Around St. Thomas (7/3/2015)

Today we had a few errands in town to take care of, so while Marilyn headed out for another day with her friend Nyla, Collins had a down day and took a long nap, Joe, Dave, Mazie and I headed into town.  We found a bank and got some Canadian money, then went to the library to try to upload the chip that Mazie bought for the GPs while I tried to get some of my blog pages finished.  But we were both unsuccessful.  The chip Mazie purchased was just an update of the maps she already had on the GPS for which she had lifetime updates, so she needs to try to return that.  And the internet service was so slow there that I was only able to upload about 10 photos in the hour plus that we were there.  We gave up on that and headed back to main street where we found a barber for Joe and David.  Mazie and I went into a shop across the street, and they guys showed up in about 10 minutes -- fastest haircuts they had ever gotten.  We left there and went to a produce market and picked up a few things, then headed back to camp.  Most of us tried to get in a little nap before we met up with the other group for dinner.

Dinner was at Buccaneers, fish (perch for most of us, Collins had pickerel which is the same as walleye).  We had a fun dinner with great company.

This restaurant is right on the beach at Port Stanley, on Lake Erie, so we walked down the little boardwalk for the view.

There are murals on a lot of buildings back in St. Thomas, and there was one here on the side of a building.

Then Earl decided we needed to taste the orangeade here at this other little shop (memories of his youth), so we got a few cups of that to share.  They actually make it fresh from the whole orange, including the rind.

But the evening was not yet over.  It became sort of a "progressive dinner" with another stop at Shaw's ice cream shop, where everyone except David indulged in an ice cream cone, even though none of us was hungry.

We finally said our goodbyes to Nyla and Earl and headed back to the RV.  The campground here had fireworks so we got our lawnchairs out and took in another set of fireworks, which were pretty good.

The weather was beautiful today, although it got a bit chilly last night.  When I woke up at 7:00, it was 55 degrees outside, and we didn't have the heat on so I guess in was 55 degrees inside also.  So I turned the furnace on and went back to bed for another hour and a half!

From Niagara to St. Thomas (7/2/2015)

Today we said goodbye to the beautiful Niagara Falls area and headed back west to St. Thomas, Ontario, to visit Marilyn and Collins bridesmaid, Nyla. 

We got on the road about 10:00, it was 64 degrees this morning but not raining.  We had to drive a little further than we expected, 145 miles today (I don't know how many kilometers that is).  Marilyn and Collins reported that they had an excellent dinner last night at the Skylon, "world famous revolving dining room."  They said the restaurant revolves once an hour and they were there 1 1/2 hours so they got to see the 360 of Niagara one and a half times.  Collins had prime rib, which he said was very good; Marilyn ordered surf and turf, and her steak was tough.  But the fireworks were just about eye level with their viewing, so they had a great evening.

Our drive today took us away from the water (Lake Erie and the Niagara River) but we went through beautiful countryside and lots of crops, which Joe always enjoys. But the first obstacle we cleared was the bridge -- and sure enough, we came under it unscathed, just like Joe measured it.

We saw fields of strawberries, potatoes, tobacco, some kind of melons, and the usual corn, beans, and wheat.  And lots of flowers.  And ginseng!  What we thought were strawberries under some kind of black shade we learned were ginseng, and we saw lots of them.  We saw lots of hothouses or greenhouses, and we don't know if they were vegetables or flowers but they really like their flowers in this part of the country.  Almost every house has some kind of flower garden, and some are quite extensive.  And most of the little towns (or villages as they are sometimes called here) have hanging baskets all through town.

This is Mennonite country and we did meet one horse and buggy along the road, but Marilyn's friends said it was probably Amish.  There are both in this area.  Unfortunately, I had to take it through the front window and the windshield wiper split my photo.

We passed a Siemens plant, and I thought they made mattresses, but Collins informed us that that was probably wind turbine blades beside the plant.  Apparently Siemens makes is involved in many different industries.

We stopped at a picnic area for lunch and had a nice break.  A little later, we had our excellent adventure.  Joe had to take a p-break and he pulled off the road right beside a bakery.  After a group discussion among the ladies (are you going, no, I'll go if you go, etc.), we all traipsed into the bakery.  We were like kids in a candy store (which wasn't too far off).  Everything looked yummy, and the people in line only had good things to say about everything.  So we all came out carrying sacks.  I didn't take my camera into the store, and by the time I told the others on the CB that I wanted to take a picture of our bounty, some of it had already been digested (especially the Brundiges coach).  So here's what is left:  3 kinds of brownie squares plus a carrot cake square, elephant ears (one missing), chocolate eclairs (one missing), an individual pumpkin pie, pineapple turnovers and some other kind of turnover, raspberry I think, and homemade rolls.  And that was after we narrowed down our choices to the minimum!  (For the record, it lasted each of us 3 days)

We arrived at the first campground about 3:00 but there was a mix-up here -- first of all, it wasn't the right campground, and it went downhill from there.  But Marilyn got it all straightened out, so we got ourselves all turned around and headed to the right campground, in St. Thomas, Ontario.  Bridesmaid Nyla is fixing dinner for all of us tonight, so we got set up at the campground and then Marilyn headed over to help and visit.  We followed about an hour later.

This is a beautiful campground, but pretty wet.  Joe had to move over from where he initially backed in and made some significant ruts.  He said if we had done this yesterday we probably would have gotten hung up. 

Nyla and Earl have a lovely home out in the country.  He is a grain farmer, raises some cattle.   With Marilyn's arrival, they forgot to start the beef tenderloin on the grill on time, so dinner was a little later than planned, but it was lovely, and delicious.  We had a fun time getting acquainted, then they taught us how to play some silly card game called "99" which was a lot of fun and laughs.  We didn't leave until 11:00, then had to wind our way back through town to the campground, but it was a great evening.  We watched for deer (they have a lot in this area) but didn't see any.

Friday morning -- we don't have any specific plans for today.  It was 55 degrees when I woke up at 7:00 so I turned the furnace on and went back to bed.  I got up about 8:30 and I imagine everyone else is up (except Joe), but I don't see anyone moving around.  It's a beautiful morning, clear and sunny.  Looks like a good day.

Canada Day (7/1/2015)

Raining again, during the night and off and on most of the day.  I headed over to the laundry at 7:00 a.m. with my laundry basket, but someone else had gotten their first, and there was only one washer.  I was going to wait her out, but then I saw her coming back to the laundry with another load, so I decided we would go find a laundromat.  So Joe and I took off, and with Lucille's help, we finally located a laundramat in Ridgeway.  Along the way, we saw this sign, so it looks like we are in euchre country.

 We got the laundry taken care of, then went to find some breakfast, which was not easy because it is a holiday here, and it is 11:00 a.m.  After 2 failed attempts, we did locate a nice restaurant and enjoyed a very good breakfast.  But in the course of our search, we ended up at Crystal Beach, right on Lake Erie (they didn't serve breakfast). We meant to drive back out here after breakfast, but it was raining so we skipped that, and I didn't get any pictures of that beach.  It looked like a good place to look for flat rocks too.

Then we drove around the town, dodging the raindrops, for a while before heading back to camp to put away the laundry. The other 4 Ruskateers had gone to Fort Erie for a tour this morning, so we did that this afternoon.  Very interesting, and it didn't rain on us until the very end.

Although this was originally a British fort, during the war of 1812 the Americans won the battle here and flew the American flag.

We took a guided tour and our tour guide, and the others we encountered along the way, were dressed in costume.

The musket demonstration was interesting, and our guide's musket misfired twice but he finally got his shot off.

Then we toured the buildings.  First was the soldiers barracks.

Then the officers quarters, a little more plush.

Then the officers kitchen where we were treated to lemonade (made from lemon grass) and freshly baked shortbread cookies. 

Outside were various pieces of armory including this cannon.

This fort is right across the Niagara River from the beautiful city of Buffalo, New York.

Upstairs in the fort were other exhibits, including the quartermaster supply room, the surgery and an Iroquois encampment.

As we left, Joe took his "ready" position.

We finished this tour about the time the rain decided to come again.  On this drive, we were also checking out our route out of here tomorrow because there is a low overpass (11'9") along the Niagara Parkway.  We found that bridge, and turned to locate another road, and we found one just up the street with a taller bridge but it wasn't marked what the clearance was.  So after our Fort Erie tour, Joe decided he needed to measure the bridge to make sure we would fit under it.

(It's a wonder we weren't arrested).  But it is 14'8", so we are all good to go.  We are somewhere between 12'3 and 12'6 (we measured it a long time ago but forgot what the magic number is, and of course I haven't found where I wrote it down).  Remeasuring is on our to-do list, but it requires someone on a ladder (Joe is not allowed, but he still gets on them to wash windows), and a board, and a tape measure.  We don't have the board at this time.

We got back to camp, had dinner, then headed back to the Falls to watch the fireworks since today is a big holiday here, Canada Day (like our July 4).  This is such a beautiful sight that you can't help but take pictures.  Joe even thought about leaving the camera in the car so he would just look at the scenery, but of course, he rethought that idea.

The rain had finally stopped, so all we were getting wet with was the mist from the falls.  Although the sky wasn't completely clear, the moon was trying to peep through as it got dark.

And downtown was beautiful with all the city lights through the mist.

The American Falls was light up well tonight, and the Hornblower boat offered "illumination cruises" to watch the fireworks from the water, so we saw two of their boats lit up down on the river.

Finally, the fireworks went off, but they were down the river a little, not over the top of the falls where we had situated ourselves.  But it was easy to see them out over the water, and although they only lasted about 10 minutes, they were pretty spectacular.

We were parked across the road again, in the $20 lot (thank you, Mazie), but getting out of there took a long time.  Traffic was really deadlocked for a while, but eventually we got on our way and made the drive back to camp.  I think it was about 11:00 when we got back.  We haven't seen the Brundiges yet to find out how their evening went with their fancy dinner overlooking the falls.  I'll have to report on that tomorrow.