We're Starting Week 2

Chef Francois making gourmet toast

We had a great night's sleep at Rainbow Provincial Park although the kids had a hard time staying on their own sleeping pads. When we wake up in the morning all three of them are off of their pads and sprawled on the tent floor.   There was a little breeze in the air and we decided to have toast for breakfast.  It was a great breakfast as we had no black flies or mosquitos try to attack us.   We also had no animals try to steal our breakfast.   There was a little squirrel looking for any crumbs off of our table, but the kids are getting good at not leaving any food behind.   


Again it was interesting to see how small a world we live in.   The girls and I met a lady in the restroom who was from Saskatchewan and heading to Halifax for the summer.  She said she use to work at the Centennial Pool in Summerside about twelve years ago.  She was interested to hear about the new pool facility in our city.


Right next to the campground was the Rainbow Falls and the kids enjoyed walking out onto the rocks and seeing the falls up close.  We took a lot of pictures - Natalie and Andrea have their own cameras and we purchased a disposable camera for David.  It is interesting to see what the kids want to take pictures of  and sometimes they have a better eye for picture taking then me.

David Mining for Amethyst

The kids polish their treasures

We made our way to Thunder Bay and I must agree with most people that it is a very desolate area with very limited communities along the way.  Francois and I thought the Canadian Shield was very beautiful to see with some amazing rock formations.  Francois said there were lots of interesting trails he would like to see, but I told him he would have to do them by himself because there would be no way I would be investigating those remote trails.  I was amazed to see cyclists making this same journey with miles and miles between communities.  I wondered where they would stay when the sun would set, would they make it to one of the provincial parks along the way or would they have make their own campsite for the night?


Just before Thunder Bay, we stopped at the Amethyst Mine Panorama, which is North America's largest amethyst deposit.  One of the adventures of the mining was the 7 km journey off the highway on gravel logging roads with some steep inclines and descents.  We had a quick walking tour of the mine and then a chance to mine for our own amethysts.  We could dig as much as we wanted, but needed to pay $3/pound for what we wanted to keep.  The kids enjoyed the search for the pretty purple rocks.  They loved using the pick and digging in the gravel.  They wanted to keep a lot of their rocks, but they were so many- we told them to pick the best of their rocks.  

The girls pose at the Terry Fox Monument

After the mine we made our way into Thunder Bay.  We were on the look-out for the Terry Fox Monument and I kept thinking of my friend Lynn.  She told me to look carefully for the monument because I may miss it.  Well we missed it - there was construction on the road and they must have taken the sign down for the entrance to the monument.  We had to turn around because we really wanted to see the monument.  It was very surreal to see the monument and read all about what Terry Fox accomplished in his short time on this earth.


We headed into Thunder Bay and decided to book a hotel as the weather forecast was calling for rain for tonight and tomorrow.  A lot of the hotels in Thunder Bay get booked up quickly because it is the halfway point  between Winnipeg and Sault St Marie.  We managed to get a hotel with a pool and the kids had lots of energy to burn.  They enjoyed playing in the pool and soaking in the hot tub.


Francois headed to the grocery store to replenish our food supplies and he said the Superstore in Thunder Bay was huge.  He said it is at least twice the size of our store in Summerside.  We had a late supper and the kids are now enjoying watching TV in bed.  David wanted to watch a little bit of the Toronto Blue Jays game.  


We hope to make it to the Manitoba border tomorrow, but not sure how far into Manitoba we will go.  The weather forecast for Manitoba looks hot and sunny for the next four days - which is good because we want to pitch our tent for a couple of days and tour Winnipeg.  


Watch out Manitoba here we come!
Tanya