July 22nd – Carlyle, Saskatchewan

Have I mentioned that Laura had been to nearly all of the 13 Canadian provinces and territories? The only one on the list that she hadn’t been to was Saskatchewan. That was until yesterday afternoon when we arrived in Carlyle, just across the border from Manitoba. Check it off!

People we’ve spoken with up here said, “why would you want to go there“? (emphasis on the last word). When they heard our reason, most were flabbergasted that we’d been to all of the others together – we haven’t met one Canadian yet who’s been to all of them. When you look at the map and realize that the northern portions (mostly territories) have very few or no roads, you can understand why.

Laura asked to take this map (see below) from our restaurant the other day and is planning to color in all of them when we get home. My kids might get a kick out of that, if as they remember our old road trips where they colored in the states that we visited back in the 90’s. My first visit to Saskatchewan (and Alberta and British Columbia and the Yukon) was back in 1973, so I’ve been here before – also a few times in the 80’s when I lived in Minot, ND (Flin Flon anyone?).

Carlyle may seem like just a small town near the southeastern border of the province, but did you know it was “The Cornerstone of Saskatchewan”? What were the odds?

At any rate, there’s also Moose Mountain Provincial Park just north of town. It has some lovely recreation areas, and the locals were out in force on a beautiful afternoon. Let’s not forget that it’s a short summer up here. That still had to be some cold water…

Well, that’s a wrap on Canada for both of us now. You can see the list of 10 provinces and 3 territories above in case you’re interested in making the various treks – it will take more than one trip to get them all in. Trust us.

Bow Lake and Bow Peak in Banff National Park, Canada

Having reached the pinnacle of Canadian tourism adventure in the Cornerstone of the last province, we shall retire with our honors and accolades and drive back out of Saskatchewan later this morning. Put a bow on Canada, eh!

July 21st – Winnipeg, Manitoba

Now that was fun! The church service went well, and the congregation seemed to get into the celebratory worship spirit with us. It was some of the best special music I’ve seen at a traditional church service, and it was wonderful to see these former classmates enjoying making music together 49 years after first meeting at Moody Bible Institute.

It was St. Aidan’s Anglican Church and they even presented us with a cake afterward, which we enjoyed while talking with church members following the service.

David barbecued lunch for us back at their house and the music and conversation continued late into evening again. We said our goodbyes last night, looking forward to meeting again at Bob and Becca’s wedding in September if God’s willing and the creeks don’t rise. Trish has consented to sing (her voice is amazing) for the wedding, so Becca and Bob were over the moon about that.

Laura and I have one more thing to do before we leave Canada this trip. More on that tomorrow.

July 20th – Winnipeg, Manitoba

We took the trolley tour of Winnipeg yesterday morning and had a great time learning about the history and landmarks of the city. Then it was on to the Old Spaghetti Factory and lunch at an area called “The Forks” – where the Assiniboine and Red Rivers meet. We followed that up with more reminiscing and a practice session for the special music that these music majors (all 6 of them) will be performing at church this morning (I’ll be singing in the choir numbers also).

That’s Laura, David, Trish, Becca, Bob, and Sue in the picture above. Sue lost her husband about 10 years ago (also a college music major and minister). Bob and Becca are recently engaged, after Bob lost his wife to cancer and Becca and her husband divorced – they were good friends at college and Bob said that “he’s not going to let her get away again” – it’s a wonderful story.

We once again talked late into the evening and had to tear ourselves away finally around 10 to get to our nearby hotel – the others are staying at the home of David and Trish. Hopefully, everyone will be rested and ready for this morning’s performances.

July 19th – Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

We didn’t get any pictures of the group last night, as it was mostly catching up and reminiscing about old times for the 6 classmates. David and Trish are our hosts for the weekend, and we had a beautiful dinner and evening on their back porch. Temperatures are in the 70’s here, so we’re loving that also.

I did catch a photo of a polar bear at the airport as we arrived. Thought I’d add a tourism plug for Winnipeg along with that – those will have to do for now. Everyone’s flights were without trouble and our rental car and nearby hotel are both quite nice.

Laura has also now officially been to the province of Manitoba – only one left for her on that list. I promise that I’ll document the group by tomorrow’s post.

We’re off to play tourists in Winnipeg today!

July 18th – Orlando Airport, Florida

Oh, Canada! That’s our first destination for our annual Midwest tour. It’s a bit north of the Midwest, but it will have to do as a starting place. Laura has 5 former classmates from her college days that will be meeting us there – one couple lives there (Winnipeg) and the rest of us are flying in to visit them. It’s also Laura’s first visit to the province of Manitoba (she’ll have one left after that) – time to check it off.

We tried to do this back in 2020, but you might remember a problem with foreign travel back in the summer of that year for some reason. Anyway, we’ve decided that this summer is the time to do this trip that had been planned years ago.

Off we go!

July 17th – Daytona Beach Shores, Florida

We remember now why we like to travel during the summer months. It’s been one afternoon storm after another, with hot weather in between. When we aren’t dealing with a potential hurricane, that’s the description of a normal summer day here in Florida. Not a great time to get out and about.

So, we’re going on another adventure!

Before flying out tomorrow, we’ll stop and check in on Laura’s mother and then stay at our happy place tonight at the airport. More to come tomorrow!

July 10th – Daytona Beach Shores, Florida

Our schedule since we got back has been a little crazy. We’re still not sure which time zone we’re in and Laura had her second cataract surgery yesterday afternoon. It got scheduled quite a while ago and we just figured we’d get it done. I think Laura’s exact words were “we won’t know what time zone we’re in, so I might just sleep through it anyway.”

We’re also in the middle of a master bath remodel that we had hoped would be done by the time we got back – it wasn’t. So, we’re sleeping in the guest bedroom and still wondering where we are in the middle of the night (which still seems like daytime to our internal clocks).

The surgery went very well, so we’re optically optimistic. She’s looking at playing flute at the National Flute Convention next month, so that’s a wonderful thing. Did I mention that our schedule is a bit crazy?

It’s also a good thing, since our next trip happens in about a week – that crazy schedule thing again. This one is a little closer to home, but still out of the country for part of it. At least our cell phones will work throughout this one and we don’t need any electrical converters.

Time zones won’t change much either…

July 8th postscript – Daytona Beach Shores

We made it home – two on-time flights and returned the rental car this evening. Going to bed now for a while…

July 8th – Berlin, Germany

We took the Hop-On, Hop-Off (HOHO) bus yesterday to do our own tour of Berlin. We got to see more things (couldn’t add pictures of them all) than we’d have been able to with the planned tour and we were able to walk around and have a local meal before getting back to the hotel to prepare for today’s flights.

We also found a local German Biergarten – Paulaner (thank you, Tomas) for our luner in mid-afternoon. That’s a “Hot Paula” (currywurst), with red cabbage and spätzle, that we shared.

We got back to the hotel and prepared our bags for this morning, returned our listening devices, and hit the Marriott Lounge once again for some refreshing beverages. Time to get back home today!

July 7th – Berlin, Germany

Have I mentioned lately that it’s great to be a member? That’s Everts Travel Rule #60, for those with a scorecard. We’re staying at a Marriott in the center of Berlin, and we happen to be Platinum Elite members at Marriott – that gives us automatic access to the lounge at Marriott hotels. In the Marriott Berlin that’s a great benefit, as they have drinks and snacks from 6 a.m. to midnight and food and alcoholic beverages from 5:30-8:30 every evening – all free and they don’t scrimp on the drinks and food and snacks.

Oh, we also had a tour of Potsdam on our way to Berlin from Wittenberg yesterday morning. For those of you with knowledge of WWII, this is the location where the Potsdam Agreement was signed in 1945, that established the postwar order in Europe between the U.S., Britian, and the Soviet Union. This is where Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin negotiated the partitioning of Germany and eastern Europe. It was interesting to see the estate where all of this was done 80 years ago.

Then it was on to Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam – a summer palace for King Frederick the Great back in the mid-1700’s. He was a fan of Louis the 14th of France, so it’s a bit of a scaled-down version of the Versailles Palace, complete with gardens (but without the hall of mirrors or the immense indoor space).

We’re in the Marriott Berlin Hotel now for 2 nights before we fly back home tomorrow. One more day to see Berlin.