Over the next week or so, I’ll be posting some highlights of my trip to the maritime provinces with my girlfriend Kate. I’ll post a few photos, likes and dislikes, and talk about some of the really cool experiences we had. I also did a fair bit of astrophotography, so I’ll post some of my first photos of the night sky with my new Canon Rebel T3i.
First up… we had to get out of Toronto.
Day 1:
The first step was leaving at 6am to try and beat the Monday morning traffic rush out of Toronto, which is a challenge in itself. By 7am and a bit of traffic we were on the road out of the megacity and stopping for our first of many coffee and donut stops at Tim Hortons.
Thanks to my horrible directions we managed to drive through Montreal instead of around it, so we ended up having a brutal traffic battle to make it through. Luckily it was lunchtime and most of Montreal was at work and not on the road. It was still a pretty slow go of it though.
Kate and I like to play some car games as we venture through the countryside. Punch-buggy is our go to, and its double punch for a camper van. There are two things I know for sure after this trip:
1. Kate’s vision is comparable to that of a Hawk that just had lasik when punch buggies are concerned.
2. VW camper vans are making a resounding comeback in Canada.
At a sketchy truck stop in Quebec, we had lunch in 40 degree heat. Our cooler held strong and we had a nice lunch, but the AC hit high when we were back in the car.
In the last couple hours of the day, we freed ourselves from practicing Quebecqois French and passed the border to New Brunswick. Nobody told me this, but NB is pretty much just trees and rocks, laid out on a series of moderately sized hills.
Finally we ended our day at a Days Inn in Edmunston, NB. Though we were camping for most of the trip, it made sense to get a hotel after long driving on the first day. The last thing we would want after being exhausted from driving is to have to set up a tent and start a fire. Don’t tell the Days Inn, but we went to the pub at the local Sheraton for some grub and local beer, because obviously that’s what the trip is really about. We also had the local delicacy, called Ployes. It was basically a buckwheat pancake with a pork spread (whatever that is) on it.
When we got back we stayed up to watch the MLB home run derby – DINGERS!
A good sleep in a comfy bed would set us up for a busy second day with lots of sightseeing and many more kilometers of driving.