Appleton Wisconsin to Des Moines Iowa

In a nutshell:

Huge air show in Oshgosh - as we left Appleton, we saw cloud pictures in the sky made by the airplanes.  This must be a huge deal as there were so many cars - incredible! Here's a smily face - there was also OSH22 written in clouds.

Drove to our first stop: The pink elephant.  To get there, we drove through small roads surrounded by corn fields - you know... exactly like in horror movies!  As you can see, it is indeed a big pink elephant!  We continued on our merry way
after taking a couple photos. 

Our next stop was 1.5 hours later: Dickeyville - The Shrine of the Grotto of Redemption.  I don't know what to say about this place... It is spectacular - the priest who created this truly was an artist. It was worth the little detour for sure!  You can see the grotto here.  There was also a water fountain and other Shrines all depicting the life of Jesus.

There were even a couple bird motels with house sparrow nests in there. 

In Dubuque, right at the border of Iowa and Wisconsin, on the mighty Mississippi river we stopped at Eagle Point Park .  It's an amazing park with great views of the Mississippi river.  If you know what you are looking at (which we didn't) you could see 3 states: Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.  

In the parking lot, park, we were "lucky" to see a  real live soap opera.  Some teenagers/young adults fighting and throwing things, swearing, baseball bat, pushing, shoving, the whole shebang - it was a sight. I could've gone without and be happy...

After walking in the park for a little, we continued on to our last destination of the day: Des Moines.  We arrived at our hotel, registered and went out to our car to get our luggage.  Brought in the room and were leaving for dinner at the Zombie Burger when 3 police cars showed up.  No idea why but it didn't give us a good feeling.  Dinner was good - similar to The Works but all zombie related names and decorations.  We also stopped at a chocolaterie - we bought some
chocolate and fancy cotton candy.

We drove downtown a little to see and came upon this gorgeous building - the State Capitol - wow - it's a beauty! 

Birds of the day: Pelicans, cormorants, chickadee, goldfinch, turkey vulture, Canada geese and a few birds of prey - I suck at recognizing them so birds of prey it is.

Farm animals: goats, sheep, dairy cows, brown cows, black cows, cows cows cows and horses.

Roadkills: lots of raccoons, skunk, and non-identifiable animals

Weird things for today: 

Gas station name... who ever thought of that??

Lady's waxing place... really?  Hilarious! 

From "the Soo" to Appleton Wisconsin

Remi going to Walmart.

Our first stop of the day, believe it or not, was Walmart!  We brought a few movies and episodes to watch as we wind down in the evenings... Of course, we were missing a wire, and as we were walking through the Walmart, Remi remembered he also forgot a towel.  After our Walmart excursion, off we went to continue the adventure.

When you cross into the States from Sault Ste Marie, you cross over a gigantic bridge.  It's 3.2 km long.  You pay $5.10 Canadian or $4 American to enter the USA.  Pretty uneventful deal - usual questions: where are you going, what for and do you have anything to declare.  Lastly, are you vaccinated.  Malta, Montana, pick up our child, no and yes.

The waves were quite large!
You wouldn't want to fall in! 

Our picture with the lighthouse.

Let's say that Michigan isn't very scenic. At least not the road we took.  Michigan is just as boring as going to Hearst.  Trees, trees and more trees.  We thought that following along the lake would mean we would actually see the lake... WRONG! we saw it a few times but nothing like what we expected.  Oh well.  We did stop in Manistique. There was a boardwalk sand dunes on what side, beach on the other.  The boardwalk led us to a red lighthouse.  The waves here were something else!  I couldn't even look on one side of the walkway as I felt so nauseous from the movement of the water.  It brought me back to whale watching and feeling ill the whole time!  Near the lighthouse, the big waves hit the rocks and splashed over the breakwater.  It was a beautiful stop - about 1.3 km walk just enough to stretch our legs a little.  

Walking the trails.

We continued on to Appleton, Wisconsin - our destination for the night.  We didn't realize we would be turning our clocks back an hour already so we arrived a little early.  We checked to see what was around and we found a nice nature conservation area called Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve.  What a gem!  Here you can find nicely maintained trails - some forested, some fields, around ponds, along a creek - a nice variety. We walked for 5km, taking lots of pictures of flowers, birds and insects to add to iNaturalist.   

We had dinner at Perkins - let's just say we won't be eating there again.  Not my cup of tea.

Indigo bunting

First bird we saw today: sandhill crane - in the middle of the road at the border crossing

Other birds: chickadee, wild turkey, quail, eastern blue bird, white breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker, indigo bunting, mourning dove, waxwing, common yellowthroat, peewee, song sparrow

Animals: turtles, toads, frogs, and snake

Insects: bumblebees, carrion beetle, butterflies, Japanese golden beetle (a pest), jagged ambush bug, various dragonflies.

Roadkills: raccoons, skunks, deer, opossum, crow, gull

grasshopper

ambush bug

Montana Bound

Adventures have been sparse in the past 2 years.  Other than Toronto once and Hearst a few times, we haven't been anywhere since our trip to the Alps because Covid Pandemic.  

Leaving Ottawa

Sophie is working in Montana for the summer, so we decided to go pick them up instead of having them fly back.  Great way for Rémi and I to go on an adventure.  Since we've been to Montana before, we will be making a longer route and going down to Iowa and Nebraska, 2 states we have not seen before.  We left this morning and made our way to our first stop:  Sault Ste-Marie, Ontario.  It was a pretty uneventful day of just driving.

In a nutshell:

• Tons of traffic . 
• Two groups of "freedumb convoy" - slowing traffic big time - I would've been swearing had I had to follow them... luckily for us, they were headed the opposite way.  What the hell do they want this time? 
• Many large groups of motorcycles - wondering if they were coming back from their outing in Toronto earlier this week?
• Beautiful sunshine and views.
• A near accident - some dumbass almost pushed us into the ditch so they wouldn't have a head-on collision. Perhaps she should've left earlier if she was in a such a hurry.
• Lunch in North Bay.
• A walk along the waterfront.
• Ice Cream at Holy Cow.
  
• A night at the Water Tour Inn.

Click on photos for bigger view. 

Sault Ste Marie

  

Wondering if the Coastguard eat
Beavertails instead of doughnuts? 

Fun with the cows

Remi's turn!

Aug 7 -going home

It’s time to say goodbye to France!  We had a marvellous busy month!  You offered beautiful views, interesting driving conditions, history, fun times, various emotions...

Could I live here? 
I could get used to:

• eating bread everyday
• the French accent
• the weather
• the beautiful mountains
• the Mediterranean sea
• the different road signs
• the varying speed limits for no reason

• 

  Sad to leave a wonderful place.... 

 I don’t think I could get used to: 

• the motorcycles doing whatever they want whenever they want. 
• I can’t stand the scooters so I don’t think I could get used to them.  
• no butter with bread
• the food
• 
  

You offer so many wonderful things, but you are not Canada.

But... happy to go home

Our flight back to Toronto was uneventful until we reached customs.  We get out card on the plane, fill it out, line up with everyone else.  We get a 47 on my card.  What do those numbers mean?  We go through the first guy, he says: "Please go that way".  What? Why can't I go that way with everyone else?
We get to the second person, she says: "Where are you arriving from?" Me: "France -we were hiking the Alps." Her: "Please go over there and one of the officers will help you."  Again, What? Why?

We get to this mean looking officer.  He takes our papers and says: "Sit on the bench. I have things to look into."  That's it? No other information, no smile, no nothing.  Great.  We sit on the bench and wait for about 5 to 10 minutes I guess.  Good thing we have 1.5 hours between flights...

The officer calls us back to his booth.  The news is as follows:  Someone else with the same name is on the "wanted" list.  We match at over 90% so he had to look to make sure I wasn't her.  He also tells me this will happen every time I come back into Canada.  Great... Just want I need... more stress at the airport -as if I'm not stressed enough as is! There is nothing I can do about this.  He told me that next time I go to customs, to tell them this has happened before - and off we went to our next flight. 
By this point, I just want to get home!

The rest of the flight was fine.  Our baggage arrived just fine as well.  Now the worst part is dealing with the jet lag for the next few days. 

I've been home for a day and I already miss the Alps... Looking forward to our next adventure!  Who knows what it will be!  Until next time!

Aug 6

We started our day with a running tour with Parisrunningtours.com -Jean-Charles was our guide. He planned an excellent 10k route to show us what the city has to offer.  Jean-Charles is full of facts and
interesting information about Paris. It’s clear that he loves what he does!

We learned so much on this tour!  It was a great way to to be introduced to a little bit of everything!  I think what surprised me the most is the Louvres and the size of the building!  Never mind the little glass pyramid!  It’s a humongous building- that is a work of art itself!

I was glad to see Notre Dame de Paris. Funny how a building can evoke emotions... and I am not even sure I believe that we should rebuild it... thinking of all the people we could feed instead with all that money... anyways, I was moved by this building.

After the tour was done, our guide brought us back to our hotel via subway.  I would recommend you visit a city this way!  Gives you insights and ideas of what to visit.

After our tour, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and were caught in the rain.  Too bad you have to pay to go under it... it would’ve been nice but whatever. We were going to visit the Petit Palais but by


this point, we were drenched, tired and cold. We decided to head to the hotel instead.

Every night, after dark, on the hour for 5 minutes, the Eiffel tower sparkles.  Not exactly sure what that meant, we made our way to see what it was about.  Well! It sure did sparkle!  It was a pretty sight!

We don’t have to wake up early tomorrow- but time for bed nonetheless!

Aug 5th -Paris

At the station -keep eyes open for pickpockets! 😂 

We said goodbye to the south of France and took the train from Marseille to Paris.  When we arrived, we took a cab to our hotel and decided it would be a well deserved rest day.  On the way to the Eiffel tower, we stopped for lunch.  We then continued walking to the Eiffel tower (about 500m from our hotel) and that’s about it. 

lunch time

So far, Paris looks like a clean place -much better than Marseille!  We will see more of the city tomorrow!

first view of the tower

Aug 4th Marseille/Calanques

Today, we are going to see one of the Calanques.  We drive as we can to the trail. We were supposed to be able to get to a little restaurant but that didn’t happen. We had to park and walk up, then doooowwwwnnnn.  Phew!  Once at the restaurant, there was about 1.5k to walk to get to our destination- a more secluded Calanques.  There is a beach at the first one, but it more like a gravel beach. Off we go.

We start combining and get to some terrifying (to me) parts. I push myself to go through, I can’t. I sit for a while to compose myself. I don’t want to let Rémi or myself down. He’s a trooper and tells me he doesn’t mind.  I mind.  I am stubborn, I am not a quitter because it’s difficult, I know I can do this, I give it a second try.  We get through this difficult bit.

The rocks here are extremely slippery.  Again, it’s like walking on ice.  Another problem is that once fear has a grip on you, it’s very difficult to shake it off. You lose all your power and confidence. If it has never happened to you, then you can’t understand.  There is nothing you can say to help either. You, as the “victim” just have to talk yourself out of it... easier said than done.

Anyway, back on track. More dicy sections-I am able to get through with Rémi helping me through it, holding out his hand, pointing to good spots for my feet.  We get to the last straw- I turn a difficult corner and see a a very narrow and steep climb up shiny rocks. Shiny =not good. There is a little rope to help you up (or to hold on for dear life). I instantly know There is no way in hell I can do this.  Physically I could- no doubt in my mind.  Mentally is another story.  I am frustrated, crying, not wanting to quit but I have no choice. It wouldn’t be safe for me to do this.  I know this and I have to respect this. Not easy to turn around when you are 200m away from your destination and you’ve already conquered difficult sections at least 5 times.  What can you do...

We turned back, knowing I had all those difficult parts to get through a second time. Trust me, it’s not any easier the second time around!

We finally get through it all and make our way to the wild beach.  This means it’s a rock and water. I get my swimsuit on, start walking in but man!  The water is freezing!  It’s really deep here, the water doesn’t warm up like on a beach!  Neither Rémi or I wanted to go in. Brrr!  So we walked to the first beach we had seen. “Beach”.  It’s more like gravel!  Ouch!  We did make our way in. The water wasn’t any warmer though!  We had to walk another 4k or so back up to our car. The heat is stifling.  I sure was glad when we arrived at the car!

On our way back, we stopped at The Basilique Notre Dame de Garde. Up 200 stairs- wow! What a beauty!  And the view!!! It even made Marseille look pretty!  (Marseille is dirty, tons of ugly tagging and graffiti- yuck).

It would have been nice to go to the beach but every parking were full, so were the road sides so we just went back to our room to relax.  I am tired, exhausted really- all this stress wears on a person.  We had dinner at Burger King- was pretty gross but I had nothing left in me.

Now we have to pack our bags properly as tomorrow we take the train to Paris.  It’s 7:30 and I am ready for bed!  Good night!