Short post here, because I'm tired from the road.
Yesterday, we hit the road. We had a very nice visit with most of the Indiana Ransoms in a McDonald's in Fort Wayne, and Seren and Porter got to meet (and torment) some of their cousins. Everyone was sad about having to head out, but we had miles to go...
Before getting to Chicago, South Bend was kind enough to gift us with more rain in fifty miles than we'd seen in a month and a half. Our car, needless to say, was a lot cleaner.
In Chicago, we stayed up way too late visiting with my Aunt Marcine and Uncle Arty. I'm sure there are people somewhere who don't like these guys, but we absolutely adore them. They put us up for the night and we managed to only have one crying dog, one dead car battery, and one peed bed. After breakfast and promises that our next visit will be a real visit and not just an overnight stop, we got back on the road.
Wisconsin is shorter and less Scott Walkery when you drive through on I-90 instead of I-94 (although they are concurrent for a ways). We crossed the Mississippi and got some nice views and Seren took many pictures, which I'm sure will be posted in the coming days.
After a total of 930 miles in two days, we're now in Jackson, MN. Tomorrow, we head to Wyoming so that we'll be staged well for visiting a former student in Yellowstone!
Showing posts with label Minnesota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Minnesota. Show all posts
15 July 2012
01 June 2012
Eau Claire, Wisconsin?? (Day 5)
You may have noticed, if you are an avid reader of this blog, that we failed to post yesterday. Such, sometimes, is life. Especially when the motel's wifi is weak and it's already very late.
Our initial plan was to drive all the way across Canada from Prince Rupert to Niagara Falls without once entering the US. Last night, however, we took harsh stock of our situation and decided that we needed to change our plans. This was exactly the reason that I insisted on bringing along something like twelve state/province/region/national maps when we left the house.
All along, our goal was to meet up with my family at The Falls and to have a couple of days of vacation. Unfortunately, that very scenic day of travel through Alberta put us farther behind schedule than we really wanted to be, and looking ahead to driving through "northern" Ontario, we feared that road conditions and travel speeds would be similar to driving the Alaska Highway (i.e., great if you have a decent amount of money and unlimited time, but painfully frustrating if you're on a budget and a schedule). It was decided that we would cut 5 hours of drive time (which equates to more like 8 hours of travel time when you factor in small children and a dog) from the trip by taking a right at Brandon, MB.
Now, to backtrack...
DAY FOUR
Here's what happened on Day Four: we drove 1020 kilometers. That's roughly akin to driving from downtown Boston to downtown Cleveland, except we did it across the prairies of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Our goal was to run from Calgary to Regina doing a sort of Tour of the Capitols, but we were doing really well on time and comfort and decided to push onward. We found ourselves spending the night in Moosomin, SK, which is totally worth the visit if you like disgusting tap water and feed stores.
Along the way, I learned that Seren is a better civil engineer than the person tasked with that work in Regina (a long story that I really wish never to remember again).
Also, Petey P told the first joke that he heard once he moved to Alberta:
When we heard that, we looked at each other, looked at the VERY long view over the hills, and just started laughing. Good times on the road.
DAY FIVE
As previously mentioned, we re-evaluated our plans last night. We decided that it would be better to cruise through the US and use cheaper fuel and cheaper hotels for our last two days on the road, especially as we'd be retracing the route that we drove when we first moved to Alaska.
We started by driving to Brandon, MB and getting breakfast at A&W. (Side note: every third restaurant in Canada is A&W or SUBWAY. Seriously, not even Tim Horton's [mmmmmtimbits] is as common.) Canadians should not make fried chicken that well, especially not for breakfast. Of even greater importance, we had poutine for the first time. It was all that I dreamed and imagined that it would be. More need not be said. You will never understand if you have not partaken.
From Brandon, we drove south to cross the border into North Dakota. There's a blur in my mind in which Grand Forks and Fargo exist, but I was too busy listening to Sherman Alexie reading a modern-day classic to let much of that register. We crossed all of Minnesota in one go because we're just hard core like that and I'm posting this from Eau Claire, WI.
Interjection on city driving: I was born and bred (as a driver, at least) driving the multi-lane highways of a large city. Driving in three dimensions, with ramps and tunnels and changing lanes and merges and whatnot was what I knew from the start. I could shove my car through the smallest gaps in traffic to get exactly where I needed to go and nothing bothered me.
Spending two years driving on an island where nobody really gets that worked up over anything else on the road was bad preparation for driving in Minneapolis. Really, I don't know where all of those people were going at 9:30pm, but they were not "Minnesota nice" and I really don't find any big city nostalgia creeping in.
SUMMATION
The kids are turning out to be road warriors like their parents. Spending an insane number of hours together in the car on consecutive days forces a bond between family members that just doesn't develop under less-constrained circumstances. Seren is being a great big sister, helping her brother when she can, amusing herself, and taking on more and more responsibility. Porter is fighting boredom to the best of his ability and doing very well with his toilet training. Even their parents are mostly amicable the majority of the time.
Here's the route we've followed to this point, with tomorrow in as the last leg: http://goo.gl/maps/rZ95 Please be so kind as to note that today's leg was actually 150 km longer than yesterday's, and that tomorrow will be similarly long.
Also, awesome tidbit about Canada: the border between BC and Alberta, where it doesn't follow a longitude line, follows the continental divide. That's so cool. Way to go, Canada - rivers aren't awesome enough for you, you need the tips of the mountain range. Much respect.
Our initial plan was to drive all the way across Canada from Prince Rupert to Niagara Falls without once entering the US. Last night, however, we took harsh stock of our situation and decided that we needed to change our plans. This was exactly the reason that I insisted on bringing along something like twelve state/province/region/national maps when we left the house.
All along, our goal was to meet up with my family at The Falls and to have a couple of days of vacation. Unfortunately, that very scenic day of travel through Alberta put us farther behind schedule than we really wanted to be, and looking ahead to driving through "northern" Ontario, we feared that road conditions and travel speeds would be similar to driving the Alaska Highway (i.e., great if you have a decent amount of money and unlimited time, but painfully frustrating if you're on a budget and a schedule). It was decided that we would cut 5 hours of drive time (which equates to more like 8 hours of travel time when you factor in small children and a dog) from the trip by taking a right at Brandon, MB.
Now, to backtrack...
DAY FOUR
Here's what happened on Day Four: we drove 1020 kilometers. That's roughly akin to driving from downtown Boston to downtown Cleveland, except we did it across the prairies of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Our goal was to run from Calgary to Regina doing a sort of Tour of the Capitols, but we were doing really well on time and comfort and decided to push onward. We found ourselves spending the night in Moosomin, SK, which is totally worth the visit if you like disgusting tap water and feed stores.
Along the way, I learned that Seren is a better civil engineer than the person tasked with that work in Regina (a long story that I really wish never to remember again).
Also, Petey P told the first joke that he heard once he moved to Alberta:
You know the best part about living in Alberta? You can watch your dog run away for three days!
When we heard that, we looked at each other, looked at the VERY long view over the hills, and just started laughing. Good times on the road.
DAY FIVE
As previously mentioned, we re-evaluated our plans last night. We decided that it would be better to cruise through the US and use cheaper fuel and cheaper hotels for our last two days on the road, especially as we'd be retracing the route that we drove when we first moved to Alaska.
We started by driving to Brandon, MB and getting breakfast at A&W. (Side note: every third restaurant in Canada is A&W or SUBWAY. Seriously, not even Tim Horton's [mmmmmtimbits] is as common.) Canadians should not make fried chicken that well, especially not for breakfast. Of even greater importance, we had poutine for the first time. It was all that I dreamed and imagined that it would be. More need not be said. You will never understand if you have not partaken.
From Brandon, we drove south to cross the border into North Dakota. There's a blur in my mind in which Grand Forks and Fargo exist, but I was too busy listening to Sherman Alexie reading a modern-day classic to let much of that register. We crossed all of Minnesota in one go because we're just hard core like that and I'm posting this from Eau Claire, WI.
Interjection on city driving: I was born and bred (as a driver, at least) driving the multi-lane highways of a large city. Driving in three dimensions, with ramps and tunnels and changing lanes and merges and whatnot was what I knew from the start. I could shove my car through the smallest gaps in traffic to get exactly where I needed to go and nothing bothered me.
Spending two years driving on an island where nobody really gets that worked up over anything else on the road was bad preparation for driving in Minneapolis. Really, I don't know where all of those people were going at 9:30pm, but they were not "Minnesota nice" and I really don't find any big city nostalgia creeping in.
SUMMATION
The kids are turning out to be road warriors like their parents. Spending an insane number of hours together in the car on consecutive days forces a bond between family members that just doesn't develop under less-constrained circumstances. Seren is being a great big sister, helping her brother when she can, amusing herself, and taking on more and more responsibility. Porter is fighting boredom to the best of his ability and doing very well with his toilet training. Even their parents are mostly amicable the majority of the time.
Here's the route we've followed to this point, with tomorrow in as the last leg: http://goo.gl/maps/rZ95 Please be so kind as to note that today's leg was actually 150 km longer than yesterday's, and that tomorrow will be similarly long.
Also, awesome tidbit about Canada: the border between BC and Alberta, where it doesn't follow a longitude line, follows the continental divide. That's so cool. Way to go, Canada - rivers aren't awesome enough for you, you need the tips of the mountain range. Much respect.
30 June 2010
Impressions from the road!
OK, you need to understand two things to appreciate these pictures. 1) JoElle takes pictures with her phone and I take pictures with the camera while driving, so the pictures I take may not be in focus. 2) I have just picked up the camera to take shots quickly when something amused me. This means that a lot of my pictures are probably not representative of the area.
ENOUGH OF THAT HERE ARE SOME PICTURES
Yesterday!
Yes, this is what I think of when I think of Wisconsin.
OK, there's some pretty stuff there, too.
Today!
North Dakota: beautiful driving, LOTS OF WIND
My kids are about as cute as it is humanly possible for kids to get. I say that as a completely unbiased individual.
Manitoba: not only north of North Dakota, also north of Minnesota!
Yes, rednecks have these on their cars at WalMart in Canada, too.
ENOUGH OF THAT HERE ARE SOME PICTURES
Yesterday!
Yes, this is what I think of when I think of Wisconsin.
OK, there's some pretty stuff there, too.
Today!
North Dakota: beautiful driving, LOTS OF WIND
My kids are about as cute as it is humanly possible for kids to get. I say that as a completely unbiased individual.
Manitoba: not only north of North Dakota, also north of Minnesota!
Yes, rednecks have these on their cars at WalMart in Canada, too.
29 June 2010
Day Two/Six on the road
We just finished our second day of the second leg of our trip to Alaska, logging a combined 900ish miles in the past two days and winding up in St. Cloud, MN. I'm pretty sure that some joker kept pulling that Wile E. Coyote trick of grabbing the chunk of road we'd just driven and shoving it in front of us because Wisconsin felt approximately 6000 miles long. On the up-side, we did have a run from Chicago to Cheesyresortville, WI where the Pathfinder got 27 mpg, which is 4 mpg better than it's ever averaged before.
We're wrapping up our day at 8ish local time (got in to the hotel at 7ish and just finished unpacking and setting up). It feels good to be off the road early with a lot of travel done, and we're looking forward to getting into Canada tomorrow. Hopefully, the border crossing will be uneventful and we'll get to enjoy a clean country full of exceptionally polite people.
We're wrapping up our day at 8ish local time (got in to the hotel at 7ish and just finished unpacking and setting up). It feels good to be off the road early with a lot of travel done, and we're looking forward to getting into Canada tomorrow. Hopefully, the border crossing will be uneventful and we'll get to enjoy a clean country full of exceptionally polite people.
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