Category: Travel

I am home again in Reno, back from a road trip/fishing trip to northern Ontario. Duke and I drove a total of 4368 miles. On the trip home we left Fort Francis, Ontario last Wednesday and spent Wednesday night at the Spruce Lake Bed and Breakfast in Keewatin, Ontario. Thursday night was in Brandon, Manitoba. Friday night was at the Historic Reesor Ranch in south western Saskatchewan.

Saturday night was at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton National Park in Alberta.

Sunday night was at Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier Park Montana.

My Dad broke a hip and ended up in the hospital while we were gone. My sisters, daughters and good friend Linda all took care of him and now he is in rehab and doing surprisingly well after giving everyone a real scare.  So we cut our trip short and  Monday drove the 1000 miles home to Reno.

The pictures we took on the way home are on Flickr here along with the pictures from the first part of the road trip. I've included a couple more below.

 

Last Thursday Duke and I and Duke's brother and 4 other family members flew 175 miles north from St Francis, Ontario to Granite Lake in Wabakimi Provincial Park. We fished for 6 days and were completely out of touch with the rest of the world. Unfortunately when we landed back in Fort Francis on Wednesday I had a message to urgently call my sisters. They were both in Reno taking care of my Dad who had broken his hip and had several other problems. Luckily by Wednesday when I was able to call Reno he was recovering and it looks like he will move to rehab tomorrow. My sisters, my good friend Linda and my daughter did an awesome job. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family and friends.

Our fishing trip was a lot of fun. The first fish caught was caught by the six year old  on his 3 foot long spider man fishing pole. It was a beautiful lake and we caught several fish every day. Here are a few of our pictures. If you would like to see all the pictures they are on Flickr here or here.

 

 

 

 

 

We have driven 1897 miles since we left home in Reno and are now in International Falls, Minnesota on the Canadian border.

On Monday we drove from Billings to Bismarck and made a couple of very interesting stops along the way. Pompeys Pillar is a sandstone formation overlooking the Yellowstone River east of Billings. When William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition stopped here he carved his name and the date (July 25, 1806) in the rock. We saw the signature and climbed the boardwalk to the top of the rock. This is the only physical evidence still in place of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Walking up to the rock we saw a marmot. You can see him hiding in this tree. The top 2 pieces of grass point to his face

The second place we stopped was the Prairie County Museum and the Cameron Gallery in Terry, Montana. The museum was an old bank building stuffed full of memorabilia, everything from old medical equipment to an old knitting machine to old clothes. It was fascinating to explore. The Cameron Gallery  is a collection of pictures taken by Evelyn Cameron who moved to the area from England in 1889. She took lots of pictures which really give you a feel for Montana prairie life in the late 1800s.

 

 

In Bismarck we had a great dinner at Peacock Alley in the Patterson Hotel. Tuesday when we left it was pouring rain. We drove by the house I lived in in Bismarck before heading out of town. We drove for about 3 hours in the rain. Finally the sun came out as we headed north in Minnesota.

 

Now we are in International Falls. Our hotel looks out over the Rainy River which is the border between the U.S. and Canada. This morning we took a really cool tour of the paper plant here. They run night and day and ship tons of paper every day. They have a machine that creates a 30 foot wide roll of paper. The machine rollers run at 41 miles per hour. Each roll of paper from this machine is made into 8 million sheets of computer paper!

 

Tomorrow we fly in a float plane to a remote lake 175 miles north of here for a week of fishing. There will be no electricity, internet, cell phone or outside contact of any kind. We will have a cabin, beds, propane, and hot and cold running water. It should be fun!

If you would like to see my pictures from this trip they are on Flickr here.