Coast-to-Coast Trans-Canada Road Trip: Views from the Passenger Seat

Arriving in Tsawwassen on the ferry headed to Vancouver

Yesterday we reached the end of the road on our 7,000+ kilometre cross-Canada journey!

A total of sixty-nine days passed between the time we left our home in Victoria, British Columbia on the west coast of Canada and our arrival in St. John's, Newfoundland. I recently uploaded a post with our trip highlights and a humble and heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped us along the way here.

To commemorate our arrival in St. John's and the end of this once in a lifetime experience, I wanted to post a few of the pics I snapped from the passenger seat along the way - images of what the road looked like in each province we passed through. As always, I'm amazed by the diversity of landscapes to be found in this vast and gorgeous country we live in!

Hwy 1 outside Golden, BC

Hwy 93, The Icefields Parkway between
Jasper and Banff, Alberta

Wildlife bridge in Banff, Alberta

Flat as a pancake landscape in Southern Saskatchewan

Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan

Manitoba, somewhere around Riding Mountain National Park

Back road in rural Manitoba,
north of Winnipeg

Highway 17 on the north shore of Lake Superior,
northern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario, driving through Toronto on the 401
in light traffic (Tuesday afternoon at 2pm)

Old Montreal, Quebec

Saint-Louis-du-Ha!-Ha!, Quebec

Gagetown Cable Ferry, New Brunswick

Back roads in New Brunswick, west of Fredericton

Seal Bridge, North Sydney, Nova Scotia

Catching the Ferry in North Sydney, Nova Scotia

Hwy 1, north of Port aux Basques, Newfoundland

Rosalynd and Boyd's place at Pie Corner
on Water Street in Trinity Newfoundland

Coast-to-Coast Trans-Canada Road Trip, Day 64: A Homecoming of Sorts in Trinity, Newfoundland

A little over a decade ago, my sister-in-law took a summer job in Newfoundland and decided to stay. She left her apartment in Toronto, moved to Trinity, Newfoundland on the picturesque Bonavista Peninsula, met her future husband, and changed not just her life, but all of our lives for the better.

It didn't take me long to realize how lucky we were to have an excuse to visit Newfoundland on a regular basis. Leading up to our very first visit, friends who were already familiar with the province prepped us with lofty claims like, 'it's the most beautiful place IN THE WORLD' or 'you're going to love it, the people are SO FRIENDLY, it feels like you've come home'. YAWN. We've all heard these kinds of statements before about a multitude of places - e.g. [insert the name of any vacation spot with a vista and a few smiling locals here].

The funny thing is, when it comes to Newfoundland, these remarks are absolutely legitimate. But you won't believe my saying so until you take the time to visit the province yourself, so I'm going to stop there - in Newfoundland you'd communicate this with an emphatic, 'That's wot I says!'

I trust that one day you'll make your own way to the easternmost and possibly most unique of Canada's provinces and have your own sort of homecoming. In the meantime, let me whet your appetite with this little gallery of a few of my favourite Newfoundland dishes. Enjoy!

Fish cakes and baked beans

Pea soup

Cod au gratin

Bumbleberry pie made with Newfoundland raspberries,
strawberries and rhubarb

Coast-to-Coast Trans-Canada Road Trip, Victoria to St John's: Highlights and Top Picks

 
It's been almost 2 months now since we bid goodbye to friends and familiar surroundings in Victoria, BC on Canada's west coast. Over 7,500km, a chipped windshield and a new set of shocks later here we are in Canada's easternmost province, Newfoundland. At last we're about to enter the final leg of our cross-country journey which we expect will come to a close next week in St John's. Woo! And also, whew!

Here's a few of the highlights from our trip:

New favourite Canadian hiking trails…
Sentinel Pass, Moraine Lake, Alberta
Balu Pass, Glacier National Park, British Columbia
See photos in my Rocky Mountains flickr set

Most wildlife sightings…
Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (wild bison, red fox, coyote, prairie dogs, antelope, elk, burrowing owl, etc., etc.)

Best side trip for photo ops…
Icefields Parkway, Banff and Jasper National Parks, Alberta
See photos in my Rocky Mountains flickr set

Friendliest people we encountered…
Newfoundland…and Saskatchewan
Of course everyone knows about the legendary friendliness of Newfoundlanders, but the amazing hospitality of the people we encountered in Saskatchewan was somewhat of a surprise. It felt like every second person we crossed paths with in the province tried to go out of their way to do something nice for us, just because.

Best museum experience…
Art Spiegelman Exhibit, Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia
Royal Tyrrell Musem, Drumheller, Alberta

Best sandwich…
Montreal smoked meat sandwich at Swartz's Deli, Montreal, Quebec

Best breakfast…
Brock's fried tomatoes and bacon at the Merrifield cottage on the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario

Beyond the hiking experiences and sightseeing excursions, the most memorable moments of our trip have been spent catching up with familiar folks across the country - in most cases, dear friends and family we haven't seen for years.

We hadn't originally planned to begin our trip this way - somehow it seemed like cheating to begin an around the world trip with two months of travel in our home country - but I'm so glad we did! As one of the friends we caught up with put it, it's like the take-off part of the journey and Canada is the runway - a runway lined with our wonderful, supportive friends and family.

Our eternal gratitude to those of you who've shared a meal with us, packed us lunches and snacks for the road, taken us on a tour of your town, passed on helpful travel tips, provided us with a place to lay our heads for the night and so much more. We've been so humbled and honoured by your willingness to share our journey with us. Thank you, thank you for helping to make it happen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the Trans-Canada leg of our trip draws to a close we're starting to make final arrangements for the next segment which will begin just a little over a week from now when we fly to Iceland, land of glaciers and volcanoes. Stay tuned!

Hey Friends! Join us on our journey as we travel the world!

 

It's been almost two months since we left the west coast to head out on our around-the-world journey. Wow, time flies! Near the start of our trip, my friend Diane made a very cool suggestion: that I should come up with a way to document our travels online. Of course, I'd already been keeping a record of our travels in a bit of a loosely organized way - through my blog posts and photo galleries. The idea of going one step further and coming up with a continuing theme to explore sounded like a fun idea.

It's taken me a few weeks to figure it out, but I've finally come up with a blog idea that I hope will work for me. I believe it'll lend some structure to these willy-nilly blog posts I've been writing, AND bring friends closer to mind as we head out into the big wide-world.

I'm hoping you, my good friends and family, might take a few minutes out of your day to send me something to reflect upon for one day of this trip we're on. I'd like for it to be something that has particular meaning in our relationship - an activity we both enjoy, a song we like, a place that's significant to both of us, the topic of a discussion we've had, etc. Please send your ideas by Facebook message (if we're connected on Facebook), a direct message on Twitter or in the comments below. At the end of each day, I'll include my reflections in a blog post. I'm counting on you guys for inspiration!

As per Diane's suggestion, if this all sounds too vague and open-ended you could also just send me your favourite song.

Looking forward to reading your submissions! Knowing how fabulous you all are, I expect I'll have some fantastic things to ponder over the coming months!

Coast to Coast Trans-Canada Road Trip, Day 53: Hidden Gems in Southern New Brunswick

What's the best way from Fredericton to Quispamsis, New Brunswick? Bet you're dying to know! Ask Google Maps and you'll be provided with a suggested route that cuts a straight-as-the-crow-flies path along Highway 7 between the two cities. Ask a local - or this newly converted fan of New Brunswick's picturesque back roads - and you might receive a very different recommendation.

If you're traveling anywhere in and around southern New Brunswick, the recommendation you'll most likely receive from those in the know is to take advantage of one or more of the eight ferry crossings that comprise the local cable ferry system. Availing yourself of one of these convenient jaunts across the river will not only take you down some of the prettiest country roads in the Maritimes, but might also shave a significant amount of time off your journey. And did I mention they're FREE?

Our route took us west from Fredericton to Gagetown where we caught the ferry to Jemseg. We then continued overland to Long Point where we took the Belleisle Bay Ferry to Kars. One last scenic drive through picturesque rolling countryside, replete with winsome waterfront cottages and even the occasional winery (yes, New Brunswick has wineries, who knew?), took us to Kingston where we caught the ferry to Quispamsis.  Here are some pics from our journey:

Back roads of southern New Brunswick

View of the cable at the Long Point ferry terminal

Driving onto the Belleisle Bay cable ferry

If you're interested, you can find out more about the New Brunswick cable ferry system here.