Blowout! tire catastrophe

                                                                    The busted tire 

                                                           Help on the side of the road 

                                                  On the road to Thunder Bay, me and the tires 

                                                                          New tires!

Thus continued the day of mortal embarrassment to the Rustic Canadiana in Winnipeg. After needing gas put in her carburettor to start in the morning, as we were leaving Winnipeg, she blew onne of her tires. We were towed 62km to Falcon Beach, she must have been thoroughly ashamed to be pulled backwards, but we made great gas mileage! However, the tow truck nearly had to get towed itself for it was leaking oil like crazy. Rustic Canadiana was covered in oil to top off her horrible day. After we had our spare tire put on, we camped in Sandy Beach campsite. Afterwards we changed campsites because the one across the troad was much nicer, however we had to wait in line to get  in due to May long weekend rush. Afterwards we purchased tires from an auto wrecker in Kenora, Ontario. We were told to come in to Kal Tire to have the new tires put on between 1:00 and 3:00 o'clock the following day, which happened to be Saturday. The person on the phone told us that he wold be open until 5:oo o'clock. However, when we arrivd at 2:00 o'clock, Kal Tire was closed. We were told that it closes at noon on Saturdays. But we had paid for the tires, so we had somebody come down and gives us the tires. We couldn't stay in Kenora for long, so we took the tires with us and had them put on in Thunder Bay.

Day 10, Winnipeg May 19

                                          The Rustic Canadiana with the Winnipeg Legislature 

                            Erica's near-death experience, unfortunately Dad didn't actually throw her in. 

                                     A cool shot of a fountain in the Winnipeg Legislature grounds 

                             Erica and I with a bear, they had lots of them near the Winnipeg Legislature 

                                      Sand bags surrounding a restaurant in Brandon, Manitoba 

                                                           Floods in Brandon , Manitoba

                                                  A Black-tailed prairie dog near his home 

  Erica and I in the tipi, it had pelts hanging inside with straw bales to sit on, I kinda doubt the natives used straw bales though.

                                           The cute chipmunk, the first one I have ever seen! 

                                           American Goldfinches  Top: male  bottom: female

             The turtle we saw, he could move pretty fast through the grass (considering that he's a turtle). 

                                                 Geese and their babies at Fort Whyte Alive


We had a long day in Winnipeg, a day of mortal embarrassment for the Rustic Candiana. First we slept in Husky truck stop where she wouldn't start in front of the big trucks then we continued on to the Legislature buildings, where Erica was nearly drowned in a fountain by Dad. After the Legislature we went to Fort Whyte Alive, a park with Black-tailed prairie dogs, who are quite endangered. Along the walking trails we came upon a Native tipi. Continuing our walk through the park we came to a birdwatching area, where there was feeders and benches. We saw American Goldfinches and chickadees, continuing along we came upon geese, a chipmunk and a turtle. Afterwards we tried to continue to Falcon Lake to camp for the night, however that didn't turn out quite as we had planned... We had a tire catastrophe.

Gopher

Finaly we got a picture of a gopher! We didn't see one in the infested field, but we saw one in the ditch! We were parked in the entrance to a park (it wasn't open yet) and this curious guy popped out of his hole. Every time a car would go by he would pop his head out farther, not shy at all!

Saskatoon and Regina

                                                               Regina Legislature Building

                                                 Tulips in the Legislature Garden of Regina

                                                                 Erica and I in Saskatoon

                                                               Geese in Saskatoon

                             A fountain in Front of the Regina Legislature Building (turned off). This fountain comes from a pair, (the other is in Ottawa) they were presentedas a gift from Britain after they had sat in Trafalgar Square. They were designed by the same architect who had designed the British Houses of Parliament, 

                                          Erica and I in front of the Regina Legislature Building
                       

                           Dad with Statues of : ( from right to left; Nellie McClung, Louise
 McKinney, Irene Parlby, Rick Turgeon,  Emily Murphy and Henrietta Muir Edwards. These women, known as the"Famous Five" or the "Valiant Five" launched a petition that successfully allowed women to be qualified as "Persons" and allowed to sit in the Senate and participate in Canadian politics.

After Spiritwood we spent two more days in Saskatchewan, one in Saskatoon and one in Regina. We did all the shopping we didn't do in Edmonton in Saskatoon; it was a lot less hectic and we got more done (partially because mom wasn't hovering the whole time). Afterwards we went for a walk along the river, it was kinda rainy but we saw a lot of geese. We also saw pelicans, but they were in the middle of the river; the pictures didn't turn out. Regina was pretty cool, we didn't go inside the Legislature but I got to use my new camera! We got our birthday presents early because Mom was sick of sharing the camera with me (apparently I hog it) and it would be better if I actually got to use it on the trip instead of only for the last bit. While I got a Nikon D3000 Erica got an iPod Nano.

Spiritwood, Saskatchewan

The tame but wild rabbit

                                       Us on the wagon. Peanut is on the left and Brittle is on the right

                                                     Autumn Fee's barn, where the horses live

                                                                Claire and Lydia's cat, Oliver

                                                              Claire and Lydia's cat,Venus

We were in Spiritwood for 2 days. We stayed at Claire and Lydia's house, Claire is Grandpa Turgeon's first cousin. First day we went to the "Crooked Bush"; a natural phenomenon that  scientists can't explain. The Crooked Bush is a small patch of aspen trees that grow very crooked, while nearby the trees grow arrow straight. The next day we went for a wagon ride, Aunty Bea (Grandpa Turgeon's aunt) came along. The horses names were Peanut and Brittle; as in peanut brittle. They are owned and trained by Matt Gagne (Grandpa Turgeons first cousin as well) It was a very nice day, we  saw a wild rabbit who appeared to be quite tame. On the ride we went through fields (it was kinda windy there) and along the road the traffic was a total of two cars.  After the wagon ride, Aunty Bea gave  us a tour of Leoville and Laventure small hamlets near Spiritwood. Grandpa Turgeon was raised in Leoville. I went to take pictures of the two cats, Oliver and Venus. We went looking for gophers in a field across the road from Claire and Lydia's place, i managed to get one shot, but it was so cold and windy that they didn't want to come out of their holes.

                                                          Mom in the Crooked Bush

                                                    from left : Brittle, Matt and Peanut 

                           The only gopher we saw, he went underground as soon as I got this shot

                                                        Waiting for gophers in the wind 

                                Claire and Lydia's house with the Rustic Canadiana in the background 

Our picnic lunch just before we left for the wagon ride  Clockwise from top: Matt, Dad, Erica (i'm taking the picture) , Mom and Aunty Bea

Day 5

                                                  Blackbird in flight (Red winged, male) 

                           Muskrat, he swam off quickly; shy little bugger. However, I did get a cute photo! 

                                The two American Widgeons we saw; I had never seen one before 

  These two geese were hanging around almost the whole time. They are very nosy; Erica was climbing down the steps of the lookout, and they paddled closer to see what was going on.

Day 5 we didn't travel much, because we stayed at Silver Lake regional park so long taking pictures of birds. There was a great lookout, we took pictures of blackbirds, Canada geese, a muskrat and american widgeons. Our final destination was Spiritwood, Saskatchewan, to visit with relatives.

Day 4, Elk Island

                                                     The bison I saw after I fetched the camera

                                                      The old, sick "original" bison

                                                    Erica, the friendly squirrel and I

Day 4 was cool; we slept in Elk Island National Park; near wild bison!! We went for a walk  (Dad didn't come, he was working) and saw bison, unfortunately we didn't see any elk. We walked halfway around Astotin Lake; then returned to Rustic Canadiana. Mom, supposing that we wouldn't see any bison, returned the camera to the motorhome. Erica also decided to stay behind. So we continued for the other half of the walk, when we came upon a bison. Typical, as we had just left the camera. So I had to run through the park (there was plenty of hills to make my life harder; but I saw a rabbit) to retrieve the camera. Dad and Erica came along to see the bison. As we were heading to where Mom was waiting for the camera, we saw two more bison. So I took pictures of those too. By the time we got to where Mom was waiting; the bison we saw initially had departed. So Dad and Erica went back to the motorhome, and Mom and I continued on our walk. Soon we saw the "original" bison, so we took pictures of him too. The poor old thing looked like he had barely survived the winter, and we wonder if he will see the next one. He was missing a horn, had growths on his head and had bones showing.
At the campground was a cute and social squirrel. he was around when we were having breakfast and would almost follow you around. he even climbed to the top of Rustic Canadiana!

day 3, Edmonton

                                                           West Edmonton Mall

                                                             The Legislature Building  

                                     
              Erica and I in front of the legislature Building; the fountains weren't turned on, kinda disappointing!

Day three was pretty good, although our Edmonton experience wasn't overly smooth. First we went to the legislature buildings, very pretty with all the marble (from Quebec; not Italy like much of the worlds' marble and all of the other Canadian Legislature buildings.) We did a free tour, the building was NOT  a very good temperature. (why it wasn't air-conditioned I don't have the slightest idea)
 Afterwards we went to West Edmonton Mall. Many of the attractions were closed and mom was (of course)  tired so not much was shopping was done. Her excuse was that we would see all the same stores across the country. Ok, so im not big on shopping, but that was West Edmonton Mall! I think even I could handle shopping there!
After the mall as we continued on the road our bathroom decided it was a good idea to flood. We took a turn and water came out of the crack in the door. So we pulled over and discovered water 3 inches deep in our bathroom. Something to do with not stopping the flusher and leaving the water pump on. That night we slept in Elk Island National Park, there was wild bison living there!

day 2, glowing embers RV

                                                    Erica and Rustic Canadiana in the rv park



Day 2 was somewhat boring. Much of the scenery was the same small hills and flatness (what else is there in the prairies?). another annoying thing about the prairies is the near 24/7 wind. We were tired and quite desperate, so we actually slept in a RVpark. we had always thought people were crazy thinking that rv parks were camping; but there we were, sleeping in a rv park.

DAY 1

 

                                                 Erica's window at the back of the motorhome. Dad's laptop doesn't  have good picture programs, this is the only one we had that was a JPEG. mor e pics to follow.

The first day of our journey was pretty interesting, we meant to get all the way to Edmonton, but we had a late start. we made it past Jasper, but it was midnight.  Anyway, Jasper was very unhospitable. There was no overnight camping allowed, so we had to continue on down the highway. We finally found a pullover. It was very close to the highway but it was still very pretty. We were right beside Lake Talbot, with mountains in the background.We were kept up a little by the loons and traffic. We saw Mt. Robson, but it was kinda dark and the peak was in the clouds.

                                                                                             the Rustic Canadiana

                                                                                                the right side

                                                                                                      the left side

a very rustic tire

                                                                                
                                                                                                   Dad painting

getting Rustic Canadiana (the motorhome) ready for the trip. Mom ripped out the disgusting carpet, now the floor is orangey linoleum. Dad painted a box to keep a generator in, and made the maple leaf on the front red. Now all we need is "Rustic Canadiana"  painted somewhere...
post by Sophia