From big city to farm country

Leaving: Toronto, Ontario
Thursday, June 22, 2006. 8:25am EST. Mileage: 0 km

Arriving: Madison, Wisconsin

Thursday, June 22, 2006. 10:00pm EST. Mileage: 1150 km

Madison was definitely a surprising jewel to find! We never expected much, but it is definitely one of the more beautiful cities we've seen in the States. We stayed in the Madison Concourse Hotel, right beside the Madison Capitol building, and just strolled around town. People were friendly, and it felt safe, even late at night.

Madison's Capitol Building

Our drive here, however, was another story. While most of it was smooth and uneventful, we wouldn't recommend using the Illinois interstate. It cost us almost $20 US in tolls, and there was so much traffic. We were stuck near Chicago for 2 hours.



Leaving: Madison, Wisconsin
Friday, June 23, 2006. 10:25am CST (11:25am EST). Mileage: 1169.0 km

Arriving: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Friday, June 23, 2006. 9:55pm CST. Mileage: 2325.2 km

We left Madison after a nice big breakfast of 2 eggs, homefries, 2 sausages, and a stuffed French toast (with cream cheese) covered with cinnamon apple and whipped cream (for $4.99) at the nearby IHOP. So good. We got near Grand Forks, North Dakota, where we met with a huge thunderstorm and almost lost a windshield wiper (note to Des: they were on backwards!). Nothing much else happened and we arrived back in Canada.


Leaving: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Saturday, June 24, 2006. 3:29pm CST. Mileage: 2325.2 km

Arriving: Elbow, Saskatchewan
Saturday, June 24, 2006. 10:15pm Saskatchewan Time. (11:15pm CST) Mileage: 3073.1 km

We hung out with our dear old friend Anita Durksen (formerly Fust) in Winnipeg. It was fun seeing her again. We woke her up with nerf arrow guns. On Saturday, we visited the Legislature building. There's a room in there called the "Pool of the Black Star" or something like that. Very neat acoustics! Anita insisted we find the gallery with the portraits of people whose "eyes follow you." They sort of did... but because of the delay, we met up with a huge storm on the way home and were stuck in a doorway for a while. Not just any storm either, but one that was complete with hail!! We braved it home, got soaking wet, and then left for Elbow, where we surprised Kris' parents!!

Old friends with new names: Mrs. Durksen & Mrs. Knutson