Elliot Lake

Our last visiting stop on our trip was Elliot Lake, Ontario where we visited Uncle Carl & Aunt Martha.
This is Uncle Carl & Aunt Martha, my mom's youngest sister. Aunt Martha is recuperating from major surgery on her shoulder. We had just a wonderful time with them & they toured us around the area which has many lakes & is surrounded by forest.

We went to a beautiful lodge north of Elliot Lake where we enjoyed lunch outside overlooking the lake & later toured the grounds where Lois & I relaxed briefly beside the waterfalls.

This is our cousin, Carol Sefton, who also lives in Elliot Lake.

Stratford B&B

We spent the night at a bed & breakfast in Stratford called the Stone Maiden B&B. The authenic Victorian decor & furnishings were well worth the climb up to the third floor where our bedroom, furnished with twin beds covered with fluffy white duvets, was located. And yes, each room has it's own air conditioning unit. The hostess was very gracious & served us a most delicious breakfast in the morning. Then we toured around Stratford & enjoyed the play - Kiss me, Kate - at the Stratford Festival Theatre.

July 13, 2010

A restaurant in Stratford.

A mural on a building in St. Jacobs.

Cousins - Me, Laurinda, Cheryl & Lois

This morning we left Aunt Dorrene's around 10 & traveled to St. Jacobs. We wandered around a few shops & had coffee & then found the Farmer's Market. I was rather disappointed in it as it was very commercialized & only found a few vendors that were staffed by Amish or Mennonites. Did buy some maple syrup from an Amish man. Then we traveled on to Stratford where we purchased tickets for a show tomorrow afternoon. We checked in a B&B that Lois had stayed at in 2001 & are just enjoying the Victorian ambiance here in The Stone Maiden B&B.

July 11, 2020

Top left - my cousin - Mel, bottom left - Mel's wife - Helen, me, my cousin, Robert, then my cousin & traveling adventurer - Lois.

Mel & Helen so very kindly gave us a guided tour of the Niagara area & stopped on the "No Stopping" zone at the Falls, while we jumped out of the car & snapped a few pictures. After enjoying a drive in their cool car, we went to their place & enjoyed a lovely supper & connecting with cousins we hadn't seen for years.

Family

The handsome young man, on the right, in the above picture is my grandfather, Peter Olfert, my mom's father & it's the Olfert family that we are reconnecting with here in southern Ontario.

This is my Uncle Herb & his wife Doris. He was married to my mom's sister.

This is my Aunt Margaret & Uncle Peter. She is my mom's sister.

Diana's Garden

July 7

The bay at Meaford.

Wild Sweet Peas growing along the roadsides.

Walter's Falls

July 6

Spent most of the day driving through Michigan & then crossed into Canada at Sarnia after a 45 minute wait at the border. Before we crossed the border we had lunch in Flint, MI. at a Tim Hortons & decided that Canadian TH coffee is much better than the US version. We enjoyed the sights of the countryside on our way to our cousin, Diana's at Chatsworth.

Day Two - Ontario Adventure

Today was a driving all day kind of day. It was overcast most of the day with light rain from the middle of the afternoon & on. We very much enjoyed the many colours of green in the trees, grass & other forms of vegetation. There are many kinds of wild flowers growing on the roadsides. We drove through many small villages & towns, catching glimpses of Lake Superior & Lake Michigan. We're spending the night in St. Ignace, Michigan at the Evergreen Motel which has a rustic quaint, decor.

The Adventure Begins!

This afternoon at 2 PM., my cousin, Lois & I left for a driving trip for parts of southern Ontario to visit elderly aunts & uncles from the Olfert side of our family. We are driving via the US route & just really enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the way. After a delicious supper at Bemidji at the Green Mill, we drove as far as Grand Rapids, MN. where we stopped for the night.
Our biggest laugh of the day was the border crossing officer who asked us why we were going to Ontario & we said to visit elderly relatives & he asked if we had a GPS! We said yes & we merrily drove on our way.

A Quiz!

The top 3 pictures are clues to the answer to a quiz. Come back for more more clues & the answer!

Canada Day

We celebrated Canada Day at Red River Speedway which is just south of Winnipeg. The grandkids enjoyed the face painting. Our son, Chris, races with the Northern Lightening Sprint Association in the sprint car that you see in the top picture. This year the decals on the car are in support of Children's Camps International who are sponsoring "World Harvest for Kids" event on August 7, 2010 featuring 210 combines harvesting all at one time. They are attempting to set a world record & this takes place on a field just south of Winkler.
The evening finished with fireworks & then on the way home we got to see some of the fireworks at Morris. Canada day - a day to celebrate our freedom in our wonderful country of Canada!