Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Trip to Moosonee Part 2

The visit to Moosonee has been great!  We have had a tour of the town, and now understand the subtle names for different sections of the metropolis. "The other side of the bridge" south east, "The Base"  northwest, "Way Down" south of Moose Factory and "Way Up" is the north of Moose Factory.  Aly and Matt live at "The Base" near the airport and Matt's parents live on "The other side of the Bridge".  We toured the town walking and riding in the Jeep.  Eventful was the tour of Northern, the shopping experience of Moosonee.  The history of the Northern has it's roots in the NorthWest FurTrade Company, which merged with the Hudson's Bay Company.

On Friday, Matt borrowed his father's Nor'west canoe and took us for a ride up the Moose River.  It was interesting as the water was running up stream.  How is that possible you ask?  The tide was coming in.  The tide level of the river fluctuates by over 2m.  The Moose River is quite wide, with many islands and sand bars in the delta area.  We were hoping to see a seal but the only major wildlife we saw was a Bald Eagle.  We stopped on the bank of the river for supper and enjoyed some exploring.  On the way back down the river we went by Moose Factory on the Island.  A storm was brewing and we watched the clouds and lightning in the distance.  Just as we pulled up on shore the storm hit, high wind and rain. We were glad that we had made it safely to land before the storm.

On Saturday we had more exploring in Moosonee in the form of Yard Sailing.  Aly and Matt returned home with two sets of cross country skis, while Katie found a tennis racket and I got a pair of hockey gloves.  That evening we had a great meal of pizza and conversation at Wendell and Sue's home.  On Sunday we had opportunity to go to Church with Matt and Aly and meet some great people from Moosonee.  During the Adult Bible Class, Mary and I shared some of our experiences in Africa and more specifically the work at Chitokoloki.  The afternoon was restful and then we had a birthday party for Matt's brother-in-law Pete. It was another party and a great meal.

Monday, Matt took the afternoon off work and gave us a tour of Moose Factory.  It is about a 10 minute boat ride across the river and we spent some time walking around "Way Down".  We visited some of the old fort buildings and graveyards.  The settlement was established in 1673 as Moose Fort and was the main trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company.   In 1821 The Hudson's Bay Company merged with it's rival, the North West Company, and the name of the settlement was changed from Moose Fort to Moose Factory.  Today Moose Factory is a Cree community of 2700 people.  On the tour we visited the hospital where Aly will begin work in a couple of weeks.  Before heading home we stopped at the EcoLodge for supper of Pickerel, Chicken and Bison Burger.  The food was good.  On the way back to Moosonee, Aly manned the tiller and guided us safely back to the landing.  That night we had another party at the Clark's and a bit of a marriage celebration for Matt and Aly.  The highlight was a wedding slide show and more good food.  Check out the picts below.



Moose Factory



Moose Factory, Ecolodge, and the Hospital where Aly will work.

The Base


Aly and Matt's home and the trip up Moose River.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Trip North

Pictures


Moosonee Trip p1

This week we made the long awaited trip to see Aly and Matt way up north in Moosonee.  On Wednesday Aug. 17 we left Thessalon travelling north on Hwy 129 towards Chapleau. We were driving in two vehicles as we were taking the Jeep up for Matt and Aly to use.  The road follows the Mississagi River with lots of bends and turns, but it is very beautiful through the Algoma forest. We stopped for lunch in Chapleau having a quick tour of the town museum. The road straightens and we made our way to Timmins on Hyw 101.  The travel was good and we watched the blue sky and amazing cloud formations as we traveled through that rugged country.  When we got to Timmins we stopped in at Walmart to make some last minute purchases.  The greeter told us that a tornado warning was posted for Timmins and Cochrane.  No wonder we had those amazing clouds.

We watched the weather all the way to Cochrane but no Tornado.  In fact it was a bright sunny day and we made the trip in just over hour.  We checked into the Golden Gate Motel and toured Cochrane a bit.  It is a nice little town, but the most important thingis, it is the birth place of Tim Horton.  We checked out the train station , purchased our tickets for the trip to Moosonee and found where we would drop of the Jeep later that night.  Supper was at A&W and then back to the motel to load up the Jeep with food, luggage and parcels for Moosonee. At 1030pm we took the Jeep over to the train yard left the keys with a train man (we hoped), for loading on a flat car in the morning.

We made our way back to the motel for a good night's sleep and then off to the train at 730 am.  We boarded the train and left for Moosonee at 900h.  The train travels slowly but we  enjoyed the scenery and atmosphere of the Polar Bear Express. Trees, trees and more trees!  It is quick interesting to see the change in vegetation as you make the trip. Very few people as well, Cochrane district has a population density of about ½ person for every square kilometer. We arrived in Moosonee at 230pm, Aly met us at the train and we got a tour of the town. Check out the pictures of the trip north.


Google Maps Link for Our Trip to Moosonee

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Here is the map showing Thessalon and Moosonee. Notice that we travelled from the North shore of Lake Huron to the shores of James Bay.  Ontario is a big province!



Saturday, August 6, 2011

Old Pictures




Skyler

A new grandson for Mike and Gloria.

August Already!

The summer seems to be flying by and we are staying very busy.  Haying has been going well but seems to be dragging on.  Hopefully we will have the feed for the cattle all in next week.  We are planning on making the trip to Moosonee to see Aly and Matt the end of August.
Mary has been feeling well but we still make the trip to Sudbury every 3 weeks for "Herceptin", the treatment for the HER2 gene.  We were worried that this treatment was damaging Mary's heart so we had an ecocardiogram this week.  The doctor tells us that it is okay so we will continue with  that treatment.  The next date is August 9th, so we will make another trip to Sudbury.  I have been trying to make Mary take it easy but that is like trying to stop the wind.  She has been picking berries, beans, potatoes and anything else that she can see to pick, as well as driving the tractor.  Last Saturday I got hope from the field for supper and Mary's brother asked me, "Is it better to ask forgiveness or permission?". I wondered what he was taking about and he said to ask Mary.  Turns out she spent the afternoon in the hot sun driving the tractor while Mark baled hay.
I was planning to post some pictures but it turns out that our camera was stolen  when  our car was entered in June.  I will post some old pictures just to brighten up the post abit.
Thanks for prayers and concern.