The trip to Timmins and back

It's taken me a week to recover from our second road trip this summer - one that happened in large part because I wasn't up on this eastern side of Canadian geography.  Back in June, S had asked if we'd want to accompany him on a work trip to Timmins, ON.  Feeling like he'd been alone on the road so much this year, I thought it'd be great to tag along to keep him company and share in some of his experiences.   I vaguely knew it was the in Canadian Shield and assumed it was not super far into the province, so I'd said, "That'd be great!"  But . . .  I was WRONG!   I would never have thought to drive from Vancouver to Prince Rupert, BC for a 3 day conference (particularly with 3 kids).  Yet here we embarked on one that was even further!  Just short of 20 hours, it was.  

Not that it was a horrible trip.  But we started off later than we'd hoped, which meant we hit the road at 3:00 on Saturday instead of earlier that morning.  Two hours down the road, Ai was already ready to go home.  Three and a half hours down the road, we were all tired and had to roadside-motel it.  :(  Meant we had to then do 2 days with far more driving, which really wasn't a problem with A, who is an exceptional traveller.  She just goes with the flow and can entertain herself for hours with her imagination and a few Barbies or toys.  

Typically, we made sure to make stops as exciting as we could.  A highlight was stopping in Thunder Bay's "Centennial Park" with its beautiful river, little farmyard and free train ride, though with time limitations, I didn't tell them about that.  

That night, we camped in the town of Marathon, on the east side of Lake Superior.  It was our first night ever camping with the kids and they were thrilled.  We busily set up the tent and prepared dinner while they threw rocks in the river, played wild animals in the surrounding bush and gathered wood for us.  It was nice to see them so happy after such a long day in the van.

At last, we arrived at Kettle Lakes Provincial Campground outside of Kenora around dinner on Monday.  We thought we were late, as we'd been told the conference began that day.  We were surprised to discover that the conference started Tuesday morning and ended Thursday afternoon - not Friday afternoon, as we'd also been told!  With fatigue levels already high upon arrival, it made us question how worthwhile our venture really was, but there was no changing it.  And for some reasons, I was glad of that.  

For one, the kids had a great time in the woods.  Despite the really cool, sometimes wet weather we had for our 3 days in Timmins, S took the kids swimming every day in one of the Kettle Lakes.  They loved it.  They also got to experience catching frogs, grasshoppers and crickets (poor wee creatures).  I didn't have my camera when the girls caught a 3 inch long, thumb-width leech/bloodsucker.  They tried to get the leeches to latch on to their legs (much to my horror!) until they learned they wouldn't come off easily without dumping salt on them.  Ick.

Iz caught a frog all by herself while we set up the camp.

She was thrilled, until she had to let it return to its family.
She wept inconsolably . . . 

Ai and his cricket

Ai with his little frog in the bucket

A big grasshopper - this one managed to keep both its legs

some of the others weren't so lucky :(

The kids had late nights, but sleeping in the tents together - S and Iz in the little one, the older two and I in the other - was enjoyable in their minds.  I preferred the night I got to sleep in the van we rented, but it felt good to give our city-kids a dip into nature.  

Two and a half couples from our conference camped out with us, so we enjoyed getting to know them around the campfire and in the morning.  Derek was 'the half' - a pastor with three kids in and around our kids' ages, two of whom are adopted.  We'd thought they would all be there and had looked forward to time together, but sadly they'd all gotten sick at the last moment.

Playing a game where the bad 'Kookum' (grandmother) tries to catch the group

One happy camper

Our kids got to experience a morning at an Ojibway-Cree Conference centre, enjoying the tee-pee setting and a tasty lunch of moose stew, bannock and boiled pudding.  Ai particularly loved the bannock and jam . . .

As for the actual conference, I may write more about it when I'm feeling reflective.  For now, I'll skip to the return journey - which we started Thursday due to the unexpected early wrap-up.  We might have stayed another night to check out the Shania Twain museum (not really) or at least rest up a bit, but it was to be cold and very wet that night.  So sadly, we had to travel the same route as we couldn't return through the States, not being up-to-date with the kids' passports.  It was nice to drive Hwy. 17 once,  as it had its moments of amazing beauty, especially above Lake Superior.

But for my northern BC friends, the other very long stretches were like going from Burns Lake to Vanderhoof over and over again, except with more trees.  You know the road is too uneventful when you feel a thrill to pass signs indicating the Arctic Watershed, then one for the Atlantic Watershed, or anticipate this sign on the return journey:

I also got excited about the changing rock striations that showed where the roads had been blasted through.  If we didn't have to cover the miles, I'd have happily stopped to take many photos of them. They made me think of my geography-loving brother, Rob, and how he'd appreciate the landscape.

Here's us having a break in Dryden on our way home - a bit daunting with the pulp and paper mill in the background.  In the process of bleaching paper, Dryden Chemicals Ltd. dumped 10,000 tonnes of mercury into the English-Wabigoon River between 1962 and 1970 - pollution that continued into the Winnipeg River system and then into Lake Winnipeg.  The people I visited in Grassy Narrows last spring (just north of Kenora) were impacted with Minamata Disease (and numerous other problems) as a result.  :(  So sad.

This rest-stop, not much further down the road as the kids were now super antsy in the van, made me enjoy our kids' still intact innocence.  While S warmed our soup, they stripped down to underwear despite how chilly it was.  One of life's simple pleasure is to watch children be children, entertaining themselves or each other so easily with water, rocks, sand, sticks and such.  I really enjoyed this time at the side of the highway . . .

So was the whole trip worth it?  I don't know.  It was good to learn on-the-ground how big Ontario really is so I won't be so clueless in the future!  And I always enjoy seeing a new place, with this journey no exception.  It was good to have some more shared experiences as a family and I'm glad S didn't have to travel alone this time around.  Though I'm not so sure that feeling is mutual.  We both returned very, very tired . . .