The night prior to leaving, I frantically sewed Emeraude's jingle dress while Lloyd watched her play in the pool outside.

This group of posts are

SO, next time you’re travelling to or through Marathon, Ontario, stop at the restaurant on the turn off and have a bite to eat (tell them you heard about the restaurant here!) as the service will be great (they are ex-Wadgeians after all so they can’t help but be uber-friendly!) just don’t bother to stay the night unless you drive a little further down the highway to the Wayfare Inn (stayed there at the end of our trip on our way back home and it was really great). ANYHOW, ended up chatting with her for almost 30 minutes which, in addition to a great coffee had me feeling better – bright eyed and ready to hit the road again. “Keep rollin‘, rollin‘, rollin‘ “ lol.

As we passed through Terrace Bay a little later, Lloyd suggested that we stop at the Aguasabon Gorge. It was great timing as I had just been saying a little prayer for a reason to stop. Emeraude did not remember much about our last visit therer.  It was awesome as usual! Lloyd was a trooper, making it in & back on
his crutches without a single complaint. Emeraude for her part, had become much braver since the last visit when she had not wanted Lloyd to even put her down when on the lookout platform…This time she didn’t even pause (once a family that was there with a huge dog, leashed it and left) before walking to the edge of the platform to check things out. Her curiosity seems to be pushing her to do things like that on a regular basis; she definitely lacks the safety sense Lloyd had at that age, or rather ignores it as I doubt she lacks any sense lol.

The Aguasabon Gorge is a beautiful sight, well worth the walk in, though you do need strong legs… Last time Lloyd carried me back up the boardwalk but this time, as he was in a cast, I was on my own and was quite sore and weak as we reached the top.  I needed a few minutes before getting back to driving and some bees provided all the entertainment I needed. There were dozens of them in flowers just next to the washrooms.  Oh yeah, the washrooms… I hate to mention that we couldn’t even use the restrooms as they were so dirty and smelled so strongly of urine I almost threw up just opening the door.  There was just no way I would have let either of the kids in there and certainly wasn’t going to use either one, men or women’s, myself.  They seemed overused if I had to blame it on something.  Wish more places had the bio-degrading toilets like at the corner of hwy 614 and hwy 17. 

So, eventually we continued on.

We stopped in to visit Roger & Monique on the way through Red Rock… Roger had left for work a couple days prior but Monique was there and super welcoming as always. She made me a pot of coffee and made sure that I took one on the way out to drive with. 

from our recent trip to Thunder Bay. I was scheduled for an MRI Sunday, Aug 16th @ TBRHSC and Emeraude & I were thrilled at the timing since this was the Anishnawbe Keeshigun weekend at Old Fort William as well. 
Lloyd for his part was looking forward to some shopping as we had made a list
of the clothes he was in need of in anticipation of just such a trip at some
point during the summer. When we finally headed out Friday, I was feeling pretty worn out. Lloyd in his cast was limited with how much he could help and though he kept his sister well entertained, I had done the bulk of the packing and loading of the van which exacerbated my usual fatigue and pain issues.  Arriving
at the Marathon turn off, I was feeling so drained and decided that it would be best to take a break (I’m never trying to break any speed records and would rather arive somewhere late or get a hotel than put ourselves or anyone else in danger of not arriving at all). We stopped at the Travelodge there and I must say I will not be giving them my business any time soon (and I often have to overnight in Marathon when returning from Thunder Bay) though I would recomend the restaurant – I’ll explain that one in a minute.  I went to the front desk and explained to the receptionist that I needed a room just for a few hours, needed to take some medication and let my brain/eyes/legs rest as I was travelling with my kids from Manitouwadge (thought the fact that I was a neighbour would help) and really had to stop before we continued, did she have some kind of 1/2 day rate she could offer (most hotels don’t but will make exceptions if it’s for a good reason). She didn’t even consider it – no they ‘don’t do that’.  Well, I guess it worked out for the best as I went from there to the washroom to wash my face and stretch my legs a bit. There was a huge mess of paper towel in the bathroom (it’s accessed from outside or the restaurant) and a cleaning lady (I thought) came in to take care of it, apologizing adamantly about the mess (though she obviously was not the one to make it lol). She seemed so friendly, almost familiar, we got to talking and… it was Renée Talbot! (not her married name, I don’t know what that is though through our conversation we figured out that my Mom had married her & her husband years back when she was still doing weddings) she was actually helping out at the restaurant that her twin sister, Josée has recently taken over.  Renée and Josée if you haven’t guessed yet, used to live in Manitouwadge. They were the youngest of 4 kids; older siblings Micheline & Shawn were closer to my age (I think Micheline & I were the same age) and I think we were in elementary school together… I am now realizing I should’ve snapped a photo of her (she looked great!) or at least of the restaurant for a little promo here lol but I did not.