This morning we woke up to a bit of a grey day and rain was expected in our 10C day. It was a good morning to prepare for the long road trip ahead of us this week. As we sat down over breakfast Richard pulled out the maps of Saskatchewan/Manitoba and Ontario to see where we could possibly make up some more time. You see we really would like to be home to watch the final round of the Masters next Sunday. Usually we would be in Florida during the Masters. In the past I would always plan my vacation around being in Florida during the Masters, so we could start our golf season in Florida, in warmer weather. We would watch the final round of the Masters on Sunday and then fly home Monday morning and go back to work. This year of course is a lot different with not being able to get to Florida, and we didn’t plan this right to be driving during the week of the Masters!
So as we went through our calculations this morning determined that we could probably drive a bit further on Friday and then get home Saturday, if we have good weather and Newman co-operates!
There is also the possibility of getting up early wherever we are next Sunday morning and driving the rest of the way home as we know the Master’s coverage on TV typically starts at 2pm on Master’s Sunday. We’re keeping our fingers crossed as this will be a very daunting journey to try and get back to Fort Erie from Cranbrook in 6 days!
As we planned for the week ahead, I took all of our fresh vegetables and washed and chopped them and stored them in a freezer bag in the fridge. I also washed and dried lettuce and made banana, nut, chocolate chip muffins for us to eat for our quick breakfasts. The plan is to have healthy snacks as we travel and now that we will only be stopping for fuel and propane, we want to make time and not be spending it in grocery stores or getting take out food to eat. Our freezer is full of good homemade food to warm up for dinners too, so no matter what time we stop at the end of the day, we should have something healthy to nourish us!
We had a ZOOM call with Richard’s 3 boys and their partners at 11am this morning and it was nice to hear how everyone was spending their Easter and what they were preparing or had prepared for their big Easter feast. Richard shared the news with his sons that he had been texted from a pharmacy in Fort Erie about getting his vaccine shot, but that the dates didn’t line up with when we would be home, so hopefully as he refreshes the website, he will be able to get his shot once we get home. With Richard being 3 years older than me, I guess he got the text before me that he was eligible for his shot. Hopefully the age limit for Niagara Region will be lowered to age 60 soon and I can register for a vaccine centre as soon as we are home.
Fort Steele RV Resort has an amazing gift shop as well as grocery store at the entrance to the RV park. I had never been in the store until today. Richard encouraged me to go in and see what I could find.
Antique pistols anyone?
This vest was not for sale but it was beautifully embroidered with intricate beadwork.
Just in case your a bumper sticker kind of person, Fort Steele had them on hand!
A very nice display of Canadiana mugs on this old fashioned looking stove.
I settled on a nice toque from the gift store. I loved the hummingbird on the toque.
My new toque! I’m sure it won’t be warm and 15C when we get home, like I’m hoping! If last spring was any indication, we were still bundled up in May for our daily walks after work. Hopefully this year is warmer!
We had a nice lunch in Newman before we left to visit Jon, Christal and baby Owen.
The preserved lemons that I did in the refrigerator in the mason jar with salt have turned out amazing and they are so nice and fresh in a salad! It is also very easy to prepare a nice salad when I was prepping all of the veggies for our road trip this week!
When we arrived at Jon & Christals’ home baby Owen had just woken up from his nap and he was a very happy little boy!
What a cutie! I may be a bit biased though!
The best little invention ever has to be the Jolly Jumper! I know Owen loves the Jolly Jumper and he was jumping away to his heart’s content!
We both got our cuddles in with Owen this afternoon. He is a very happy wee lad and a pleasure to be around.
It looks like I’m boring Owen playing him ‘Baby Shark’ off my iPhone. He had never heard Baby Shark before so I’m sorry Jon & Christal if I’ve introduced him to something that is going to drive you crazy!
I’m talking to you Grandpa!
Christal had a friend who is a vegetarian who texted her yesterday to say she had a big problem. She had ordered a bone in ham from the butcher in town to feed her boyfriend and family, but when she went to pick the ham up it was $80! She didn’t realize how big the ham was and she did not want to bring that big ham home! Christal volunteered to cook the ham and Jon dropped off the cooked ham to Christal’s friend, so they could have their Easter meal with the ham already cooked. Christal did an excellent job of preparing the ham with pineapples and cherries on it and it was delicious!
Christal prepared an excellent ham for Easter. Her first attempt at a bone in ham and she did a fantastic job!
Jon carving up the delicious ham!
I even got the chance to feed Owen his first ever taste of mashed potato!
Ok. Let’s try this.
Hmm...the keys are more interesting than the food right now.
I think I like it!
I gave Jon my camera to take a photo of all 3 of us. I forgot to change the diopter for Jon so he was looking through my camera viewfinder thinking he needed glasses!
We don’t know when we will see Owen again, but we were very happy to spend two days with him seeing his happy personality shine through. He’s tiny but mighty!
With that much drool going on we definitely think Owen is teething! He was using the soother to chomp on, so we think his little gums are irritated.
As we drove back to Fort Steele RV Resort the sun was shining on the Rocky Mountains and they looked stunning! We will miss seeing the mountains! I already miss seeing the Ocean every day.
Driving back from Cranbrook to Fort Steele.
Fort Steele is actually a Heritage town and was established during a gold rush boom in 1864. There is a bit of an intrigue to Fort Steele though, as it was decided by CP that a railway should be built going through Fort Steele. But as the document stating the railway was to go through Fort Steele, and was on its way to being approved a gentleman named Colonel James Baker had other ideas. Baker, a member of the British Columbia legislature owned a small logging camp named Joseph’s Prairie. Baker bribed and blackmailed his fellow Members and convinced them to bypass Fort Steele and bring the railway through Joseph’s Prairie. This was final after the document stating the railway was to go through Fort Steele was ‘lost’ in the mail. After the railway was completed, Baker renamed the town of Joseph’s Prairie to ‘Cranbrook’. He later sold the people of Fort Steele land in Cranbrook and Fort Steele’s population quickly dropped as the population moved to the more appealing Cranbroook. After Fort Steel was abandoned the site slowly started to decay. A highway was even built right through the town’s current Main Street. In the mid-1960’s B.C. parliament started to preserve many historic sites and in 1967 Fort Steele was designated a historic site and restoration began. In 1969 Fort Steele Heritage Town opened and over the past number of years millions of tourists have visited the site. Of course it is currently closed due to Covid, but it is very close to our RV park and I’m sure we will come another time and bring Owen to visit Fort Steele Heritage Park!
As we returned to Fort Steele RV Resort we could see the mountains peeking over the trees as we returned to Newman.
What a lovely ‘hoppy’ Easter to be able to spend time with family and see baby Owen again! We invited Owen and his mom and dad to Florida and hopefully they will come and visit us there this winter, so we can spend some more time with them all, doing Florida things!
Grandpa and Nana are pooped now and we have to get on the road early tomorrow morning. We are hoping to leave Fort Steele RV Resort by 7:45am tomorrow morning. Jerry is already hooked up to Newman with the tow bar. The black and grey waste water tanks have been drained and we are full of fresh water. First thing in the morning we will lift the jacks, pull in the slides and off we go! We are ready to Boondock tomorrow night and hope to get to the Walmart parking lot in Swift Current and only spend one night there, as opposed to two nights at -20C in a blizzard, like last time!
Comments