Crispies go to Cowtown – Day Four

July 4                                                                                                         Brandon, Manitoba

Just kidding. Who would give up The Living Room (Lucas’ name for the Avalon) for a Harley?  We were off to Moose Jaw though, heading home, home, home on the range – for another nearly 1000 km day. And it was all range, a gently rolling sea of hills with no human habitation in sight – and often no other cars for long stretches. Casey was on cruise control and I’d pinch her from time to time to see if she was awake.

Driving? Am I the one driving?

where the deer and the antelope play...

 

 

 

About lunchtime we happened on Chaplin, Sask., a great salt lake and second only to the Utah one in size, in North America. There was a bird sanctuary there, alongside massive piles of salt being harvested. The piping plover, avocets, various other weird birdies that love the salt come through and breed.

salty saskatchewan

 We had lots of salt at our picnic table too: cheesies, Smartfood popcorn, leftover pizza, some salad for garnish.

completely vegetarian (tho not vegan) girly lunch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was back to CBC, cruise control, cowgirls on the range. The last stop was the Welcome to Alberta info booth for the map. Hot. Phone call to Jamie to update him on our progress and get directions to his digs. We watched a massive thunderstorm build up over the towers of downtown Calgary, which can be seen from 50 kilometres away. Quite a light show which fortunately passed by the time we reached their rush hour traffic.

yahoo! (never say yee haw in Alberta..)

Thunder Road

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C-c-Casey, beautiful casey, you’re the only g-g-g-girl that I adore. When the m-m-moon shines, over the cowshed, I’ll be waitin at the k-k-k-kitchen door…

Crispies go to Cowtown – Day Three

July 3                                                                                                          “Tunder Bay” Kakabeka Falls

We started with coffee and scones from the Metropolitan Moose Cafe and then did the rest of Ontario—which does go on and on and on—but  most beautifully, in lake/bog after lake/bog,  and rocky outcrop. We got lunch groceries in Dryden (salad, capicolla, cheese) and enjoyed it in our chairs at a pull-off before Kenora.

Dixie Lake, outside Kenora, Ontario

There was a loon family, parents and two babies—AND we finally saw a moose grazing at the side of the road. S/he headed into the bush when we stopped to look.

The falls

 

 

another roadside attraction

 

 

Ontario finally ended. On we drove, past Winnipeg, casting a glance south to St. John, North Dakota and the Turtle Mountains (Darrol’s homestead). Landed in Brandon, Manitoba, home of Yeti’s (Darrol’s) fabled trips to the fair. In fact, we hapened on the fairgrounds finding our way to the Colonial Inn (“luxury for less”) on Queens St. 

Remember, Darrol?

 It was a 900 kilometre day.

Ganesh got us through India, so.....

                                                                      Once we stopped vibrating, we headed away from our strip mall neighbourhood for downtown Brandon- and a surprise, just for us. The main street was closed to traffic and full of happy people admiring a row of angled-in vintage cars up and down both sides. Casey asked if I felt like I’d dropped acid. She took a shine to a Harley, so I distracted the guy with some good conversation while she got ‘er started. I jumped on and we were off to Moose Jaw.

 

oh yeah

Crispies go to Cowtown – Day Two

July 2

Breakfast at Columbia’s in Wawa, Wawa having been advertised every 10 km since the Soo. (First we had coffee and a big oatmeal cookie just this side of Superior National Park at a country store cum LCBO cum fishing tackle spot) Wawa had grandmother doors up and down all main street. Fabulous. Too little time to read them and admire.

Grandma door, Wawa, ON

Wawa --great street art!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We bought salad lunch at the grocery, beer at the beer store for our big day on the Big Sur of the north. It was pouring, pelting rain in Wawa…then pretty perfect weather the rest of the day. Quick, admiring stops at Katherine Cove and Old Woman Bay. (We had stopped there once before, when picking up Emma and Jackson from planting, so now it was Older Women Bay.)

Old Woman Bay

(Casey takes a turn writing) We are ensconced at the kitscho-glorious Pine View Motel on Hwy 17 at Kakabeca Falls. We discovered their brochure at the Terry Fox info centre in Thunder Bay and were won over by the claim that horses were welcome to rest…At the office door we paused at the sight of a gorgeous giant brown moth on the the screen. We wondered if it was real, considering the panoply of chachka and lawn ornaments everywhere including little black boys fishing – but the moth was indeed alive. Susie snapped it,

 

Mighty Moth

Bagged a moose!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

as well as photos of the horse and cowboy/cowgirl silhouettes – me posing with them of course, though I refused  to strike other poses. She thought the kids would lay the lesbo rumours to rest if they saw that beastiality was really our thing… just a joke she says! but there is no way I trust any of those Hodges weirdos. 

Pine View Motel

Where horsies go on vacation...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had “Chinese”-Candian food at The Pines (pine this pine that everywhere) Restaurant. Moo Goo Guy Pan for me and Szechwan veggies for Susie. Something so completely north about it all: scudding cloud skies tonight, a brisk wind keeping the bugs at bay, tho all day I have tried not to scratch the welts on my jawline, courtesy of some winged buggers at the Hof last night. The room is perfect – needlepoint moose couch pillows, a kleenex box hidden under a knit sofa cozy -three tv stations, two carrying Wimbledon. The thwack of the ball and those plummy English accents serenade us to sleep.

A Superior Day.

Nanbijou - the Sleeping Giant, Thunder Bay

Crispies go to Cowtown -Day One

Canada Day (her 141st)  July 1, 2008

Casey Clifford and Susie Hodges (their cowgirl names) set out for parts west. Susie rode shotgun and penned most of what you will read below and snapped most of what you will see below.

We saw lots of Canada today – 775 kms worth of Ontario, from Toronto to Batchawana Bay, 40 kms north of the Soo. The roadsides were jeweled: hawkweed, viper’s bugloss, lots o daisies, and some riots of wild lupine. The truckers and most drivers were somewhere drinking beers and doing fireworks, which made the road all ours – even out of TO. At Sudbury, Richard’s Lake – a little lake on a little dirt road, had a nice shoreline grassy knoll for lunch, bushes for a pee, some Marie Howe poetry, meatloaf sandwiches, (yes!) and enough wind to keep those bugs away. (Given the bugs this year, plus the numbing price of gas, no wonder everyone’s staying home.

 

lunch at Richard's Lake

lupinpalooza

 

 

 

 

 

 

Craze had so many good moves this day that it’s hard to keep track – but the tour de force was Salzburger Hof – our Hills Are Alive destination which C and Billy Clifford had discovered on her last trip west. It was Austro clean and fresh and Bavarian, and there was fresh local whitefish along with schnitzel. We walked to the beach – very still Lake Superior, with those shadowy islands on the horizon – picked the right rocks for Jamie’s Calgary apartment decor.

Der Hof!

Superior Rocks