Sept 12-24

  

50 + 1 Richmond Hill High School Reunion!

 

Winnipeg, Guelph, Winnipeg

 

We travelled from Brandon to Winnipeg and returned to the Arrowhead RV Park in Ile-des-Chenes.  A community about 20 minutes from the city outskirts.  This is the third time we have stayed here.  It’s a fine campground in a quiet community, nothing special but the owners are very nice.

 

We were getting ready to go home for the weekend.  Yup, back to Ontario and Guelph for a 4 day weekend.  My high school 50+1 in-person reunion was happening on Sep 17.

 

The day we dropped off our laundry, we tried to find a coffee roaster for Jerry’s collection.  A few were listed on Google as roasters.  Turned out the place we choose was not and the coffee was terrible but it was across the road from a Philippino Festival.  We spend some time there. Listed to some music that didn’t sound like it was from the Philippines at all, in fact is was very much heavy metal and tried a traditional Philippine dish - I did not like it at all and it didn’t improve my opinion when I found out it was pig intestines!

 

We had lots to do beside laundry, there was packing and dropping Misty off at the Cat’s Cradle in Winnipeg.  Her second vacation from us on this trip.  This place was not the same as the Alley Cat Hotel but it was still very nice.  They were so busy, she had to stay in the mezzanine area.  She had her own room with a “catio” overlooking the dog kennels.  Misty could watch them all running around and barking.  Perhaps it was entertaining for her.

 

Our flight with Flair went very smoothly and our daughter Amie picked us up at the Waterloo airport.  It was nice being home. 

 

The reunion was just a super day.  It was wonderful to see friends from long ago and we laughed so much.  It was just a great time.  By the time we returned to Guelph we were both very tired but happy.

 

Dear friends from Beverley Acres and Crosby Heights Public Schools and RHHS.

 

I never went to my reunion so E said I could come to hers.

 

I planned to do nothing on the Sunday but Jerry had other plans in store.  First he told me that we had to go to the church to pick up Ash, our grandchild who works on AV on Sunday mornings.  I told him that was OK go ahead without me.  A while later he came back to say that since we were in Guelph, Casey was hoping she could take our pictures when we picked up Ash, which were needed for the church’s tech team directory.  I reluctantly agreed.  

 

As we drove into the parking lot, there was a group of people waving and shouting “Surprise!”  Jerry planned a party to celebrate my 70th birthday. I was completely surprised.  We are usually travelling on my birthday which is October 2nd and there is rarely a gathering on that day.  He figured I wouldn’t suspect anything if the party happened this weekend.  It was super.  Our daughters carried out Jerry’s plan - invitations, decorations and food.  They are wonderful.

 

 

A SURPRISE (early) Birthday Party for Elizabeth.

 

Thank you Amie and Kelly for arranging (everything) to make this a success and surprise.

 

Very early on Monday, Amie took us back to the Waterloo airport and we flew back to Winnipeg.  Once again all went well and we landed safe and sound.

 

We had to wait for a bit before we could pick up Misty so we decided to go for lunch and wait instead of another trip into  the city.  We had the best lunch at The Falafel Place on Corydon in Winnipeg.  We had some trouble finding it because the GPS took us to a previous location for the restaurant.  The falafels were so good we said we would have to come back again before we left!

 

We picked up Misty at the hotel, what a spoiled baby…she was so glad to see us again!

 

It had been a pretty hectic few days for us so we decided to stay put for a few days, rest up and plan our way home.

 

We found some interesting cycling around Winnipeg, there is an amazing network of paved bike trails.  We cycled on two multi-purpose paths one sunny day.  One trail followed a creek and the other took us past the airport and the Canadian Forces Base, 17 Wing.

 

We parked Clifford at an old arena, before getting on the trails, and Jerry noticed a building next door called the “Bruce Oake Recovery Centre.”  

 

Jerry was curious about what kind of recovery center it was.  A fellow came out to check a door and he asked him about the center.  Turned out the fellow was the facility manager and offered us a tour of the place.    It had been built through donations and fundraising spearheaded by Scott Oake, a former CBC announcer whose son died from an overdose.  The facility is named in memory of his son.

 

 

 

 

It’s a 50 bed (men only) 4-month program for alcohol and drug addictions.  It is privately funded and seems to be based on pay as able.  It was great to have a walk through.  Clients who achieve one year sobriety are awarded a Hockey shirt hung in the gym with their name and the number “1” on the shirt.

 

 

The $17 million not for profit facility was built on donations and spear-headed by the Oakes family:  Scott, Anne and brother Darcy.  (Bruce died from a heroin overdose.)

 

Outside the entrance to Wing 17 there are numerous historical planes on display.  It was fun and interesting biking around these old airplanes.

 

 

 

A Radar thingy

 

Further cycling on the nice paved multi-purpose path took us past the 100 year old community garden.

 

 

Meanwhile: the RV beside us had a sign in Spanish in their window warning outsiders to beware of the dog …

 

…so we posted our own sign.  Translation: “Beware of Cat.”  What a laugh.  They left.  Good thing because here is an example of a Misty Cat Attack:

 

 

It was time to think about going home and we spent some time debating which route to take.  We finally choose to travel home through the US since we’ve made the trip on the Trans Canada through northern Ontario many times before.  This way, we would be able to see new places and things.  We were also feeling brave since we’d made two plane trips and attended two group functions and had not come down with Covid.  Please God, let that be the case for the rest of our journey.

 

The next step was figuring out where to stay and since it would be prime “leaf peeping” time in Upper Michigan, making reservations at campgrounds.

 

One last thing to do in the Peg - pick-up our laundry and have lunch at The Falafel Place.  We did go back and we ordered exactly what we had the first time and it was very good.

 

We left Winnipeg on September 25th for Baudette, Minnesota.

 

The customs guy did confiscate our fruit!

 

That’s all for now, folks.

 

So long for now.

Love from,

Jerry, Elizabeth, Misty, FJ (Flat Jesus), the Guys, Miss Adventure Too, and Clifford the Big Red Truck.

 

CORRECTION:  A few blogs back I told you about the research done by the Beaverlodge Agriculture Research Station in Alberta.  The information came from the Lions Club Tour Guide who told us this station was instrumental in developing Canola after WWII.  A good friend who knows all about the AAFC federal agriculture research stations corrected that statement.  It was not the Beaverlodge station but the research facility in Saskatoon that did this work.  Maybe we should tell the Grande Prairie Lions Club.  Anyway I wanted you to have the right info.