... try and find us

It's known locally as Wild Ice . It is a phenomena that occurs for only a few days a year, early in the winter.  It is when we have a sustained deep dip in temperatures as winter approaches, causing lakes to freeze before the first snow fall, thick and safe enough to skate on.  From a distance, it looks like water with the surrounding mountains reflecting on the ice. This year we had that cold snap, so a flurry of posts to the local Facebook group began to appear, as anticipated as the first few kernels of popcorn on a saucepan over a fire. "Get your skates sharpened.  It's at least 8 cm think at Gap Lake." "Has anyone tested Lac Des Arc?" When we felt it was safe (because those who are too keen and too early can and sometimes do fall through), we made arrangements to meet Rick and Sue early, while the morning air still held some bite.  The days are getting noticeably shorter, making it feel that much more of an intrusion on time that should be spent in...

At the moment, Huntsville, Ontario is snowless and it has ended up benefitting us.   In September, Kate had noticed a posting on a Canmore facebook group that was looking for someone to billet two athletes who wanted to get an early start to their cross country skiing training.  As we live just down the road from the Nordic Centre (where athletes from all over Canada come to kick and glide over 110 kilometres of well-groomed trails) and no prospect of visitors to occupy our two guest bedrooms, we offered to take in these unknown teenagers. Several e-mails, phone calls and text messages later, we were primed to expect a 15- and 17-year-old from an area we had just visited in September. Sophie and Mya at the Nordic Centre Having Mya and Sophie has been delightful.  Enthusiastic, helpful and good company, Kate and I are very much enjoying their company.  They both train very hard - working out 3 - 4 hours a day.  Although they have prescribed workouts from t...

According to worldwide standard time, there are six time zones in Canada - Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic and Newfoundland.  We live on the western edge of Mountain Time and we expected to lose an hour as we crossed into Manitoba (Central) then again as we approached Thunder Bay (Eastern) in Ontario.  Things appeared so orderly and simple. No so fast...   Canadian Time Zones as they  really are! Saskatchewan is Central Time (except for Lloydminister which is on Mountain Time) but choses not to observe daylight savings, so in the summer they line up with Mountain Time.  Manitoba is on Central Time but observes daylight savings. Western Ontario (west of 90°) is on Central Time and observes daylight savings, except the Atikokan and Pickle Lake areas.  They run on Eastern Standard Time year round.  Ontario (east of 90°) and Québec observe Eastern Time.  Oh, except for Québec east of the Natashquan River.  They observe Atlanti...

If you are driving across hundreds and HUNDREDS of kilometres of countryside, it is very easy to whiz through the little towns and villages that lay strewn along your path.  The merchants of the petrol stations and lunch counters would prefer you to stop and toss a few sheckles their way, but what could tear your attention away from that endless dotted line that beckons you into the distance?  How about some of these things that we found? 8 metre tall moose statue, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Reginald, the giant grasshopper.  Because everyone in Saskatchewan loves locusts. Regina, Saskatchewan At the tourist info centre in ... (you guessed it) Indian Head, Saskatchewan. Lumberjack. Iroquois Falls, Ontario. Spaceship with aliens looking out of the bottom portholes. Moonbeam, Ontario. The Big Loonie in Echo Bay, Ontario.  A huge display that honors the most famous son of Echo Bay - Robert-Ralph Carmichael, the designer of the Loonie. Impressive statue for a ...

A birthday misadventure! We packed up our camp in the beautiful Forillon National Park and, being able to go no further east, we started our journey back towards Canmore.  We drove along the north coast of the Gaspé Peninsula along road protected by a seawall against the worst the St Lawrence could throw at it.  And birds, birds everywhere.  Those you expect to see and others I am not used to seeing bobbing on the ocean such as mallard ducks... Although the weather was getting chillier and car camping less inviting, on impulse we decided to drive through Parc national de la Gaspésie and Resérve faunique des Chic-Chocs and wild camp for just one night.  The weather was overcast and threatening rain, the autumn colour was finished and there was the chill of winter in the air.  The landscape was hilly and with many small lakes dotted around. Lac de la Tonne - looks like a lovely place to camp! Around 4pm, we were about an hour from the main road and decided to find...

Not far out of Thunder Bay, high on a hill with sweeping views over Lake Superior and the Sleeping Giant, sits the Terry Fox Monument. Just over 40 years ago, Terry Fox was forced to end his Marathon of Hope as the cancer he was fundraising to cure caught up with him. He was 18 when he lost his leg to cancer and, while in hospital, was dismayed at the amount of suffering the illness caused particularly amongst the kids. So he resolved to run across Canada and raise money toward a cure. This was a new idea and well before all the 'Run for Cures' we do now.  After some training, he dipped his toe in the Atlantic Ocean in St John’s, Newfoundland and commenced his run back to Victoria in BC. On one leg and a prosthetic that was closer to a wooden stump than the fancy running legs we have today, he ran an average of marathon a day, for 143 days - 3339 MILES (5,373km) in all until he was too sick to continue. His dream was to raise a dollar for every Canadian –the huge su...

Words fail me. A most amazing gift from my extraordinary friend Rachael.  Understanding my devastation with losing Dad, she made me a memorial quilt - sails, 'three sisters', kangaroos and a touching dedication. Thank you. I will treasure it forever.

The first night sleeping in the car was supposed to be trouble-free, but ended up with us needing outside help! We were determined to see how bad it could be sleeping with the ceiling 40 cm away from your face all night ... but in a safe environment.  A test of sleeping in the garage was proposed, so at the end of our day, we donned our jammies and toddled downstairs to the garage. Bed for the night! We were both surprised at how comfy the bed was and how well we slept.  There was some initial planning required as we enter and exit bed through the rear hatch, so the lack of a door handle provided a minor challenge, but we overcame that quickly (the key fob has an "open/close hatch" button).  We also wondered how long the interior lights would stay on after closing the door (10 minutes) and whether the car alarm had a motion detector component (it doesn't), but those all solved themselves and we were able to get a reasonable sleep. The next morning, we planned an early g...

With so many plans cancelled due to COVID and summer coming to an end, we needed an adventure. So we decided to drive across Canada from Canmore to Gaspésie in Québec. Not quite all the way across, we know, but certainly a respectable portion. We are taking the blue route - still a very long drive! Our plan is to scurry across the Prairies and meet Sue and Rick at Sue’s family camp just north of Thunder Bay. After a visit, we plan to explore a couple of Provincial Parks along the shores of Lake Superior before meeting Adrienne and Ray at Adrienne’s cabin on Kawagama Lake. Following some R&R, we will continue east along the great St Lawrence Seaway exploring as we go until we run out of country at Gaspé Peninsula. The Maritimes are out-of-bounds due to COVID so Québec is our turnaround. Then it’s back to Kawagama Lake and onto Ray’s family camp in Atikokan (Ontario) followed by a trundle back across the Prairies.

We love having adventurous friends come to town, as it encourages us to hit the trails.  Today we hiked to the summit of Fairview Mountain.  Whoever chose this name wasn't very good with adjectives ... or had never been to the summit.  The views were beyond breath-taking.  We couldn't get enough of looking around and by the end of it, we grew very tired of saying "Wow." This season's list of interesting trails didn't even include Fairview Mountain. Starting from the Lake Louise parking lot meant that we had to be there early.  As this year the hiking (and the National Parks, in general) have been much busier, we needed to be at the trailhead by 8 am.  Luckily, we live just down the road. Gaetanne, Brynn and Seán Murphy joined Kate and Sean for the hike Up to the treeline and out towards the summit Getting close to the steep parts. Lake Louise ski hill is in the far background. ... and UP to the summit. Do we really want to go all the way up there? The sign ...