THE YEAR IS 1816

Fort Willam...Canada

 

Me perched on the hill 

 

Canadian Geese...my new friends

 

 

Ft. William was all about fur trading...Vannie loved feelin' the goods!

 

Attention!!!  Come on, Dave, get with the program!

 

 

This was used to trap the beavers for their prized fur...Can you guess?  This was placed very carefully on the trap, and when the beaver gave it a sniff...Bam...It was caught!  OK...Give up?  Beaver sex glands!

 

 

V and D said they used muscles that didn't know they had.

 

Leaving Ft. William...Nice Place

 

 

Kakabeka Falls

 

…well, not really…but we are camped at Fort William Historical Park in Thunder Bay, Canada.  It has a replica of the real Fort William way back when.  Fort William was considered the capital of the greatest fur trading empire on the continent.  Vannie and Dave enjoyed touring the fort and really getting the “feel” of how it was in 1816.  They got to step back in time and experience the wigwams of the local Ojibwa tribe, see birch bark canoes under construction, visit animals on the working Farm, touch the many different pelts in the fur stores, meet the doctor in the Apothecary, see how beavers were trapped (and the unusual bait used), watch the bread being made and baked, and paddle down the river in a canoe. 

As for me…I’m still riding on the awesome greeting we received upon our arrival.  Dave pulled me in my spot, unhooked me from the truck, plugged me in to water and electricity and then they came.  Geese…Canadian Geese…about 100!  They were all around me…visiting, eating, relaxing.  They were so happy to see a big shiny thing like me, and I was happy to see them, too.  I’ve never seen a Canadian goose.  I thought they would be really messy, but they were as neat as a pin.  Other birds that joined us the next day were seagulls.  Now, I know about those.  Saw plenty of those in Louisiana and when we were in Gulf Shores.  The geese and the seagulls kept me company while V and D did their touring.

After their day at the Fort, Vannie and Dave squeezed out a little more energy to visit Kakabeka Falls.  The Ojibwa Indians were one of the earliest people to see the Falls, naming it after the Ojibwa word kah-kah-pee-kah which means “sheer cliff”, “thundering waters” or “high falls”.  Don’t you just love it when I throw in a little history lesson!

Oops…almost forgot to tell you about Lake Superior.  Now, that is one big sucker!  It looks like the Gulf of Mexico…water as far as the eye can see.   It’s a beautiful sight, and I overheard Vannie and Dave say that we were going be seeing a lot more of it as we travel back down into Minnesota.

Neh-neh-tee-neh…Indian word for “Good Night”…Gotcha…I just made that up!