Quebec City

In honour of missing the first days of school we decided to go to Canada's largest Water Park!  It is in Valcartier, Quebec (on a historic side bar, this town was the staging point and training ground for soldiers in World War I - see every day is a Social Studies day with us!!)  But I digress!  This was an awesome water park and we had a great deal of fun!!!

We have also done a fair bit of sight seeing around Quebec City.  We have visited the Montmorency Falls which were quite spectacular.  They are 1 1/2 times higher than Niagra Falls.  There is a suspension bridge that goes across the top of the falls and we walked across that after taking a cable car up near the top of the falls.

Today we also explored the Plains of Abraham and walked around the walls of Old Quebec and through the Frontenac Hotel.  We walked around the old town and saw a house that was built in 1675, and is now a restaurant.  That's right, 1675!!

Even just driving around town is interesting, looking at the houses and historical buildings, seeing how they compare with ours.  We went grocery shopping today, and even that was interesting, to see what types of products are the same and what are different.  The language has not really been a problem - my french is a little rusty, but definitely enough to get by.

Good Luck to everyone on the first day of school for kids! 

Parliament Buildings from Gatineau - Olympic Stadium

Bonjour!

After a couple of days in Montreal, we are now in Quebec City.  In honour of what should have been our first day back at work, we spent a couple of hours in our lawn chairs, drinks in hand, and by the pool, toasting our colleagues who went back to the hallowed halls today.  We are thinking of you!!

We are all in agreement that Ottawa has been one of our favourite cities so far!!!  There was so much to see, and so much history.  It is also a very beautiful city.  We spent a few hours one evening riding our bikes along the canal, past the locks, and along the river.  We brought the Chariot carrier for the dogs, and they got a few looks! We did a tour of the Parliament buildings, and went back in the evening to see the light and sound show that they do on the side of the Parliament.  The only negative was all the mosquitoes!

Montreal has tons of history as well!  We went to the Pont a Calliere Museum, which is built over top of the remains of the original ville Marie (early Montreal) and contains tons of artifacts and the actual rock walls that have been excavated to reveal those artifacts.  This same museum also had an exhibition on Pirates, Privateers and Freebooters!

We are looking forward to exploring Quebec City, hopefully it will be a bit less frenetic than Montreal!

Caught between tornadoes and a hurricane

Hello all,

We have had to alter our plans a bit as heading out to Newfoundland might not be the best idea at the moment with a hurricane/tropical storm on the way.  We were thinking about heading down to Toronto to kill some time, but the tornadoes there sort of put us off.....so...

we are headed today to Montreal for a few days and then on to Quebec City, after that we'll see...

The kids are so excited to read comments on the blog, THANK YOU !

Wishing us all better weather!!!!

Jo

Rianna's Report

Hey,

it's Rianna it's really Rianna because I'm caught up to date on my journal . Anyway were in Ottawa right now but this is our last full day. If you read more of the blog you will see me as an Egyptian Queen. And  if your wondering why I'm dressed up like that it's because there was a lady at the exhibit and she was talking about how Egyptian women dressed.  They had a maid who helped them dress.  The dress was actually just a big square of white linen, folded and tied just right to make it look like a dress.  After they were all dressed up, all they did was sit and fan themselves - they didn't really do any work!  They couldn't really do much dressed like this because the sleeves were tied in a way that kept your arms downwards.  They also wore a lot of jewellery around their neck and on their head.  It was very hot and tight.  They also wore lots of make up.

We saw a beaded dress that was taken from a tomb and made again.  When you placed the beaded part over the white dress it would make the plain white dress look fancy.  It was pretty amazing how they re-made the dress from what was left in the tomb.

The mummies had their pets wrapped up with them, and chickens and stuff for in the after life.  They would leave food and jewels in the tomb, and then they would mummify them in fancy outfits.  There were 4 mummies in the exhibit, and you could see the body of one of them.

 

Sean's Blog

Sean doesn't actually get to write this himself because he is way behind on his journal writing and his mom has to be the big teacher/meanie and give him consequences!  However, he did want to let everyone know that one of his favourite sites so far has been a 7 - 11 here in Ottawa!  (Seems there really isn't all that many east of Manitoba) He has been waiting thousands of miles to find one!

Our own Egyptian Queen!

Algonqin Park

Algonquin and Ottawa

We had a great time in Algonquin, although we were a bit disappointed that we didn't see a moose (but glad, as Michael W. said that we didn't meet up with one on the road).  We hear there are many moose in Newfoundland, so we might still see some!!  We went on a number of hikes, but I think the most impressive one was through the bog.

Our canoe trip was great, even with 2 kids and 2 dogs in a somewhat tippy canoe.  The one we are used to is much wider and easier to balance in.  It was a good workout for us paddlers!  Rianna just got the queen treatment as she was ferried about by us slaves!!

Speaking of Queens, check her out dressed up as Egyptian Royalty!  This was at the Museum of Civilization here in Ottawa.  Tons of cool stuff - they had to kick us out at the end of the day, and we had been there 5 hours!!!  The War Museum was excellent as well, just a bit much for Rianna and I.  There is a lot of really important things to learn about, but it is hard when you think about how many lives have been lost, and what so many men and women have lived through as soldiers, peace keepers, and civilians, too.  Sean particularly loved the huge room full of tanks and vehicles.

Today we did the Tour of the Parliament - quite amazing!  I think the Library is one of the most beautiful rooms I have ever seen!  The history in that block is very impressive!

Weather here has been very hot and humid - us dry Albertans find it very oppressive!  The bugs and mosquitoes are very bad and make it difficult to sit out in the evenings.  David seems to be particularly tasty and is starting to look like a contestant on Survivor with all his bites!  We need to stay at least another day and still will not get to see everything!!  David is already saying that six months is just not enough time!!!

Greetings from Algonquin and Lake Nipissing

We have made it to Algonquin Provincial Park!!  I have wanted to come here since I was about 13 and read an article in National Geographic  (and anyone who really knows me is not surprised that I was reading Nat'l Geographic at 13 - had my own subscription!)

The photo here is actually from Lake Nipissing, in North Bay.  This is the beach that Samuel du Champlain landed on in 1615 (or some such date).  It was about a block from our campground, and it was the most amazing sunset.  We took just a few pictures that evening!!!  I am particularly proud of these ones!

We hiked quite a few trails in Algonquin today - learned a lot about Black Spruce bogs and early logging.  It was about 27 degrees today (finally) and we were all pretty hot and tired by the end of it (especially the dogs).  Hershey and Oreo have discovered chipmunks and spend a great deal of time "on watch".  They actually vibrate with excitement when they are around!!

Tomorrow we are doing a half day canoe ride - looking forward to that!  We saw a baby bear crossing the road today but Sean really wants to see a moose!!  Rianna want to see a Payless Shoe source!

On Saturday we are heading to Ottawa and tons of stuff to see!

Jonathan, tell Cindy she is first on my list for an amethyst bracelet!  Rianna and I are going into the jewelery making business when we get home!!

Happy Trails, everyone!

P.S.  My S'mores tonight were particularly amazing!!

Sault Ste. Marie

Monday, August 10th

Yesterday we were Rockhounds!!  We went to the Amethyst Mine Panorama, just east of Thunder Bay, and it was awesome!!!  We took a tour of the mine, which is actually a huge fault line above ground.  We learned all about how amethyst is formed in the earth.  They take it out of the ground using high powered blasts of water, which washes away the mud and rocks and reveals the amethyst and other gems/stones.  This is what we did to find ours!!  There were so many, it was difficult to decide which ones we wanted to keep.  When you are done, you buy them by their weight.  There were also other ones that you could purchase, ranging from $10 - $2000. Unfortunately, we can't really afford the extra weight in our trailer!!

Next along the highway, we went to see Canada's longest suspension bridge.  It was a little freaky for Sean and David, but Rianna loved it!!

We saw a wolf on the highway today, and a bear a couple of days ago - that was really cool!

Last night we stayed in Wawa, and then drove today to Sault Ste. Marie.  These two places are not that far apart, but it was pretty hilly and foggy.  We stopped for a couple of hours at Lake Superior Provincial.  It had a really informational visitor centre.  The beach there was great, and the lake is so vast and beautiful, we just had to explore!

The off-leash park at the KOA we are staying at has an agility course for the dogs.  I think we might have to start training for the SuperDogs!!

Bye Bye from the land of the Gitchee Goomee  

Speed Bump In Thunder Bay

We have had a little trouble with our tires here in Thunder Bay, but we are now all fixed up and ready to continue!  

Yesterday we went to Fort William Historical Park, which is a recreation of the North West Company's trading headquarters from 1815.  It was very interesting (not to mention totally curriculum related!!!)

Thanks again, to all our friends who are reading and posting messages for us!

Greetings from Kenora!

We are staying for a couple of days at Anicinabe Provincial Park in Kenora. It is on Lake of the Woods and is very beautiful. The weather is not all that great, so a lot of the people who were staying here went home. Today is about 22 degrees and the clouds are in and out. It is plenty hot when the sun is out. We have the beach almost all to ourselves, and itès (o.k., donèt know why the computer is giving me french accents, it must know weère heading for Quebec - I blame it on using Davidès computer) Anyway, The kids are off catching minnows, and I am trying to sketch the scenery. Maybe by the time we get home Ièll know how to draw!!!

We decided to stay here an extra day because it is so pretty, and we needed a break! David is doing an awesome job of driving!! I drove for a bit, coming through Brandon, and I did fine, but it was pretty nerve wracking. Living in the trailer is working very well!

Rianna is still feeling home sick, and as a result, has been just a tad moody!!! Sean does not always help in making that easier! Sean is really starting to learn his jobs for set up and take down of the trailer - but we all still have a lot to learn.

Thank very much to the Brownès and Leckieès for posting a comment!!! The kids were sooooo excited to hear from someone. David was reading the Calgary Herald on line today and is sounds like you have been having some nasty weather - hope everything is fine!

We are headed for Thunder Bay tomorrow, hopefully getting to Algonquin park in a few days. We would like to stay there for a little bit.

TTFN
The MacGregors

We are taking the leisurely route, as only the MacGregor's can!! We stayed just outside Medicine Hat last night and the kids did a few quick rounds on a beautiful practice putting green course first thing in the morning!
Today was an exciting day as we visited Dog River!!! (from Corner Gas) It was very cool! We will post our picture in front of the Ruby ASAP.

On to Winnipeg tomorrow!

TTFN
The MacGregors !!