Can-a-da

Because Windsor is a border city lots of trips are made to detroit to shop and sight see.  Our hosts took us over a few times, once to Mexican town (no camera no pictures), which is a really....really run down area with a block of very popular authentic Mexican resturaunts.  The food was delish.

And another day we were off to Greek town with a stop at the Renaissance Center which is the corporate head office for General Motors

 And is right on the boardwalk on the water.  The kids enjoy the spray of water that shoots up on and off

 Especially when it is as hot as it has been here.  This place is a huge hit as you can imagine.

 Then off to Greek Town.  The buildings here are fabulous

 And the sky was perfect

Pagasus is an authentic Greek restaurant that serves authentic Opa.  One is a cheese opa and the other is a sausage opa.  What looks like a piece of deep fried bread is actually the cheese, you scoop a piece up and eat it on bread.  The sausage was different and I liked it.

 

When they bring the cheese opa to you it is lit and flames up quick nicely.  As the wait person does this it is customary for them to say 'Opa' in a loud strong voice.

 One must not eat at a Greet place and not have a Gyro.  They were quite tasty.

Cold Stone may not have anything to do with the Greek but who can walk by one and not imbibe?

 This bakery was authentic.  Baklava and other yummy treats to be had.

These two border towns celebrate Independence day together.  Canada celebrates their Independence Day on July 1 and of course the US on July 4th.  Along the boardwalk of both Windsor and Detroit there is celebration for two weeks over the 1st and 4th of July.  There are street fairs, food tents, street entertainers that come from all around and much much more.  The creme de la creme is the combined fireworks set of from three barges sitting in the water.  This is the 2nd largest fireworks display in North America, New York City is the largest. 

A million people gather on both sides to show their patriotism.

 And amongst those million sat David and Mark

 A pre- fireworks shot of the Renaissance Center

The architecture across the water is quite impressive especially with the American Flag proudly waving

 To begin the show a helicopter flies the Canadian flag across the skyline.  I was happy to get the shot of it near the US flag.  Patriotism at its best.

 And then the US flag is coptered across.  Unfortunately they flew much lower you are able to see the flag here but not the helicopter flying it.  There was applause all around when both flags flew.  Patriotism at its best.

 And the display begins

 This was a bit eerie I thought

 Not only was the view fabulous but the sounds, oh the sounds booming over the water and through the skyline

 Colors that lit up the sky

 And the good ole red white and blue.  It was quite the feeling sitting there amongst all of the Canadian citizens with the US across the way enjoying the very same show applauding each others country.  Patriatisim at it's best.

It has been said that this may be the very last combined fireworks due to Detroit's financial difficulties.  It would be a huge huge lose and missed by millions. David and I are happy to have been a part of this combined Independence Day celebration.

I am not sure what the deal is with these Canadians (I say with a smile on my face) but they celebrate Thanksgiving in October not November....egh?  So we thought what the hell, let's celebrate ours in June.  Turkey, dressing, gravey and corn on the cob with wonderful friends and great hosts.

 

It has been a fabulous almost three weeks, time we will never forget, spent with friends who now feel like family.  They welcomed us into their home and their lives.  Thanks guys-love ya. 

Canada-By Way Of Detroit

It is unfortunate when you meet great people and do not keep in touch with them.  We were not going to let this happen with Mark and Colleen, folks we met and floated down the river with while in AZ.

Prior to heading south (yes south) to Canada we were able to attend Julia's first gymnastics meet.  Several stations were set up and the kids were split into groups of three each group taking a turn at every station.  Although Julia is a darned good gymnast she was rather shy of 'performing' in front of such a large crowd.

Shelby however would had been raring to go-yup just look at that face-she's ready.

 Kelly helped Julia feel more secure in this station

 And once she felt comfortable she took off on her own

 The happiness on her face brought tears to Grandma's eyes

 Of course every participant received a trophy but this is the most cherished one in my humble opinion.

 After a celebratory lunch at Old McDonalds, we headed out for Canada.  And yes we traveled south.  Our friends live in Windsor which is south of where we live in Minnesota.  Crazy it was when I realized this fact.  Going through Chicago and Detroit, well not absolutely through but crazy enough, was a nail biter but we made it.  And then there's crossing the border.  There are two places to cross here, one is the tunnel the other is the bridge.  We wanted the bridge but went the tunnel way by accident and again quite by accident found our way back to the bridge only to find ourselves wondering which lanes do we go in-the truckers lane or the car lane.  We had been told to use the car lanes and we did.  The car lanes, due to construction, were damned narrow.  Rounding a corner found us riding a curb for a bit (no big surprise hey Mikey?), thank goodness we did no damage to the motorhome.

Finally there she is the bridge to Windsor.  Note the weight on that bridge as David so kindly pointed out!

 It was a great view of the Detroit/Windsor waters

 And our first Canadian flag-yep we made it

 In Windsor they still have roadside vegetable stands put out by normal people who either raise their goods or get them from the huge greenhouses in this area.  David was pretty darned excited to get a few of these great tomatoes and peppers

 And new potatoes

 At $5.00 for three of the containers.  The tomatoes were a dollar a piece.  They were huge and tasted great.

 Point Pelee was on the agenda for a day trip.  First up was a board walk through the marsh

 We spied turtles basking in the sun

 And water lilies

 And this, our friend Mark tells me, is a gator trap.  They bait the gators into the trap, close the lid and wallah you got yourself a gator.  He sucked me in hook line and sinker....there are no gators here for goodness sake.  It was a good story told by a great bullshitter and I believed him.

 This is a map of the county where Windsor is in.  It shows Point Pelee bottom right.  If you click on the map you will see that we are now south of Detroit.  Point Pelee is the southern most tip of Canada from where you  can see Cleveland

 Below is the legend for the park.  A great place

 A very interesting fact

 Here we are, the four of us, standing farther south than any other Canadian was at the time.  By the way the water was darned cold.

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When we aren't sight seeing we do a lot of this...until the boys started playing Face Book Texas Hold em and then they got Colleen involved.  Now you see these three each with a laptop in hand playing like it is real money.  Me, I am content to watch thank you very much.

 

Another day found us in downtown Windsor at this restaurant enjoying Dim Sum which is authentic Chinese Tea which means a sharing of food.  We were joined by Mark and Colleen's daughter and family and had 9 of us at a table.  Colleen has been forever dubbed by her family as the one who says yay or nay to the food as it comes by.  Wait people carrying trays of authentic Chinese food stop constantly offering a new good each time.  We had never had any of these foods and found many that we both enjoyed and a few not so much.  It was yet another great experience.

 And then one can't miss the boardwalk on the Canadian side that looks over into Detroit.  This is not smog but is mist.  It was a hot, humid misty day (most of the days have been in the 90's with 400 percent humidity I am sure).

 There are many gardens in this area

 One night we dicided a corn dog from the local fair would be just the ticket for supper.  As with most fairs there was a tractor pull.  They look like no tractor that I have ever seen but...
They rev up their engines

 And go like hell pulling a boat load of weight

 Stirring up a shit load of awful smelling dust and fumes. 

Colleen and Mark are great hosts and there is more to share, stay tuned.  Did I mention that it has been sweltering here?  Seriously who comes to Canada thinking you are going to melt in June!

And So It Began

Well did ya think we could just plunk ourselves on our new summer spot and settle in.....HA.  We've been, too busy, but things need to be done.  After it is all said and done the bob, truck and trailer will be sold which means there will be no more machines to do a lot of work with and then we rest and enjoy.


As David 'built' our motorhome pad He, yes he, cleared two areas for gardens.  I enlisted Mary's help and up we went to the northland.  A four hour drive up to work work work

Mary dug hostas while I mowed

Pixie, the magnolia bush, got dug up as well.  That bush took us more time to dig out than all of the hostas combined.  It is with great pride that Mary stands in this 3 foot deep hole holding the extracted bush.

Let me see

I wonder what Mary was doing

While I was taking these very pretty butterfly pictures

This may give you some idea.  The hostas and a few other plants ready for the four hour trip back to their new home.  That may not look like many plants but....

Putting them all in  my Honda

Was quite the task.  Mary and I together is a dangerous venture.  Usually lots of laughs, things done in a backwards manner and slower than most people would do them but we always get er done.

Trying to squeeze a hoe in there somewhere

And yes the Menopausal Maiden will have a special place in our new garden

Four hours up, four hours of work and four hours back and here they are hostas, magnolia and more.

The site of the new hosta glad which is located at the edge of the woods behind the motorhome pad

And the garden to the side of the pad where the magnolia, hydrangea and annuals will go as well as the Menopausal Maiden.

Not finished in this picture but this is the new 'pad'

Julia getting an early start taught by the best, my gardening friend Mary.  Poor Shelby is in the background too shy to get too close to a new person.  When did our shy girl become more outgoing and our outgoing girl become so shy? 

We are, today, headed to Mystic Lake for a few days and then off to Canada to visit friends that we meet this past winter.  Look our Canada here we come.