head2toewellnessandadventure

[head2toewellnessandadventure]

Update from North Bay, Ontario. Thought we would change things up.

[head2toewellnessandadventure]

The Fun is Never Ending!

After the Grasslands we traveled to Moose Jaw for a quick fix on our trailer brake at the Panda Tire and a check on the fridge.  As we waited for the trailer to be repaired we had a wonderful Sushi lunch at Aurora’s Restaurant. Then we took in a tour of one of the Moose Jaw tunnels! It was fun to see the actors renact what could have been the truth or not 😄 of Al Capone’s visits to the city back when he was on the run from the law.  The day went by fast and we opted for an overnight stay on the banks of the Moose Jaw river. Very nice campground.

June 8- We got up early planning to catch up with our friends Karen and Tom…and pup, Cinder 🐕 in Yorkton. I started the day with a quick run while Roy and Arlene got ready and made coffee. 😊 I had a beautiful run up a country road past an incredible B&B and a Seniors home with a view of Moose Jaw. Then it was on to Yorkton where a rendezvous with Tom and Karen found us at Superstore! 😅 Picked up some supplies and gassed up the vehicles before heading out for the Duck Mountains Provincial Park. My old stomping grounds from my Fisheries days in the 80’s. I was looking forward to this return visit. Last time Roy and I were here was on our honeymoon, September 1989.  After a small unplanned turn around on the gravel road into the park😉 we saw the sign welcoming us to the park! So cool to be back here touring our friends around. Watch out Manitoba! 🤣

Hahaha! Love how the selfie stick makes the writing backwards...or is it us that is backwards? lol!

We drove straight to Singush Lake. It felt so good to be back here. Of course the campground was empty and I was happy to see a new large and spacious outhouse building plus a bear safe garbage dump and recycling. First thing’s first…set up camp. Arlene decided to set up her tent with a view of the lake. After a celebratory drink of champagne, gin, tonic, splash of elderflower liqueur, mint and cucumber…yes I said champagne and gin!���� We then cooked dinner. Bbq’d pork chops, pan fried  potatoes, salad and corn on the cob. It was great to be together and what a feast! 😄 Yes this is roughing it in style like we always do.

We were treated to a incredible view of the moonlit lake with the loons treating us to every  song and call they know. We all missed the most perfect photo opp of the trip so far as we all scrambled for the cameras, when a flock of geese flew past the moon that was shining down upon the lake.😅 Too funny. But we saw it…to share in our travel stories. Lol.  Wow! Like a picture book. It was a splendid night! A great spot for our rendezvous. Us and the mosquitos. Welcome to Manitoba.😁

June 9 - We rose to a beautiful morning and the sound of a Canada Goose family honking and splashing about down by the dock. Then a couple of loons landed in the lake in front of our camp…just after the beaver swam by. Seriously! Tom already had his canoe in the lake and fishing gear being prepped, as we got ready to cook a breakfast of fried mixed vegetables, leftover potato, leftover pork and sausage plus eggs and toast. Yum! Breakfast of champions. 😀

The guys headed out to catch us a feed of walleye or pike which ever bit first. We took Cinder and went for a stroll down the road to find the cabin I lived in while working here. Well, we found it, but it certainly was not in the same condition as when I lived here so many years ago. Even though it was run down, so many great memories came flooding back. It was fun to see it again.  Back at the camp one of the park maintenance guys shows up to finish putting up the fence at the boat launch and signs closing the lake due to a suspected zebra mussel invasion! Well at least the boys got a little fishing in before that happened…even caught a nice pike. But then it was time to scrub the boats down and boil the ropes, sponges and whatever else we could. That is how thorough we had to be. We do not want to give those zebra mussels a free ride anywhere and since we were scrubbing the SS Engagement clean, we might as well polish her up! Thanks Tom for the supplies and coaching! Lol!😅

My old summer home!

Happy to see good old Singush Lake.

June 10th - We got up to a somewhat dreary morning at Singush Lake. After a nice breakfast we loaded up to head down the road to Riding Mountain National Park…Clear Lake..just a few hours away. This is where my family took vacations literally every summer. My grandparents had a small cabin there in what is known as the old campgrounds. These small cabins were restricted in size and hauled to your spot every spring and back out again every fall. That has since changed and they now stay. The park also gave permission to the cabin owners to build them a little bigger. My parents bought their own cabin when I was young. It is at the end of the last street with a view of the lake.  The best spot in the campground 😀 We stopped in Dauphin on our way down to pick up supplies. This is where the fisheries office was that I worked for when I was in the Duck Mountains.  The sun broke through the clouds as we continued down the road. First stop was Moon Lake. Such a beautiful lake. Time for a photo opp! 😄 Then on to Wasagaming campground and Clear Lake to get settled in.

My brother Bruce and his wife Dianna, who live in my hometown Brandon, were at the lake as well.  Once we got set up in the campground we got our bikes out androde over to meet my brother at a friend’s campsite. Joe and Calls McDougall. The McDougalls are old family friends from Brandon. We all grew up together. It was wonderful to have a visit with them and to meet their daughter Airlan. Bruce and Joe had their guitars there and we were treated to some good music🎸🎶🎼 Roy and I stayed and had dinner with them all. Karen stopped by later when she took Cinder for a run. It was great sitting around the campfire listening to the guitars.

The next day it was decided we would spent some time doing laundry, so we loaded up packs and whatever we could carry, hopped on our bikes and rode down the street to the laundromat in the village of Wasagaming. Even Cinder had to carry a lite load of laundry😄🐕

Old Firehall at Wasagaming, MB

As laundry was being done we rode over to The Second Cup owned by a friend of Roy’s Dad. At the laundromat I got talking to the owners and discovered that he grew up in Brandon and actually worked one summer cutting lawns with my brother Bruce at Current Park, near Brandon. Small world. After laundry we took the gang on a biking tour of the area and photo shoot at as many red chairs we could find😅 They are in every National Park this year to Mark Canada’s 150th.

Oops...Cinder! lol!

It was so windy along the lake trail with waves crashing against the shore that Karen compared it to the Seawall in Vancouver!

As part of the tour we stopped in to visit Bruce and Dianna at the spot I grew up coming to every summer.🏡 Then we headed back to the campsite to prepare dinner. Greek night…marinated and then grilled pork pieces with Greek salad…and yes wine of course!😄🥂 Bruce and Dianna rode their bikes over later for a visit. It was a wonderful chat around the campfire.

[head2toewellnessandadventure]

Grasslands

We rose to greet a beautiful Saskatchewan June morning and surprise!...we had company in the campground.  A Manitoba license plate. Yes Shelley went over to say "Hello" to some fellow Manitobans. It was a pleasure meeting Devon and Marie from Winnipeg. Like us, they were looking forward to visiting Grasslands National Park for the first time. The day started with a hearty breakfast bowl and of course a good cup of coffee. Then off to the Info Center for the scoop about the park. (I forgot to mention the many, many, antelope we saw on our way here) We started the day with a hike to 70 Mile Butte, along the Eco-Tour Scenic Drive, which boosts beautiful views of the Grasslands for miles! You could also see the teepis that are available to rent for $45/night.  It is great to be here this early in the Spring with the Prairie flowers in bloom. It was hard not to stop every minute or two to take a photo. Then we continued on the drive stopping at various view points along the way. We saw the buffalo and the local Prairie Dogs! In the evening we went for a bike ride along the River Walk Trail, which follows the banks of the Frenchman River. The mosquitoes and no-see-ums had us riding rather fast. LOL! But I braved as many stops as I could to take some pictures as the lighting at this time of day was incredible.It was a remarkable day and we look forward to exploring more of this National Park one day.

A colorful start to our day.

And off we go to hike the 70 Mile Butte.

It was a lovely walk!

At times it can be very wet here.

The trail winds its way up to a viewpoint where you can see 70 miles round!

The Prairie flowers all in bloom.

Could have taken a 1000 photos!...hmm...probably did.

We had the pleasure of seeing quite a few of these guys.

Like I said before....”Girls just want to have fun.” Hahaha!

The Teepis were at the start of the River walk trail 

The Frenchman River was stunning in the evening light.

The cut banks of the river.

The view from the Teepis!

Our neighbors behind the Val Marie Campground. =)

[head2toewellnessandadventure]

Saskatchewan here we come

The journey continues...

June 5 -- It rained all night and most of the morning. Cypress Hills Prov Park (Alberta side), we decided to move on down the road and visit you another time. The prairie winds also picked up and blew us around a bit as we traveled east. To keep up with tradition we found a great coffee shop in Maple Creek, The Daily Grind, which was well worth the stop. Then we hit the road again but not quite the same way those little prairie dogs did! Oh my, so many flattened ones on the road. Arlene thought it was a good thing I was not driving! Trying to avoid them was impossible as they tried to decide which way to run! We spent some time at the great little T-Rex Discovery Center in Eastend, Sask. where Shelley got a little silly. =) What an amazing little museum which houses Canada’s largest tyrannosaurus rex discovery, ‘Scotty.’ We met a delightful staff member, Holly, who hails from Montreal. She was a wealth of knowledge on local dinosaurs and archeological digs. The bonus was she gave us some great suggestions on what to see museum-wise in Montreal! Days end saw us pulling into the small town campground of Val Marie, Sask. Surprise! We are the only ones in the campground. We set up camp and went for a stroll around town. What a great little place! We even ran into the mayor of Val Marie, Rollie Facette! He was proud to tell us about their little village, home of the famous NHL hockey player, Bryan Trottier, who started playing hockey on the frozen Frenchman River. Quite a character.

Goodbye Cypress Hills!

Love this building!

“Girls just want to have fun!” Lol!

Roy...what happens? Hahaha!

The Frenchman River

Gateway to the Grasslands National Park

Awesome light.

The prairie sun setting and moon rising.

Time to tuck in for the night.

[head2toewellnessandadventure]

On the Road Frustrations

Hahaha! I bet that got your attention. Yes there are on the road frustrations but nothing we can’t handle. Our crew have experienced some trailer issues, hitch issues, computer issues!.... Well the computer issues have mostly been mine, but here we are. And it is already June 12th. Let’s see what we can tell you. Roy wrote a blog and I will do my best to get it down so you can actually see it! ......

May 31 - After a frenzy day of packing, and a last minute dinner with friends (The Brandt’s. Thank you Colin, Dalyce and Dani), it was time to hit the road even if it was only 75 minutes down the road to Kekuli Bay! It was so nice to be finally on our way, with friend Arlene Dahl in tow.

June 1 - A couple of quick stops in Kelowna and we were driving down highway 33 to Rock Creek then highway 3 to Rossland. A stop in Greenwood at Deadwood Junction for coffee and pastry is always a must do. Our first rain came thundering down as it was torrential on highway 3 near Big White.

We spent the evening with our friends in Rossland, the Richards, and again were treated to a fine feast, including ‘Happy Camper” beer from Nelson Brewing Co. These cans are now strung for Shelley to hang up everywhere we camp...’Thanks a lot Geoffrey!’ Lol!

June 2 - On the road again and first pit stop was Salmo to say “hi” to Carlie Puckett and the dogs to see her little home. Then it was east on Highway 3 to the beautiful Crowsnest pass. We had a quick coffee stop in Fernie and of course picked up more beer. =) I can’t wait to try the New England Style IPA! We also stopped and saw the amazing Frank Slide in the Crowsnest. The wind blew strong all the way to Waterton Lake National Park.

June 3 - Waterton! We explored Waterton and did a quick hike up Bears Hump. It was a stunning view of Waterton lake and the surrounding mountains. While on the trail, we met an elderly gentleman, who was resting along the trail with his daughter. He had recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease but was determined to hike at least a portion of the trail, if not all of it, like he did when he brought his daughter there in her youth.  The lesson we took away from this “attitude is everything” and “if you think you can, you can!” Next we had to recharge our batteries at the now famous “Weiners at Waterton”. The smokie and the sweet potato fries were to die for! Next stop was Red Rock Canyon which lived up to its name. Shelley and I hiked into Blakiston Falls. In retrospect we should have spent the day on our Mountain bikes in this area. Oh well, we put that one in the future trip bucket list. Evening saw us enjoying an incredible view of Sofa Mountain from the property of Ron and Edith Svanes, our gracious hosts, who could not be there, but we enjoyed the company of their daughter Mandy, her husband Jason and their granddaughter, 4 1/2 year old, Zoey. Zoey enjoyed playing games with “Mike” aka Roy. Hahaha! She could not remember his name.

June 4 - It was a hot day as the mercury hit 33oC. We drove to Cypress Hills Provincial Park with a stop to see Writing on Stone Provincial Park, one of the most sacred places for the Blackfoot people. The park is full of hoodoos and sandstone cliffs along the Milk River. In Blackfoot tradition, anything that casts a shadow is a living being. Sandstone pillars or hoodoos that resemble human beings are considered to be rock beings.  Numerous pictures have been carved into the stone many generations ago. Fascinating place. We also enjoyed the view of the Sweetgrass Hills in Montana, from which the Blackfoot could see for miles in either direction as they looked for the Buffalo herds. We had wanted to canoe the Milk River several years ago, so took the opportunity to speak with some canoeists, who were pulling out of the river at a campsite. We gleaned some great info for a future trip to the area.

So that is all we have time for at the moment. 4 days is better than none! Cheers till the next time.

[head2toewellnessandadventure]

The 2 B's

Yes the tale of the 2 B’s! 😊 What are the two B’s? Breath and Believe. When you are planning a trip for such a long time away from your home there is lots of different things to consider. Are all insurances up to date? Who will care for our cat? Who will care for our home? Who will care for the yard? Is everything working in the trailer? Are our wills up to date? Yes our wills! Did you ever think about the last time you looked at them? I think it had been about 20+ years ago since we did! Then to add to all this you must pack! Canoe, paddles, life jackets, tent, camping gear, bikes, etc.. With all these moving parts, so to speak, you are guaranteed to come up against some roadblocks. Hence the two B’s. You must remember to breath and believe in the process that everything will come together just fine. Roadblocks are just temporary setbacks. Tests to see how bad you want what you desire, so instead of “We Can’t Do This’ type of mindset, one has to have a “How Are We Going To Do This?” type mindset. This creates the vibration you need to take action…and you must remember to breath and believe.😊 The countdown has begun and the closer we get to leaving on this epic journey the more questions we ask … Is everything working?–campstove; portable BBq, trailer stove and water-lines, etc. Is tent seam sealed and ready? Do we have everything we need for our paddling trips? Do we have everything ready at the house so we can leave it confidently? Are bikes greased and tweaked, ready to go? Do we have all bills being paid automatically? Do we have all our paddling gear? ……. Yes remember to breath and believe.😄

[head2toewellnessandadventure]

Coming Together

Well in just over two weeks we plan to be pulling out of our driveway on a trip of a lifetime. Checking off an item on our “You Only Live Once List”! 😅 It is very satisfying watching as things fall into place and come together as you hoped they would. There is still plenty of things to get done in the next two weeks but I love how everything is coming together. Some times you just need to trust the process. By focusing on one thing at a time, we continue to move forward. This past week we put all our energy and thought into finding a truck canopy. It did not have to be fancy just something that would work. Well we found it on Friday! It may not be the prettiest one out there but it works. Next will be to add a boat rack to it. Yes it is all coming together and we are excited.

[head2toewellnessandadventure]

TIME

Time...We are finished the TIME with our contracted work. Roy is home!  AND now we will focus on TIME...

T-hings                                                                                                                     I                                                                                                                                M-ost                                                                                                                        E-njoy

Yes! TIME to check things off our ‘To Do’ list.  The count down begins. We are grateful we decided to make this happen. You just need to trust the process. Once a decision is made the ‘how’ falls into place. Things are falling into place!

We look forward to the TIME ahead.

Cheers!

[head2toewellnessandadventure]

Are You Ready?

That is the question we are asking ourselves every day now! Getting ready for a 3 month adventure does not just happen overnight. Personally I lean more to the spontaneous side but there does have to be some planning and specific things done before one leaves on such an adventure.

Who will care for our cat? Who will care for our home? Are the bikes tuned up? Is the camping/paddling gear all together and ready to pack? Is the trailer equipped for the journey? Are all insurances needed been renewed? Are the automatic payments set up for monthly bills? ... who knows where we will be when those are due. Yes, so many things to get done before we leave.

June 1st is fast approaching! Will we be ready? That’s the plan. Most of the month of May will be dedicated to this. Like so many things in life, action must be taken in order for you to reach your goal.  It is easy to say or to even write down “We are going to travel across Canada”, but to do it certain action steps need to occur. Some of these we have already completed.  On May 5th we will be finished our job contracts.  Then we can dedicate our time to completing our action list.

I have been writing down this goal “We are traveling across Canada” for many years, but until we were ready to take action nothing happened. This is a good point to remember. Until you are ready to take action, and you are willing & able to do anything you need to do to make your wants a reality, nothing will happen.

I am so happy and grateful that we are taking the actions to make this goal happen. There are still things that need to be done for us to ‘“Be Ready”, but we are up to the task! 

I hope you will follow us along our journey! It is going to be fun! =)

Are you ready to make something in your life happen? Are you willing and able to do anything it takes to make it a reality?

Are you ready?

[head2toewellnessandadventure]

Starting

Lately it seems like that has been the theme of our life…STARTING…

“If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves” --Thomas Edison

It all STARTED back in 2015 when my husband, Roy, decided to retire from his 30 year career. A new journey was about to START! What next? Well it began with him STARTING a consulting business. He STARTED with a consulting job up North. This meant he would be away for 2 weeks and home for one. Wow! A big change for us but we were up for the challenge.

Next new START for us was officially becoming empty-nesters! This was a big change for me. Now what? I was no longer Mom in the sense of having our daughters living with us and now not only were our daughters gone but so was my husband for 2 weeks at time. Our home began to feel not only very quiet but also very big. So it was decided we would START looking for a smaller place and sell our home.

We were unsure of where we wanted to live so decided we would START by renting until we found what we wanted. Our home sold quickly and the rush was on to find another. I have learned through the years you must trust the process. The perfect house presented itself 😊 and soon we found ourselves living on the other side of town. For now it is perfect. A house is a building which becomes home once it is filled with love & because you make it so.

I STARTED a new job with my consulting work and work more from home. With all the changes going on I had lost focus on my business so STARTED building it once again.

We received special news this year. Our youngest daughter, Emily, was engaged! So wedding plans have STARTED! Such an exciting time for all of us.

With so many changes Roy decided it would be beneficial to participate in a personal development program called ‘Thinking into Results’. A program developed by the Proctor Gallagher Institute. Roy invited me to join him on this journey which I readily did.  So again a new START. It has been an amazing ride. We are half way through and have gained so much. Things, I am sure will be shared in other blogs yet to come.

More exciting news-- We will soon START our 3 month trip across this great country of ours! Yes a road trip across Canada! Hence it was time to START this blogging thing. All part of what we are learning. As the quote at the beginning said “If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves”

What do you think?