Drive to Saskatoon

Today we drove to Saskatoon, SK, Along the way, stopping at the Flying J for fuel, propane and a quick meal at the Denny’s.  The Flying J’s are positioned at perfect distances for our coach. We decided to spend the night at the Walmart Supercenter. This is our first time staying in a parking lot of a WalMart, is so nice of then to allow an overnight stay. We did our grocery shopping at WalMart and then settled in for a movie night.

Driving to Saskatchewan

We drove the coach on the Winnipeg by-pass and the roads were good, refueled at the Pilot/Flying J in Headingly, Manitoba, Canada just west of Winnipeg. We decided to spend the night at the Saskatchewan Welcome Center.  Not a bad ride and the country side was interesting.

Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg

We spent today at the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg. Established in 1904 at the West end of Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  

We met a volunteer, who told us all about the peacocks and other birds. She walked with us a bit and introduced us to the kangaroo keeper. I love kangaroos! the volunteers really helped make the visit to the park informative.

 A well laid out park with lots of animals to include 11 Polar Bears in their 'The Journey to Churchill' exhibit.  We really enjoyed watching the polar bears swimming from the underwater observation area. Then we went into the cafeteria and watched more polar bears play in the grass as we ate lunch. We loved 'The Journey To Churchill! Well worth the visit. 

Winnipeg

We stopped at the welcome station and the friendly and professional staff member (Daryl) convinced us we wanted to spend a couple of days in Winnipeg.  

We called the Rock Garden RV Park in Richer, MB while driving and made reservation for two nights.  The RV park is about 30 miles from Winnipeg, but it was an easy, four lane highway drive to the downtown area.  

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. Centered on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. 

We visited the Forks, a historical renovated entertainment area on the Red River. Great spot with lots of nice little shops and very good places to eat. We enjoyed a bite at the Spaghetti Factory and a lovely walk through the park. Ending the evening at a wonderful restaurant/lounge built in the center of a bridge overlooking the Red River where we enjoyed a glass of wine.

Driving to Ontario

Today we had the same type of roads, two lane with occasional passing lane, and the scenery continued to be beautiful.  Ontario from Sault Saint Marie west included amazing views of forest and lakes,.  I was not expecting that type of geography on this end of Canada. We stopped at a Flying J, Pilot in Pearl, ON.  Fuel cost approximately $4.15 per gal, assuming my conversation table worked properly.   We boondocked outside of Dryden, ON in a parking pullout.  We were on Lake Little Joe, literal on the lake shore.  What a beautiful area.  It was a mirror lake surrounded by trees and rocks.  Almost peaceful, except for a truck passing.  The traffic quit during the evening and it was a very quiet area to spend a night.  

Crossing into Canada

We departed the Mackinac Island area at 11:30 and arrived in Sault Ste Marie, MI area at 12:30.  The Meijer Gas Service Center is pretty new and easily can accommodate large RVs with a tow.  We refueled the RV and the Jeep before crossing the border. The crossing was within 2 miles of the refuel stop and an easy drive.  We paid a toll of $15 on the American side to cross the bridges into Canada.  After the bridges we lined up behind 10 cars at the customs booth.  

We were there approximately 15 minutes.  The standard questions took about a minute and we were passed through. We followed the signs through the Canadian side of Sault Ste Marie for route 17 North/West.  There were a few rough roads in town.  The first hour or so of our trip had large areas that were under construction.  The 17 highway is two lane with three lane passing areas spaced about 20kms apart.  What a beautiful ride around Lake Superior, with numerous lake views on our left and hilly forest on our right.  About two hours on the road, we had our first Moose sightings (a bull moose on the right standing in a small pond followed by a female standing by the the woods.  Unfortunately we were not fast enough with the with a camera. 

We spent the night at a closed ski resort parking lot on the eastern edge of Marathon, OT.  It was here were we met an adventurous young man, Andre. He is riding his bicycle across Canada and then back again. What motivated him to start this epic journey? The 18 year old said he will never be this free again, so this spring/sumer was the time to take on this challenge. He showed us his bike and how he managed to carry all his gear, he had to limit what he carries so he mostly eats high energy food which is nut based - he carried a big bag of this energy food.  He misses eating fresh fruit and vegetables each day. We we curious about his adventure and he was just as curious about how it is traveling in a 'huge luxury RV' (his words). We invited him in to check it out. I asked if he ran into any trouble, he said everyone has been so nice - he has had no trouble at all. Since we just crossed the boarder we didn't have any veggies but we made sure he took a few bananas. We really meeting and talking with Andre, a dynamic and adventurous young man. It was a wonderful first evening in Canada.

Mackinac Island, MI

Today we were up early for one of the first ferries to the island. We just happened to be on

a ferry that takes you under the famous Mackinac Bridge before continuing on to the island. It was nice to see the bridge from another perspective. 

As the ferry got closer to the island we could see the beautiful Grand Hotel. 

We rode a carriage around the island to take in the gorgeous scenery.  We loved our walk through the Butterfly Conservatory, we sat on a bench and the butterflies landed on us and visited for a while. When we toured the barn we were greeted by two horses getting geared-up in Grand style. We had a lovely light lunch in the Cupola Bar and Lounge at the top of the Grand Hotel. This is a place not to be missed, quiet, tucked way up high, away from the hustle and bustle of the many tourist. It has some amazing views of the grounds. We sat by a nice couple that stay at "The Grand" every year for a long week-end. We met a fun group of people, they are here for a family reunion week. We enjoyed our 'cupola' time and the people we met.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the beautiful island, visiting shops and talking to the locals.  We bought some salt water taffy and enjoyed ice cream just before our departure.

It was a wonderful day!

When we were getting ready to leave the island we learned that you can rent horses at the riding stable and ride your own horse to tour the island. We both thought this was wonderful, we will do this the next time we visit.

  

The Governor's summer home

Mackinaw City, MI

Today we drove back over the Mackinac Bridge and visited Mackinaw City. 

Check out this cool lunch spot: When a place is called Weinerlicious and has a giant hot dog on the roof of the restaurant, you have to stop by. John and I popped in for a quick lunch before doing some shopping downtown.  Good hot dogs, waffle fries, soda and shakes - a good stop.

 We followed up with shopping at the Mackinaw Crossing shops, our favorite store is the Mackinaw Outfitter.

Before we called it a day, we watched "Somewhere in Time” with Christopher Reeves.  A little homework in preparation for tomorrow, the film's location is Mackinac Island. John had never seen the movie before.

St Ignace, Michigan

Today we explored St Ignace.  We walked up to the top of Castle Rock which provides wonderful views of St Ignace and the shore line. And then we visited the Father Marquette National Memorial and walked the grounds, he was a French missionary and was sent to oversee French territory. He interacted with the local tribes and explored the waterways by canoe.

Then on to Wawatam lighthouse. This lighthouse is not open for climbing, but it is on a wide boardwalk which makes for a lovely stroll. It is located at the end of a nice little park with water fountains and displays a bit of local history.

We had dinner at Mackinac Grille Waterfront Pub and ordered the white fish, which is the go-to-fish-dish in this area. It was delicious. I had it baked on a cedar plank with veggies and John enjoyed the fish & chips version. 

We ended the day with a stop at Bridge View Park, a wonderful location with views of the bridge and the lakes. It was suppose to be a quick stop but it was so nice we stayed for hours just talking while we took in the views.

Spartan Factory in Charlotte, MI

We left Indiana and came to Charlotte, MI for our Spartan chassis service and repairs.  We received excellent service from Spartan.  They found items that had to be replaced and fortunately our coach was still within the three year warranty period.  Wonderful people doing great work.  We also had some tires replaced just to keep the coach safe. 

Jeep with new front cover

That completed all of the service and repairs to our coach and we are now ready to continue our trip to Alaska.

Prior to crossing the border to Canada, today we drove to St Ignace, MI to visit Mackinac Island and surrounding area for the next few days. We parked the RV at the Tiki RV park and got out in the Jeep to explore. We drove to the local casino, Kewadin Shores Casino & Hotel. While we were there we learned that they have an RV park that you can stay three nights for free. We will try that the next time we are in the area.