I slept in on Saturday morning – the day we left for our trip to drive Alanna 4500 km to school in Vancouver. It could have been the late night previously, or that I didn’t sleep well, or simply that if I didn’t wake up, I didn’t have to start the journey. It’s not as if she is a kid; she is 28; it’s not as if she hasn’t lived away from home before, but somehow, Vancouver seems such a long way away.
The day was sunny and bright, and we locked up the house and were on our way. Ray and I had made the trip about 36 years ago and we wondered how much we would remember. Alanna has never made the trip.
The first part of the journey by-passing Parry Sound, Sudbury and Espanola was fairly typical Ontario countryside: rocky, lush vegetation, and not particularly memorable. From Spanish we travelled along the N orth Channel of Georgian Bay. It was undulating, craggy shorelines with beautiful views from the Highway 17 over the lake. We drove through lake-side towns of Blind River, Thessalon, and on to Sault Ste. Marie.
The film “One Week” will give you a much better description of the Toronto/Vancouver route. Our journey is completed with time restrictions and without much time to investigate points of interest along the way. But we did, and will, see some of the sights.
The beauty in the trip started at Sault Ste. Marie where Lake Huron and Lake Superior meet. We made the journey from the Soo to Wawa at sunset and loved the beautiful Canadian settings with views over the lake and fir trees peeping up in the foreground around the blazing orange ball of the sun. Driving at dusk kept us alert for moose, deer, and bears on the road!We spent the night in the Sportsman Motel with dinner first at the Viking. The Viking offered an eclectic mix of tourists and loud, colourful, boisterous locals, and a varied menu at just off Toronto prices.
No comments:
Post a Comment