July 17 - 20 Ottawa

We spent 4 very enjoyable days in Ottawa staying at my cousin Gerry's.

The parliment buildings and the Rideau Canal

While were were there in addition to the changing of the guard there was also the changing of the Army commander.

We toured the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau which recently added this reconstruction of the Wildcat Cafe from Yellowknife. 

Of course we had to stay in town to watch the light show on the Parliament Buildings

We rode our bikes up the Rideau River, across to Gatineau, the back across to Ottawa and down the Rideau Canal. During the ride we stopped at Rideau Hall for a lunch break on the grounds.

July 14 - 16 - Sault Ste Marie & Sudbury

We spent an enjoyable day at Sault Ste Marie Checking out the Soo Locks and the Bush Plane Museum

 Could not resist this "flower bed" at our campsite in Sault Ste. Marie

The big nickel at Sudbury where we also visited the Dynamic Earth which highlighted the Nickel and Copper mining in the area

July 10 - 13 - Eastern Ontario

We have finally made it to Ontario, but as usual it takes a long time to get around Lake Superior.

We have been enjoying some of Ontario's Provincial Parks.

A nice sunset at Aaron Provincial Park

A stop at the Terry Fox Memorial

Lake Superior Provincial Park. We hiked about 20 km along the Coastal Trail. This is a 5 day backpack trail similar to the West Coast Trail. We felt the hike as we had not been hiking for a while but felt okay the next day.

July 7 - 9 Manitoba

On our way through Manitoba we made a visit to Thornhill where Helen's mom was born, Not much remains of the old town but we did find a town hall.

In Winnipeg we explored around the Forks Area (sort of like Granville Island) and walked around to the legislative buildings.

Our last day in Winnipeg was spent with an excusion out to Gimli (an early Icelantic settlement) and nearby Winnipeg Beach

July 5 - 6 Saskatewan

A visit was made to the Motherwell Homestead a national parks historic site.

Rape Seed (Canola) is frequently grown in this area.

 A very pleasant stay was made at Saskatoon where we took a bike exploration of the Riverwalk area and university grounds. Several white pelicans like to fish near this weir across the river.

July 2 - July 4 Peace River - Alberta Beach - Vegreville

With the long weekend over we set out on our cross country adventure.

We traveled via Lesser Slave Lake and then down to Alberta Beach area just out of Edmonton.

The next day we traveled through Elk Island park but saw no animals. We then carried on to the Ukranian Heritage Center nearby and toured that.

Our travels carried us on to Vegreville for the night and we saw the famous Ukranian Egg.

The next day we continued along and stopped at Fort Battleford the historic outpost of the Northwest Mounted Police.

June 29 - June 30 The Family Re-Union

Saturday evening was the main event for the re-union. My cousin had arranged a hall and a catered dinner for all. Had a chance to see a lot of relatives I had not seen for a long time.

Sunday afternoon was a barbecue at my cousin's and sons shop and they tried out their new portable bbq.

Monday we had a swim in Thersa's new pool and shared pizza at my Aunt's and then a campfire back at the ranch.