awe, pretty.

Day seven, eight and nine – July 27, 28 & 29

Now this is a campsite! …. surrounded by Lodgepole pines. Awe, pretty. 

We arrived at Cypress Hills Interprovincial P.P. on the Alberta side on Thursday afternoon and are booked here until Sunday. 

When we asked at registration what wildlife we should be cautious of she said just the mosquitoes. she wasn't kidding.

btw, my boy Dave has got some mad Q'ing skills

Westfalia count now =  2.

and we're driving .....

Day five and six – July 25 & 26

Last few days have been pretty uneventful. Our focus has been basically drive, get groceries, set up tent, sleep, and drive some more. Left turn Clyde has been doing a good job at driving, but I had to take over a few times. The view, well, it's Manitoba and Saskatchewan ... what more can I say.

We crossed the Saskatchewan border on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m., so it took less than 5 hours to cross the province. We stayed at Echo valley P.P in Sask. and it poured rain from about 5 minutes after we got the tent set up until the next morning.

We then crossed the Alberta border at either 1:20, 2:20 or 3:20 depending on which device we go by – we’ve kinda lost track of the time zones – the computer says it’s 3:26, the car and my blackberry says 2:26 and Dave’s cell says 1:26. … either way, it took a day to cross the province.

We haven’t seen any wildlife, unless you count the skunk in Lake Superior P.P. and the mysterious animal that managed to lift the lid on the Coleman stove during the night in Echo Valley.

 The nice registration woman in Echo Valley P.P. was curious about where we were headed. When we told her we didn’t really have a specific destination in mind, she recommended we wander over to Writing-on-Wall P.P. – it’s one of her most favourite spots in the world. We're intrigued, so we booked there for Sunday and Monday. 

Spectacular Superior

Day three - July 23

I’ll never get tired of the scenic drive along Lake Superior, the Canadian Shield and spectacular views around every turn.  After all of the driving we did today, it’s incredible to think we’re still in Ontario. The only stop we made was to see the Big Goose in Wawa. We camped at Sleeping Giant again this year, this time our site was on the water and I’m happy to report, no deer ran through our site in the middle of the night, although Dave did have a close encounter with a skunk.

This trip, we decided to count Westfalia’s … so far, we’ve seen one – but just wait until we get to Alberta and BC!

Day four – July 24

The stretch from Thunder Bay to Dryden is pretty much just all trees, but I love the smell of the pine trees. The stretch of the Canadian Shield through Kenora is beautiful – it actually made me think I wanted to live there, but then I thought about how brutal the winters probably are.  

We crossed the border into Manitoba on Tuesday at 4:28 p.m. Central time, so it took us two and a half days to get out of Ontario. We stayed at Falcon Lake Provincial Park again - it’s where the photo on my Facebook timeline was taken and was one of the best (and many) memories from last year’s trip – there’s just something about sitting on the rock overlooking the lake just fills my soul.

Day two – July 22

Last year, when I mentioned that one of our goals was to take pictures of large roadside attractions, almost everyone asked if we saw the Big Nickel. And we didn’t. So, this year, our first stop was in Sudbury, and as you can see, we finally saw it.

I’m not sure how new the animal crossing bridge on HWY #69 is that we noticed just before Sudbury, but there are lots of them in the Banff and Jasper National Park, so we thought it was pretty cool to see one in Ontario. I hope it’s the beginning of more to come.

One big highlight for me today was spotting “Troy’s Run” on the TransCanada Hwy about an hour before Sault Ste. Marie (or Salt Stain Mary, depending on how you want to pronounce it.) If you’re not familiar with Troy, he started running across Canada in April to raise funds and awareness for acquired brain injury.  He suffered an ABI from a car accident a few years ago and found therapy in running, so he decided to run a marathon a day (that’s 42 kms!) for the cause. Today was day 100 for Troy.  I’ve been following his blog on Facebook since he started, so it was pretty cool to actually meet him – super nice guy – and so inspiring!

Today’s destination was Lake Superior Provincial Park.  Definitely another highlight for today is our campsite right on the lake … you can’t get view like this from any hotel room. I’m writing my blog tonight listening to the waves, watching the sunset over the lake, sitting next to the campfire with my guy. Life, it’s pretty damn sweet. 

Here we go again ....

Day one – July 21 

And so it has begun. Three weeks of road tripping and camping bliss.

I guess the first two nights don’t count since we made a quick stop to do this little thing called the Warrior Dash. Maybe you’ve heard about it – it’s a crazy run up a steep ski hill with a bunch of obstacles, like jumping over fire and crawling through a mud pit – and yes, I did this for fun.  What a blast! It was really tough, but a ton of fun.

I ran it with my friend Lesley and spent the weekend with a bunch of great friends – Ernie and Liesa, Bryan, and fellow boot-camper Jen. We ended the day all together enjoying a home made pasta dinner (thanks Les!) and then Dave taught me how to play horseshoes … how have I made it this far in life without ever playing horseshoes?

Tomorrow, the road trip officially begins. 

Great Canadian Road Trip ... part II

Great Canadian Road Trip … Part II

Last year, Dave and I spent two weeks driving from Hamilton to Vancouver. We camped in a Provincial Park every night except for three, and covered 9600 kms.  Highlights included six big roadside attractions, five black bears, one grizzly, the bad ass bad lands, incredible rocky mountains, breath taking Lake Superior, wildlife visits to our campsite from deer, wild turkeys and a wolf, and everything else beautiful in between.

We loved it so much we’re doing it again this year, this time for three weeks. We leave on July 19. Stay tuned, daily blogs will follow.   And yes, Left Turn Clyde is coming again and his new girlfriend is joining him.

Trail running. I took a header.

I took a header, but that’s ok.

I ‘officially’ tried trail running for the first time this morning.

Just over a year ago, when I started running again, my running trainer Bryan took an impromptu detour from the path and took us on a short jaunt through the trails for about half a kilometre. I remember I enjoyed the change of terrain at the time, but running was still new to me and I didn’t realize trail running was an actual ‘thing’.

I never thought about it again until just last week when I mentioned to my running pal Stacey, that there were some nice trails just off of the route we had just run. Turns out she had previously done a fair bit of trail running and had completed a few (more like five) trail races.

So, we immediately made a plan that our next run would be in the trails. And that was today. And I loved it - despite how very beat up and sore my legs feel right now, and despite that I took a header.

This ‘trail’, I should mention, is actually part of The Bruce Trail, the oldest and longest continuous footpath in Canada. It runs for 885 kms along the Niagara Escarpment – seriously, how cool is that? And how lucky am I to have this right outside my doorstep? Not to mention the beautiful waterfalls along the way.

Today we ran about 4.5 of the 885 kms – so maybe our goal should be to do the other 880.5 kms? Or maybe I’m just a bit over ambitious at the moment.

What I loved about trail running is, it was a new challenge and much different from straight path or road running.  Not that the other locations where I run are all that bad – it’s also very scenic along the Waterfront Trail and Rail Trail. This trail was pretty tough with lots of short steep hills, rocks and tree roots (did I mention I took a header?), but I like that it keeps your mind busy and preoccupied from the monotony of running straight and flat.

I’m not going to let the fact that I tripped over a tree root, flying ass over tea kettle and landing flat out on my back, discourage me from this new adventure. I think I’ve stumbled (literally?) onto a new passion. The rugged terrain will likely help as I prepare for the Warrior Dash in a couple of weeks (yikes!), and I’m definitely going to look for some trails to try as Dave and I venture to Western Canada for three weeks – I’m pretty sure I’ll find some picturesque trails out there too!