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AROUND THE CONTINENT

August - December 2017
A 94-day adventure by Catherine Read more
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  • TravelerAROUND THE CONTINENT
    1

    Saying goodbye and packing up

    August 29, 2017 in Canada ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    Tarjei and I (Caty) are almost ready for our three month road trip counterclockwise around Canada and the USA. But what to pack? We will be camping in a pup tent and staying at fancy resorts; hiking in the mountains and dancing in city bars; canoeing through cold rain and tromping through desert heat; all this makes it hard to pack light. Add Jabba and Boots, a couple of goofy 6 year old mutts, and it becomes impossible!

    So, we have done our best. Tomorrow is D day -- departing from Truro, Nova Scotia for points West, then South, East and North. Home by early December we think.

    I am going to try to make a record with this blog app. Here we go!    Read more

  • TravelerAROUND THE CONTINENT
    Day 1

    GRAND LAKE NEW BRUNSWICK

    August 30, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We had our first night of the AROUND THE CONTINENT trip with Gloria and Jorg Beyeler at their house in Grand Lake, New Brunswick.

    It was wonderful! Great friends, lots of good food, conversation and laughter. We stayed in their pretty little "Capresi" cabin, went for a back-country bike ride through lumber woods, saw Gloria's new Kobota Digger Toy, and took the dogs swimming in Grand Lake after their muddy woods run.

    Jorg made a decadent "Prosecco Breakfast" (Spicy eggs in spinach nests served with a glass of bubbly) -- magnificent.

    Great start to our trip.    Read more

  • TravelerAROUND THE CONTINENT
    Day 2

    Kouchibouguac

    August 31, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We spent day 2 driving to Kouchibouguac national park. We camped there.

    We had not camped much -- even car camping -- for the last decade. It rained -a Quite hard, for a couple of hours. The temperature dropped to 7 degrees overnight. But our little "marmot" tent was pretty waterproof, and we were snug in our 1975 down bags. The dogs curled up together in a little hollow under a tree. They were tied with 2 long lines to the car. Every hour or so all night, they would leap up and gallop across the campsite after some poor unsuspecting creature -- probably a rodent I suppose.

    Anyway, we were happy that we made it comfortably through the night.    Read more

  • TravelerAROUND THE CONTINENT
    Day 3

    Trois Pistoles Quebec

    September 1, 2017 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    We drove from Kouchibouguac to Trois Pistoles today. We mostly listened to a You tube Download of an audiobook -- BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS -- by Agatha Christie. It is interesting.

    Things I learned today:

    1. I used to think that I slept while Tarjei drove during car trips because I was a working Ob/Gyn with a huge years-long sleep deficit. Now that I have been retired for 2 years I realize that I sleep in the car because I like to sleep in cars. Tarjei likes to drive and is a terrible anxious passenger so it works out well.

    2. When you want to close the Volvo windows, lift UP on the switch. There was a black cat crossing the street outside our lovely BnB in Trois Pistoles. Tarjei noted the fated feline and took immediate Action to prevent our 2 mutts from escaping. Unfortunately he pushed DOWN on the window switch and both dogs leaped out the back window onto Main Street. The black cat took off, followed by 2 black&white canine streaks. We found both dogs later. The cat may still be up a tree.

    3. Trois Pistoles does not mean 3 hand guns. The "Pistole" was and old French coin -- like shilling apparently. The town was named after someone lost a treasure in this part of the St. Lawrence coast -- valuable, worth about 3 "pistoles". The meaning of the word was a disillusionment. Tarjei refuses to believe it. He wants it to mean "gun".

    Now snuggled into BnB. Goodnight.    Read more

  • TravelerAROUND THE CONTINENT
    111
    Day 5

    PARC DU FJORD DE SAGUENAY

    September 3, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    September 2nd we took the ferry North across the St. Lawrence at the mouth of the Saguenay. We saw lots of seals, a minkie whale, and a beluga. We had to drop the dogs off at a kennel in Chicoutimi because they are not permitted -- even on leash -- at Quebec parks. The mutts seemed perfectly OK with the it -- I guess it's summer camp for them. But I miss them while we camp and hike.

    The park has a spectacular location overlooking the fjord on the lower Saguenay River. Today we did a challenging hike along a trail to a large statue of the Virgin Mary. It was erected in about 1880 by a commercial traveller. Apparently he accidentally drove his wagon into the Saguenay river one winter night but he and his horse were both rescued. He was so thankful that he spent his life raising money to erect this statue in thanks. It is located high above the river and is intended to impress people (like the statue of Christ above Rio du Janeiro.) She is called "Notre Dame de la Conception". She was carved from a huge pine tree, 80 feet high, encased in lead plates painted white and gold. There are cables to keep her from falling over or blowing away.

    It is expected to rain heavily all night. And -- I am a bit embarrassed about this -- we are sleeping in the car. Now, I know that my intrepid purist camping buddies (they know who they are) are shocked and appalled. But the idea of emerging from the cozy tent in the morning and having to fold up masses of sopping wet fabric and dig up the muddy pegs -- it was just too dispiriting. So we have packed up the dry tent. Tarjei and I are lying luxuriously in sleeping bags the back of the station wagon. It reminds me of our university days in Edmonton when we both lived at home....    Read more

  • TravelerAROUND THE CONTINENT
    Day 7

    NORTHERN WOODS

    September 5, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    We left Saguenay and have been meandering through Northern Quebec. We have passed by a million scrubby black spruce trees and thousands of ponds/lakes. It has been drizzling off and on. Slightly gray & melancholy seeming.

    This evening we crossed into Ontario. It is raining. We are staying in the first village we came to -- in a hotel in the middle of a road construction zone-- they have finished blasting, but they are still using huge machines to dig out the rubble and the hotel driveway is now part of the highway. The hotel smells strongly of cigarette smoke and cabbage soup. Things are hopping here -- BEAR RIVER GOLD Company from BC is drilling for gold and many of the workers are staying here.

    Also, back home it is the beginning of the school year, of course, and although Tarjei says he is fine, I have noticed that he has been checking the Dal AC website to see who is teaching "his" courses, and how many students there are registered. It is the first September since 1956 that he has not been starting school.

    However, we had dinner at "The Muddy Moose" in Larder, Ontario. It was in fact delicious home made food. With a beer. We are warm and dry, so have absolutely nothing to complain of.

    Tomorrow we plan a long day of driving to a Pukawaska Park on Lake Superior, where we hope to camp and hike for a couple of days.

    We plan sun and crisp fall weather for the next while.    Read more

  • TravelerAROUND THE CONTINENT
    1
    23
    Day 9

    LAKE SUPERIOR

    September 7, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Tonight we are camping at Pukaskwa (pronounced "puck-a-saw") National Park on the North Shore of Lake Superior. The Group of Seven came here -- it is like a Lauren Harris painting.

    Weather today was sunny but cold. We hiked about 10 km on trails along the shore -- sandy beaches strewn with driftwood, rocky cliffs and coves -- lots of up and down. The water was perfectly clear and azure blue -- so lovely It was tempting to jump in. But it was icy cold. According to the park information Lake Superior is the "world's biggest natural refrigerator" and water temperature varies little between winter & summer.

    Another great dinner by the fire of vermicelli and tomato sauce with red wine. We watched a spectacular sunset into the lake. There is a possibility of frost tonight, but probably not here because the Lake, though cold, will keep the shore above zero for now. We will be snug in our winter bags and dogs will curl up in their nests in fur coats.    Read more

  • TravelerAROUND THE CONTINENT
    11
    Day 14

    GRASSLANDS NATIONAL PARK, SASKATCHEWAN

    September 12, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We were very excited about camping in Grasslands National Park in the South-West corner of Saskatchewan.

    So, on September 10th we made a long drive from Kenora Ontario to Weyburn Saskatchewan, with a lunch stop to visit Laurie Connor (former AC prof) in Winnipeg. We met at "The Forks" (area in central Winnipeg where the Red River meets the Assiniboine) and Laurie treated us to a great lunch with home made muffins to speed us on our way to a dog-friendly Weyburn motel. Then yesterday we drove to Grasslands where we are living in a tipi for a couple of nights.

    The park was created in the 1980's to preserve some of the original prairie plant and animal species, and it is beautiful. The dry rolling hills are teaming with bird life (hawks, grouse, pheasants, owls, and lots of others) and mammals (bison, mule deer, coyotes, foxes, and "towns" of black-tailed prairie dogs). It is a desert, with the winding Frenchman River running through it. When we arrived it was 32 degrees Celsius and the café owner at the park entrance said it was a welcome change from the 36 degree heat of the last few weeks. But at night in our tipi, we need our warm sleeping bags as the temperature drops close to zero. There is haze in the air from forest fire smoke from Northern Saskatchewan. This makes the sun look fiery orange at times.

    We have been hiking lots with dogs on leash. There are flat prairies, rolling hills, and massive buttes with cliffs. The dogs have been on high alert with all the wild animals. Boots and Jabba moan with frustration when they see deer or prairie dogs and they cannot run after the creatures. However, in the tipi we give them free range to decimate the rodent life, which is prolific. Or it was on the first night, but now (I am writing this in my sleeping bag on night #2) there is a total absence of squeaks and rustling which we heard on night #1.

    Some of our most interesting moments on this trip involve conversations with other people -- we get a glimpse into someone else's life. The woman who owns the café in Val Marie, the village next to the park, said she came from Toronto 4 years ago to visit because her mother had been born here. She stayed and started the café for a different pace of life.
    "I made documentaries for the CBC, and there was always pressure to produce. They say you're only as good as your next documentary. Here, my life is my own to live."

    She makes awesome cappuccinos.    Read more

  • TravelerAROUND THE CONTINENT
    1
    Day 21

    EDMONTON AND LAKE WABAMUN, ALBERTA

    September 19, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ❄️ 1 °C

    We drove from Grasslands Park to Edmonton, Alberta where we stayed for a few days with my brother John and his kind wife Peggy. They were so welcoming -- I love them dearly.

    Each time I visit Edmonton, I am young again, free, a pseudo-hippie student living in a co-op house in Garneau. It is as if I am transported back to 1970 when the world was a gentler place and possibilities were endless. This visit was especially poignant because there was a Wake for our old friend Eric who died a couple of weeks ago. He was a draft-dodging Californian, a tipi maker, a back-country camper, anti-establishment, opinionated, and he resisted all labels. He left an indelible footprint on our lives. The Wake was a time for meeting old friends we hadn't seen for 35 years. We told stories, laughed a lot, and drank way too many toasts. Eric would have hated to miss it. Thank you Sarah for arranging it.

    After spending three days with family and friends in Edmonton, Tarjei and I drove West to the 1928 Folinsbee family cabin at Coal Point on Lake Wabamun, and Sarah came out too. Sarah & I used to paddle Alberta rivers together every summer, joking about how we hoped to still be doing it when we were 60 (an incredibly ancient age when you are 22.). So we got the old Thompson canoe out of the boathouse and paddled around for the afternoon. Boots ran and swam frantically behind us, afraid of being abandoned. Jabba watched from shore, unperturbed.

    We woke this morning to find the weather had turned cold and stormy -- high winds and driving rain, which we hope will help extinguish the Western fires. I am hunkering down by the fireplace inside, thankful not to be canoeing on Maligne Lake. The cold windy rainy weather is expected to continue for the next few days, so we have changed our plans. Instead of canoeing and camping on Maligne Lake, we are hiking and staying in a cabin in the Rockies. As the Norwegians say, "De finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlig vær!" -- "No such thing as poor weather, just poor clothing" (And, I must add, appropriate planning).    Read more

  • TravelerAROUND THE CONTINENT
    Day 23

    HIKING ON THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER

    September 21, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ❄️ -2 °C

    We are staying in Canmore with our friends Jame and Sharon Thompson. Beautiful modern condo with everything you could desire.

    Today, the last day of summer, we went hiking. I trailed behind as we climbed up to Burstall Pass in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park.

    I have always been the slowest hiker/skier/walker in our group of very fit friends. Like Leonard Cohen--

     "I've always liked it slow:
    I've never liked it fast.
    With you it's got to go
    With me it's got to last."

    I simply don't have a "quick" setting, but I get there in the end.

    Anyway, it was a long challenging very beautiful hike. Tarjei, Jame and Sharon all waited for me. 15 km later, we were back at the car.

    Now we are sitting in the condo by the fire, thinking of making dinner. It doesn't look much like summer out there.    Read more

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