CANADA

The Canadian Experience

August 28, 2016 – Day #9

Today begins the Canadian Prairie Experience – many miles on roads less traveled.  300+ miles, 70 or so more than we needed to take. The navigator (who shall remain nameless) took the road that looked to be the closest to our destination of Medicine Hat, Alberta. That WRONG road took us to the Canadian Boarder at Willow Creek, only to discover that the road beyond was new gravel and really not passible for us. SO After a U-turn, we headed back 70 miles and got to the Wild Horse Crossing where we made it into Canada. We had paved roads, on the narrow side, but much better than the gravel would have been. The scenery out our windows was as expected – prairie like. One wonders after driving miles and miles past acres and acres of wheat and hay fields how do the ranchers ever get it planted, harvested and stored. What a huge undertaking, even with the over sized farm equipment we saw everywhere. One tired crew of MoHo passengers came to rest at the Lodge Motel and Casino in Medicine Hat. It was good location to boon dock. As a reinforcer for a frustrating day we went in to the casino and tried our luck on their poker machines. We quickly tired of seeing our $ go away so we went into the lounge for dinner and to seek another entrant in the Manhattan Quest. Sadly the Manhattan scored only a 1. on our cherry scale. The lounge did not have bitters or cherries, and best bourbon was Jim Beam.  But surprisingly the bourbon did adjust our attitudes and the club sandwich hit the spot.

Prairie Highway

Border Crossing (1st time)

Border Crossing (2nd time)

August 29 -30, 2016 – Day #10-11

More prairies on our Canadian Route 1 East to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Travel today was a lot less stressful, straight shot of about 240 miles on good divided highway. Much the same scenery viewed through very buggy windshields, as the last few days, acres of vegetation, an area where they were drilling for oil, salt mining, cattle grazing, numerous grain silos and picturesque ponds. We pulled into the Prairie Oasis Tourist Resort. Nice older campground was a good place to park for a couple of days. The hungry and thirsty adventurers went into the town of Moose Jaw for happy hour and dinner. We walked 3-4 blocks of Main Street, finding a very welcoming Brown’s Social Club for a break. We had another entrant in the Manhattan Quest entry – only 2. on the cherry scale.  VERY SMALL pour, no cherry – but it was made with Woodford Bourbon. Dinner was very good fish and chips, dessert EXCELLENT key lime pie.

Tuesday morning we returned to town to investigate more of Moose Jaw. A quick visit to the Tourist Information Center gave us some ideas for the day’s itinerary. We started with a bit of tourist shopping and then we took the Capone Experience in the Tunnels of Moose Jaw, a very entertaining walk and talk about the bootlegging, brothels and gambling that took place under the streets of Moose Jaw during prohibition. In the afternoon we drove out to Sukunen Museum – Pioneer Village and walked through the remnants of old Moose Jaw and surrounding communities. The most interesting exhibit was the Sukanen Ship that was built in the early 1900’s so the Rancher Sukanen could try and sail back to his homeland in Finland. How that would work is a bit of a mystery for the boat was built in the middle of the Saskatchewan Prairie. Our afternoon and evening was spent in camp – enjoying a couple of games of Zilch (Karen will not brag about her victory) and a homemade dinner.

Ship built in Moose Jaw to return Farmer to homeland in Finland

Oldest theater in Moose Jaw

one of many Murals in Moose Jaw, this one depicting the Prohibition

 tunnels used by Al Capone

Icon at southern entrance to Moose Jaw

Great Falls Montana

August 26-27, 2016 – Days 7 & 8

After an unsettling night – trying sleeping 50 yards away from a very busy train tracks – not such a smart idea. We groggily got up and headed to Great Falls, MT. Luckily it was a fairly short drive, but we did have some road construction that kept Mike on his toes – sort of like slalom runs – narrow single lanes, changing from right to left and back again. Arriving safe and sound to our location for the next 2 nights we stopped at the KOA Campground in Great Falls. It was nice to have hook-ups and a nice big laundry room to take care of some necessary clothes washing. We also spent the afternoon cleaning the rig (traveling with 2 furry critters brings along a lot of dust and fur). Our evening was a relaxing one – barbequing some chicken, enjoying a campfire and taking it easy.

We slept in enjoying the quieter sleeping conditions. We set off to do some sightseeing of Great Falls.  1^st stop was the interesting interpretive center describing the Lewis and & Clark Expedition. The museum is located right on the Missouri River – the Great Falls being the 5 falls that the party had to portage their canoes, supplies and themselves around in very difficult terrene. We learned a lot about the Missouri River; the longest river in North America 2,341 miles from N.W. Montana to St. Louis MO. The Corps of Discovery as the adventurers were known made their incredible journey to the Pacific Ocean and back 1804-1806.

We ate lunch at the Sip n’ Dip Lounge in Great Falls – a very kitschy place in a sort of 1950’s way. Mermaids swim in the pool above the bar; they serve $28.00 fish bowl drinks to complete the experience. We took it more conservative and enjoyed a cheeseburger and M a beer and K a coffee. We were too early for the real show, but were entertained by hotel guests trying out their mermaid skills. Did a little more touring of the town, much larger than we imagined, and returned to the campground.

We go into Canada tomorrow and may or may not be blogging for awhile.

Spokane Washington to Drummond Montana

August 24, 2016 - Day #5

We left Yakima, WA for Spokane – 200 + miles on a good highway we saw our 1^st Trump Sign along the road (some rancher in WA is mislead).  The route today revealed a highly agricultural focus: fruit trees, vineyards, carrots, corn, hay and…    An interesting look was the huge circular hay fields we saw several  times along our drive. While on the drive we realized that we had gotten a crack in the driver’s windshield. Calls to Insurance, and glass shops were made. We are going to try and make it to Connecticut for the repair.

We enjoyed an evening in downtown Spokane. Our first stop was at the Volstead Act Bar (named after the prohibition act of 1919). Good Manhattans served with GREAT Amareima Cherries (Italian) – Chelsea the bar owner explained to us why we got 3 yummy cherries: 1 or 3 is a good sign in your cocktail (cherries or olives) 2 is not good, the Mob is looking at you unfavorably.  The Manhattans were a 3.5 on the 4.0 cherry score; made with Nob Creek and not too sweet! Dinner was at the Wave Restaurant, good steamed pot stickers and a stew with shrimp, clams, mussels and Portuguese sausage. The Manhattans there were pretty good, a 3. - on the cherry scale. 

crack in windshield

fire near Spokane

Lake Coeur  d'alene

August 25, 2016 - Day #6

Montana was our goal for the day. We left Spokane driving most of the day along Route I - 90 to Drummond, MT. We traveled through Coeur d’alene Idaho – reminded us of driving in the Mt. Tahoe Lake area with a big blue lake and beautiful treed mountains. Most of our 200+ mile journey we followed the Clark Fork River. The river paralleled, crossed and re-crossed our path most of the day. The Clark Fork River flows 310 miles from Butte, MT to Eastern ID. Our travels were fairly uncomplicated with only a few miles of construction and speed limits of up to 80 MPH for cars – 70 MPH for Motorhomes.  The Manhattan Quest was disrupted for the evening, Happy Hour the Rough Stock Bar (the bar closest to our boon docking location) had limited inventory  (no sweet vermouth, no bitters, no bar tender who really cared). We had simple beer and wine for libations and visited with the locals, always interesting talking with people from other areas.

Clark Fork River

Mt. Rainier National Park

August 23, 2016 – Day #4

Today was a wonderful day visiting the incredible Mt Rainier. It was a great day trip, about 2 1/2 hours from our camp in Yakima to Mt. Rainier National Park. The drive was ever changing with Aspen, Fir, Pine Trees, wild flowers and amazing rock formations. Several vista points provided us with breath taking views of the incredible scenery. Much of the route was along the Tieton River.  In Paradise, WA at the National Park Visitor Center we learned that Mt. Rainier was established as, the 5^th National Park, is the tallest volcano in the Cascade Range, and has the most glaciers in the continental United States, and oh yes - we think this mountain is one of most beautiful sights we have had the good fortune to visit.

intrepid travelers

Mt. Rainier

Louise Lake

 

Onward to Washigton

North American Safari # 5

August 20,2016

The 4 motor homing Wraights (Mike, Karen, Corona & Guinness) left their Ashland Abode and headed North to ADVENTURE! But first there was a stop in near-by Central Point, Oregon to allow Mike to conduct his summer junior high band camp group with the New Horizons Band. It was a great performance by all. Once more on the road the tenacious travelers headed about 100 miles north to Canyonville, OR and stopped for the night at the Umpqua Tribes’ 7 Feathers RV Resort. This has been a favorite “jumping off” point for several of the Safaris. The evening was filled with a barbeque, a little bit of video poker, 2 EXCELLENT Manhattan cocktails, wine & cheese and little bit of local musical entertainment.

August 21, 2016 – Day # 2

We arose groggy after a somewhat warm and muggy night. Even with the AC running it was a hot night for sleeping. We again headed north up the I-5 freeway towards Salem, OR. 150+ miles later we arrived at the Salem Elks RV Park only to find it full. We opted to dry-camp there and hoped it would stay cool. It worked out pretty well the day temps were in the low 80 degrees and it cooled down nicely in the evening. We enjoyed an afternoon with our friend Charlotte – nice happy hour and good dinner hosted by her at the 7 Brides Brew Pub in Silverton. Looking forward to a better night’s sleep we retired early.

August 22, 2016 – Day #3

Great sleeping weather – we arose ready to get this trip really going! The day’s drive took us along the spectacularly beautiful Columbia River Gorge. We have driven this route several times before and it is always impressive – the scenery just breathtaking. Cutting across the river we entered the state of Washington. Our drive north took us through some high dessert like scenery and into a very large agricultural area.  In less than 4 hours we had traveled 240 miles to a beautiful location. Out destination for the night was the Yakima Elks, in Selah, WA. Wow! what a  RV Park. It is located right on their golf course.  We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon with time outside, Mike even got in a bit golf practice – right in front of our Rig.

 

Here we go again,

This Safari will leave Ashland on August 20 after Mike conducts a final concert for the middle school summer camp he has been teaching.  We are almost packed and ready to go.  Our first night will be a short trip to Seven Feathers Indian Casino in Canyonville Oregon.  Since this is only a two month trip we are carefully choosing our route.  Some of the highlights will be several national parks and memorials, watching Marq and Kris run a half marathon in Philadelphia, installing some stained glass on Kris and Laura's front door, Crossing the Canadian Prairie for the first time, and traveling many roads not traveled on before.  Of course more details will follow and we hope you enjoy the ride.