Luke Skywalker's planet

We arrived at Writing-on-Stone P.P. to another incredible landscape. We’re almost at the Montana border. It’s very dry and hot.

My favourite part of this park was walking through the hoodoos. It’s incredible to think that 85 million years ago it was the bottom of a sea, and now we can walk around within it. It’s so very cool. It looks like a little village of sandstone buildings. I thought it looked like where the Ewoks would have lived, but Dave corrected me – it’s more like tattoo-een, Luke Skywalkers home planet. Guess I got schooled. Anyway, I was fascinated by the hoodoos and think it’s pretty neat this is right here in our own backyard.

We also took a tour led by Stella, a Blackfoot Native Indian.  We were taken to the writing on stone area where she told us about the stories and meanings behind the images the Indians sketched on the sandstone hundreds of years ago.

Our tent is starting to fall apart. Two tent poles have broken, but McGyver fixed them with electrical tape. Fingers crossed.

cool coulees

We took a little side trip today to see the Red Rock Coulees. I can’t believe how vast and barren the plains in southern Alberta are.  We drive and drive for hours and hours and see nothing but rolling hills, farm land, bales of hay and the odd farm house off in the distance. I don’t think the folks out here drive through Tim Horton’s very often.

The red rock coulees are in the middle of nowhere and look like giant red boulders that have just randomly fallen from the sky. They just don’t make any sense,

We also had to make another quick little trip to Bow Lake to see the large Pinto Bean. Definitely worth the trip, I highly recommend it (not really).  But hey, we got a complimentary bag of brown beans at the info centre.

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.