Christmas2011

Christmas at the Zastrows!

2011-09-16,17,18

Friday – Sunday End of trip at the cabin

Arrived at the cabin before noon Friday. With the RV waiting in the road, Jim began cutting trees. The driveway was not wide enough to get the RV turned and into the drive. After cutting a tree, some brush, and lowering some stumps, Jim moved the RV into the drive. After cutting some low hanging limbs, he finally was able to move through and back the RV into an open area. We spent the rest of the day cutting more trees – white and jack pines – to open the area for a river view.

Super was a pizza we got in Rhinelander after we found a gas-run pruning saw that Jim could use to get at the higher branches. Saturday he was able to get more clearing done. We now have a nice spot to put the RV for the summers.

Rain moved in late on Saturday and continued during the night and Sunday morning. We’ll save the rest of the tree-trimming for another day. Arrived home in the early afternoon.

Wonderful trip and good to be home!

2011-09-15 Back in Wisconsin

Thursday

Temperature was 30 degrees this morning! That explains the furnace running most of the night. We left Thunder Bay, ON, planning to camp in Minnesota. Customs was even faster than going into Canada. We didn’t find any private camps along highway 61 and kept on going. We finally stopped at the Frontier Campground, Saxon, WI. Weather has been sunny but cool all day. We ran into some smoke and haze from the Boundary Water Forest fire along the lake.

2011-09-14 Thunder Bay - Terry Fox

Wednesday

Temperature dropped during the night and the LP ran out. With extra blankets and an electric heater we managed to get back to sleep. Even Buffy stopped shivering!

We drove out hwy 17 north to the Terry Fox Memorial. Terry had cancer, had already lost a leg but decided to run across Canada to give others hope. He managed to cross through five provinces before the he became to ill to continue. The highway was named in his honor and a large wayside overlook and memorial has been built.

Tomorrow we’ll head down hwy 61 and into Minnesota.

2011-09-13 Kakabeka Falls

Tuesday

Cooled off during the night… temp in the low 40’s this am. It’s still cloudy but the rain is gone and we can see brighter sky on the horizon. We leave Neys today for Thunder Bay. Plan to stay at a KOA or Good Sam for the next couple days. Looking for internet connections!

Found the Happy Land RV Park between Thunder Bay and Kakabeka Falls. It’s a Good Sam Park and actually quite nice… Internet is fast and the laundry was OK, too. We’ve have more rain – with a rainbow this time.

Visited Kakabeka Falls P.P. and enjoyed the short hike. Met another rescue dog, a beautiful Collie who was happy to see Buffy.

2011-09-12 Jim's hike at Neys

Monday

Jim hiked some of the trails at Neys while Mary and Buffy lazed around camp.

We stopped at the visitor Center in the afternoon – the ranger told us a storm was coming across the lake. We could see the clouds off on the horizon. So we battened down the camper, closed windows, etc. and drove into Marathon. Marathon is the biggest city we’ve seen the Sault. And many of the streets have familiar names – names from home – names of the lumbers barons. We did some grocery shopping and sight seeing, then drove back. Rain started before we got home.

The evening was very stormy. Great streaks of lightning over the lake, lots of thunder and wind. Sounded like some hail as well. We worried about our new vents, but they came through just fine.

2011-09-11 Neys P. P.

Sunday

10^th anniversary of 9/11. Probably not a good day to be crossing borders. We don’t have to worry about that as we are going to other way.

Our solid blue sky was suddenly mostly cloudy before we were half way to Wawa. And the road was wet in places as we drove along. Most of today’s route was inland – no lake views most of the way. Still on highway 17.

Neys P.P. is along the lake. We found a site in the first campground – all pull-throughs. We are on the row closest to the water. The waves here are bigger and louder than at Agawa. Got some sunset pictures before the clouds blocked the view.