GNOMES on the go in THUNDER Bay !!

WHOOSH BANG :-) We are HOME !!! Been quite the day .. and the Boys are keeping me company as I fix and download the pics .. but I am the ONLY one with a glass of wine LoL ...

Ann .. I got the list out , and, as far as I can see there are several folks ahead of you .. Sandy in White Lake is next .. I am shooting for a Monday postal visit .. actually .. my friend ALMOST had me talked in to driving to White Lake she was so impressed with my how highly my niece spoke about it .. but between VCARS and my Hospice stuff and the LU student I am mentoring and, oh yeah. work .. well .. it would have been impossible .. would have been an overnighter as I am almost SURE it's a 6 hour drive? Is that correct Sandy ?

So .. from Sandy it goes to ..erynne, ginnylynn,cybercrone,procrastinator (gawd I luv THAT name :-) ), drivenbonkers, Bettypauze (we need Betty's address), june ontario THEN ViolaAnn :-) am thinking you MAY have'em for Xmas Ann!!
You have the ultimate pleasure of sending them on to Todd Boland in Newfoundland and last but NEVER least Diggin dirt .. what he will do with the Boys is anyone's best guess .. but .. given the fact NF has had SCADS of snow the past 2 winters .. he may have to 'over winter them' for a trip back in the Spring :-)

And so .. sit back and enjoy what I 'think' will be the last of the pics .. mind you .. my bud mentioned about FIVE other places I should go .. if it doesn't rain tomorrow I MAY consider a couple of them .. we about wore out poor Lilly today ..

Cheers!!

~M~

This is where the Boys sleep at night .. they love it .. AND .. we haven't had but one fire in the woodstove as of yet this season ..
From this vantage point they can watch about all the comings and goings in the house .. AND .. they are safely AWAY from little Lilly who LOVES Bullwinkle !!!

~M~

Our first stop today was Kakabeka Falls (The Niagra of the North) gosh .. it was running ALMOST at full tilt .. when we have had bunches of rain .. the ROAR is amazing.. the Boys were a bit 'freaked out' but I didn't keep them on the rail too long ..

~M~

Link http://www.ontarioparks.com/English/kaka.html

Another Falls pic ...

~M~

Marilynne thought the mountain of shale in the parking lot of the Falls would be a nice place to put us .. it was sure kinda difficult getting up there though .. Shale is SLIPPERY ..

The Boys

Then it was on to Old Fort William Historical Park .. WHOOPSIE .. Marilynne was NOT impressed by the fact that is was NOT opened .. but .. we made the best of it and she took some pics anyway :-)

The Boys

Lilly was always looking out for us .. but .. sometimes we fooled her :-)

This is the building Marilynne tried to 'break into' to get some pics of something called 'Voyageur History', her friend told her to STOP yanking at the door handle !!!!

So .. because a bird called a Goose did something to Marilynne's car (boy it made a mess) we left Old Fort William and headed to a place called Mount McKay :-)
WOW .. we were high up !! So much to see ..

Mount McKay
Mount McKay is the most outstanding feature of Thunder Bay's landscape. The mountain and access road are situated on the Fort William Indian Reserve (#52). Loch Lomond, the reservoir for Thunder Bay South (formerly Fort William) lies at the top.



Half way up - at the end of the road - is the scenic lookout with an excellent view of the City and harbour. A small memorial commemorates the war dead of the Aboriginal people. For those who wish to explore further, there is a path (about a half hour hike) up the eastern face of the mountain. Along the way are a number of regionally uncommon flora species including red and sugar maple, and (beware) poison ivy. Once on top of the mountain - besides the spectacular view - one may observe glacial erratics as well as dwarfed trees, especially jack pine (Krumholz Effect). There is a small grove of yellow birch growing on the edge of a second maple stand in the bush just south of the entrance gate.
Do not attempt to climb the talus slope on the north face of the mountain. It is unstable and dangerous.

HOLY COW .. when Marilynne walked over to this EAGLE Bullwinkle actually tried to scream !!!!!

THEN .. Marilynne climbed down a VERY steep hill with us and plunked us down on a rock and took our picture with that GIANT way out in Lake Superior .. way way away from us .. sure was a nice view ... :-)

One more GIANT picture .. Marilynne hopes that people can enlarge the pics ...

Then we saw a Monument to the Ojibway Elders .. it was very nice..

Me .. AGAIN .. DOG .. what a time I have had with these pics .. just because I can .. I will bore you with camera/computer woes I have had .. gag me !!!

Today the camera worked like a charm .. I uploaded the pics onto our desktop puter .. S L O W .. is now a word that SINGS in my psyche !! I finally had had it !! I put the pics in a file and exported them to my laptop and proceeded to do any editing required there .. well .. I am not so impressed with the editing program on my laptop .. so .. I hope you are able to ENLARGE the pics ..

I have to thank whoever thought up the GNOME EXCHANGE (was it 2zeus) I kinda came in 'Mid program' .. it has been such a pleasure to share Thunder Bay and area with all of you. My only concern is "What happens after Newfoundland" ? Do we put the Boys to bed for the winter and send them West again .. who knows .. we could very well pick up new 'surrogate homes' for them .. AND .. those of us caught in the fall & winter months .. would be blessed with a SPRING visit :-)

Take care all :-)

~M~

Great pictures Marilynn and thanks so much for sharing. Unfortunately I was unable to take them on a tour while in Vancouver, so I would love to get them back out this way again...perhaps for spring..who knows..I went for a beautiful walk today, but nothing great to take pictures of as the trees at the park I was at where just brown and yellow..will try exploring somewhere different tomorrow

Beautiful photos, Marilynne. The Niagra of the North...who knew? I do now. Gorgeous! Prompted me to Google Thunder Bay only to find that it is steeped in history with lots of lovely recreational areas. I am sure I'll be learning lots about eastern Canada that I did not know.

Enjoyed the pics, you sure have been busy with the boys.

As to their itinerary, White Lake is only an hour west of my house in Ottawa while drivenbonkers, Bettypauze (we need Betty's address), june ontario are all quite a bit closer to or west of Toronto.

Somehow the list that you have must have gotten out of order because there were all those in the Toronto area and then the three of us close to Ottawa - Sandy in White Lake, myself in Ottawa and threegardeners in N. Augusta - about an hour south of Ottawa.

Ann

Hmmmmmmmm .. quite the mystery fer sure Ann .. had NO idea how close you were to Sandy ..

I am 'CLUELESS in Thunder Bay' as to what to do to change the order of names so as not to cause a problem.
So .. shall we kinda VOTE on it ?

I haven't seen any posts on the Gnome Travels from several of the recipients to come .. that in and of itself is disturbing .. I know folks 'lurk' in the forums, but, if you are actually following the progression (and reception) of something, like the Gnomes, I would think you might favour the forum with a brief comment so as to let us know you are 'out there' and awaiting their arrival. I know we've hit a few snags .. but HEY .. life is full of'em and this venture is purely for fun .. if you can't have FUN .. well .......................................

So .. for Sandy's sake .. lets hope we hear from erynne in Hillsburgh or .. ginnylynn in Blyth.

I am so hoping that my comments will not be taken unfavourably, I meant no harm by any of them .. I just want to keep THE BOYS movin :-)


~M~



This message was edited Oct 18, 2008 8:44 PM

Marilynn
Super photo's of your pies! I could almost taste them! At least the calories aren't there.
Lovely blue sky in your corner of the world too.
I love to see the 4 legged helpers that everyone seems to have to assist in these travels.

Ann

Fun is a subjective thing, don't you think?

I resigned from the travelling gnome list at the beginning of September and notified the person ahead of me on the list. I'll email erynne and let her know you're looking for her.

--Ginny

I'm not overly particular, but I think Sandy and I were looking on their visit as an excuse to get together. At least I was. I had no idea Ginny had withdrawn from the list.

Ann

Hiya

I will take Ginny's name off the list .. it's not scratched off.

Am thinking I'll be packaging up the Boys today and I'll head off to the post office tomorrow and send them east.

As an aside .. I did a more thorough search re White Lake, ON by using Postal Codes .. well .. besides the fact there a few of'em, I now see that I was in error as far as the locale is concerned. I had thought the area was closer to Thunder Bay (albeit a 6 hour drive) .. I now see that it is closer to Ottawa.
In fact the Google map says it should take Ann 1 hour and 7 minutes to get there :-)

So .. if Erynne decides she no longer wishes to participate .. after Sandy, the Boys would be heading to Cybercrone in Toronto, that is, if a detour to Ottawa doesn't take place.

When you look at it in the scheme of things .. this is fer sure not a life threatening situation .. and I tend to think that as long as the Boys keep moving .. well .. THAT'S a great thing :-) The fact they have clocked so many miles already, and the many smiles their adventures have personally brought me is legacy enough !!!!


~M~

Am home now from our weekend excursion. Had a Dmail from Glenda you said

Wow, Thunder Bay is beautiful. I love waterfalls.... and that view!

I haven't checked in since yesterday, and there's a lot going on! Sorry for the confusion of where White Lake is.

Marilyn, just send the boys ahead to me and we'll work it out. No worries.

I'm looking forward to showing the boys around White Lake first, then if Ann is available, perhaps we can show them a snippet of Ottawa as well.

Sandy

I'll be tucking the BOYS into their wee travel box later this aft .. I'll have them in the mail tomorrow .. with luck Sandy will see them by Friday.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if all DG 'Gnomers' in that area could get together :-) Hope you can make it so.


~M~

Good luck on your travels, wee guys! It was a pleasure joint-hosting them here in Calgary :-)

Hi everyone ..

The Gnomes are safely packaged and on their way to Sandy in White Lake, ON.

We wished them a Bon Voyage and safe travel. According to the young lady at the Postal Outlet they 'should' arrive at their destination by this coming Friday October 24 (fingers crossed).

Enjoy Sandy et al :-)


~Marilynne~

OK, I'll watch for the pony on Friday :-) I hope we'll have some nice sunny weather to show the lads around - we might even get to go on a boat ride!

Sandy

I'm watching and have posted a couple times, but when ever they get here is fine with me.

Whoever sends them, just D-mail me so I know to expect them. OK?
~marilyn

WOOO HOOOOO .. @ 0958 this morning .. the BOYS have arrived in White Lake ON .. I just BY CHANCE checked the tracking # ... let the NEW adventure begin :-)

~M~

Wow! 2 days early. And the weather out this way promises to be good for the next couple of days.

Ann

Yes, they arrived! I picked them up at the post office around 3:30p.m. Holy mackerel, you guys didn't tell me what a handful they are! We have been on the go ever since....

They have been up to mischief (especially Bullwinkle) but I'll need some time to get the pics up and tell you the story of their first evening in White Lake, Ontario.

OK, here's the link to their White Lake stop on their Cross Canada tour.

Sandy

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/916445/

This is another thread which doesn't link to the one before it. You'll find the previous one at:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/906091/