Valley City, ND to Shaker Heights, OH (7/23-24/2017)

Day 40
Sunday, July 23, 2017
We departed from Valley City, ND, continuing on I-94 E. Near the Twin Cities in MN, we took I-694 to bypass St Paul, but still ran into traffic. Back on I-94 E into Wisconsin to Eau Claire.

Tres Caballos (2017, by Terry Meyer) for the 2017 Sculpture Tour (KSS)

Each year Eau Claire displays new sculptures that are on loan from the artists for 11 months. I suppose that the prices listed on some of the title plaques means that you could purchase them afterwards.

Going down to the Chippewa River State Trail

Restrooms in Phoenix Park

The Eau Claire River flowing into the Chippewa River in the background

Former railroad bridge (1903), now a pedestrian bridge on the
Chippewa River State Trail, crossing the Chippewa River

Houses on the riverfront, on the east side of the Chippewa River

Libellula luctuosa/Widow Skimmer Dragonfly (KSS)

Tubing on the Chippewa River

Tubing with ducks

Scandinavian American Fraternity Building
(1929-1930) 

"Playboards" (2017) at the Children's Museum of Eau Claire (KSS)

2005 Hands Across Eau Claire program resulted in
painted seats like this one at the Children's Museum (KSS)

S Barstow Street in Eau Claire, with early 20C buildings

Think Tank (2017, by Kyle Fokken) (KSS)

Bloomin' Chevy (2017, by Duane Grimme) (KSS)

Book Peddlers (2017, by Jack Morford) (KSS)

McGrath Block/Strobel Building
(1900, in Commercial Vernacular style) 

Chief's Daughter (2017, by Bobby Carlyle) (KSS)

Barnes Block/Cameron-Drummond-Slagsvold Building
(1893, in Romanesque Revival style)

View across the Eau Claire River at Phoenix Park (KSS)

Day 41
Monday, July 24, 2017
We departed from Eau Claire, WI, still following I-94 E. In Madison, WI, we took I-90 E into Illinois. There, at Rockford, we took I-39 S to I-80 E. We stayed on I-80 through Indiana and into Ohio, before taking I-480 E home.

We had traveled for 42 days, 10,882 miles by car, plus 658 miles by ferry.

We had become used to gas station brands like Co-op, FasGas, Essential 1, Tesoro, Petro-Canada, and Esso. Wait! Esso?! What happened to Esso in the United States? (That is a complicated situation.)
We have traveled through the flattest of prairies, and were surrounded by the highest of snow-covered peaks. We have seen enough boreal forest to last several lifetimes. The awe-inspiring scenic expanses of landscape cannot be seen in our photographs. Although we were never far from civilization, we did see our fair share of wildlife (also not well-represented in photos).
This may not be a trip that we would recommend to everyone, but we are so glad we took it.

It may have been noticed that we did not visit some of the major sights on the southeastern coast. The plan is to someday take an Alaskan cruise, which will hit those spots.

Lloydminster, AB to Valley City, ND (7/21-22/2017)

Day 38
Friday, July 21, 2017
We departed from Lloydminster, AB, and crossed into Lloydminster, SK. Lloydminster is a single city that straddles the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Border markers between Alberta and
Saskatchewan in the middle of Lloydminster

Someone drove his tractor to Tim Hortons

In Saskatoon, we turned on SK-11 S.

Our lunch stop was in Chamberlain, SK

The Surveyor (2002, by Don Wilkins)

At Chamberlain, we turned on SK-2 S.

A field of flax

A long row of grain silos near Moose Jaw, SK

At Moose Jaw, we had to take a bit of TC-1 E before turning south on SK-39 to Weyburn, SK for the night.

Day 39
Saturday, July 22, 2017
We departed from Weyburn, SK on SK-39 S and crossed the border into the US and North Dakota at Portal. Then we followed US-52 all the way to Jamestown, ND, where we picked up I-94 E.

We had lunch in Harvey, ND off US-52; we drove through town
looking for a restaurant, and found it at the bowling alley

We spent the night in Valley City, ND.

Hinton to Lloydminster, AB (7/20/2017)

Day 37
Thursday, July, 20, 2017
We departed from Hinton, AB, continuing on Yellowhead Highway/TC-16 E.

Largest Dragonfly in Canada, in Wabamum, AB
(a Roadside America attraction)

Alberta Legislature Building (1907-1913, designed by Allan Merrick Jeffers
and Richard Blakey in Beaux-Arts style) in Edmonton, AB

Historic 1947 Melbourne streetcar #930 is operated
seasonally by the Edmonton Radial Railway Society

Ukrainian Centennial Pioneer Monument (1991, by Danek Możdżeński)
to commemorate the arrival of the first Ukrainian settlers in 1891 (KSS)

Francophone Imprint (2007) commemorating
French as the first European language spoken in
Alberta, by French explorers and fur traders

Children were playing in almost all the pools on the capital grounds

A model made of Legos of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France

The Canadians were able to take Vimy Ridge in France from the Germans during World War I, when the British and French forces had failed. It became a Canadian national symbol of achievement and sacrifice. The centennial of the battle was celebrated on 4/9/2017.

We had lunch at a Canadian Brewhouse, while our car was getting
an oil change across the street at a Honda dealer

We continued onward to Elk Island National Park.

Beaver lodge

Moss Lake Trail

All we saw of bison was this patty

Log path

Can you see the Enallagma sp/Bluet Pond Damselfly? (KSS)

Aha, if you take the Bison Loop Road,
you have a better chance of seeing a bison!

Another pair of Canada National Park red chairs

Whoa! That same bison crossed the exit road in front of us
(the cattle guard is just beyond the bison)

We stopped in Vegreville, AB for gas, and found another superlative.

The world's largest Pysanka/Ukrainian Easter Egg (1975)
(a Roadside America attraction)

Canola fields by Kenilworth Lake (KSS)

Burns Lake, BC to Hinton, AB (7/19/2017)

Day 36
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
We departed from Burns Lake, BC and continued east on Yellowhead Highway/TC-16.

Tintagel Cairn: the central stone was once part of the
Norman walls of Tintagel Castle (the reputed birthplace
of King Arthur) and was given to its namesake
city in British Columbia in 1967

Starting to see evidence of smoke from the wildfires

Fort Fraser Visitor Information Centre in a railway caboose

It seems that when cabooses were no longer needed, the Canadian National Railway (CN) gave or sold them to small towns to be used as visitor centres or small museums.

We were in prairie country again,with bales of hay

Mr PG (1983, to replace a rotting 1960 real-
wood version) is a mascot to promote the
forest industry of Prince George, BC
(a Roadside America attraction)

Smoke had reached across the Canadian Rockies into Jasper, AB

In 1979, when Kent's parents were in Jasper, they had visited Pyramid Lake.

A cairn at the footbridge to Pyramid Island in Pyramid Lake

Crossing over to Pyramid Island

A smoky view of the Whistlers Range to the east

Pyramid Lake picnic shelter (1933)

A smoky view of Pyramid Mountain from Pyramid Lake

Boat rentals at Pyramid Lake

Patricia Lake

We arrived in Hinton, AB.

The Holiday inn Express had a waterslide (far right)

Our Holiday Inn Express room had a huge window