Loonies, Poutine, Maple Syrup….Hello Canada

*I know it’s been a while! In real time, we’ve been home and settled for a few weeks. And of course things have been nuts ever since. I am going to bring you up to real time soon but first I must finish our last adventure with you. I’m not abandoning ship, I promise. Let’s continue this road trip!*

O’ Canada!

As we approached the border, we weren’t sure what to expect. I’ve never gone into Canada with a beast like Perl. I’ve walked and driven across on separate occasions but only for the day. This was a whole new animal. We inched toward the border crossing with a little trepidation in our hearts.

You see, while I was well prepared with all my paperwork, everything wasn’t exactly as they wanted it. However, it was pretty close. Would we make it into Canada?

I was well prepared, having read up on exactly what I needed to make it over the border and back again. This is what I had ready to hand over:

• Passports (check)
• Documentation for the dog. The requirements state if you bring pets over the border, you must have a statement declaring they are well. This needs to be dated within 30 days of crossing. (My records were dated the first part of April, right before we left. It was now the end of July, oops). 
• Notarized documentation stating that my husband was allowing me to bring our kids across international borders. (check)

Since my daughters are adopted, I also had their birth certificates (showing me as the parent) and citizenship paperwork. I did this extra measure just in case do to the current immigration turmoil in the US right now.

When we came to a stop, the border patrol came over and started asking for documentation. They also asked us:

Where are you going?

How long will you be in Canada?

Are you carrying any weapons? (firearms are NOT allowed over the border)

Do you have any illegal drugs? (ummm, I just left Washington state, where pot is legal, but ummmm, no, maybe not, no)

We were then asked to vacate the RV. Boy, these Canadians mean business. He asked me if he could access all the cabinets, etc without the slides out. I told him most of them but if he needed me to put down the jacks and extend the slides, I’d cooperate.

Out we went, dog in tow, to hang out next to the guard shack. In they went to do a search of our home on wheels. It felt strange standing outside with someone ransacking the inside. But hey, I am trying to enter their country, so it’s all good.

It didn’t take long before border patrol came out and gave us the green light to head into Canada

We entered from Colorado into Alberta. How they allowed this crazy crew into Canada I have no idea. Our destination was a small campground about an hour or two from the border. It felt good to finally be exploring this ever elusive (to me) country. Especially since it was taken off my list once and almost got taken off once again.

So what about that crazy title I gave this post? Loonies, what the heck are you talking about, the deranged? No, not at all. If you’ve never traveled into Canada, you might not know that their dollar is a coin lovingly referred to as a Loonie. The reason being is that it has an image of the common loon, which is very abundant and well known there.

And what about this poutine you may ask? No, I’m not referencing the Russian guy that’s all the stir lately. Nor is it pronounced the same. I’m talking about one of the most delightful foods on the planet.

I tell you what, these Canadians know what they’re doing when they make potatoes and gravy covered with cheese curds a staple on nearly every menu! You can even get this delight at Costco!

And boy do they know how to make some awesome gravy. While this little showstopper isn’t necessarily the healthiest thing around, it sure does hit the comfort spot! Yum, yum!!

Alberta – July 27 thru August 4

While in Alberta, we visited Magrath, Calgary and Medicine Hat. The first impression upon entering Alberta was the vast sweeping prairies, open spaces, and welcoming people. Canadians are lovers of nature and like to commune with it.

Outside nearly all the campgrounds we stayed at there are long winding trails for biking or walking. These trails go on for miles and miles, really quite impressive! They believe in keeping their pets as free as possible and there are numerous off leash areas for dogs. This is not just a dog park where there are fences but rather miles and miles and miles of trails where dogs are allowed to go off leash.

It’s definitely a different experience and I was afraid to actually let my dog off leash. He’s never experienced such freedom before except in his own backyard. But these dogs look free and happy and they come up wagging their tail wanting to say hello to our furry crew member. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with all this.

Some interesting things we saw at the grocery store:

We didn’t have any of the chips but I did buy a box of maple Cheerios. I told you they have a thing for maple syrup here! Totally reminds me of my birthplace, upstate New York. I felt right at home. Now about their infatuation with ketchup chips…………not to sure about that. It was pretty common though.

While hanging out in Medicine Hat, we saw the Saamis Teepee. It’s the worlds largest teepee standing as tall as a 20 story building. From the website:

Built entirely of steel with a concrete foundation, the tepee is ringed with 10 large circular story-boards depicting aspects of native culture and history.  The Saamis Tepee has a foundation weight of 800 metric tons, and the dead load of the structure is 200 metric tons. The main masts of the Tepee measure 215 feet (equivalent to a 20 story building!) and the diameter of the Tepee is 160 feet. There are 960 bolts holding the Tepee together.

Saskatchewan – August 4 thru August 7

We had one lonely stop while passing through Saskatchewan in a town called Moose Jaw. They declare themselves “The Friendly City”. It was a very small town and it rained the majority of the time we were there. The campground turned into a muddy mess because they didn’t have gravel down.

But hey, moving on to the world’s largest, we got to see the world’s second largest moose. This guy was named “Mac the Moose” and this is what the city of Moose Jaw had to say about him:

Touted as the World’s Second Largest Moose, Mac stands 32 feet tall and weighs in at 10 tons – or in today’s terms is 10 meters tall, weighing 9000 kilograms. A pretty big boy!

Mac was constructed by Saskatoon artist, Don Foulds using a steel frame, covered with metal mesh and completed with 4 coats of cement.

And one fun little side note I found out in Moose Jaw. Did you know that orange flavored tic-tac’s aren’t orange in Canada? They’re white! Who would have thunk.

Aside from Mac the Moose and tic tac’s, the only other thing we explored while there was a provincial park that was pretty remote. One pleasant surprise we found while in Canada was no matter how remote we found ourselves, we always had a cell signal. I have no idea why but that definitely isn’t the case in the US. I’ve lost cell signal in places less remote than where I traveled in Canada.

Manitoba – August 7 thru August 12

Our first stop in Manitoba was at Rivers Provincial Park. While they did provide full hook-ups (a nice bonus), I wasn’t all that impressed with the park. They had a little beach area on the river but it just wasn’t what I’m used to when I think of beach. And it rained a lot while we were in Rivers too! The last half of our trip was an utter soggy mess all the way into Virginia. 

We did find an itty bitty, tiny little town not far from the park. It was so small we had a hard time actually finding it! Where in the world is that laundry mat? Literally the stores in town consisted of a street or two. We finally found the laundry mat (not labeled of course) and then proceeded to have lunch and check out the bakery/ice cream shop.

When we went back to the car, it was doing the same crazy thing it did back in Oregon. I didn’t tell you about that, did I? Well the car wouldn’t start and it seemed like the issue was related to the battery. While in Oregon, I had my trusty Geico to bail me out. But not sure things work the same in Canada. Also, I was in nowhere land, nothing around for miles.

But the good thing about these small towns is that everyone knows everyone and most of your services are right there, for better or worse. This worked out for the better. So we went back into the restaurant and she called the only mechanic shop in town. Low and behold he was there in a jiffy with a handy little battery tester/jumper and he got it started. I made an appointment to get a new battery the next day. I wasn’t dealing with that hot mess again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the car scenario, we hung out at the playground at the local school for a while. I tell you what, these Canadians don’t mess around with their playgrounds. The entire school yard was full of all kinds of equipment for the kids. I couldn’t even get it all in my picture at once. They take recess seriously here.

All the rain did bring the good fortune of a rainbow as well as a beautiful sunset. With our time up at Rivers, it was time to head over to Lilac Resort, about an hour from Winnipeg. The highlight of our final stop in Canada was a waterpark for the youngest.

 

 

 

 

Oh the deliciousness we encountered while hanging out in Ste. Anne was amazing. We’d heard good things about the Livery Barn, which serves some traditional Russian food. I didn’t realize it was part of the Mennonite Heritage Village. But since I’m an open minded person, I figured we’d go learn something new.

Not only did we learn some new things about a Mennonite village, we also ate some really good food at the Livery Barn Restaurant. No joke, these folks know how to cook, yummo! We went for the brunch and had the traditional scrambled eggs, waffles, etc.

But accompanying the basic fare was some things I can barely pronounce to include: Foarma Worscht, Stone ground Broot and the most delightful of all, Vereniki. Follow the link to see what the delightful morsels are. So, so good and I’m very happy we went. If ever near Winnipeg……………..you got it, go to the Livery Barn.

While hanging out at the water park, I entertained my daughter. She coaxed me into going down the waterslide and I survived unscathed!

The resort is very large and contains a lot of seasonal residents with mostly permanent structures. All the lots were kept up very nicely. Some of them were travel trailers with porches and a roof built over the top while others were tiny houses. It was a pretty nice place.

I’d been wanting to explore Canada for a while now. You see, a small piece of me began there. My maternal grandparents lived in Quebec and would later move to New York with children in tow. I grew up listening to my mother banter with her family speaking French ever since I could remember. It felt good to explore a bit of home. If I’m so lucky, I’d like to check out the eastern portion too.

Before we knew it, our journey through Canada was over and it was time to begin our trek back into the US. We wanted to check North Dakota off our list so that was our point of re-entry. You’ll find out about our second adventure at the border soon, stay tuned. Wow, this is a long blog post!

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{HUGS} from the Crew!