Catch up Time!

You guys. I seem to be one of the worst bloggers ever. I never finished blogging about our vacation last year. Now that we have another wonderful trip to write about, I just want to get caught up! How much do you think I can remember about the trip that was a year and a half ago!? Mostly it'll be a photo dump. I like to have the posts around as a kind of personal photo/memory book for the future. And you're welcome to come along for the ride, if you'd like!

We start out at the Iroquois Lighthouse at the very southeast corner of Lake Superior. It's a lovely little setup with numerous buildings that include a gift shop, an art gallery which had live folk music when we were there, and a lighthouse keepers residence museum. The walk down to the water was also a very nice trail and boardwalk. We ran into a NOAA station, which we thought was kind of cool.

We then crossed the border into Canada at Sault Ste. Marie. We walked around the locks for a while, then hopped on the Trans-Canada Highway and headed east. Here's something about the Trans,Canada Hwy: it's long, and straight, and boooooring! lol! Keeping from falling asleep while driving is a major concern because the highway is lined with tall trees, so every miles looks like the last, which looks like the next. I don't usually have trouble staying awake while driving, but that was tough. Also, there are very few gas stations. We were pretty nervous at one point about making it to the next one, but came across a little joint just in the nick of time.  We also drove late in to the night trying to find a motel. We went a lot farther than anticipated, and when we did find one - they gave us this lovely suite for a good price. Willow is often concerned about staying in shape, so even though it was late - she got in a little workout at the motel.

Next, we made a stop in North Bay, Ontario on the banks of Lake Nipissing. We enjoyed walking the shore. The water was pretty rough. Sadly, we later heard someone had drown in the lake around the time we were there.

Next, after much more sleep-inducing driving, we visited Ottowa, the country's capital city. We're fans of national museums like the Smithsonian, so we decided to visit the Canadian version - the Canadian Museum of Nature.

It's a fun mix of historic and modern architecture. And it had a giant jellyfish sculpture in the atrium, so that's cool. One thing that caught our attention was being in the minority as English speakers. My kids got a kick out of hearing groups of school children bantering about in French, as they hadn't had that experience before.

Their bee display was unusual. They had a real beehive as a display which had a tunnel to the outside so bees were coming and going, as they do, and it was all glass, so you could see the activity.

Next, we walked around the capital building area, admiring the architecture. We were just a tad too late in the day to catch a tour of the capital - bummer.

The other interesting thing that was happening at that time was a big storm brewing. There were tornado warnings in the region and the wind was whipping up all kinds of dust and sand in the city. We were glad not to have a run-in with a tornado, but there was one that touched down nearby. One of our favorite things about Canada was Tim Horton's coffee and donut shops. We went to as many as could - so affordable, so good. After a while, I could order a "double-double" like a native - ha! (Two creams, two sugars for those who haven't been.)

Next up was a stop at Andy's uncle and aunts place in Upstate New York. It is a place we hear about often, so were glad to get to visit. They have cows, and after hearing about an unusually small calf that was born recently, we took off across the field to have a look.

Andy's aunt and uncle were unfortunately gone at the time of our visit, but we were equally pleased to be able to see his cousins, Owen and Bethany, along with her lovely family. These kids are a whole lot of fun to be around!

A trademark of the Vaughan family is good conversation around the table, and we were able to get in on some of that. This picture below cracks me up because it represents that to a 'T' in my mind! Cousin Owen, in the middle, and Andy have a good bit in common, and I found myself just giggling at some of their similar quirks, and hearing Owen say things that I've heard Andy say - usually some off'beat philosophical thing. (Ashley - I regret not getting to meet you - but girl, we'd have a lot to talk about!)

That's probably long enough for one post! Off to Niagara Falls for the next one! Thanks for following along.