Stephen and I have reached the first pit stop on our race to Thunder Bay. Set out at 7 a.m. this morning, paused briefly in Moosomin, and then decided to call it a day at the Lakeside Inn in Kenora. The Lakeside Inn is an eye-catching quasi-cute, quasi-goofy futuristic-1950’s style building – big cylinder, all windows, right on the lakeside with a parking lot pier. AND with free Internet. Whoo hoo! Doesn't get much better than that!
What does it cost to stay in a lakeside hotel? $130 per night for a view of the lake, and $110 for a view of the city. As it was already evening and we're only staying one night, we said, "No $20 lake for us! We have the Internet - we don't need the outside world!" But we got a half-decent view of the lake anyway. Yay! What's the lake called? The "Lake of the Woods." True to its name, it is a lake, and there are woods around it.
Kenora is a nice little town - we were unimpressed by it when we first drove in, but it got prettier further on. There's a lot of nice touristy spots around the lake, and a cute little Broadway-style shopping district.
So, it was pretty much a full day of driving to get here. Left home just after 7 a.m., and stopped for lunch in Moosomin. I suggested "Subway," but Stephen said that he didn't want subs. He didn't know what he wanted, but he'd know it when he saw it. Then he saw a Kindly Friendly Colonel's smiling face on a sign, and there we stopped for lunch. (Aargh! Back to the gym!) Surprised at how much traffic there is in Moosomin.
Our handy dandy navigator only steered us wrong once - it sent us off the highway into Whitewood, where the highway used to go. Whitewood is oddly deserted, with big wide roads that look like they used to have a lot of traffic. I peered down to the end of the road to see that it was blocked off. Okaaay. So we filled up with gas in Whitewood and headed back onto the highway, much to the disapproval of the navigator (which showed us as driving through empty space until it found the highway later again).
Had to detour off the TransCanada twice for construction, and once for a car crash - the stereotypical accident-prone little red sports car was sitting in the ditch, all smucked up. Seemed to take forever to get to Winnipeg, and even the bypass around Winnipeg took a long time. We were supposedly on a scenic route (famed for its lack of scenery). And without A/C, I'm glad the day wasn't any hotter. Was a wee bit uncomfortable at times, but not too bad.
When approaching Ontario, I wanted to detour into East Braintree. I mean, cmon! Who wouldn't want to see East Braintree?!?!?
Definitely a lot of rock when you hit Ontario - and a lot of Inukshuks and rock pyramids set on top. We were going to go on to Dryden, but it was another hour or two away, so decided to stay the night in Kenora. Especially after we found the last available parking spot at the hotel.
What does it cost to stay in a lakeside hotel? $130 per night for a view of the lake, and $110 for a view of the city. As it was already evening and we're only staying one night, we said, "No $20 lake for us! We have the Internet - we don't need the outside world!" But we got a half-decent view of the lake anyway. Yay! What's the lake called? The "Lake of the Woods." True to its name, it is a lake, and there are woods around it.
Kenora is a nice little town - we were unimpressed by it when we first drove in, but it got prettier further on. There's a lot of nice touristy spots around the lake, and a cute little Broadway-style shopping district.
So, it was pretty much a full day of driving to get here. Left home just after 7 a.m., and stopped for lunch in Moosomin. I suggested "Subway," but Stephen said that he didn't want subs. He didn't know what he wanted, but he'd know it when he saw it. Then he saw a Kindly Friendly Colonel's smiling face on a sign, and there we stopped for lunch. (Aargh! Back to the gym!) Surprised at how much traffic there is in Moosomin.
Our handy dandy navigator only steered us wrong once - it sent us off the highway into Whitewood, where the highway used to go. Whitewood is oddly deserted, with big wide roads that look like they used to have a lot of traffic. I peered down to the end of the road to see that it was blocked off. Okaaay. So we filled up with gas in Whitewood and headed back onto the highway, much to the disapproval of the navigator (which showed us as driving through empty space until it found the highway later again).
Had to detour off the TransCanada twice for construction, and once for a car crash - the stereotypical accident-prone little red sports car was sitting in the ditch, all smucked up. Seemed to take forever to get to Winnipeg, and even the bypass around Winnipeg took a long time. We were supposedly on a scenic route (famed for its lack of scenery). And without A/C, I'm glad the day wasn't any hotter. Was a wee bit uncomfortable at times, but not too bad.
When approaching Ontario, I wanted to detour into East Braintree. I mean, cmon! Who wouldn't want to see East Braintree?!?!?
Definitely a lot of rock when you hit Ontario - and a lot of Inukshuks and rock pyramids set on top. We were going to go on to Dryden, but it was another hour or two away, so decided to stay the night in Kenora. Especially after we found the last available parking spot at the hotel.
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