To the West Coast and Back
Ottawa
We left Ottawa at a little after noon instead of the planned 10 am, finding many last minute things to organise. Our premise was that we were in no hurry. Skies were overcast and there was an intermittant drizzle. The price of gas increased a penny per town as we headed up the Ottawa valley, starting at 53.9 in Ottawa, 54.9 in Arnprior, 55.9 in Renfrew, 56.9 in Pembroke, 57.9 in Deep River 58.9 in Mattawa and 59.9 in North Bay. It must be the cost of transport.
Sturgeon Falls
We arrived in North Bay, home of Mike Harris and Gateway to the North in the mid afternoon. After photographing what Eric remembered as the entrance to North Bay, now located in a park, we found an internet cafe with very good rates, 10 cents per minute or $4/hr. They served both regular and espresso coffees and were also a large second hand bookstore. Since North Bay was not where we wanted to spend our first night, we went to Sturgeon Falls, where we found some attractive cabins, on the north shore of Lake Nipissing, not far from where Eric's family had a cottage in the late 1940's. It was beautiful, cool, sunny and very peaceful.
After dipping our toes in the cool waters of Lake Nipissing, we sat on the beach watching a classic Ontario sunset. There was a large fleet of motor boats (beautiful varnished wooden ones; no fibreglass here!) which can be rented by the day or by the week. Our fabulous cabin came with a great view of the lake across a well groomed lawn with nice old trees. The lake goes on forever, but you can see the other side. The cabin had a fridge, a stove, a microwave and a toaster, but we were not equipped to take advantage of anything but the fridge. Each cabin had its own fire/barbeque pit surrounded by those comfortable old wooden Adirondack chairs.
If we had known we would find a place like this, we would have brought charcoal and food for a cookout. Maybe another time, we will come and stay here for a week, as it is less than a day's drive from home. Gas here was 61.9!
Kirkland Lake
We woke to brilliant sunshine and blue sky with wispy clouds. We headed north up highway 64 past Field, up highway 11 to Temagami and stopped at New Liskeard, where we visited the LCBO to buy a bottle of wine for Rilla. We discovered that any wine not from Ontario was placed in a section identified as "Old World Wines"! We reached Kirkland Lake and managed to find Rilla's house; there is a huge mine shaft painted bright red which stands at the corner of the highway and the road at which we were to turn off - you couldn't miss it, even though we had been given the wrong street name! When we arrived, she informed us we had reservations at KL's finest restaurant, so that's where we went at 8pm. I don't think people from Ottawa and Toronto will be flocking to this eatery, but we all found food we liked and enjoyed. Before dinner, Rilla's neighbour had invited us over for some "coolers" and a chat. She was born in KL and knows a lot of interesting history of the area. The next day, after brunch with Rilla, we explored KL on foot and visited the goldmining museum in the old Harry Oakes mansion.
Kirkland Lake, the town, is fast becoming a mining ghost town. The lake has disappeared into a slag heap. There is, however a new mining company which plans to re-process the tailings with modern techniques to extract more gold and as part of the deal, perhaps recreate the lake.
Carol wanted to make a fresh fish dinner here for some of Rilla's friends, but when we returned to the supermarket that had had fresh fish the day before, they were out and would not receive any more for another 3 days. The frozen fish did not look good enough for company, so she made a chicken dinner instead, with frozen salmon for herself. Somehow, with three cooks at work, we undercooked the chicken and we and our guests ate raw chicken, or at least as much as we could, while Carol had her salmon blocks, blissfully unaware of our discomfort with the raw chicken. It was just like the hilarious turkey dinner scene from "Accidental Tourist". Anyway, we had a good chuckle the next day, and nobody came down with salmonella poisoning.
Cochrane
We drove to Cochrane the next day after having a last luncheon with Rilla, again at her favorite restaurant, and getting her on e-mail at work. After a short stop in Swastika, we headed directly to Cochrane, the place where Route 11 turns left, from due North to due West. This is also the railway intersection of the CNR going East - West and the Ontario Northland Railway going North - South. Cochrane's mascot is a giant Polar Bear statue and we decided to stay there so we could take the early morning "Polar Bear Express" to Moosonee, where the Moose river flows into James Bay (part of Hudson's Bay).
After watching three teenagers in a 4,000 horsepower switching diesel
shuffle some cars around in a railway yard, we visited the Railway
Museum, which is housed in an old Ontario Northland railcar. As
well as railroad memorabilia, there was a large exhibit on
Cochrane's native son, Tim Horton, the NHL player who founded Tim
Horton Donuts. We had a good night's sleep and left bright and
early the next morning (8:30 am) for Moosonee and Moose
Factory. It was overcast when we left Cochrane, but the skies
cleared as we travelled north. The scenery on both sides of the
train was primarily of woods - mostly spindly pine trees with short
clumpy branches. Sometimes there were pretty wild flowers growing
beside the tracks and occasionally we passed by areas which had
been devastated by forest fires - the trees were still standing but
the trunks were charred and the branches were dead. The train made
a brief stop at Fraserdale, where the road ends and rail is the
only means of transportation from this point northward. We crossed
the Abitibi River, the 51st parallel and the Moose River near its
delta and arrived at 1pm at the Cree settlement. We walked about,
had lunch in an Anglican church basement, including "bannock", took
a large canoe (a "water taxi" to the locals) with a 20 horsepower
outboard across the delta to Moose Factory for a further walk
around and got back to Moosonee just in time for the 6pm departure.
It was 4 and 1/2 hours up, 4 and 1/2 there and 4 and 1/2 hours
down. The train had 8 passenger cars, 3 dining cars and one
entertainment car with beer, a piano player/singer and too much
smoke (the only car where smoking was allowed and yet it had no
ventilation!!).
Thunder Bay
The next day we headed off west, across to Kapuskasing (the Kap), then Hearst and Geraldton and finally reaching Nipigon on Lake Superior - a long drive. Near Longlac we saw many miles of stands of burnt birch trees, where the fast burning forest fires had taken all the leaves and branches, but left the scorched trunks standing. The next morning, we had a short drive to Thunder Bay - the Port Arthur side - where the Bluenose was in port, the furthest west it has ever been, and they were holding a "Harbour Festival". This delayed breakfast by at least an hour. Very nice port, but no espresso or capuccino (only in Fort William!). Then off to Kakabeeka Falls, where we took a lot of pictures. Later we drove through some really varied and interesting country, past beautiful farm land near Dryden to the beautiful Lake of the Woods area, scenic Kenora and Bonnie and Jack's cottage on Laclu, in time for supper.
Kenora
After our first Kenora BBQ, with Tequila Teasers (bloody mary's with tequila instead of vodka) we slept like logs in country air, with the sound of loons and the distant wail of diesel horns as slow hundred car trains of empty grain hoppers headed off to Winnipeg. Some evenings, sitting on a "glider", rocking back and forth, with my laptop on my lap and a glass of wine at my side, in a screened-in large porch overlooking the lake and dock, I compose e-mails to friends and family back home. In a two minute long distance call, I can send 8 messages and receive 8 incoming messages for a minimal cost. It does mean messages "leap frog" each other, as what people receive are not responses to what I have received at that time, but to what I received the time before, however, they got used to that. When the time comes to singe the steaks for our Kenora BBQs (with a salmon burger for Carol), I fold up the laptop for another time.
Jack's powerboat with two outboards on it had sunk, so we researched how to bring the motors back to life, while visiting Keewatin and the beautiful town of Kenora with its historic old buildings and railway station. Jack explained that the name Kenora is an amalgamation of parts of the names of three earlier settlements: KEewatin, NOrman and RAt Portage. It also has a super modern hospital with access by car, boat, float plane and helicopter, the result of the wealth of the regular American visitors. Once back at the boat, we retrieved the gas tank, filtered the gas through a cheesecloth to get rid of any water and replaced the battery at half price (still on warrantee) at Canadian Tire. The next day with help from several strong neighbours and energetic bailers, we raised the Titanic. Then the race against rust started as we purged the engines of water by pulling the plugs and cranking it over till the water no longer spewed out, sprayed the innards with WD-40 and put it back together hoping for the best. It needed the assistance of some ether to catch, with many repeats, as there was residual water in the carburators, but soon we were spluttering and then smoothely motoring across the lake.
Bonnie's dog, Zorro, is an Australian Cattle Dog - part Dingo, part Kelpie, part Smithfield (a herding dog from Wales) and part Dalmation. Bonnie says these dogs have been domesticated for a relatively short time and so tend to be a little wilder than some other breeds, but obedience classes have made her really quite good in responding to Bonnie, although she can snap at strangers. This dog is energetic in the extreme. She will fetch a stick for as long as you can keep it up. She particularly likes fetching from the water. You throw a stick into the lake and she runs the full length of the dock, leaps into the water, swims out to the stick and brings it back. For strangers, she even throws the stick into the water herself and then dives in to fetch it so you can see what she expects of you.
We loved the cottage - it is right on the lake and has a beautiful view. The three days had been grey, hot and humid but the last morning it was nice and sunny. Before leaving, we went for a long boat ride on the resurrected boat, around the lake and saw an eagle's nest (but no eagles), a great blue heron and a family of loons. We left Laclu around 2:15 and finally, after 11 days on the road, Ontario was behind us.
Winnipeg
We reached Bonnie and Jack's home in Winnipeg at 5pm. They live in a nice established old area called River Heights, which is where Jack grew up. It is a quiet, residential area with beautiful tree-lined streets, large homes and lovely, well-kept lawns and gardens. It is on the banks of the Assiniboine River near a major bend. Portage is on the other bank of the river. It is the kind of neighbourhood in which you feel safe walking at night, which is what we did regularly. One street sign aimed at cyclists states: "Attention Cyclists, motor vehicles are entitled to use this roadway too."One night we went to "the Bleachers", a bar on the air base there for a "Mexican Frisbie", a sincronizada with lots of stuff inside (no meat on Carol's), and played electronic Trivial Pursuit and Showdown (via one of Ted Turner's special channels) against bars all over US and Canada. We have these at home too, of course, but Jack is a regular, part of a team, and scores well, so we decided to partake and compete. Lots of fun and Bonnie was the overall Showdown winner, meaning she scored higher than anyone else in the bar! Another delight was "Alycia's", a Ukranian restaurant in the working class district of Winnipeg, where they served superb perogies. John Candy, Luba Goy and Jim Nabors can't be wrong. Also the Italian strip along Corydon has lots of ristorantes, espresso bars and trattorias. We had dessert at "Baked Expectations", a dessert place with good lattes too.
We took a day away from Bonnie and Jack to shop, eat at "the Forks" (we recommend the Bridgeport Restaurant) and visit Winnie the Poo's statue in the Zoo at Assiniboine Park. Many do not know that A. A. Milne's Winnie was named after a real bear by the same name, who came from and was named for the city of Winnipeg by the Canadian soldier who adopted the orphaned cub. I guess after you explain it, it becomes obvious. While in the Park we went through the Conservatory, the lovely English Garden and the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden. Also checked out the Eaton's near Portage and Main; it is still open, but has very low "traffic". We treated the car to a long overdue car wash at a place that did a thorough manual "scrub" of bugs on the hood and grill and windshield before going through the automatic car wash. We finished the evening by going out with Bonnie and Jack to "Ray and Jerry's", an upscale steakhouse, where they overfed us.
Brandon
When we left Winnipeg, we headed for Brandon, where the Canada Games were held in August. When we got there, we discovered that the rowing events were to be held at Minnedosa, a bit to the north. We went there, only to find a tiny prairie town with two grain elevators and three rail sidings off a not so main line. We followed the winding creek, the Little Saskatchewan River, until we came to a dam, and there behind the dam was Lake Minnedosa, with a beach, Minnedosa Beach. On the lake, we found 5 long rowing lanes marked out with red and green markers, and on the beach there were flags for each province. Obviously they were ready for the event.Back in Brandon, we found the University was also ready for the other events, but we headed on to Souris, Manitoba on the Souris River. There we walked across the longest pedestrian suspension bridge - 582 feet - across the Souris, picked Saskatoonberries and enjoyed the local cuisine. In the morning Carol spied two of their famous peacocks nesting in the trees along the main street.
Moose Jaw
We crossed into Saskatchewan, had Saskatoonberry Pie à la mode in Redvers, visited Alida, but could not find anyone who knew its pedigree (must be Russian or Ukranian), then up to Kipling, where no one knew how it got its name either (although the tour book had said that it was named after the famous Rudyard Kipling, who had visited these parts around 1892). We did a short tour of Regina, but decided to move on to Moose Jaw, which has an interesting history and people willing to talk about it. We saw the underground tunnels (The Tunnels of Little Chicago) used by liquor smugglers and bootleggers, where they claim Al Capone was a regular visitor. We ate at Hopkins Dining Parlour, the trendiest looking place in town, but unfortunately the quality of the food did not match the decor. While sitting on the patio at the restaurant we spoke to a couple at a nearby table and he highly recommended a B & B in central Alberta. Believe it or not, this man was from Calgary, but his ex-wife was from Ottawa!!Crossing Saskatchewan was fascinating, huge fields of dark green - young wheat about 1 - 2 feet high, of bright golden yellow - canola, and of bright blue - flax, good pigments for a giant moving canvas. We even encountered potatoes, green with white flowers and sunflowers, presumably also for the oil. At times, the two sides of the divided highway were separated by a half mile or more; at the town of Morse, the highway was divided by a body of water! In the south we started seeing oil wells everywhere, so they are diversified. We stopped for lunch in Herbert, where we had really good and simple borscht and sandwiches, while the locals attacked the ubiquitous smorgasbord. Very simple, honest and open folk, great to talk to.
Drumheller
We stopped in Medicine Hat, a city on top of a huge gas deposit, where Rudyard Kipling had stayed for a visit and the locals knew it, even if he had mainly bad things to say about it. There is a gas-lit downtown area they are proud of. While there, we contacted the B & B recommended by the man in Moose Jaw; it was located in Trochu, near Red Deer and we booked a two day stay. From Medicine Hat we took the back roads, 100 kph limit instead of the 110 on the main roads, to Dorothy, where we had a picnic lunch in the Dorothy Community Park, in the heart of the Badlands. The temperature here registered 37 degrees! We then followed the Red Deer River through the Badlands of Alberta, stopping to see hoodoos, the dinosaur museum at Drumheller and crossing the river at the bottom of this Canadian "grand canyon" by regular bridge, by cable ferry at Bleriot and by another suspension footbridge - the 119 metre long Star Mine Suspension Bridge at Rosedale.
Our hosts at the St. Ann Ranch Trading Company B and B, had put us in their best room, a giant bedroom with a separate sitting room, a large private bathroom and a huge veranda stretching across the front of the house, all on the second floor. This is a provincial historic site, situated in a coulee just below the town of Trochu. (A coulee is a ravine or sheltered basin.) The property has been in the Frère family since 1903 and the present host, Tom (and Holly) Frère, is the great grandson of Ernest Frère, one of the original French cavalrymen who settled this area. Rural Alberta is something to experience! Everyone is so open, friendly and trusting - the doors of the B & B were never locked and we were left on our own one night, when Tom and Holly took their children for an overnighter. One of the two evenings we dined in Three Hills, home of Art Hanger, Reform MP of some repute; and the next night we ate at the local Chinese restaurant in Trochu. We particularly enjoyed the latter, thanks not only to the food (which was good, not exciting) but to the warm and friendly conversations among the locals (who obviously knew one another intimately). Although we were the "strangers" in the place, we were greeted by the other patrons and one elderly farmer even stopped to chat with us on his way out.
Johnston's Canyon
It was time to move on to British Columbia, so we left Trochu and headed for the mountains. Banff was truly "verpest", so we drove on to Johnston's Canyon, not on any map we had, but buried deep in the park handout given to us at the park gate. We stopped and saw the cabins and the canyon and asked to stay. Unfortunately, they were full up and even Eric saying he had stayed there exactly 40 years ago did not reveal a cancellation. As a consolation, we picked up a brochure and a sweatshirt and moved on. The entire park was booked up, so we had to go on to Golden BC, where even though we got in to a nice motel, two busloads of Japanese tourists swooped down shortly after us and took over 90% of it. They make good neighbours though.
Perhaps we can stay at Johnston's Canyon on another trip, it's a short drive from Calgary.
Vernon
After Golden, we crossed over Rodger's Pass (1330 metres high) and entered Pacific Daylight Savings Time. We passed by Revelstoke and Craigellachie, where they drove in the last spike on the railway. Although we didn't stop in Sicamous, we did look about as we cruised through, remembering that this was where Gill escaped to for a brief romance many years ago. It really is quite a lovely spot and we took a few pictures from a scenic spot just beyond the town which overlooked Shuswap Lake. By mid afternoon we were in beautiful downtown Vernon, in the midst of the Okanagan. This is a charming town and during our walk about we discovered a fabulous restaurant, the Asiago Cafe. We returned here for a marvellous dinner of fresh Pacific salmon cooked on a cedar plank; it was delicious!
The next morning we set off for Kelowna - at a leisurely pace. First stop was one of the local wineries, The Grey Monk Winery, for a tour and sampling. Orchards are everywhere in this lush valley - cherries, peaches, raspberries, apples. The weather has been great so far - typically between 28 and 32 degrees between noon and 6pm, big blue sky all over the prairies, and down to 15 to 19 at night. It was a little cooler in the mountains. The town of Kelowna is quite picturesque, at least the part which surrounds Okanagan Lake. There is a luxurious, old worldy hotel (The Grand Hotel) right on the shore of the lake; across from this there is Veendam Gardens, which contains a water park for children, the Kelowna Lawn Bowling Club and spacious lawns and gardens running along the lake. There is a colourful statue of the Lake "monster", who is named Ogopogo and is somewhat of a mascot. The rest of the town is not very attractive and everywhere we saw young people lounging about like 1990 hippies - they appeared to be either itinerants or unemployed. On the way out of Kelowna we stopped at the Mission Hill Winery for another tour and wine tasting.
Vancouver
At last we arrived at the Pacific shore. Since all of the B & B's we phoned were fully booked, we stayed in a Best Western on the east side of the city and took the Skytrain into downtown Vancouver. The city is getting better all the time and is starting to look more and more like Hong Kong, with the towering high rises in downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver, facing each other across the harbour. There are also lots of skyscrapers in Burnaby and New Westminster. The number of construction cranes for new towers is almost unbelievable and they are sold out before they finish digging the hole in the ground!!
Gastown has gotten seedier - being right next door to the streets frequented by prostitutes, addicts and drug dealers doesn't help much! In spite of this, we ate a superb Indian dinner in the "Sitar" - the tandoori fish was excellent! After the meal we strolled about, watched the steam clock strike the hour and then took the Skytrain back to the motel. Robson Street (the trendy place to eat and shop) has more shops and more restaurants and more sidewalk activity, very cosmopolitan: Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Malaysian, Korean, Vietnamese. Stanley Park is more crowded, but beautiful as ever.
We drove across the Lion's Gate Bridge and out Marine Drive from North Vancouver to West Vancouver, right out to Horseshoe Bay; it feels like Connecticut or Long Island.
After our breakfast in the motel dining room we drove to Granville Island - what a fantastic place. We saw a Shakespeare play in rehearsal, visited several studios and craft shops and saw some beautiful floating homes anchored to the docks. We bought a lovely glass sculpture from a craft shop and a scrumptious loaf of sourdough rye with poppyseeds. We drove to Point Roberts, the western-most point of the US and photographed Eric 'straddling the border' at the 49th parallel. Any Americans wishing to visit the place have to go through Canada to get there! How's that for an anomaly!
Victoria
We took the ferry to Vancouver Island which took approximately an hour and a half. The ferries are large and very comfortable so it isn't difficult to pass the time. After landing we drove to Port Sidney, where we stayed at a very nice B & B run by a doctor and his wife. He directed us to a very friendly interesting place in town, the Rumrunners Pub, where we enjoyed a good meal - excellent fresh halibut. We never met the wife and never saw the doctor again, after the initial greeting: they had hired a student to run the B & B. This seemed a bit unusual because usually those running B & B's are interested in people and enjoy meeting and chatting with their guests. Then, next morning, it was on to Butchard Gardens, which was beautiful, but somewhat overrated and very pricey! It was 1:30 when we reached Victoria and checked into our B & B, which was just down the street from where Emily Carr was born. The hostess greeted us warmly but was, at the same time, a bit odd - like something out of a Diane Keaton movie - nice but scattered. We toured the Empress Hotel (and returned later that evening for an elegant dinner in the Bengal Lounge), did the tourist thing by parading up and down the main shopping streets (overrun with tourist traps), lunched at the Sticky Wicket Pub. On the whole, Victoria is too commercial to hold any lasting allure for us.
Having read about it in the tourist brochure, we went to Sooke Harbour, but it was not so impressive. We went on to Nanaimo, didn't stop here but continued on to Parksville, where we turned onto highway 4A, which was where we expected to find Cathedral Grove in the MacMillan Provincial Park. Before reaching there, we stopped for lunch at a non-descript roadside restaurant and verified with the waitress that we were on the correct route. She assured us that we were and suggested that we stop in Coombs, which was on the way and just down the road; she also mentioned something about "goats". We found the 'Old Country Market' at Coombs and, lo and behold, there were the "goats" - on the roof! The large market structure had been built into the side of a hill and the overhanging roof formed part of the hill. On the roof was a small wooden goat house and there were half a dozen goats grazing on the roof - and peering down at the shoppers from time to time. It was an unforgettable sight!
We finally reached Catherdral Grove where we walked amongst 800 year old Western Red Cedars, Hemlock and Douglas Firs that were 300 feet tall (taller than most catherdrals!) and up to 15 feet in diameter at the base. It was an awe-inspiring sight and one of the hightlights of our trip! By the time we reached Port Alberni, the salmon capital of the world, it was late afternoon and we found a motel and then had a fabulous dinner of fish and chips on the dock, wrapped in newspaper the English way. There was one significant difference - the fish was bright red fresh sockeye salmon. Delicious! Our only complaint was that there were too many chips and not enough salmon. This was a pretty little town, with a beautiful view of the inlet, known as Barkley Sound.
Tofino
Next morning we took a long, winding and hilly road to Tofino, where we watched seaplanes coming and going from the sheltered harbour while we had lunch (Pacific "Ling" cod, with chips). All of the resorts situated on the ocean front were outrageously expensive so we opted to spend the afternoon in Pacific Rim National Park. We walked on Long Beach,which is a wonderful long stretch of sandy beach right on the open Pacific Ocean. Although the water was quite cold, we splashed along in our bare feet and enjoyed the sunshine, which came out for the first time that day just as we arrived at the beach! One of the locals told us that the water is the same temperature all year round and, therefore, it feels quite warm in the winter.
Then we took an hour long trek through the rainforest. We were completely alone during this tour and it was a rather eerie feeling - just we two and the birds and animals of the forest. We actually saw and heard some eagles and hawks high above our heads. The visible life cycle of the temperate rainforest is fascinating. Red cedar is known for its property of lasting well, so walking over fallen trees, dead over 100 years, five feet tall lying down, with new trees growing out of them is quite telling.
White Rock
We headed back to Nanaimo, to take the ferry back to Tsawwassen, on the mainland. It was 7:15 when we arrived at the ferry and the line up was so long we had to wait for the next one, which was scheduled to leave at 8:15 but did not depart until 8:45. After leaving the ferry, we couldn't find a place to stay and continued on to White Rock, BC, on the US border, where we spent the night (it was 11:30 pm when we checked in!!). Next morning we did a quick tour of White Rock, which has a nice beach. The tide was out leaving gigantic stretches of sand with little rivulets of ocean and huge sandbars. The beachfront reminded me of St. Ives, but Eric thought it was a bit tacky (or as he put it "honky tonk"). From here we drove straight to the border and crossed into the United States.
If you enjoyed this, try the return trip through the U.S.
April 1998
