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Jul. 30th, 2009 04:10 pmwe first stopped at Green Gables - made famous from the book Anne of Green Gables (which i have never read, but now i feel i should, but AFTER i read the Sword of Truth books. hee.)
So we spent a good couple hours there - we toured around Green Gables, took a walk on the Haunted Trail, walked to where Lucy Maude Montgomery's house used to be (it's not there anymore). walked back, spent some time at the gift shop, then continued on to PEI.
We crossed the Confederation Bridge, which is pretty impressive, I must say. It would be nice if WE had a bridge that connected Vancouver to Victoria, so we didn't have to rely on the ferries, but whatevs.
ANYWAY. after Green Gables, we went to downtown Charlottetown to meet up with Daddy's cousin, Judy, for lunch. We went to a place called Lobster on the Wharf. Downtown Charlottetown kinda reminds me of Steveston, to tell you the truth. its pretty touristy, and the locals know some pretty cool places to go.
so we ate lunch (me, Mares and Dad all had 'Lazyman's Lobster' which is basically shelled lobster in garlic butter. OMG SO GOOD.) and Judy took us around the town. We bought some souveniers and gifts for ppl, and checked out some old buildings and stuff. Judy has a lot of knowledge about her town. And a lot of the Islanders are proud to BE Islanders, you know? so that was pretty nice. We spent a couple hours just walking around with her and shopping.
Then, as we were driving back, Naggie took us along the scenic route to the bridge (which took longer, but was nice because there was less traffic) and it rained! like, a downpour!! I read a lot (because honestly, even though my dad is an AWESOME driver, rain + driving = me nervous. not everyone is a good driver like my father....) and then the car was pretty warm, so i fell asleep.
Seriously, put me in a warm car, and I'll be asleep in almost no time.
ANYWAY. we get back to the hotel, and we decide that we'd try and make it to Magnetic Hill after we ate dinner.
ok. in all seriousness? Magnetic Hill has GOT TO BE the highlight of my trip. It only took a few minutes, but that hill is frickin AWESOME. you drive down a little hill to a white pole, put the car in neutral, and it basically PULLS you back up the hill!! BY ITSELF!!
Dad says it's a kind of illusion or something, but seriously, we were going backwards UP A HILL, WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING!!!
so yeah, that was pretty awesome. then after that Daddy drove us around, pointing out the places he used to live, and where he went to school/church and all that. My dad went to a Catholic school, and he was an Alter Boy at church.
but anyway. it was kind of fun, driving around Moncton.
but Magnetic Hill was awesome!!
Tomorrow we're off to visit Hopewell Rocks in the Bay of Fundy, then its a little gathering of McIntyre's, I think.
Hee!!
WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!
Jul. 29th, 2009 05:05 pmand i kinda think that the East Coast has something against us. I mean, the heat is OPPRESSIVE!! i seriously don't know how these East Coasters do it. I'm very impressed. Today, when we left Quebec, we drove for a few hours and hit up New Brunswick. Oh. and our GPS - Naggie as we affectionately call her (because she's demanding and nags us all the time "turn left, then, turn right" or "recalculating" all the bloody time!! =P) - went completely bat shit crazy today. She thought we were driving through... fields or meadows or something, or she'd tell us to turn right, only, if we had listened to her, we would have gone through a railing and into water or something. So she was all sorts of possessed and stuff. Seriously, Naggie was losing it.
I didn't pay THAT much attention to her metldown though. I was too busy FINISHING Wizard's First Rule.
holy crap. that book is totally going on my 'fave book' list. its awesome.
anyway, we enter the province of New Brunswick, and my dad takes us to Kings Landing - its a Historical Re-enactment of early 1900s New Brunswick... times. It was actually pretty neat. People were all dressed up and teaching us about 'Back in the day' type stuff. But it was... 30 degree weather. and let me tell you, I'm SO not made for that kind of heat. I don't know how they do it. It was muggy and humid and its kind of disgusting to tell you the truth. I'm a West Coaster, through and through. As pretty as the East Coast is, I don't think i could ever live here. Its too hot. and muggy. bleh.
oh. wow. i just realized that i haven't updated in a while.
OK. well. From Sault Ste. Marie, we went to Ottawa, ON. We got there probably around... 5-ish. We stayed at a Quality Inn - and let me tell you, the people there were AWESOME. The lady at the front desk was SUPER helpful, and she influenced us to stay at Quality/Comfort Inns for the rest of the trip.
ANYWAY, we got there, ate at Don Cherry's restaurant chain (yes, Don Cherry, the Hockey guy with the awful plaid jackets, but who is STILL kind of awesome, regardless), and then we wandered about the city. Well, we went to the Parliament buildings shortly after dinner, and we found out that a Light and Sound show was there, so we stuck close to Parliament until 930 pm when the show began. We got there about 7pm, and did a little wandering, found an ATM, and just basically hung out around the buildings for a while. The Light and Sound show wasn't bad. I thought it was going to be fireworks for something, but they were projected pictures ON the Parliament building. It was pretty neat. we were a little cold, but i'm glad i wore my jeans, and not just my jogging pants or a skirt.
Anyway, the next moring, we walked across the bridge into Quebec, and went to the Museum of Civilizations to check out the Egypt Exhibit there. Don't get me wrong, I love Ancient Egypt and all that, but... this one wasn't as Grand as others i have been too. But i might have been a little put out at the 20 min walk that it took to get there in the muggy heat.
i am far from being a lover of muggy weather.
but anyways, we checked that out, and it was neat. then we walked back to the hotel, got checked out, and made our way to Levis, QC.
Quebec was nice. The people were nice, and when we went to Tim Hortons to get lunch, the chick who was making it said something in french at us, and my sis and i looked blankly at her, so she repeated it in english. they didn't make us feel like we were stupid or anything. it was nice.
We ended up in Levis, QC at about... 430pm, and stayed at the Nicest Quality Inn we've stayed at so far this trip. We had dinner at the Boston Pizza nearby (and seriously, how pissed am I that ALL the BP's took the tortellini's off their menu. THE ONE THING I ALWAYS ATE THERE, AND THEY TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME!! those bastards!!) Our waiter was nice, and they made sure we had the English menus, and I think he was our waiter because he could SPEAK english. and when he showed us the desserts, he was all, you'll have to help me out, i'm not used to saying them in English, but he got them all right.
So after dinner we went back to our hotel, my sister found the Ice Machine (which she has an odd affinity for, but whatever), i played a bit online, we watched some of The Unusuals (which is actually quite entertaining), then we watched John Doe.
So. John Doe was on... maybe 8 years ago or something, with Dominic Purcell (who you might recognize as Linc from Prison Break, or Drake from Blade Trinity). Also? My fave chick from Jericho is in it too!! SPRAGUE GRAYDON!! SHE IS SO CUTE IN THIS SHOW!!
but anyway, we watched 2.5 eps of that, before we decided to hit the hay. but yes. John Doe is an awesome show which got cancelled (of course.) quick sum up: its about a guy who knows just about everything, except who he is. Ask him any question, and he knows the answer (unless its something like 'when will i die?' or, 'whats the cure for cancer'. He's not psychic. he just has a lot of information in his brain. Like how many dimples are on a golf ball, or... certain building codes and structures, or... the population of Morocco. stuff like that).
so that's our new show now, when we stop in hotels for the night.
ANYWAY. This morning we wake up, eat brekkie at 6am (when breakfast opens. its free!!), and then we started out at about 645 or 7am.
Like i said, Naggie went apeshit on us, and then Daddy's BMW had a little engine trouble for a little bit, but that was after we got into Moncton, and only because he thinks he over-revved the engine because he was going to make a turn when he shouldn't have, and then he didn't, and then he had to get back into the right lane, or something.
but we finally made it to our destination - the Comfort Inn in Moncton!!
Tomorrow we're going to Magnetic Hill, and Bay of Fundy (where these cool sedimentary rocks are), and PEI. Then i think Friday we're off to Miramichi for the Family reunion to start.
but yes. that's what's happned so far, i think.
OH. haha. Like i said, I finished Wizard's First Rule today. fucking awesome. So after dinner today at some... amusement Mall, there was a Chapters, so we went there, I bought the second book in the Sword of Truth Series, Stone of Tears. and Mares got a book and Daddy got a map of PEI.
We also went to the Wal Mart across the way, and bought some stuff there too. so today was rather productive. =D
Let's hope that tomorrow isn't as hot and muggy as today was. My poor West Coast body can't handle it well!!
Hello, from Sault Ste. Marie, ON!!
Jul. 26th, 2009 06:10 pmgreetings, sports fans!!
well, not the 'sports fans' part. But GREETINGS!!
Yesterday was an interesting day. We left the ever so lovely (or not) Swift Current, SK, and headed out at 5:45 AM. We hopped on Hwy 1-E (after eating a quick brekkie from Tim Hortons) and started our day as the sun was rising. So we drove for a while, and at some point later that day, I'm fairly certain that we saw a couple of coyotes running across the highway. That was pretty neat.
But yeah, Saskatchewan is pretty and everything, but... once you have seen a few dozen yellow fields, you've kinda seen them all. We made our way into Regina to the BMW dealership, as we accidentally blew a fuse in Daddy's car - we tried plugging in too many high-tech toys into too many sockets(??), and now neither of the cigarette lighter sockets work. But anyway, we took about a half-hour detour to get there, and ON ITS WEBSITE, THEY SAID THEY'D BE OPEN AT 9AM!! so we get there at 8AM, and we wander around a little, with Daddy looking at some of the pretty cars, and we go check to see that they are in fact open at 9am.
Guess what? Apparently, THEY'RE CLOSED ON SATURDAYS!! so we were a little put out about that. they need to update their website.
So from Saskatchewan, we made our way into Manitoba.Manitoba is nice too. But... kinda like Saskatchewan, not my favourite Canadian Province. Don't get me wrong, Canada is gorgeous. I'm so happy that i'm getting a chance to see all of it. But... i'm so SO thankful that i'm not driving, and i get to nap along the way. But anyways, YESTERDAY, I finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (again). I didn't cry, but i was pretty close. Anyway, we had lunch at a Keg in Winnepeg, and we decided that since we were fairly ahead of schedule (we were supposed to STOP in Winnepeg for the night and continue on to Thunder Bay, ON in the morning), but it was bout... 3-ish pm local time, and Daddy was still up for driving, so from there we continued on.
We tried to stop in Kenora, ON for the night, but it seemed that fate was against us. Pretty much all of Kenora's hotels were booked up (except for the shady looking ones, which we did NOT want to stay at), so we continued a little further. At this point, Daddy was getting pretty tired, and we drove until we saw a little motel in a town called Willard Lake. So we stopped there for the night. It was pretty cheap ($60 a room, which Daddy paid for) and an internet connection (that was pretty weak, but enough for me to update my facebook status). We didn't have dinner, as we ate a late lunch in WInnepeg, and Daddy wanted us to be ready by 5am the next morning, as he decided that we were going to stop in Sault Ste. Marie the next night, which is about a 13-14 hour drive.
Although, to be fair, every night (except the first one to Midway) has been about a 12 hour drive (if not longer) for my father. But still, he wanted to hit the road by 5am.
So at 4am this morning, i woke up, had a shower, and by 4:45am we were watching the sun rise as we drove along Hwy 17. Around 6 or 630 we found a Tim Horton's (probably around Dryden) and stopped there for some much needed coffee and breakfast. After that, we were on the road again.
I started on Wizard's First Rule again (which Vikki has so kindly lent me), and I'm currently on Chapter 19, and about a quarter of the way through. So it might last me the whole trip, who knows!! (i had already started it before HP, and after finishing that, i just picked up where i left off). But yes. I am enjoying the book muchly.
Ontario is nice. I think by the end of Manitoba, it stopped being so Plains-y and started getting forest-y again.
actually, if i could only have 2 words to describe Ontario (from what I've seen so far), they would be 'Big' and 'Lake-y'. there are MANY MANY lakes.
ALSO!! We kinda saw a wolf!! My dad passed some guy who had pretty much had just stopped on the hwy, and as we zoomed passed, Maren and I noticed the reason why - there was a WOLF at the side of the road.
I LOVE wolves. They are my favourite animal, EVAR. I have one tattooed on my back. I think they are GORGEOUS creatures. They're noble and family oriented, and just beautiful (and the way certain fairytales depict them is just WRONG). So the fact that i caught a GLIMPSE of one in real life made me pretty happy. Seriously, i love wolves.
ANYWAY.
Sometime after Nipigon, ON, there was a WHOLE BUNCH OF RAIN!! which kind of surprised me, because, a) it's summer and b) Ontario is NOT Vancouver, BC (which basically has rainfall in every season).
So, 13.5 hrs later (and that includes the time change, so now i'm 3 hours ahead of Vancouver time), here I am, chilling out in my spiffy Comfort Inn, in Sault Ste. Marie. So far, this is the nicest place we've stayed at (not including Nana's, because she's family). Dad paid for the first two motels, as they were cheap (and not as nice).
But yes. Tomorrow we're headed to Ottawa.
seriously, Ontario is HUGE. (and lake-y).
Until next time, adieu!
Greetings, from Saskatchewan!
Jul. 24th, 2009 08:14 pmSo this is Day 2 on our Across Canada Road Trip!!
Day 1 had a slow start yesterday, as my sister and i both left our respective works later than we would have liked, and then we both had to do a little shopping (i had to get stuff for our laptops, and she had to get cat food), and then we both had to pack our backpacks - stuff that we wanted to have close by - books and stuff. So we were on the road only about 45 mins later than we wanted to.
BUT then we were off!! and then we got stuck in traffic practically when we just got on the freeway. but that lasted for only about an hour. We still got the Midway in about 6 hours, which is how long it normally takes. I tried not to fall asleep until we got to Nana's, but i failed. I think i napped off and on the whole way.
Day 2 started off early - we were in the car at 5:45 AM!! Our first pit stop was in Castlegar around 7am ish. we got gas and some much needed coffee, and muffins. We stretched out our legs a bit, and we were off again!!
We reached Alberta at about... 1pm Alberta time!! (so that would be noon BC time). we ate lunch around 3pm (AB time) in Lethbridge, AB at Ric's Grill.
OMFG. THE STEAK THERE WAS TO DIE FOR. STEAK IS NOW RUINED FOR FOREVER. I'VE NEVER HAD STEAK THAT WAS SO DELICIOUS. SERIOUSLY. I WOULD MURDER SOMEONE FOR A STEAK LIKE THAT. IT WAS PERFECT.
and after lunch, we continued on. we arrived in Saskatchewan at about 6pm (local time), and arrived at our destination of Swift Current at about 730.
Um... yeah. Swift Current, SK is not my most favourite of places. The layout is kind of weird. and to me and my sister (and let me remind you, we are bitches) it reminds us of shady downtown vancouver, meets a hick town. thats what it SEEMS like at first glance. our motel is RIGHT ACROSS from a cemetary. not that fact bothers me. but.... its a little weird. personally, i kind of like cemetaries. i know thats weird, but i find them peaceful. (unless its a zombie attack. then its trouble.)
but anyway. i'm sure its lovely.
Tomorrow's destination is Winnepeg. Hopefully we'll stay at another motel/hotel that has free internet access (so swift current isn't ALL that bad...).
Until then, see ya later!!
