August 28, 2022 – September 12, 2022
Sunday, August 28th
Today saw us leaving Maine and driving to Canada! We had a really pretty drive up through northern Maine, and arrived in the small port town of Saint Stephen right at 2:00. We had filled out our paperwork, mainly regarding Covid, and were a bit surprised at just how small, and smooth, our entry into Canada was. It was a small bridge with a single customs/security guard on the Canadian side (same story on the US side), and after few questions for us, we were welcomed to the country of Canada! We drove a ways to our first campground, and were glad that things were so smooth. We stayed in a nice campground near some mountain bike trails, and got some mountain biking in – the trails were hard! The black trails were truly difficult, and even the blue trails were tough.
Monday, August 29th
Today we made it to Halifax and decided to stay in town. After going back and forth about where to stay (and the fact that some places were full), we ultimately decided to just stay in a parking lot near the train station, and near a big port for ocean cruise boats. We rented some scooters, explored the downtown area of Halifax, and had a nice dinner. It was a bit noisy in the parking lot, so we didn’t sleep the best, but it still worked out well.
Tuesday, August 30th
Today we did some sight seeing, which included driving over to Peggy’s Cove. Before we did that, we stopped at a Tim Horton’s (for internet) so Mona could take her first 2 quizzes. She aced both of them! The area was beautiful, and we hiked around on huge granite rocks near the sea shore. We also learned more about an airliner that crashed just off the shore back in 1998 due to an internal fire. We come across various things like this in our travels, and have learned a lot about various random parts of history that can be very interesting.
People here in Canada have been very friendly. We feel like a number of people we’ve encountered have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome, and to help us out.
Wednesday, August 31
Today we did the “Tidal Bore” adventure in the Bay of Fundy. We went out on 8 man zodiac boats, did some mud sliding on the banks, and then waited for the tidal bore to come. We didn’t have to wait long, and could see it arriving. We quickly got back in the boats, and met the head wave head-on. From there, water came in rapidly – more than all the rivers on earth combined in terms of flow! We rode big waves, and got thoroughly drenched. It was a great time, but by the time we were done, we were both starting to feel chilled. A woman on the boat with us was shivering it was so chilly. When it was done, we drove to our next campsite with full hookups so we could take long (and hot) showers, and Mona got some laundry done.
Thursday, September 1st – Saturday September 3rd
Today we drove to the northern most part of Nova Scotia and found the Meat Cove Campground – a truly unique campground right on the cliffs of the ocean with incredible views and a very remote feel to it. We quickly decided to stay at least 2 nights since it was such a nice place to spend some time. We ran/hiked in the afternoon, and pulled our fire pit out because it was starting to get chilly at night. Our time at Meat Cove was really nice, and we enjoyed just having a little down time to be by the ocean and enjoy all the scenery. If we were ever in Nova Scotia again, this is definitely a place we would go back to.
Saturday, September 3rd
We hated to leave Meat Cove but we had reservations at a hotel in Quebec City, and we also had to be mindful of our backpacking trip coming up in Isle Royale mid-September as well. We drove our way down to Cheticamp, stopping along the way to run the Skyline trail, where we stayed at a nice RV park overlooking the ocean. As luck would have it, the “boondocking” sites (no hookups) were closest to the ocean, and basically empty, so we had a nice place to park. We also squeezed in enough time for another whale watching tour. It was a bit of a boat ride out to the last sighting, but… sure enough, when we got there, we were lucky enough to find a whale up near the surface and feeding. This was a “Minky” whale, and perhaps not quite as interesting to watch as the humpbacks over in Iceland, but… still very enjoyable.
Sunday, September 4th
Today was kind of a long drive day for us over to a place called Pictou. We stayed at a campsite near the water once again, but didn’t have a lot of time after a pretty full days’ drive.
Monday, September 5th
This was another relatively long day of driving, as we wanted to make it Quebec City the following day. Since we’d never before stayed in a Walmart parking lot, we decided to save some time and money and give it a shot! It actually worked out pretty well for us. The spot we parked was level, and fairly quiet until early morning. If you just need a place to sleep while you’re on the road, it’s honestly not bad.
Tuesday, September 6th
Today we drove to Quebec City and checked into an amazing hotel right in downtown Quebec City – the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. Driving into that part of town with the van was a little stressful, as the streets were crowded and narrow. We drove past the province parliament buildings, and then through a part of “old town” that had a very European feel to it. We were a little nervous about parking the van at the hotel as well – it generally will not fit in any type of underground parking. Thankfully, the attendants pulled the van up on a little brick parking pad right in the front of the hotel, and… she got a primo parking spot. It was nice because we could actually look down from our room and just check to make sure everything looked to be OK (the bikes still on the bike rack, etc).
For our first afternoon in Quebec City, we decided to go for a run in a nearby park that was essentially just on the side of Parliament. We had a nice run, and after that it was time to find a place to eat. Restaurants were busy… Thankfully we found a place that had a menu we thought we’d enjoy, and had a pretty good meal after a long day. Many of the restaurants serve rabbit, duck, and a few other “delicacies” we weren’t that interested in (e.g., tartare, etc.). We decided that we were going to enjoy the city well enough that we booked the hotel for a second night.
Wednesday, September 7th
Today we looked around the city and spent time really exploring the wall that was built around the old part of the city (war defense), the shops and restaurants in old town, and wrapped up our sight seeing with a tour of the Parliament buildings. We enjoyed our time in the town, and learning a bit more about their government (which turns out to not be that much different that many of the things you’d find in the USA). We ended up eating at a little informal crepe shop that really was a treat. Especially the dessert crepes!
Thursday, September 8th
Today was our day to head to Montreal. Thankfully it’s not that long of a drive, and we arrived at a decent hour. We got lucky, and once again were able to park the van very close to the front door of a Marriott that was located right in downtown Montreal. We got checked in, and then went and explored a bit of the older parts of town. It didn’t have quite the same European feel to it as Quebec City, but we still had a good time, and we made it a fairly early evening.
Friday September 9th
Today we explored more of Montreal. We started by going to the Olympic Park area, which was quite an impressive place. Unfortunately, a lot of it was closed for renovation, so we didn’t get to go into all the buildings / arenas that would have been fun to see. It was still well worth seeing, and we enjoyed checking it out. The weather was almost perfect – even a bit hot – and the subway system was easy to use despite most signs, etc. being in French. We also found a great place to eat (and stuffed ourselves), and ultimately wrapped up our day by going to a (very) large farmers market where we picked up some things for dinner. We ended up staying in our hotel room that evening and made up a dinner from the farmers market goodies that we found, and Mona also got a lab and some of her biology schoolwork done!
Saturday September 10th
Our time in Montreal was good, but it was time to keep making our way to Michigan, so we got packed up and headed out to Ottawa. We spent some time in the national capital of Canada (Ottawa) looking that their parliament buildings, and also rented some scooters to get around downtown. We were favorably impressed with Ottawa – it’s not as big as Montreal, but it had a nice “vibe” to it, and perhaps seemed a bit more quiet due to it being a weekend. Our scooter experience was not as fun as in the past, as our scooters would effectively lock up if they thought we were going out of the riding zone, and they would beep while in motion (apparently some type of law). We spent several hours looking around, and then decided to drive a couple more hours to another Walmart in Pembroke. This helped us get closer to Michigan on schedule, or even a bit ahead.
Sunday September 11
Today was a very long drive day (8 hours, which for us is long), as Mona found a train ride for us to take out of Sault Ste Marie on Monday. We packed up and left the Walmart where we stayed at a decent hour, stopped and got water for the van, and then set out for a fairly long distance drive. The roads were good, and we had a smooth time just touring the country as we drove. It was very pretty country with lots of woods, and lots of greenery. The roads weren’t too busy, which made for easier driving as well. They’re also in pretty good shape, which is nice in the van. About an hour before reaching Sault Ste Marie, we stopped near a walking/cross country skiing area right off the coast of Lake Huron, and got a run in. It was nice to get out after being cooped up driving all day. We then finished up our drive, and ended up staying in a casino parking lot right across the street from where we would take our train the next day at 8:00 AM.
Monday September 12
Today was spent mostly on a train! As a last minute thing, we decided to take the Agawa Canyon train up to the canyon, which is about a 4 hour train ride each way. The train was very relaxing, and busy, but… not too busy. The area is *very* wooded, which made it a little hard to see much from the train, but the scenery was very nice, and not having to drive of course made it nice as well. We had an hour and a half to hike around up in the canyon, and then returned to Sault St Marie on the Canadian side. We crossed back over to the US, had fish for dinner at a small restaurant near the locks, and then made it to our campground right at dark. We always find getting set up in daylight makes our camping life much easier, so we try to make it to places by daylight.
