In Yorkton

Made it to Yorkton, Saskatchewan today.  

Found and visited the three cemeteries we were looking for.  One was easy but the other two were harder and off on dirt roads.  The last one we were at a snake slithered over my foot.  I was wearing my flip flops so I was not very happy.  I screamed and went back to the car.  I still have the hebejeebees.   Anyways I did go back and help Darryl find the head stone we were looking for only after I put my running shoes on.

Had a nice visit with Darryl's cousin Evangeline in Canora today.

We are headed to Saskatoon in the morning for archive research.  Hope we find what we are looking for.  If we find it early on in the day we may drive out to Innisfail early.  

Sault Ste. Marie

Visited family in the Soo this past week.  We stayed at my Aunt & Uncles place.  My cousin visited with her two girls.  So nice to see family again.

Went to the cemetery to visit my grandparents gravesite and then went to their old property on River Road.  Their house is gone now and only the old garage stands.  The property is really overgrown too and up for sale.  While we were down in that part of town we drove past my old house.  Looks older but still the memories come flooding back.  Miss that old house.

We toured the Soo Locks and went across to Whitefish Island.  It is an island in between the locks and the rapids and it also under the International bridge.  The dam had just opened up more gates so there were two sections of trail underwater.  So off come the shoes and roll up the capris and we continued through the water to the next part of the trail.  Took two hours in the hot, humid weather to get back to the car.  Wasn't planning on being gone that long.

We went to McCarroll's Lake on Saturday.  What a beautiful day it was.  Went for a swim, had a sauna and then a BBQ. 

Visited my old church on Sunday.  Nice to see some things don't change too much. 

Left this morning at 5 a.m. from the Soo in the midst of a severe thunderstorm.  The lightning reminded me of a strobe light continually going off.  We drove through the storm towards Wawa, it lasted for 2 hours.  Finally the rain stopped just before Wawa but then we got fog. 

This picture is from our time at Niagara Falls. 

We are in Kenora, Ontario tonight and will be heading out in the morning for Yorkton, Saskatchwan.

Hope we don't run into anymore storms.

Corn Roast and Niagara Falls

I am not able to post pictures today.  PC can't connect at Timmies and my Aunt and Uncles place does not have Wifi.  

Had a great time at the Baker, Rivett, Smith BBQ and Corn Roast.    Saw cousins I hadn't seen in over 30 years.  

Went to Niagara Falls on Monday.  Darryl had never been there before and I hadn't been there since I was a little kid.   Loved it.   The amount of water over the falls is just incredible.

We are in Sault Ste. Marie now until we leave next Monday.  Going to see what has changed and what has stayed the same since I moved away 30 years ago.  

Lunch is done and we are on our way.

Cousins visiting

Had a great visit with some of my cousins today.
Don & Renee, Joanne & Tom, Andre-Paul, Thida and Ariel.

Kerry Farm Cemetery

Oh what a Jones adventure it was today.

We had cemetery hopping.  First one was a regular cemetery and we knew where the graves were.  So that was easy.

Next cemetery was an abandoned one.  They still up keep it but it is way off the road in a farmers field.   We asked the owners of the property if we could go see it.  The lady was so excited about us being an ancestor of the someone in the cemetery that she said she could take us there.  She was a little lost, hadn't been out to that spot for a year.  Her 3 young sons went as well.  So here we are going through corn fields, forging through bushes and tall weeds, through muddy creeks.  We had just about given up when we stumbled upon a cutline in the corn.  It lead straight to the cemetery.  So we spent 1 1/2 looking for the cemetery and 15 minutes back through the proper path.  Our legs got whiplashed and we got muddy but well worth finding some history.

So here is a picture of Darryl by his 4 times great grandfather's headstone. 

The third cemetery was easier to find.  It was just up the road a few miles and very accessible. Yeah!

So tonight we are staying at my cousins, Joanne & Tom.  Tomorrow more cousins will be visiting.  Looking forward to seeing them all again.

Back in Canada now, I see a Timmies!!!  We were in 4 States today.  South Dakota, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.  That was a lot of driving.

We are in Ridgetown, Ontario, doing some family research for Darryl.  We were able to see one of the gravesites today and will see more tomorrow. 

As we were driving into the area this afternoon, we passed a transport and on the side it said it was from Carey Leasing and the town was Blenheim.  Found that odd that it was only minutes from where we were going.  Hmmm.   So when we went to Timmies for coffee I asked to see a phone book.  There is a William Carey in Ridgetown.  Long story short, Darryl called the number and it turns out he passed away 3 years ago, but... he is a descendant of Capt. William Carey.  Just found a bunch of cousins that live in the area.  His wife was very helpful and we have a phone number of Williams sister to call later.  She has more information.

We also went down to Lake Erie and did a little beachcombing and took a couple of pictures.

We will be at my cousin's place tomorrow for two nights and then my Aunt & Uncle's place for the weekend.  Big BBQ corn roast and 60th Anniversary celebration on Saturday.  Haven't seen any of my cousins in over 30 years, this should be fun.

Mt. Rushmore and Black Hills of South Dakota.

What an awesome day we had yesterday.  At Mt. Rushmore by 8:20 am and not crowded yet.  Got tons of pictures.  Walked around the trails there, saw videos of the making of the memorial and one of the original drillers was there signing his book.  We went back in the evening when they have a ceremony video and light up the mountain.  Really cool.

After Rushmore we drove the Needles Highway.  Wow, that was awesome.  There were a number of single lane tunnels to go through and dozens of switchbacks all on a very high steep narrow road.  The rock spires were amazing.  Our hoodoos have nothing on these spires. 

Custer State Park near the Black Hills was great.  Saw antelope, burros and thousands of buffalo.  We were literally stopped on the middle of the road with buffalo all around us.  There were about a dozen cars in the same spot not moving because the buffalo were milling around and not letting anyone through.  Two buffalo came right up to Darryl's window and another one was sniffing or licking not sure our front tire.  It was an awesome experience.  Loved it.

We stayed in the small town of Keystone, South Dakota for two nights.  It is about 5 minutes from Mt. Rushmore and you can see the mountain from parts of this small town.  This is a picture of Darryl in the downtown area.  It's an old gold mining town updated now since Mt. Rushmore was created.
It does get very busy there during the Sturgis Bike Week.  It was the last day of the bike rally when we got there but there was a lot of bikers still hanging around enjoying all the sites and attractions.  Got some Sturgis merchandise too.  Even I got a shirt.  Go figure.

Now we are in Iowa City, Iowa.  Went to a chinese smorg tonight and it was the best I've ever had.  And I got to try some new items too.  Frogs legs, octopus and crawfish.  Crawfish was okay and the octopus was very chewy.  Frogs legs were great, I went back for more.  They do taste like chicken with a twist.  They had everything there.  While we were eating I wondered how much is this going to be?  There was no prices posted and we didn't ask when we got there.  Considering what was there we thought maybe $20 each but no, it was only $10.25 each.  Yeah!

Better go and get rested up for tomorrows drive.  Going to drive to Southern Ontario tomorrow.