Getting back to normal, or what resembles “normal” around here….
So we’ve been home for 2 weeks and I figured I should update the blog about the rest of our trip! It’s been a busy couple weeks getting back into the swing of work, while unpacking, doing laundry, getting kids to and from daycamp….. I just got our suitcases put away this weekend lol now that I’m home and on my own laptop, I’m going to go back some time this week to some previous posts and add pictures of our good times :) So do scroll back and look at them!
I forgot to mention that on my trip I also met up with some friends from school on Thursday night, the night before we went to the CN Tower. Nic(olina), Debbie and I had a great night out, we went to a bar (forget the name) and it was 80’s night, so the music was appropriate, if a bit loud…. we were on the patio and the music was blaring, although there was no one on the dance floor with the disco ball going lol After that we went for a drive in the dark to our old high school, St. Robert in Markham. It looks SO different from when we went, it was renovated after we graduated and our main entrance is now the back of the building, and it was looking a bit run down in the landscaping dept…. From there we drove around till we found a Tim’s that was open late and we sat and chatted till 1:30 am, through all that…. we didn’t think to take a picture! We all brought our camera’s as well. It’s too bad, because boy do they look great! I would have loved to have a pic of the three of us, maybe we can photoshop one from our Facebook pics lol
Our last entry was leaving Wawa on the way home…… but I missed a bit of the info from that day so here we go.
We left my mom’s that morning at 8am with James driving, I don’t like those hwy’s around Toronto, holy crazy fast driver’s! Stopped for gas (125.6/L) and breakfast at Tim’s, so we didn’t really get on the road till closer to 9. We also had to fill all four tires up with air! James had taken the van to Mr Lube the day before for an oil change and he told the guy “don’t do anything to the tires, they are fine” guy says “we know what we’re doing sir!” really now??? As we were leaving mom’s in the morning our tire pressure light came on, James checks them to discover they are all at 25 lbs, they are supposed to be set at 35 lbs! Gee thanks guys, obviously you know what you’re doing…. we’ll never doubt the “guy” at Mr Lube again, NOT! Thankfully we normally use our “guy” at Fountain Tire who is a friend of ours, we know HE knows what he’s doing lol
On the way north, we stopped in Parry Sound where I was born and lived till I was 5 y/o. I wanted to see the house I lived in there as I still remember a lot about it. It was an old white house, with a big tree in the front, the tree had a knarl of some kind in the truck that formed a seat just big enough for my wee behind to sit in lol Here is 18 Williams St today, its now a lawyer’s office, painted grey and the tree was cut down. And I’m pretty sure that 1st floor window was a bow or bay window in the early 70’s….
We stopped at McKerrow for lunch at Tim’s/Wendy’s, then I drove as far as Sault St Marie, stopped for gas (133.5/L FS) then James drove to Wawa, we made it there at 7:30 and my previous post mentions what happened there. I have some photos I’ll add to that post later.
We left Wawa the next morning at 7:30 with me driving, an early start for a change! I drove as far as Terrace Bay where we stopped for gas (138.9/L), then James drove. We stopped at the Terry Fox Memorial and lookout at Thunder Bay.
Rowan squeezing the Sleeping Giant’s Head
Keely and I in front the Sleeping Giant (the island in the background that looks like a giant laying down with arms crossed over his chest), boy were those stones we were sitting on HOT!
I drove us from Thunder Bay to Dryden, we arrived at 7:45. The restaurant in the motel was closed for renos, so we went to BP’s for supper. Then back to the hotel for the kids to swim.
Then in the hot tub
Arran met up with the little guy who befriended him 2 weeks earlier on our way through. He’s such a kid magnet lol
We filled up in Dryden (136.9L) James drove, we stopped at the Manitoba border tourist info for a washroom break, then onto Winnipeg where we got more gas (134.9/L). Then I drove…. west of Sydney MB we came under attack by dragonflies. James made a note in our journal …
“passed an area of hills and valleys, and alot of bushes. Dragonflies and their mates opting out of their relationships. They chose to kiss our windshield at 110km/h” he has an odd sense of humour…
We stopped at 5 in Brandon for food, then on the road with me still driving. James also made a note that we stopped at 6:30 for an “emergency stop on hwy” I think he had to pee…. he says “kudos to province of Sask for rest areas” oh yeah I remember… they had outhouses with with hand sanitizers and a picnic area. I then drove onto Regina where we stopped for more gas (131.5/L) and James picked up the driving for the evening. Now MY plan was for us to stop at a hotel for the night but James had other plans…. he drove till 12:30 am where we stopped in North Battleford for gas (he didn’t make a note of cost) and he then made me drive… I was exhausted, I made it to the Lloydminister tourist info center at the border where I stopped the van and napped from 2-4 am! Then James drove us home from there, we arrived home at 7am. Where I proceeded to crash and sleep until 2:30 in the afternoon! I would have much preferred to stop for the night in North Battleford or even sooner…. then gotten up and driven through the day, Monday was still a wasted day with me sleeping and it wouldn’t have been as dangerous driving!
It is officially 3444 km from my mom’s house (well the gas station where we stopped to fill up the tires anyway) to our door….. James has done the math (ie looked at his Mastercard statement) and it cost us $1300 in gas for the trip there and back, including all the driving we did while there for almost 2 weeks. We had figured on $2000, so that was a nice surprise! We probably spent about $450 on hotel’s there and back, not including our side trip to Niagara. And if we stopped another night each way (which we should of) that would have increased another $2-300, still well under what we would have spent on airfare for 5, plus a car rental for the 2 weeks we were there.
I am now off to work….. I will add the photos sometime this week and do an update on what we’ve been up to since we got home!
