Road Trip

All cruisers need to get off the boat and take a road trip once in a while.
We decided to do ours early in the game when we still have our own car to drive. We had a number of items to be delivered to family in Alberta so we loaded up the red '94 Escort station wagon that we had purchased when our son was in University and headed west. Leaving Toronto on July 9 we traveled through Ontario, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana and then crossed the border back into Canada at Coutts, Alberta on July 13.

Here are some highlights from the trip:

Chicago Skyline - As we hit Chicago at rush hour
we had two hours to enjoy the view from the I-90.








The Corn Palace - Located in
Mitchell, South Dakota this structure
has existed in various formats as a
tribute to one of the
main industries in the area. The
murals are re-done each year and are made from different colored corn cobs. You can't miss the place - there must be 100 billboards for it on the I-90 from Chicago on.


Wall Drug - The billboards for this place outnumbered the ones for the Corn Palace. Located in the town of Wall on the edge of the badlands of South Dakota it is a rambling collection of western themed shops, restaurants, kitchy displays and much more, all under one roof.




Mt. Rushmore - As this well known national monument is only a few miles off the Interstate and the rain clouds had cleared away we made a short side trip to this amazing attraction. Very impressive!









Amazing Scenery - Every state and province we drove through had amazing landscapes.

IYC Weekend - July 3 to 5

We were glad to finally get away from our dock (yes, farther than the pumpout) and take a break from working on the boat. We had a nice sail from LSYC to IYC on the Toronto Islands on July 3 where we spent 2 days with freinds on their boats Sin Cera and Chi Chi Maru.

We took the IYC tender to downtown Toronto and walked to the St. Lawrence Market. I needed to stock up on my favorite pot scrubbers and the little housewares booth in the St. Lawrence Market is the only place I have seen them sold. They are small rectangles (about 4" x 6") of colourful terry towelling coated with something that makes them hard and scratchy. They work great on everything from BBQ grills to non stick cookware. A must for the galley!

The grand finale of the season's fireworks displays happened on Saturda, July 4, in honor of our neighbours to the soouth. We loaded the trhee dinghies and went across the beach on the west side of Hanlon's Point. From there we had a great view of the fireworks as they were set off in front of Ontario Place. It has become a tradition for the kids to gather scraps of wood on the beach and build a bonfire.

On the way home Sunday we picked up a passenger from Harbourfront for the sail back to LSYC.