8:30am
After a long restless night Dad takes the first shift at the wheel. It’s almost -30 and the car barely starts! We freeze our asses off for 5mins to let the car warm up before waving goodbye to the Polar Express.
We see a sign that says 750km to Thunder Bay which is hardly a dent in the distance we have to cover, but I know it’s going to be a long day.
10:00am
The black spruce grow tall and thin. It’s such a different landscape from Eastern Ontario that it’s hard to believe we’re still in the same province. The funny bottle brush trees make the sky look so big.
The road is straight and I try to catch some zzz’s – hoping I don’t miss anything while I sleep.
11:00am
We arrive in Kapiskasing. It’s a really beautiful town with gorgeous old buildings overlooking a ravine. We drive over the bridge and into the new side of town. There’s a funny building on the side of the road that is being “cut in half” by a huge saw blade and that’s when we realize we’re definitely in logging country.
Just off the side of the road there is a massive pile of logs. Twice the height of the Canadian Tire and blocks long! I’ve never seen so many dead trees and there’ll all so much larger than the trees around here. Where did they come from? The big pile of dead wood makes me sad, but I guess we’ve all got to wipe our asses somehow.
11:30am
Dad – again with the “humour”. There’s a street sign “Hardy” road. “Don’t you wish you could write Har Har underneath?” uuuugggggg!
1:00pm
We stop for a bowl of soup plus pie for Dad and a grill cheese for me. The restaurant is a genuine mom and pop – straight out of the 70s and I love it! Pink and green terrazzo floors, laminate wainscoting and bright orange vinyl benches. Blast from the past baby!
After lunch we walk a block to stretch our legs and then run the rest of the way back to the car to warm up. I better stop being so wussy soon.
3:00pm
The landscape is changing again. It looks like there have been multiple forest fires along this stretch of the highway. The hills and rock crops look like scruffy chins sticking up in the air with their funny little tree stumps and new shrubs.
5:00pm
We drive past the Pallisade’s hiking trails and it’s gorgeous! Huge rock faces with frozen water falls everywhere. I notice a couple cars on the side of the road and look up to see a group of ice climbers. We pull over to watch them for a few minutes and take some pictures. Loose, fluffy snow spills down the ice falls as they dig in. They’re crazy!
6:00pm
Thunder Bay only - 15km away. Woo hoo. We made it. There’s a huge warm welcome at my Aunt and Uncle’s. My Dad and his identical twin catch up on the sofa and I get some quality time with my Aunt, two of her crazy sisters and my cousin Melissa. AND I get some baby time with my new cousin Myla. She’s so beautiful! Whenever I visit Thunder Bay I’m reminded of what awesome family I have here.
10:30pm
We’re well feed, well hugged and I’m heading to bed. Aunt Blondie (who actually has brown hair, but that’s another storey;) has made sure Dad and I are sleeping on separate floors! God love her.
After a long restless night Dad takes the first shift at the wheel. It’s almost -30 and the car barely starts! We freeze our asses off for 5mins to let the car warm up before waving goodbye to the Polar Express.
We see a sign that says 750km to Thunder Bay which is hardly a dent in the distance we have to cover, but I know it’s going to be a long day.
10:00am
The black spruce grow tall and thin. It’s such a different landscape from Eastern Ontario that it’s hard to believe we’re still in the same province. The funny bottle brush trees make the sky look so big.
The road is straight and I try to catch some zzz’s – hoping I don’t miss anything while I sleep.
11:00am
We arrive in Kapiskasing. It’s a really beautiful town with gorgeous old buildings overlooking a ravine. We drive over the bridge and into the new side of town. There’s a funny building on the side of the road that is being “cut in half” by a huge saw blade and that’s when we realize we’re definitely in logging country.
Just off the side of the road there is a massive pile of logs. Twice the height of the Canadian Tire and blocks long! I’ve never seen so many dead trees and there’ll all so much larger than the trees around here. Where did they come from? The big pile of dead wood makes me sad, but I guess we’ve all got to wipe our asses somehow.
11:30am
Dad – again with the “humour”. There’s a street sign “Hardy” road. “Don’t you wish you could write Har Har underneath?” uuuugggggg!
1:00pm
We stop for a bowl of soup plus pie for Dad and a grill cheese for me. The restaurant is a genuine mom and pop – straight out of the 70s and I love it! Pink and green terrazzo floors, laminate wainscoting and bright orange vinyl benches. Blast from the past baby!
After lunch we walk a block to stretch our legs and then run the rest of the way back to the car to warm up. I better stop being so wussy soon.
3:00pm
The landscape is changing again. It looks like there have been multiple forest fires along this stretch of the highway. The hills and rock crops look like scruffy chins sticking up in the air with their funny little tree stumps and new shrubs.
5:00pm
We drive past the Pallisade’s hiking trails and it’s gorgeous! Huge rock faces with frozen water falls everywhere. I notice a couple cars on the side of the road and look up to see a group of ice climbers. We pull over to watch them for a few minutes and take some pictures. Loose, fluffy snow spills down the ice falls as they dig in. They’re crazy!
6:00pm
Thunder Bay only - 15km away. Woo hoo. We made it. There’s a huge warm welcome at my Aunt and Uncle’s. My Dad and his identical twin catch up on the sofa and I get some quality time with my Aunt, two of her crazy sisters and my cousin Melissa. AND I get some baby time with my new cousin Myla. She’s so beautiful! Whenever I visit Thunder Bay I’m reminded of what awesome family I have here.
10:30pm
We’re well feed, well hugged and I’m heading to bed. Aunt Blondie (who actually has brown hair, but that’s another storey;) has made sure Dad and I are sleeping on separate floors! God love her.
Posts
It should remind you of sleeping with Bill though!
ReplyDelete