Last day in Thunder Bay

This morning started out early for the team. We did our last presentation at a The Lakehead morning club. Although tired we looked forward to this last opportunity to present our program. After the meeting we changed clothes and headed for Old Fort William. We got a tour from Wabash who showed us Ojibwa traditions. We did a "smudge" which was supposed to clean our souls and minds - kind of poetic as this is our last day overseas. After the smudge we toured the old fur trading post and learnd about life back then. As a grande finale we even got to sow our own pouches mad from deerskin.

After another deliciuos lunch we jump right on to the next adventure - a tour of the Bombardier plant in Thunder Bay. Rotarian John Luckock gave us the grand tour and some interesting insights in the train industry of today.

17:33
We are currently packing our bags and are preparing ourselves for the farewell party, we are looking forward to coming home again although we´re sure that we´ll shed a tear or two - now that the adventure is coming to an end. Pictures will be uploaded soon.

Last vocational day

This day was a day at court for me. I got to see Thunder Bay's twocourt houses. The morning I met people working with the Victim WitnessAssistance Program who are located in the Ontario Court of Justice.The program is funded by the Ministry of the Attorney General. The mandate of the program is to provide information, assistance andsupport to victims and witnesses of crime throughout the criminal justice process in order to increase their understanding of, and participation in, the criminal justice process. They prioritise service to male or female victims/witnesses of sexual assault, childabuse and partner assault. I think these people do a fantastic jobtrying to reduce the stress for victims of predominantly domestic violence. This is also a big problem in Sweden. Sadly, I was told thatthe trend here right now is that it seems to be getting worse.

After having lunch with two Rotarians, Kristina and a Canadian colleague of hers I went to see Doug Shanks who works as a lawyer at Cheadles law firm. He took me to the Superior Court of Justice to meetthe judges. We had an interesting and rather informal discussion intheir lunch room about our different court systems. Five of the sixjudges were present. After four weeks in the states I had become quitefamiliar with their court system but now I learned that here in Canada it was completely different.

The judges wear a really nice outfit when they appear in the courtroom. Madam Justice Helen Pierce asked me if a wanted to try on herdress – what an honour. First they put on a white cotton shirt withwing collars, then a black waist coat of wool, black trousers/skirt, ablack robe of silk, white tabs and finish with a red sash of wool. I felt like a very important person.

Before I left the court house a got to sit at a civil trial and seeJustice John deP Wright wearing these clothes. The case was aboutmedical maltreatment and was very interesting.In the evening we had dinner with the Fort William Rotary Club. Wewere welcomed by the city mayor Lynn Peterson, who is also a Rotarymember. We then did our tenth presentation.Before it became dark we went to see the Kakabeka Falls. What a wonderful scenery.

What a big one!

Today we had many opportunities but what we choose between doing was trekking or fishing. Anna and Sabina went on a long hiking tour for almost three hours. A very nice hiking tour given by Louise, she also taught them alot about the Canadian forests. Ulf, Marcel and Tina wanted to go fishing for the big, big old pike in Lake Superior! And guess who got it? It may sound unbelivable but the old pike bite all of our hooks at the same time!! And it was the biggest, biggest anyone ever had caught in Lake Superior! During the day it was windy and we even saw what we hope will be the last snow for this spring. After coming home again from all our outdoors activities we had some relaxing time before a last dinner in Nipigon at the "Red Rock Inn" before heading back to Thunder Bay! (some of the stories above may be a little, little bit exagerated)

// Tina

North Shore

On this beautiful Victoria Day (big holiday in Canada) we started with breakfast at the Hoito Restaurant. The Hoito is a famous Finnish restaurant in Thunder Bay and shares a building on Bay Street with the Finlandia Club. The reason we ended up at the Hoito a early Monday morning is because they are famous fore there Finnish breakfast pancakes. As a Swede is felt really strange to have pancakes in the morning instead of fore lunch or a light dinner, but our team is brave and some of us tasted the pancakes with maple
syrup and fried potato’s or bacon and eggs. For those of us who wanted something else they hade a big breakfast menu. The Hoito was really a great experience and a place where I could have stay just watching people for hours!! But we hade to head out to new adventures and the with people line for a table where growing by the minute.

First stop of the day’s tour was the Marina park with the Terry Fox Monument and the lookout spot for the sleeping giant. I still have some problem with making out the arms but we took a lot of pictures so I can keep looking when I get home. Next stop was Quiment Canyon where we got interesting information on how it came to be and other Canyons around the world.

After lunch came the big challenge! Eagle Canyon Suspension Bridge is Canada’s longest Suspension Footbridge. Not really my thing but the spectacular scenery made it worth it.

During the afternoon we got an interesting guided tour of the areas surrounding Nipigon and got the opportunity to choose a gift among Roland Choiselat’s beautiful stone craft. Last but not least we hade a great evening socializing with the Nipigon club at the Dupuis lake cabin.

Goodbye US hello Canada!

Time for break up after just one night by our hosts in Two Harbors, the last U.S. town during our trip. Now it was time to follow the eastern coastline of BIG Lake Superior with nice sceneries to meeting point Lutsen, a sport hotel down at the waterline of thelake. After lunch and farewell to our former GSE hosts we continued towards Thunder Bay with short photobreaks now and then. A couple of hours later we passed the Canadian border with ease without any suspisious questions from the custom.Direct after having entered our new "home country" we stopped and were welcomed with a "surviving kit" each - a wine coolerstuffed with important things as the Canadian flag, a nice tie with the maple leafe, playing cards, notebook, pen and of course aschnaps glaas. Thank you very much. Tomorrow it`s time for new adventures in Nipigon suroundings. With our new surviving kit wehave no feares for whatever we will meet or will happen.

Leaving Wisconsin

After a relaxing morning it was time to leave "The Dairy State" for this time. We´ve had a great time being here and we got to see interesting parts of Superior. Today we´re going back to Minnesota and Two Harbors for a quick stop there. The team is really looking forward to seeing the famous lighthouse.

Super Superior

This morning Kristina, Sabina and I had our vocational day together.We were scheduled to meet up at 9 a.m. outside the City Building ofSuperior. Since I was staying in Duluth I just had to cross a bridgeand then I was in a new town and a new state. This is why Duluth and Superior go by the name "The Twin Ports".First we met the mayor Dave Ross, police chief Floyd Peters andsheriff Tom Dalbac. After having talked to them and compared oursystems Kristina tried a Taser, a non-lethal weapon that the Swedishpolice don't use. She now got to use it – a bunch of keys was hersubject. We then walked to the Emergency Communication Center and gotto see all the equipments that the people who answer 911 phone callscan use to help people fast. We also got a tour of the jail and the Court House.After lunch the whole group made a visit to the Cathedral of Christthe King, which has been newly renovated. Father Dan Dahlberg himselfguided us. He showed us an unexpected talent; he knew the old Swedish children's rhyme 'Rida, rida, ranka'.In the evening there was time for a social with Rotary clubs from thetwin ports. Some of us then went to a bar to sing karaoke. Ulf and Kristina did a great version of ABBA's 'Money, Money, Money'.

//AM

Doing Duluth

We started the morning by traveling from Virginia to Duluth. In Duluth we started with a small tour walking in the city, had a little bit of shopping and a nice look around. After lunch we went on a harbor cruise on "The Vista King", had some good views and some interesting speaching from "the girl on the speakers".After the Lake Superior tour we all got about an hour for or selves. Three of us went to a bar and set down for a relaxing beer, and after that we went back to the hotel to meet up with our new host families.

// The team

City of Virginia

In the morning I was taken for a tour of Virginia and its surroundings. We started with an old Iron ore mineshaft that nowadays is filled with water. After being regarded as ugly for many years’ people of today see the beauty in the old water filled shaft and we visited a newly built area where the houses faced an old mineshaft just for the beautiful view. We also went for a walk in the centre of town and saw all the old buildings there. At lunchtime we met up with the Virginia Rotary club for lunch and we made a team presentation.

During the afternoon we went for a guided tour at US Steels iron ore mine, Minntac. Minntac is a company with 1200 employees and is very important for the economy in Virginia. We were guided by the Plant Service Manager Rob Tommasoni how made a god job explaining the process of Iron ore mining to us. The most interesting thing was being able to go up in a 240 ton truck. The truck is 21tf 9in high, 23ft 3 wide and 43ft 8in long. Just the tier is 10ft 7in high and the maximum speed is 38 mph. You felt really small standing on the ground looking up at it and being up in the driver’s seat didn’t make it look any smaller! It was also very interesting to see the amount of railway wagons that left the plant every day, 140 wagons five times a day!

We ended the day and our time in Virginia with food and social at the Coats Hotel. As always we were served really good food.

Monday 12/5

Three weeks now since we arrived in Bismarck for our five week trip. Time runs fast when you get new impressions every day.

Monday began with a visit at Ripley Military Reservation, a huge 53 000 acres (25 miles x 5 miles) military exercise area. It´s the third biggest employer in the County. Despite it is a military exercise area there is an interesting and well treated wildlife with 650 different plant species and more than 200 bird species. 1000-4000 troops train at a time in the area without any disturbance between them and the wild animals there.

After this we were guided thru the different mechanical workshops that took care of the environment with using water based paint, recycling motor oil, recycled water and using high pressurized water instead of sandblasting off the old paint from the vehicles.

After lunch at the canteen there was time for a museum visit before returning to Brainerd and our vocational afternoon.
In the evening we visited Camp Confidence, a camp were families with a member with a mental defect can stay and have a lot of creative activities. After a guided outdoor and indoor tour we had a delicious “smorgasbord” together with participating hosts.
Tomorrow it´s time for a noon Rotary meeting and another presentation and a new breakup from host families.

Farewell all Rotarian friends in Brainerd. Next stop is Virginia. Here we come!