19 - Entering America and Grand Portage

Since arriving in Canada, Fred had been on a mission to find the perfect coffee and so far, except for Lorne's wonderful speciality, the mission had failed. He was obviously missing his regular jaunts to the NAAFI he used to enjoy (very frequently) while at work. So, we couldn’t leave Thunder Bay without first spending at Starbucks. The hot chocolate ain’t half bad either!

It was another glorious sunny day and as we travelled south we noticed the leaves on the trees were greener and much more developed than the ones on the trees on the northern shore of the lake. It began to feel like spring rather than winter.

The border to the U.S. is about 60 kms from Thunder Bay so it wasn’t long before we were there. We were both quite nervous, expecting rigorous questioning and hoping there’d be no need for rubber gloves. However, it went a lot smoother than we’d imagined. We had to fill out a form, give a photo and our fingerprints, and allow a search of the RV. We weren’t present when they searched the RV and it couldn’t have been very thorough because there is a large garage (storage compartment) at the rear of the vehicle, in which we could have stored at least five terrorists, that they didn’t even unlock. Maybe we come across far more respectable than we give ourselves credit. It could have been the way I was childishly wriggling around with excitement at the thought of entering the Land of the Free for the first time! Who knows?

Shortly after the crossing we stopped to withdraw some cash from an ATM (we learnt quickly to avoid asking “Where can one find a cash point?” “A waaaaaaat?” “A cash point. A machine from which one withdraws cash?” “Oh, an Ay Tee Ayum!”) We also had to put our clocks/watches back one hour as we entered the Central Time Zone.

The forested highway through Minnesota was very quiet. My favourite quote of the drive was Fred saying "I'm not sure what the speed limit is here. I don't wanna get tazered". After another few kilometres we stopped at a scenic lookout which gave wonderful panoramic views of the lake and nearby islands.

Next we hit Grand Portage where we stopped to visit the Heritage Centre and National Monument. Grand Portage was home to the headquarters of the North West Company which rivalled Hudson’s Bay Company previous monopoly of the fur trade. The Voyaguers who worked for this new company had to endure a 13.5km portage to reach Pigeon River which led to the north. Thankfully Fred and I will not have to traverse anything half as long and neither will we be carrying kit half as heavy!

The area was also home to the First Nations for thousands of years; copper tools have been found dating back to 6000 BC. More specifically, the Ojibwe lived in the area for about 3000 years before the Europeans arrived. Many artefacts made by the tribe were featured in the centre.

The National Monument included the Grand Portage Stockade within which were the Great Hall, kitchen and gardens. Unfortunately it was closed but we were able to peek through the stockade and take some photos. Outside the stockade were Ojibwa wigwams and the Canoe Warehouse used by the Voyaguers from the camp. It was all very fascinating but would have been more so if it had been completely open.

We returned to the van, ate some lunch and got back on the road heading towards Grand Marais where we hoped to stay (that rhymes!).