had a big sign on the counter stating electrical cords available for rent $5 a day, $150 deposit!! The gentleman we had ahead of us at the counter remarked the same thing... that last time he had gotten all backed into his site and could not hook up to the power. His cord was not long enough. So this time he brought an extra long cord! We bring extra cords also we have a variety of adapters. We are a 50 amp rig but the power here is only 30 and 20 amp outlets on the posts.

We found many sites that would fit our needs. We noted them on the map to go back down to the office to register.

We left the motorhome in a large parking turn around area by the dumpsters and unhooked the Tracker to buzz back down to the office to register. They even gave us a complimentary local newspaper from Thunder Bay for the day! We gathered brochures and information and a really nice map about the circle tour of Lake Superior.

We returned back up to the campground loop and Steve drove the motorhome following me in the Tracker to our selected campsite. We are on site 63 which is at the far end of a loop. It's a really nice setting where we really can't see any neighbors in any direction. 

There are only about 15 campers in the entire park, and only a few more rolled in during the evening for the weekend. Many of the existing campers are seasonal with an S on their post tag instead of an exit date. That is interesting, because in any of our Federal or state campgrounds I don't often see seasonal rates or campsite. There is usually only a 14 day limit and you must move on.

Nobody seemed to be around at these seasonal units, and they look pretty well buttoned up. I wonder if they leave them here all winter? I would be worried about snow load on the roof.

We got settled into our camp site and I heated up some delicious beef minestrone soup that I had in the freezer. We warmed our bellies against the cold wet damp day outside. The weather doesn't look much more promising for the weekend either.

After a little nap, we noticed the rain had stopped. We popped the two little doggers into the Tracker with us and headed on out to go look at the waterfalls. It was absolutely beautiful and not many people around so we could really enjoy it in peace and quiet. 

 Even their bathrooms here are beautiful! 

After eyeballing nature for a while, we drove around the park to get our bearings. The beach swimming area is way upstream beyond the waterfalls and there is also a specific dog swimming area which is really nice. But it is much too cold right now to partake of any swimming.

Here is a You Tube I shot of the falls:

We drove into the little nearby town of Kakabeka Falls. It boasts 3 gas stations, 2 motels, and 1 grocery store. There are a few closed up gift shops and that's about it. The gal at the park had told us one of the motels in town has free Wi-Fi so we stopped to check. Yep! It does. So after I finish writing up this blog this morning, I will buzz back over there in the Tracker with my laptop to post it online.

We settled in for a rainy evening watching a DVD, none other than my beloved series of Northern Exposure. Remember that show from back in the late 80's - early 90's? I just love it. A sweet friend from my camping group had taken the time to record them all onto DVD's for me, all 6 years of the series. Rick Watts is gone now, but I think of him with a smile everytime I take out my DVD's. He recorded a lot of shows for us over the years, including a bunch of wonderful ones for my grandchildren.

(we don't use the DVD/VAR combo often, 

so we just set it on the chair when in use and 

store it away when travelling) 

It was a quiet night in the park with rain drizzling on the roof while we dozed. That is just such a southing relaxing sound, the rain on the roof of the RV in the woods.

It is now Saturday morning, and my Mr Steveio is going to cook us a breakfast while we look out of the damp gloomy windows. We have to decide if we are going to stay here another day or move on and look for something else to do.

Rain rain go away

Come again another day

VACATION - Looping Around Lake Superior - Day 4 Gooseberry Falls on the North Shore

Thursday morning, after I finished my blog posting, we headed out north on the road from Two Harbors MN. I felt decadent hanging out till 9:30 a.m. in my jammies, but I wanted to post the blog while I still had a data signal.

Once we get into Canada, I can enact my Verizon cell phone with a special code and it engages the TravelPass option.  I can use my USA plan and minutes and data for a 24 hour period for a $5.00 fee. I only want to use it for a few times while in Canada, so I might be posting a few pre-prepared blogs at one shot.  Otherwise I will be racking up $5.00 charges every day for 2 weeks. Unless I find some free Canadian WIFI on the way.... a bit difficult as once we get past Thunder Bay, even finding those will be hard until we reach wayyy to the other side of Lake Superior at Sault Ste Marie.  Not a lot of freebie McDonalds etc on this route. They are only little teeny tiny towns from here on around. LOL

We headed out on the road from number 5 on the map ---and soon saw the signs for Gooseberry Falls State Park. number 6 on the map. It was strange, as we drove into the main parking lot and we used the RV and Bus parking area. No fees.  No sticker required. Hmmm?  We walked to the visitor center... also no fee or sticker or permit required. This was new to us! Free?

Then we saw people walking down to and back from the falls with their dogs.... so Finney and Binney were leashed up for our trek to the three different waterfalls on the map.

Oh my what a lovely place!!!!

I was fascinated by the tree roots in these pics! 

Here is a You Tube that I shot of the waterfalls:

We walked all around, climbed down and up stairs (I counted 68 on one stretch of stairs) and sooo many people wanted to stop and admire and pet our dogs.  They are getting much better at socialization and don't shrink as much when people ask to pet them.

Finney thought that the BEST part of the walk were all the other dogs!  He saw 2 huskies, 2 terriers, a rambunctious German Shorthair pup, a few chihuahuas and a big goofy hunting dog.  He was in his glory and had his dander up with a flying tail and laughing eyes.  Binney was more friendly with the other dogs too and sniffed butts when she could.

 

We admired the falls from all angles and offered to take a few pics of couples by the falls, in return they took a few of us.  After going through my camera later, some of the shots were framed REALLY bad and I had a lot of deletions.  Heh heh.  These are the best ones.

The rain held off all morning while we were at the park. It was kinda overcast (which makes for GREAT color pics) and warm enough to wear T-shirts. I picked up post cards for all of the grandkids in the gift shop. We made it back to the motorhome for a full doggie water dish and lunch for us.

We headed up the North Shore and googled to the next post office.  I had a shipment to make for a customer from my Etsy store, and I also popped all those post cards out in the mail at the same time. Small town post office hassles: first she was a sub because someone didn't show up, and then she couldn't find the stickers for the postage to print on.  Next she could not get the credit card thingie to work.  Finally I ran out and got the exact change for the postage in CASH.  LOL!   She said the outgoing mail truck already left for the day (at 1 pm?) and my stuff wouldn't go out until tomorrow anyhow. Oh well.  I hope it all gets there sometime?

From there, we managed to find the cheapest diesel price for the next few towns before the Canadian border by using Gas Buddy app on the phone.  We pulled in and had to fill up in three separate transactions, as the pumps shut off every $100.00   We put in 78 gallons of diesel for $2.69 a gallon $211.00  averaging 8.2 mpg. Now we are set with enough US priced fuel to get us up around Lake Superior and back down into Michigan without having to purchase any in Canada.

As we got about 20 miles away from the border, I realized that I still had a small part of bottle of wine left from the night before.  We already had our allotment on board of whiskey, beer and wine --- 2 bottles of wine per person, or 1 bottle of liquor and one case of beer per person.

Soooooo what is a girl to do?????

CHUG! 

 (Steve drives me to drink???)

We were all prepared to arrive at the border with our passports, dog health papers and rabies documents, and no fresh meats, fresh vegetables, dairy, produce or citrus on board.  We were not wearing sunglasses so the Canadian border guards could see our eyes. We had both dogs on leashes in case we had to leave the vehicle while they conduct a search. We were ready. Or so we thought.

We crossed the bridge into 

CANADA 

at 3:30 p.m.

As we pulled up to the border control station building on the Canadian side, there were four lanes to go into under the overhanging port. No words, just symbol signs overhead. We saw the first narrow lane for "cars" with a cone to one side, and it was VERY narrow.  Seriously, it had a car auto symbol over it.  The next two lanes were blocked off with big orange highway dividers and were not in use.  The far right lane was the widest at the end with a truck symbol on top.

Where would YOU go 
if you were in a 102" Wide Body model motorhome 
(8 1/2 feet wide) 

that is 40 ft long and towing a vehicle????   

Well, evidently NOT the trucking lane, as we found out!  The little sign on the trucking lane booth said to pull ahead and park and come in with your papers.  We started to pull ahead slowly to park to the side. The border guard flew out of the building, whistled and shouted loudly HEY!  He sternly reprimanded us!  We said we didn't think we could fit in the auto lane. He hotly replied: ALL VEHICLES USE THAT LANE!

Then he told Steve to BACK UP????   We said we can not back up... but we could get out and unhook the Tracker. Steve explained that tow bar pistons are not made to be pushed in reverse.  We could unhook it in just a few minutes We would gladly do so if he wanted.  We smiled.

He finally blew out a little snort and started asking the normal questions. How many on board? Pets? Passports? Where are you from? How long are you staying? What amounts of alcohol and tobacco on board?  .... He left with our passports in his hand and walked back to the building. A few short minutes he came back out (no entering the rig nor asking about food) handed us our passports and wished us a nice day. We wished him one back and got the heck outta there! WHEW!

Oh boy... I hope we can get back INTO the United States with more ease than that.  But we thanked our lucky stars that we didn't have to get searched, we didn't have to unhook or back up, and we followed all the rules as best as we could.

Now it was going to start raining as we pulled into Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada. Number 7 on the map. We found our way to the third Walmart on the far edge of town.  We got into the store and stocked up on produce, as we wanted lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers for salads as well as potatoes and onions and carrots.  Some things were cheaper and some more expensive. Like eggs were $4.93 a dozen and shredded cheese was $5.57 for a small package.   Of course, at the checkout, our American Express instantly does the conversion to US dollars so we are really paying less than the total on the slip.

We hopped back into the motorhome before a deluge of rain came crashing down.  Fortunately, we had found a parking space under the abandoned gas station on the parkinglot for the Walmart.  So we have a covered port over us! There are three other motorhomes here as well, but we got the prime spot!

We tossed a lasagna in the oven and took a little jaunt over to the LCBO liquor store to replenish our supply... enough to get through the next two weeks at least.  I found three bottles of interesting wine that is made in Kittling Ridge, Vaughan, Ontario, and Steve bought some micro brew beer called Steam Whistle brewed in Toronto.  Included in the case was a nifty heavy pewter bottle opener with a key chain type drink coaster as a gift!

In the morning we will head over to the BMO bank nearby and convert some US to CN currency for self serve pay envelopes at campgrounds or roadside veggie stands that do not take a credit card.

(on edit: BMO in the morning also had free WIFI so I am posting my blog here in the lobby) 

Our dinner was ready for us, along with salads and garlic bread.

The rains poured down and thunder and lightening are shaking the rig as we ate dinner and watched a movie on the DVD player. We heard sirens and saw firetrucks racing out of town, not sure what happened as we didn't find any local news stations on the tv scan from our antenna signal.


We toasted with our Canadian Beverages to our first night back in Canada and that we made it through the border crossing with only a little bump in the road.  Now onwards and eastwards around the Big Gitchee Gumee!