The Eastwest Tour Continued

The next installment of our journey...  

Aug. 22-24: Chicago to Grand Rapids, MI (clocked 421 kms)
After attending church with Adam and Janah in Plainfield, we drove through Indiana and into Michigan making a stop in Holland (an actual town in Michigan) to pay tribute to our mothers and our heritage.  Unfortunately all the Dutch tourist attractions were closed due to the fact it was Sunday evening... need I say more.  We headed into Grand Rapids for the happy reunion with my dear friend Johanna Kaufman and her son Xander, as well as her parents and siblings.  I have known Johanna for seven years now having first met in Tijuana, Mexico.  My beautiful godson Xander just turned two and it was an absolute joy getting to know him more over the two days we were there.  I am only able to see him about once a year so you can imagine how much growing he does in between my visits.  Thankfully he warmed up to me and Hannah quickly and we enjoyed an adventurous day at Binder Park in Battle Creek where I fed (and was licked by) a giraffe and brushed some cute pygmy goats.

Aug. 24-25: Grand Rapids to Detroit, MI (clocked 224 kms)
After saying a difficult goodbye to Johanna and Xander, we made the short drive to Detroit to visit Kristen Wilkes aka Krispy, a friend of Hannah’s.  Her mom took us out for dinner to The Family Buggy, Krispy’s place of employment.  Now I’m not quite sure how to describe this place to you.  Let’s just say we were the only other customers without white hair, walkers and/or canes and you could ask to eat dinner with a giant four-foot stuffed teddy bear.  *blank stare*  The food was great, all things considered.  We stayed with Krispy at her dad’s place, who is recovering from a pretty severe chainsaw injury to his leg.  Eep.  We spent a lot of time in the giant games room above the garage with shuffleboard, karaoke, Nintendo Wii, and a bigscreen TV.  We also visited the Detroit Institute of Arts for a few hours.  How classy of us.

Aug. 25-26: Detroit to Everett, ON (clocked 453 kms)
After navigating our way through Detroit (not an easy task, even with our GPS) we drove through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and we were back on beloved Canadian soil.  We found a Tim Horton’s shortly thereafter and made our way to the small town of Everett, Ontario to the home of a longtime family friend of Hannah’s, John Dekker.  He lives in a cute but strangely designed house with a huge backyard.  Now this wasn’t your average backyard.  I would imagine it is very similar to what the Garden of Eden looked like; no naked people here thankfully, but LOTS of plants and vegetables.  Eighty percent of our dinner came from the backyard that night, not including the giant steaks and yummy red wine.  A very pleasant evening indeed.

Aug. 26-29: Everett through Toronto to Montreal and Quebec City, QC (clocked 1296 kms)
After leaving Everett we made a quick stop in Toronto.  This city is often compared to Vancouver as the two cities like to argue about which is the most diverse or most attractive to tourists... blah blah blah.  I don’t even think you can compare them.  It was very different from Vancouver, that’s about all I can say.  We drove by Air Canada Centre (home of the Raptors and the Maple Leafs), Rogers Centre (home of the Blue Jays) and also the Hockey Hall of Fame.  We walked up and down Yonge Street and ate sushi at the Yonge-Dundas Square.  That was about all we had time for as we had to make it to Montreal that night...

Arriving in Chateauguay (suburb of Montreal) we were greeted by the Cimon family, true French-Canadians.  We met our friend Marie-Andree through the 2010 Project in Vancouver during the Olympics and she is joining us for the remainder of our trip.  Upon arrival in Vancouver she will be staffing our upcoming Discipleship Training School.  Her family welcomed us in and fed us cheese and creton (a meat paste you put on bread) until we could eat no more.

We made the 2.5 hour drive each way to Quebec City on our first day in the province as we could not find an affordable place to stay for the night (meaning we arrived back to Chateauguay at 2:30 am).  But we made our eight hours there a very memorable eight hours indeed!  We walked barefoot on the Plains of Abraham, where the British defeated the French in 1759.  We explored the Citadel overlooking the St. Lawrence River.  We strolled through the fortified upper and lower parts of the city.  We watched the sunset behind the Chateau Frontenac as the city lights began to glow.  We dined and enjoyed beverages on outdoor patios of the old city.  We climbed on canons.  We watched street performers.  We bought postcards.  We made friends with a shopkeeper who sold pieces made by local artists.  It is a charming city, the oldest in Canada, full of history, European style and friendly people.  I recommend that all Canadians should go there at least once for a little perspective on our nation.

Our next day was spent in Montreal.  Although much different from Quebec City, I was pleasantly surprised.  We viewed the city from above at Mont-Royal.  We explored and shopped in newer portions of downtown.  We napped in Parc Maisonneuve near the Olympic Park, where the Summer Olympics were hosted in 1976.  We enjoyed poutine in a part of the city which is a hub of the arts.  We walked through Old Montreal and enjoyed some live jazz at a cafe.  And we strolled the piers on the water and listened to the Saturday night sounds of the city.

Aug. 29-31: Montreal through Ottawa to Lake Superior Provincial Park, ON (clocked 1164 kms)
After a tearful goodbye to Marie’s family, The Eastwest Tour became three rather than two.  Babs is VERY full with all of our belongings and we often get strange looks from people we pass by.  I think it’s a combination of the fact that we have a BC license plate, that the space behind the driver’s seat is filled with luggage, and the back end of the car is quite low... but all is well!  We made a quick stop in Ottawa to visit friends of mine who just moved there, Janelle and Daniel Heffner.  I went to high school with Janelle and it was great to enjoy some good ol’ Timmy’s with them and explore a bit of Parliament Hill.  It also turned out to be the day of the Gay Pride Parade right in front of Parliament Hill so there was no lack of activity...  We camped one night near Lake Talon, somewhere in the expanse of Ontario, with a plethora of froggy friends.  And we learned more about Marie and the extent of her wilderness survival skills.  Let’s just say she is no stranger to an axe.  Our second night was spent camping on the beach of Lake Superior.  We all fell in love immediately.  It felt like the ocean with its vastness and huge crashing waves, but the water was clear and the sandy bottom was without seaweed.  It was glorious.  We laid under the stars, stared at the campfire, and listened to the waves.  I highly recommend Lake Superior Provincial Park as a camping spot.  Our beachside campsite was a bit windy and our tent struggled to keep its place but it was so worth it.

Aug. 31-Sept. 1: Lake Superior Provincial Park to Thunder Bay, ON (clocked 581 kms)
The drive from the Provincial Park to Thunder Bay was dotted with views of Lake Superior and other lakes and rivers.  It is a beautiful part of our country and I’m so glad we took this route through Ontario.  Arriving in Thunder Bay, we were greeted by Mark and Karen Davenport, my DTS leaders back in 2005.  It was so good to see them and be shown around their house outside the city on five acres of land.  They fed us well, let us use their hot tub, washer and dryer, and shower and put us up in the “hostel room.”  If you ever need a place to stay near Thunder Bay, Mark and Karen’s is the place to go.  The visit was too brief but I know I will be back one day soon.

Please stay tuned as I will be posting again soon about our trip west through the Prairie Provinces!