Busses, Helicopters, Boats, Falls and a bunch of Bison!!

We apologize it has taken us so long to write but we have been so busy…I know no excuses. My brother said I need to update the blog…so since I always listen to him (haha) I thought it was a good idea. Thanks for being patient.

Our next adventure took us to Edmonton where we camped in the parking lot of the West Edmonton mall [Nice parking lot!! –J]. Luckily we were able to park next to the grass so we could set up camp with our dog fence and all. One might think what would Jimmy and Roilyn do in a mall being that neither one of us are big shoppers. Well…..this thing was huge…I believe it is the biggest mall in the world. Anyway it has on top of all the normal shopping stuff, a full sized water park, amusement park with roller coasters, ice-skating, a pirate ship, seal show….the list goes on and on. We went on the rollercoaster which was cool…I think we were the only ones who were not in their teens there. But we didn’t care we had had a rough day with the internet and needed a little pick me up. Then I was able to talk my handsome husband into ice-skating which was so much fun .I hadn’t ice skated in years…so I had a blast and he did pretty good himself. I fell a few times…but that is expected since I can fall just walking down the street [LOL…you have no idea… -J].

From Edmonton we headed toward Niagara Falls with a few pit-stops along the way. After leaving Edmonton we went to another national park in hopes of seeing some wildlife (preferably a moose). Instead of a moose we found more bison [Which are way cooler than Moose -J]. Oh my gosh…there were so many bison just walking in the middle of the road. There were some really young ones that looked like they had just popped out, so cute how they stayed close to their mama. Obviously they could care less about humans as they took their merry time meandering in our path. We followed them around for a while and took some pictures and then my husband was ready to go (I could have stayed all day…but then we would never make this trip in 5 months). It was such a big heard we finally had to turn our 40 ft bus around on a narrow two-lane road to get out. Good thing my husband is an awesome driver.

We spent the night at a Wal-Mart in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in the ‘Land of the Living Skies”. Not knowing exactly what “Land of the Living Skies” meant we snuggled in for a quiet nights sleep [as quiet as a Wal-Mart parking lot next to a free-way with our windows open gets… –J] unaware we were going to find out exactly what ‘The Land of the Living Skies’ really meant. We were awakened at about 5am by a sudden gust of wind that shook our bus and threw papers everywhere, loud rain and bright flashes of light. As we looked outside we saw the most amazing lightening storm you could believe, literally lightening every second. We watched from inside for a while not sure if going outside would be safe and then finally deciding to be brave we headed out. It was so awesome, I wish my camera could have done better but i'll show ya what I got. Anyway it lasted for about ½ an hour and then the storm faded in the distance, the rain stopped, the wind slowed down and it was over. We don’t have storms like that in San Diego. I guess now we now know why they call it Land of the Living Skies [Also cool, nearly equally as cool as the storm was the fact they did not have many mosquitoes –J].

Speaking of mosquitoes, our next stop was good ol’ Winnipeg where we were reacquainted with the nasty little bugs. These guys were huge. I think they wait outside the bus for you to come out and then ATTACK!!!!! You could literally feel them land on you…all over you. YUCK!!! I whipped out my mosquito zapper and put it to good use. The zapper looks like a tennis racquet and the middle part has an electrical charge so you barely touch the little suckers and ZAP!!!!! They disintegrate. Well the little ones do, most of them just cook on there. The smell is pretty nasty but much better than getting bit or worse the dogs get heart worm (should be hard with all the preventative stuff we have them on- but I get a little paranoid some times).

Next stop: Marathon. Short but sweet. We stopped at a Travelodge so we could get some much needed internet access and ended up sleeping in their parking lot. It was actually pretty cool…as we were sitting in our bus right next to a big field, a helicopter came down and parked right next to us. The guy stayed at the Travelodge for the night and then headed on his way. We also found an outlet and plugged in for a few hours so we could have some air as it was hot with lots of bugs. The helicopter man told us if we want to see a moose we would have to leave at about 5:30am. WOW that is early but we were determined to see a moose so we were out of there by 5:45 and through the fog we finally saw a moose. It was in the fog, pretty far in the distance and it was running but it WAS a moose!! I really hope we see more as it was so fast my camera didn’t even see it. But…we saw our moose finally [And the Moose saw our Moose, and I would like to think he liked what he saw. –J]

Next stop: Sault St. Marie. This was supposed to be a quick boondock and pass through stop and ended up being a 3 day rest. We were so tired and getting burnt out we needed a few days of just doing nothing to recharge our batteries (our bus batteries were not as lucky as the battery charger does not work). Anyway we ended up loving this place and one night turned into 3. It was good to rest up for Niagara Falls.

Next Stop: Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls was awesome. You would not believe (well maybe you would) but I took over 300 pictures there in just one day [Yes if they have read any of this blog they believe it and they are saying a prayer for my sanity. –J]. It was just so spectacular I just couldn’t stop. The falls are enormous and just a remarkable display of the beauty and power created by God. There were literally rainbows everywhere. We went on the ‘Maid of the Mist’ boat ride which takes you right up under the falls (well as close as you can get without harming all the passengers). They gave us ponchos which Jimmy did not wear as it was extremely hot and because Jimmy always has to do the opposite of the crowd. It was pretty spectacular being that close to the falls. The guide said “And this is ‘Niagara Falls!!!” and right then we were hit by swirling wind and water. It was pretty dang cool. After we returned to shore we rested and ate in the Maid of the mist restaurant which looks out onto the falls. After a rest we headed for the edge of the falls for a different look and for the ‘Journey Behind the Falls’. This self guided tour took us down an elevator to tunnels that lead to 2 spots behind the falls and one right next to the falls. Jimmy was not too impressed (and would have rather gone to ride the ‘Maid of the Mist’ again) but I thought it was pretty cool. Just being behind the falls and hearing the rumble was exciting for me and then to be so close…WOW… those falls are huge. My camera got pretty wet on both expeditions but don’t worry it is still working like a champ [Phew! –J]. Next we went up in the Skylon tower where you can see everything from above; which was cool to see where all the water comes from before it goes over the falls. We also watched a tight-rope walker perform right under us, which was fun. [Some people may think this is bad but I was hoping we get to see the show where he falls. -J]. Wow...my huband is sick. ANYWAYS...I was able to talk Jimmy into staying till dark because they light up the falls. We watched that for a while and then headed to the bus stop to catch a ride back to our Moose. All in all Niagara Falls was AWESOME, I’m glad we rested up for it because it was a long day!!!!

Well I guess that is all for now. We are doing great. Bus still has some kinks to get out…A few new problems like the shower doesn’t work….but who needs a shower when you are roughing it….I DO!!!!!!! Thanks for keeping us in your prayers we (Jimmy, Roilyn, Chief, Dixie and The Moose) can use all the prayers we can get!!

[You may have already sent one for me after the whole tight rope walker falling thing, so thanks for that. –J].

With lots of love [Holla atcha girl!!]
The Tyner’s (Jimmy, Roilyn Chief, Dixie and The Moose!)