Day 5 & 6: Canada!
I’m a bit sleep deprived (soon to be remedied) so this update may be a bit muddled!
Memories:
Grace: Making Pad Thai at the campsite; staying up all night in the rain
Danny: Grace and I running on the trails of the campsite; complained I was wet, cold and tired; being a zombie
Therese: Long trek to the Laundromat, getting a refund for our campsite; the relief at a vacancy at the hotel; hotel manager holding his teeth.
Gordon: Hike to Kakabeka Falls; guy from hotel trying to reassure us by point out numerous security cameras on the parking lot.
First of all, as usual, we spent way too much time in Grand Marais.
Between getting turned around and being distracted by the sights, we didn’t leave until about noon.
I got up early to do laundry and somewhere along the line, I misinterpreted the directions. So a 7 minute walk with a huge laundry sack on my back turned into over twenty minutes of walking. While I did laundry, Gordon took down the tents and the kids enjoyed one last stop at the beach.
To reward our economizing by camping, we went out to breakfast at the South of the Border Cafe - that’s south of the Canadian border.
We needed books and everyone found something at a used book store. We also treated ourselves to a giant checkers/backgammon game that uses a rug for a game board. A great addition to our car games.
We surprised the kids with ice-cream while I did some grocery shopping.
Our goal for the day was to spend some time at Grand Portage since the interpretive center is never open when we’re up in October. We were able to look at many of the exhibits and learn of the relationship of the Ojibway and the fur traders. The spot is also very beautiful and easy to imagine how it looked 100 years ago.
We left around 3:00 with a little over an hour’s drive ahead of us. After crossing the Canadian border we realized that we had lost an hour due to Eastern Standard Time. So by the time we arrived at the campsite it was nearly 6:00. Gordon and Danny put up the tent and Grace made her signature Pad Thai: delicious! We had to get a bit creative but it was perfect.
The campsite was ideal. A short path led to a small playground and there were many other paths between campsites and to water. A quick hike to the visitor’s center also led to the falls. We had our fingers crossed but the forecast said that rain, thunder, lightning and winds were arriving at 3:00 am and were expected to continue for about 36 hours.
The rain fly was up and a tarp on top of that and we went to bed. I woke up hearing thunder around 2:30. On the dot at 2:59 the rain came pouring down. After about an hour of heavy rains and lightening, we noticed rain coming in. Gordon and I took advantage of a lull in the lightening strikes and put up makeshift “shingles” using garbage bags. That made a huge difference in the roof, but by morning, the side seams on the tent were weeping. Since the rain wasn’t supposed to let up until late the following morning, we started to think about breaking camp and heading to a hotel.
We round a room for $69 Canadian and reviews were positive for cleanliness. We took heart in one TripAdvisor review: “Less Murdery than we thought!” The manager of the hotel offered to have a room clean and ready for us when we arrived at noon.
We were very grateful when the park ranger, without us even asking, refunded our night’s site rental. We did hike out to the falls. It was pretty crowded because the rain added to the grandeur. We told the kids they had free reign and total justification to complain and whine as much as they wanted given the circumstances. Needless to say they rose to the occasion with enthusiasm.
As promised in the reviews, the room was spotless. The manager/owner was very friendly and helpful. I realized about half way through our conversation that I must have surprised the proprietor as he had his paper denture plate in his hand the whole time he signed me in. Towards the end of our transaction, he snuck it back into his mouth.
A few red flags went up when Gordon was given a tour of the newly installed security cameras and motion lights in the parking lot. But the clean room goes a long way towards peace of mind.
We spent the day zoning in front of the Olympics - our first chance to watch.
Danny helped me with the grocery shopping. We discovered a nice specialty grocery store and had a nice meal of hearth baked english muffins, brie and several gourmet meats and olives.
Tomorrow we hope to check out the Marina which is supposed to be a great place for kids to wander and explore. We’re going to skip Fort William (on today’s agenda) because it’s similar to Grand Portage and we have a lake to circle!
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