Focht Family Blog

After Michigan we drove into Toronto for a day so Nathan could do some work. We started out checking into a “resort” named Cedar Creek RV Resort that we had to pay in full for when we made reservations (non refundable). The first site they gave us we couldn’t even get into. They let us choose the next site and when we finally got parked we realized it was 30 amp and had no sewer. Good news is that we were able to use the oven and have an A/C on without popping the electric. However, we decided the “resort” was SO awful that we would rather be at a Walmart so after cooking dinner we unhooked and drove through their NARROW streets scratching the sides of the RV and went to a Walmart for the night. Needless to say I spent way too much money at the Walmart because they have different buyers for Canadian Walmarts and they had so many cute outfits for the kids that I have never seen in an American Walmart! :)

The next day we drove back into America at Niagara Falls and headed back to Shenango for the Halloween weekend….

On Saturday we made reservations to come back to Apple Island Resort on Tuesday and then left to drive to Virginia to pick up mom’s trailer. Nathan decide that as long as we were driving we should add a couple more stickers. We started out the journey going north into Quebec and then driving into Ontario again entering back into the USA in New York.

Now we can say that Tinkerbell and Dory are international travelers! :) They were so excited!!…

I tried getting some pictures of the road signs in Quebec since everything is in French without translations. While getting one of my pictures I accidentally got a picture of the one building with a translation (for strippers.) So I stuck with putting the picture up of the sign pointing to Montreal…

Here is a picture of the St. Lawrence River looking into Montreal…

This is a picture of the bridge crossing back into New York…

I was driving and Nathan said he could see through the bridge into the St. Lawrence River. He tried to take a picture. It didn’t end up showing the river through the bridge but it ended up being an interesting picture…

This was the only time that we have gone into Canada and back into the US without anyone searching the RV or even coming into the RV. Going into Canada they asked each of the passengers to come to the driver’s window so they could compare them to the passport photos but that was it. Saturday night was spent in New York and we were in Winchester, VA by Sunday afternoon.

Saturday and Sunday were spent at the campground. Monday morning I took mom into the hospital because she doesn’t trust how she feels anymore. She wasn’t feeling 100% better so she wanted to make sure she shouldn’t be on more antibiotics. This time she was fine. I took the laundry with us and we tried to find a laundromat on the way home. When we finally found one, it was 5:30 and they were closed. The campground has a laundry room but it only has one washer and one dryer. So we came home and did the laundry here. I finally went to bed around 10:00. Mom said she would finish with the drying. She finally made it back to the campsite at 11:30! The dryer doesn’t work very well so although we only had 4 washers full, I think we ran the dryer 6 or 7 times.

Tuesday we went to Niagara Falls with Nathan’s parents. We went through the same fun getting into Canada except this time we were standing outside and it was raining and they wouldn’t let us stand by the door while they were inside. When we finally were parked it was almost noon. We wanted to do the Journey Behind the Falls and Maid of the Mist. The bus from the parking lot left us near Journey so we went there first. Here are the kids in the beautiful yellow plastic coverings they gave us to keep dry.

The first part of the tunnels have two spots that you can see behind the falls. Not much of a view…

The other part is a viewing platform next to the falls where I took a few pictures. We didn’t stay long… the kids were not enjoying getting wet. :)

After the Journey we started walking towards Maid of the Mist and stopped for lunch. Josh decided sleep sounded better than eating. While I was getting the food he took a nap. He didn’t wake up until about 30 minutes after lunch was over.

While we were eating lunch we realized it was getting colder outside and decided that it wasn’t a good day for Maid of the Mist. We decided we would come back in July and do the Maid of the Mist. So we walked up the hill and went on the Skywheel. It is an enclosed air conditioned Ferris wheel. While walking Samantha found some pretty flowers and we also found a very interesting colored squirrel.

After the Skywheel we headed back to the shuttle so we could meet Nathan’s older sister, Vicki, for dinner. I took a few more pictures before getting on the bus. This is a picture of a ship that has been stuck for MANY years. I can’t remember what year the bus driver said but I think it was in the early 1900’s. The other picture is where the water starts going over the falls.

Unfortunately I did not get to enjoy the meal with Vicki. I had the worst headache I have ever had and went to the hospital. I knew I was coming down with a sinus infection and they gave me some phenergan and sent me on my way. They said it would help with the headache. They did a CT scan but not far enough to see the sinuses so they dismissed the sinus pain. The next day Nathan took me to an Urgent Care center and they gave me some stronger decongestants and some antibiotics. Hopefully the sinus pain with start going away now.

Tonight we are finally getting around to having mom’s birthday dinner so I will update with pictures of her cake.

Well… we left Chicago and drove to Michigan to get the oil pan fixed. I took the kids to a hotel for the night so we could sleep in and have somewhere they could keep out of trouble while the oil pan was being worked on. Nathan and Misty stayed with the RV. After the oil pan was fixed, we headed toward Canada. Here is the bridge going into Canada from Detroit.

Here are the kids sitting buckled up on the couch waving goodbye to the United States.

We were sent into the truck lines to pay to go over the bridge so we followed the trucks into the border lines. Here is the truck that was ahead of us in line. We thought it looked like he was floating because his back tires are off the ground.

Getting into Canada was an adventure. First, we were supposed to go through the lines with the cars so we were probably making the trucks behind us mad. The border police kept asking us where we were going, how long we would be there and why. Then we had to pull over and everyone and the dogs had to get out while they went through all of our cupboards and storage bays. Next we were sent into immigration and asked all the questions all over again. Seems like a lot of trouble to put a sticker on the map and go camping! :)

Anyways… the first thing we looked for once cleared to enter the country was a place where Nathan could purchase a cell phone and a month subscription for Canada since his current company did not offer any plans that would give him coverage in Canada. Come to find out that cell plans are very expensive in Canada and they have many places where you have no coverage. So… since Nathan has to have a cell phone for work we decided to have dinner at the Applebees at the shopping center and review our options.

We decided that our options were limited so we crossed back into the USA. We thought we would have a problem but I guess having passports they decided we were okay because the USA border police came in and asked us a few questions and sent us on our way without anyone having to get out. Here is the bridge again… this time coming back into USA.

We decided to surprise Nathan’s parents and spend the time we would have been in Canada in NY at the campground that they summer at. We spent the night at a Cabelas in Michigan that had dump and water and then made it into NY by early afternoon on Friday. We will stay here until next Tuesday when we will head to Hershey.