Had fun in Halifax and a blast in Boston

We have travelled quite a ways since our last entry.  Our journey back on the Newfoundland ferry was 4 hours late leaving but we managed to have a good voyage overnight. We traveled to Halifax and spent Monday morning in there. Once again our tour was aboard an amphibious bus - called the Harbour Hopper in Halifax.  Our guide was awesome. Here you can see Rose and Jacqueline on the harbour in front of the Acadia that survived both world wars and the infamous Halifax explosion. Interestingly, it was built by the same company that built the Titanic.

Next, we went to Lunenburg where the Bluenose II is moored.  Nicholas is in front of this sailing schooner that was famous for its speed at the turn of the century.  Lunenburg is a neat town with an incredibly high percentage of old homes and buildings that have been well maintained. Right after Lunenburg, we raced to Yarmouth to catch 'The Cat' ferry to Bar Harbor, Maine.  This was quite a 3 hour ride on the aluminum fast cat!

Since we are returning to Vancouver, mainly through the states, we decided at the last minute to check out Boston last night.  We were so close we went for it.  There's nothing like driving a truck and trailer through downtown Boston at rush hour!  Bostonians are very friendly and helpful ... as long as they're not driving a car.  The Red Sox were playing the Oakland A's but the only tickets left were $160 Green Monster seats so we bought a t-shirt instead. Rose and Jacqueline are seen here in front of the legendary Fenway Park.  We also checked out the Beacon Hill and Quincy Market downtown where we had ice cream for dinner.  Today, we're going to go to Niagara Falls.

Life on the rock is beautiful

Friday was an unforgettable day for our whole family here in Newfoundland. We drove out to the community of New Perlican on Trinity Bay so Nicholas could play with his classmate and friend Dawson from Burnaby who is spending the summer at his grandparents' place.  This was truly a remarkable experience twice over because of the chance to witness the beauty of the coastal community and the welcoming hospitality of Dawson's family. Needless to say, Nicholas and Dawson enjoyed the afternoon fishing, riding their bikes, and using the quad to explore.

Dawson's grandparents, Max & Lorraine, with Dawson's mom, Leslie-Ann, welcomed us into their home and treated us to a tour of the town.

We were able to see the harbour and spot icebergs in the distance. Ken was even able to watch whales feeding from on top of the hill. Our afternoon was topped off with a fresh crab feast. Thank you, Max and Lorraine. Next time we'd love to stay longer!

We returned to St. John's for a fantastic visit and dinner out with Simon and Deirdre. We walked around the old streets of downtown and learned about some of the history of the buildings and architecture. Twenty years later, it was great catching up with Simon who we got to know in youth parliament.  Today, we're going to see the Geo Centre and the military tattoo on Signal Hill before catching the ferry back to the mainland.

We made it to Newfoundland!

After 23 days and 8,000 kilometres, we have reached the other end of our gorgeous country! Our truck rolled off the ferry at 1:15 pm after 14 hours of crossing the Atlantic. We actually had a very good sleep on the ferry and the 'cruise' was quite enjoyable. Here's our last 'Welcome sign' photo on our checklist.

One of the first things we did was enjoy some fresh cod at Ches's, one of the finest fish and chips restaurants in St. John's. And it was delicious. Then we went way up to the top of Signal Hill for our official St. John's photo.

St. John's is an old city and some of the old homes have a lot of character ... and colour!  The streets can be steep and narrow in some areas and make for some interesting navigation.

And to finish off, we had an excellent time in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia yesterday.  Being at the restored French fortress was like going back in time to 1744 complete with an 18th century lunch. We ate period food and ate with one spoon.  Here you can see Jacqueline and Nicholas with one of the French guards ... oddly, he wasn't too suspicious of our English accents!

Nova Scotia makes Nine!

We took the ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia yesterday and we're now in our ninth province.  Only one more to go!  Before leaving PEI we spent a great day in Charlottetown exploring the city in one of those amphibious buses again.  No matter where we went on the island, it didn't take long to get there which was a nice change.  We also checked of Green Gables, the fictional home of Anne.

Yesterday afternoon, we spent a few hours at the beach in Cavendish and built a multicoloured sandcastle.  There's not too many beaches where you can do that.

Jacqueline and Nicholas checked out the lobster traps on the wharf behind Crabby's lobster shack.

Now we're in Sidney, Nova Scotia on Cape Breton surviving a rainy day.  We're about to leave for a trip back in time to 1740 at the fortress Louisbourg.  And tonight, we get to sleep on a ferry all night!

Millards make it to the Maritimes

We made it to the Maritimes on Friday after leaving Quebec passing through Riviere-du-Loup.  Another town we drove past with a sense of humour in Quebec was St. Louis du Ha! Ha!  No kidding ... there it is on the sign.  We made it into New Brunswick and stopped at a cozy campground near Grand Falls.  We received plenty of rain that night so we ended up packing up the next morning while we were still wet.  

We traveled until we made it to Hopewell Cape on the Bay of Fundy.  This area has an incredible tide as you can see by the photo. And in particular, there has been some spectacular erosion over the years ... many years. We were lucky enough to visit the Hopewell Rocks at low tide.

Right after this natural wonder, we drove right onto an engineering wonder - the Confederation Bridge.  It really is a sight to see and it sure makes the journey over to Prince Edward Island short and sweet.  Once on the island, it is deceiving when looking at the map for the next destination.  It seems so far on the map but before you know it, you’re there.  I think we missed our turn-off three times before we finally caught on.

 

 One of the most beautiful spots on the island is Cavendish National Park with the beach and sand dunes.  You can tell the sand definitely has a red shade to it in the photo even though the salt water has bleached most of the red colour out over the years. The soil that grows the McCain French fries here is so bright red I still do a double-take driving by the fields.

We're going to spend a couple days here on the island to rest up.  We treated ourselves to lobster and scallops tonight and, boy, was that delicious.  We're at the half way point in terms of time in this adventure of ours and we've managed to hit 8 out of 10 provinces so far.  Two more provinces to make it a perfect 10. As for tomorrow, it's onto Charlottetown and Anne of Green Gables - of course!

Parlez vous francais?

We’ve had two incredible days in Montreal and Quebec City ! Our entire day (and night) on Wednesday was spent exploring ‘old Montreal’ and taking in the local entertainment.  A person could spend the entire day in the old market square, on Place Jacques Cartier, being entertained by some pretty amazing performers. History oozes from the old stone and brick buildings in this section of the city where restoration efforts have paid off.  Rose wants you to know that the steeple in the background in this photo is the church where Celine Dion was married.

 

The French soldiers were marching through town because someone said the British were coming.  They looked pretty serious about the matter.  If you’re wondering if their muskets are real, we can tell you they are.  Rose just about jumped high enough to hit her head on a tree branch when they fired them into the air.

 

We took one of those bus-boat tours of the city.  If you’ve never seen one, they are a bus that drives into the water and floats for the second half of the tour.  Nicholas was the one who decided we had to try that.  Later, Nicholas again decided we needed to drive around in one of these quadricycles.  This was the one time when Jacqueline and Nicholas were allowed to do the driving on our trip.

 

Yesterday, we made the short journey to Quebec City.  This city began in 1608 and experiencing the old part of this city is like going back in time. Of course, the famous battle between the British and the French here on the Plains of Abraham was a key event in our country’s history.  But things have changed when last night the Plains were the site of a KISS concert … yes, the real KISS band.

 

Nicholas enjoyed inspecting the many cannons left from the early fortifications. 

 

And we all agreed the best part was when we finished off our visit with a horse drawn carriage ride through the old city.  It was an evening we won’t forget.

 

 

 

Farewell Ontario and Bonjour Quebec

We have a little catching up to do on our travels over the last couple of days.  On Monday we walked around the marina on the Ottawa River in Aylmer with Marc, Dominique, Mathieu, and Gabrielle.  Rose and Jacqueline have been able to converse in French during our visit.  Ken’s thinks his French is improving too but no one else seems to agree.

 

Rose and Jacqueline went to the Museum of Civilization and then shopping at the Rideau Centre.  Meanwhile, Ken and Nicholas went to the new War Museum in Ottawa.  They stayed so long there they were conscripted into the military.

 

We caught up with Shawna O’Brien (Murphy) that evening after not seeing each other since 1992 ! It was great to meet her husband, Shane, who gave us tips on what to visit when we were in Newfoundland.  We’re looking forward to Ches’s fish and chips.

 

On Tuesday, we made it to our sixth province – Quebec.  So far they have the best sign - not that we’re keeping track.  Everything is in French.  Thank goodness Rose and Jacqueline understand it all.

 

Last night, we had a fabulous time with some more friends from our youth parliament days.  Leslie Quinton and her husband, Abdel, barbequed a Moroccan feast while Ira Lax and his girlfriend Sherry joined us.  The kids enjoyed playing with Aiysha and Maria.  It was so good to catch up after so many years.  Now, I must go so we can explore Montreal today.

Alotta Ottawa

We've been in Ottawa since Saturday night and having a terrific time staying with our friends Marc & Dominique and checking out the top spots of our capital city.  As you can see here, we made it to Parliament Hill on Sunday and caught the 'changing of the guard' on the front lawn. Stephen Harper wasn't anywhere to be seen during our tour of the Parliament so he must have taken the day off. There's a lot to see in Ottawa and much of it is in walking distance of Parliament 
Hill so we definitely made up for our lack of exercise driving through northern Ontario.

Here we are in the Senate or 'red chamber' where we met in our youth parliament days.  Yep, that's how it all started.

Since we couldn't locate Harper, Jacqueline and Nicholas found the former Prime Minister from Saskatchewan and are seen here with his statue.  They thought Grandpa from Saskatchewan would appreciate this photo since he is the finest Diefenbaker impersonator in the country. There are quite a number of statues of prime ministers and queens on 'the hill'.

To relax in the evening after a hard day of sightseeing, we engaged in a little 'Guitar Heroe' duel against our hosts!  Lots more to post but that will have to be completed tomorrow!

Soppy Sault Ste. Marie

Traveling went very well today and we have made it to Sault Ste. Marie. The rain, lightning, thunder and hail have just ended but we did manage to have a relaxing campfire with s'mores before the deluge began. 

We left Thunder Bay this morning and checked out the Terry Fox monument.  This spot has a spectacular view and it's a poignant reminder of Terry's run cut short by his returning cancer. 

Many hours later, we saw this huge goose on the horizon of Wawa (yes, that's spelled correctly) and had to take a photo to go along with our moose. Tomorrow, we have another long drive to Ottawa where we'll catch up with our old friend Marc (not that Marc is old) and meet Dominique, Mathieu, and Gabrielle.

Great Canadian Shield

Today was our first full day of driving in northern Ontario.  It's quite nice as you can see in the photo but we still have 2, maybe 3 days of driving before we're out of the Canadian Shield. Good thing we picked up those books-on-CD at the library.  And we've observed your federal tax dollars at work on the Trans-Canada highway as we have experienced firsthand the one-lane alternating traffic during road repairs.  

We are here in Thunder Bay tonight at the KOA campground not too far from Lake Superior.  There isn't too much else to say about our day since driving was the main event.  Here's Jacqueline looking out the trailer as we're getting ready for 

dinner that included delicious fresh trout given to us by a friendly camper last night at the Lake of the Woods.  We do hope to see the Terry Fox statue tomorrow morning before we leave since this is where he ended his Marathon of Hope.

Jacqueline and Nicholas say goodnight!

Movin' Right Along!

We have either been without internet or on the road the last 3 days so we've got lots to report. Our visit to Caron, a town near Moose Jaw with a population of 120,  to visit my sister and family in their very nice new home was wonderful. Jacqueline and Nicholas had a chance to play with their cousin, Spencer.  The next morning we zipped off to Winnipeg, Manitoba. But our pass by Moose Jaw would not be complete without a photo with the famous giant moose!

We made it to Winnipeg and camped completely on our own

for the first time on the trip. So far, we've always been with family at each stop on the way.  Our visit in Winnipeg was short but we managed to check out The Forks which may sound like a restaurant but is actually a rather cool market place.  We also went to the Royal Canadian Mint where all of our coins are stamped. Jacqueline was trying out the new quarter on for size in the photo. 

Nicholas is in the photo lifting a 28 pound bar of solid gold worth $500,000!  (no joke ... the bar is chained and there is an armed guard at the display not in the photo).

And for proof that we really are as far as Ontario, we have included evidence of us at the border. We're camping in Kenora tonight and we all have to admit Kenora and Lake of the Woods country is incredibly beautiful ... simply amazing ... we could almost stay here on the lake for the rest of the summer. But we've got reservations for the ferry to Newfoundland!

 

Little House on the Prairie

As you can tell from the photo, we were having a great time in Drumheller, AB until we were were almost attacked by that T Rex.  We retreated to Saskatchewan and quickly spotted my (Ken's) parents house on the prairie horizon about one hundred kilometres away.  Some of you think I'm joking.  We've been having a great time here on the flatland with my parents and a enjoying a little R & R.  Mom is still improving and getting stronger after the accident last fall.  

Jacqueline and Nicholas are pictured here getting safety instructions from their Uncle Robert before they ride their new dirt bike out on the family farm (yes, that's a John Deere combine in the background).  Needless to say this surprise from their grandparents was a hit.  

We're off to Moose Jaw tomorrow!

Rocky Mountain Camping

We’ve just spent the last two nights camping in the beautiful Sheep Valley Provincial Park in the Rocky Mtn foothills.  Not only was there no internet, but no electricity or running water … true Canadian camping.  So, we’re now back to civilization in Calgary after some awesome exploration.  We've now just returned from the dizzying heights of the Calgary Tower and the hoopla of the Stampede downtown.  

Happy Canada Day!

It took us a little longer to get out of the driveway this morning but the good part is that we didn't have any of those "ah - hah" moments an hour later when you realize you've forgotten to pack something. I think we've got everything we need and if not, there will be a Canadian Tire on the way somewhere.  Check out our patriotic t-shirts Rose picked up for our official launch this morning.  Right now, we're in Revelstoke stocking up on gas and stretching our legs before heading through the Rocky Mountains.  

Ken