This is an account of the trip my sister and I took to visit family in Winnipeg and Thunder Bay during the latter half of June 2003. This account is loosely based on the journal I kept during the trip and is organized as such. Anywhere a photograph appears, you can click on it to see it full sized. All times are listed in 24 hour notation with a time zone indicator.

June 15, 2003

I collected my sister from my parents place in Olds. We then dropped in an visited my aunt in Calgary. The weather report indicated that the weather would be clear but hot in Winnipeg when we arrived the following day. We had decided we would travel through the night to avoid crossing Saskatchewan during the heat of the day. At about 2100MDT we left Calgary with me at the wheel.

The trek was uneventful through Alberta with the exception of the absolutely amazing density of bugs and stuff as we passed Brooks around sunset. This necessitated a brief stop at Medicine Hat to scrub the windshield.

June 16, 2003

The trek continued with little of note across Saskatchewan. In fact, there was hardly any traffic at all except around settlements. We switched drivers at Swift Current where we made a pit stop. In fact, we were not slowed down by anything except the towns. We passed through Regina around sunrise and arrived at the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border at about 0640MDT and stopped for a break and a driver change. Then we continued on and acquired gasoline in Brandon as we went through the town to avoid the construction on the bypass. We arrived in Winnipeg around 1200CDT and checked in to the hotel. It was about a 14 1/2 hour drive. We stayed at the Comfort Inn located on the Pembina Highway. We visited my grand parents in the afternoon after a brief break.

Sunrise at Regina

Sk-Mb border

Hotel view in Winnipeg

June 17, 2003

We went to the zoo this morning. We had a bit of an adventure finding the place as we missed the turn from the Pembina Highway. Some photos from the zoo follow.

Of course, the requisite visit to the grand parents after the zoo trip.

June 18-20, 2003

The usual visit to the grand parents occurred the 18th throught 20th. Our Uncle joined us on the 19th and 20th. We made ready to leave for Thunder Bay the next day.

June 21, 2003

The drive from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay was mostly uneventful. There was hardly any construction. We did, however, get treated to a wonderful view of a forest fire that was practically on top of the road. We arrived in Thunder Bay at about 2000EDT and got settled in our hotel room.

June 22, 2003

The usual visit to the grand parents occurred today, among other things.

Searching through photos

Thoughtful Patriarch

June 23, 2003

Again we visited the grand parents. However, my Aunt and Uncle dropped off AJ (my cousin) whom I had never met until this point. I had a great deal of fun fueling his paranoia. Of course, before all of this I managed to take the inevitable photograph of the hotel view.	The hotel view
Unsuspecting AJ	Playing up for the camera
More playing up	Paranoia takes its toll

June 24, 2003

At about 0935EDT, I won pyramid solitaire for the first time in my life after a decade and a half of playing it.

We visited with my Aunt and Uncle at their place for a barbecue this afternoon. We had a great deal of fun with cameras and poking fun at people. We also greatly enjoyed the food. We stayed out until about 2330EDT.

Torment begins anew	Hiding doesn't work...
Hungry sofa?	"Buurrrrrppp!"
Another tormentor for poor AJ	Bruce and AJ
What goes around comes around	The yard
It's a hard life	The master chef
	And a warning to would be tormentors. Make certain you don't let your weapon fall into your victim's hands!

June 25, 2003

We visited the grand parents some more today. We took a short trip out to the Terry Fox memorial where we were treated to a rather eerie view of fog on Lake Superior. AJ and family dropped by in the evening. Great hilarity ensued.

The Terry Fox memorial	Where'd Lake Superior go?
Long distance call from Olds, AJ talking to his uncle, Bruce talking to his brother
More photo hunting	And the Patriarch has the last word

We also decided to visit one of my sister's friends in Saskatoon on the way back and acquired a map of Saskatoon.

June 26, 2003

We visited with the grand parents in the morning. Then we hung out with Grandpa while Grandma went for cataract surgery. We visited until about 1430EDT.

We pulled out of Thunder Bay at about 1430EDT and headed west via Fort Frances. We stopped briefly in Fort Frances then headed on the Kenora where we stopped for food and gas. We pulled out of Kenora at about 2145CDT.

June 27, 2003

We slid through Winnipeg at about 0030CDT where we broke briefly for a study of the map and determined what path we would take. We settled on taking the Yellowhead highway. This turned out not to be the best choice as not a single gas station was open once we got onto the Yellowhead highway until we arrived in Yorkton, Saskatchewan after sunrise. On top of it all, we drove through a rather long patch of fog started at about Minnedosa. We didn't run out of gas but it was a long stretch between Kenora and Yorkton (675km).

Right around sunrise, we were heading back down into the Assinaboine river valley for the final crossing on the Yellowhead highway. I now wish I would have stopped and took a picture. As we crested the hill, we saw the road disappear into what looked like a lake just past a sign indicating a corner. It was a beautiful sight.

We arrived in Saskatoon at about 0830CDT where we visited with my sister's friend for a while. We even played miniature golf and strolled around the mall. Then we checked into the hotel we had managed to book while in Thunder Bay and I took a well needed snooze while my sister visited some more. Then we treated her friend to supper. We packed it in for the night at about 2130CDT.

June 28, 2003

We set out from Saskatoon after acquiring gasoline. We encountered a nasty stretch of construction between Hanna and the Red Deer River valley. This was the longest travel delay of the whole trip. Quite amazing, really, given our usual luck with travelling.

Some Useless Statistics

The trip was a total of 4755 kilometres and used a total of 397.2 litres of gasoline for an average fuel economy of 8.35 litres per 100 kilometres. In case anyone is wondering, this is with the air conditioning running most of the time. The car in question is a 2002 Ford Taurus.

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