All the way to Madison, Wisconsin

Well, Chicago ended up being way too busy for my liking. I was able to cancel our 2nd night at the hostel, so after shopping for the day, we made the 3 hour drive to Madison, Wisconsin. A much nicer city...smaller than Edmonton. Of course, coming here, there were a few more toll booths -- it's unreal how many there are. I accidentally passed through one without paying, so I'm hoping they don't arrest me when I go back through customs on Friday morning :)

The hostel in Madison is cozy, and close to the downtown core, but it doesn't even feel like downtown. There are bike trails everywhere. We took advantage of those a lot over the last 2 days, biking or walking everywhere!! The city is located between 2 lakes, and the trails extend through the city and around both lakes. Very nice atmosphere here...such a contrast to Chicago!

I needed a down day, so we decided to stay here two nights, just to get a day of relaxing in.

After a good sleep last night (it's also a little cooler here), Nathan & I enjoyed a morning bikeride part way around one of the lakes while Deon slept in. Later, we all walked to State Street (where the State's Capital buildings are). State Street is about 12 blocks of neat shops (including a Goodwill). We spent a couple hours there -- I spent almost an hour in GoodWill, thankfully the boys were preoccupied in a video game store across the street. The boys had fun going to the typical US stores such as Walgreens and Target.

I enjoyed an hour nap when we returned, and got the laundry done after. We had a good home-cooked meal for supper -- chicken, broccoli & rice. I needed that after a couple of days eating quick/fast food meals.

I feel rested and ready to drive again tomorrow :)

Into the USA

We left Niagara Falls at around 9:00, and breezed through customs. Driving to Buffalo, we searched for a church. Unfortunately, all the Baptist churches started their services at 11:00, and we were in the city already at 9:30. So, we went to a Presbyterian church, which was ok. A big building with only a scattering of people.


We planned to drive to Cleveland (home of Deon's favorite NBA team -- the Caveliers -- we got a picture of where they play) and stay overnight there. However, the hostels there were both closed on weekday nights, so we drove all the way to Chicago. That ended up being a longer driving day for me -- we arrived in Chicago at 10:00 p.m. I passed the time by observing the beautiful scenery -- fields of grape vines to apple trees to ripe grain fields -- and observing the many different license plates. I counted 21 different state plates, and a few Ontario plates.

Gas is cheaper here, but the toll booth in every state make up for the difference in gas. I paid $23 total in tolls, and went through 6 different toll booths! Traffic on the interstates is fast, which was nice.

The windy city of Chicago was not windy, but HOT. It was 28 degrees when we got here at 10:00 pm last night! Uggh...I don't know how people live in this heat! And traffic here is a lot different than city traffic in Edmonton. I felt a little stressed driving -- even late at night on Sunday traffic was busy and fast. I was grateful to get there in one piece!!

Magnificent Niagara Falls

Well, today we had to say good bye to Mom :(. A sad day...I did get emotional. It was such a neat experience over the last month with her. I feel blessed to have been able to go on this trip with her too.

We stopped in Hamilton to pick up my skate sharepener that Uncle Stan's brother stored for me the last couple months, and then brought Mom to her cousin John's in Guelph. He took her to the airport later on -- She flew home from Hamilton, and arrived in Edmonton last night. Monday, she works again.



The boys and I carried on to Niagara Falls, and made it there by 4:45 pm. We checked into our hostel and then biked to the falls (about 3km). The initial view was, of course, breathtaking to all of us. This fulfilled Nathan's requests of things to see (the first was the CN Tower, the 2nd was Niagara Falls). We took the infamous 'Maid of the Mist' tour. Although we got good & wet, we were glad we did that. What a way to experience the thunderous falls in all their glory. Truly magnificent!

a visit with the VR's...after an afternoon at the beach!

Finally, on the last full day with Mom, we planned a BEACH day....we ended up at Burlington beach based on the advice of Ger...awesome beach off of lake Ontario, right smack dab in the middle of the city!!

It was a HOT day, but the water in the lake was COLD -- ice cold. We're not used to lake water being that cold, but considering the size of Lake Ontario, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise. Nathan didn't seem to mind; in fact, he was in his element there. We were at the lake from 11 - 3, and other than popping our for a few secs to have a bite to eat, or pull me into the lake with him, he was in the water the entire time. The cold didn't phase him. The rest of us enjoyed the sun on the beach, with the occassional dip in the water. It was wonderful to put our feet up for a day! Unfortunately, we underestimated the strength of the sun, and Mom, Deon & I did burn a bit!

We got to cousin Dave & Ger's by 4:30 pm (they live in Burlington) to stay overnight. It was Leah's 6th birthday, and we did a bit of shopping for her. She was thrilled with her new jewelery, and had to wear it all! An old friend, Donna & husband Job & kids came over for dinner.


It was a beautiful evening, so we enjoyed our dinner outside. Nathan enjoyed playing with all the kids, and we even had a chance to ride our bikes in a huge graveyard (directly behind Dave & Ger's with lots of paved roads, and little traffic). We had such a nice, relaxing visit with them, and would've loved to spend more time at their house.



PS -- Geraldine, you can throw out the boys' toothbrushes that I left there :( That's only the 2nd thing I've forgotten on the trip!

CN Tower by bicycle

Nathan & I biked the streets of downtown Toronto this morning to see the CN Tower.

I was pretty impressed with him, as it was rushhour and even though we were on the sidewalks, people swarmed around us in all directions! He really wanted to see the tower, but the walk would have been a bit long, and I didn't want to drive. The bike ride took us about 20 minutes one way.

Diverted by the big city & the storm

We found out that yesterday's high in Ottawa was 34 degrees Celsius PLUS humidity on top of that. No wonder we were cookin'!!! Yep, we thought it was time to leave....already at 8:30 this morning it was 23 degrees.

We left with all intentions of going to a hostel in Barrie, finding a beach to relax on, and then carry on tomorrow to Hamilton. However, on the way, the sky darkened and we were in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. The rain came down in sheets so hard it was very difficult to see where we were going. When we hit Toronto at 2:45 pm, and saw the sign for the Ontario Science Centre, we thought that might be a better way to spend a stormy day. So, we changed our plans...

The science centre was awesome!!! Huge in comparison to the Telus World of Science in Edmonton. We could have spent all day there, but only had a couple hours until closing. We didn't even make it through all the exhibits! When they announced closing at 5:00, I realized my camera was missing. We quickly ran through the exhibits we were at, but couldn't find it. I asked at the info desk, and they had it!! I guess a cleaning lady found it and turned it in. I was relieved...I would feel pretty lost without my camera!

We then headed for our hostel in downtown Toronto. Of course, it was rush hour, and traffic was crazy...I (shirley) lost my patience a bit, but we did eventually find a parking spot (that alone was time consuming) & our hostel. We are staying in the hostel over flow 'cause the HI-hostel in Toronto was full. The overflow is generally university residency during the year, and hostels in the summer. Nice place -- we are on the 17th floor this time, but with an elevator. The rates here are very reasonable ($60 for the night) and it includes a full breakfast for all 4 of us in the morning (yay, we don't even have to cook).

We are close enough here to walk to the CN Tower, and will likely do that first thing tomorrow morning. That was Nathan's request since planning our trip, but he said he felt too tired to walk there tonight. I said I had enough city driving, and the only way we were seeing it was by walking.

these boots are made for walking....

We certainly did a lot of walking today...would have been nice to have a pedometer or something. I guess, in the extreme heat it felt like more walking than it was. We decided to leave our van parked today, and just walk everywhere. We thought that would be easy :)

After breakfast, we started our walking by going to Randy's Mom's home. That was about a 15 - 20 minute walk. Doesn't sound like much for first thing in the morning, does it...well, it was already HOT!! Mom, was dripping like a faucet after that little walk! We spent an hour and a half visiting, and Ran's Mom gave me a big old book (it was BIG!!) to take home for Randy. I was not too excited about that, but really did it for my husband. We trekked back to the hostel so I could drop off the big book. Once there, we were all tuckered out from the heat and had to take an hour to relax.

Out again at 1:00, we had to make a side trip to the ByTown Market so Deon could get another beaver tail! Finally made it to the parliament buildings at 2:30, and booked the 2:50 tour.
It was nice and air conditioned in there, so that already made it worth it. Our tour guide, Marina, was young but full of spunk. She took her job seriously! It was fascinating for us to be able to walk through the parliament buildings, take in the magnificent architecture there, tour the different buildings (house of commons, senate, library, peace tower), and see images of previous prime ministers/members of parliament. Too bad we're not here next week, as things are well under way for the July 1 celebration.

Out into the heat again, we made our back to our hostel. It ended up being more of a journey than we wanted, 'cause we wanted to see the Locks down at the Rideau Canal. We thought that once we walked down all the steps, it would lead us back to the market (so Deon could get another BEAVER TAIL)...no such luck. We walked all the way down, only to realize we had to walk all the way back up again! By this time, Mom & Deon both had blisters on the tops of their feet (probably from the heat).

We all felt a bit of relief when we made it back to the hostel. None of us moved for about an hour...we didn't even want to think about supper. It was after 8:00 pm by the time we finally felt like eating! We all decided we are not going to be walking the streets of Ottawa in this heat today, and instead we will find a beach to relax at.

O Canada

Our Trois-Rivieres hostel building:

We had a beautiful morning in Trois-Rivieres yesterday (or at least, Nathan, Mom & I did -- Deon just slept). I went for an early run through the OLD part of the city, and came back to the hostel to show Mom & Nathan my findings. Buildings from the 1600s and 1700s. Wow! I didn't know buildings that old existed in Canada. Neat to see.

--- our Ottawa hostel -- an old jail house.
We made it to Ottawa by 2:00 pm, and overall the trip was uneventful other than traffic in Montreal. It took us an hour to get through the city, and it wasn't even rush hour. Uggghhh! That just reminded me that I never want to do the morning and evening rushhour drive for work ever again.

We found our hostel -- an old jail!!! Shockingly, our room was on the top floor (floor 9) with no elevator. Lots of stairs to climb. I felt for Mom, but so far she is managing! This is quite the building -- we are staying in the warden's quarters so they are a little nicer than the dorm rooms, which are the actual jail cells.

Once settled, I tracked down a Canadian Tire in the area, cause it was high time I got an oil change -- we hit 10000 kms yesterday on our trip!!! Also, my brakes were acting up for some time already, so I wanted that looked at. That ended up taking a few hours -- the brake pads and other brake 'stuff' needed to be replaced. Ouch. It was a HOT day - plus 28 degrees Celsius!!! plus the humidity. We tried walking a bit, but it was too much. After visiting at Tim Hortons and playing cards there for an hour, we hung out in the Canadian Tire lounge...fun intro to Ottawa.


With my van fixed and running well again, we went back downtown (the area of our hostel & parliament buildings) and went for supper at the restaurant Randy's sister Tammy works at (Capital Hill Hotel.




Bellies full & the air a little cooler, we were ready for a walk to the hill. It was neat to walk around and experience some of the history of our country. This is where the decisions for our country our made!! I stood and sang 'O Canada' -- in my head.


We hope to tour the inside of the Parliament Buidlings today...

Back to Quebec

This is Mom writing tonight....We got early up this morning and started our journey back. This is the last Monday on my (Mom) holiday. Yes we are on our way home.

On our way we stopped at Hartland to see the world's longest covered bridge. Over 1200' long. It is an OLD one-lane bridge for traffic (way back in the day, it was used for horse and buggies). Then we carried on. Deon took over driving for us for about 45 minutes and was more comfortable behind the wheel.

As we were driving along in Quebec, Shirley noticed some signs. One for a cheese farm and one for a windmill. We decided to check them out. We found the cheese and bought a piece of cow's milk cheese there. They also sold goat's milk cheese and sheep milk cheese.

Then to see what the windmill sign was all about. We missed the turn and Shirley thought she could go through the median/ditch. I (mom) didn't think it was a good idea because of the bikes we have on the back of the van. Sure enough half way through the median the bikes got hung up. We couldn't move forward or backwards without damaging the bikes. They had to come off the van before we could proceed. Shirley and I had a good laugh about it but the boys, especially Deon, were not impressed at all. The windmill was nothing exciting after all.

We got to the hostel in Trois-Riviere around 4 -- a very nice hostel! Language is a bit of a barrier, as most people here speak French only. Of course, our French isn't good enough to communicate with, so it's been a challenge for us.



It was gorgeous day. Sunny and very warm. After shopping in a French grocery store (our only option -- did you know they sell alcohol in all the grocery stores here!!), we found a beautiful park along the river with a nice sandy beach where we had our weiner roast.
Nathan had a BLAST playing in the water, and we got a lot of enjoyment just watching him!