Thanks Canada!!!

From Niagara falls we headed to Montreal which was a very cool city. We took a shuttle from our campsite into the heart of Montreal where we began our sightseeing [AKA "Cameraing" -J]. We declined the guided tours and followed the map and huffed it on our own two feet around town. We did take a tour of the Montreal Canadians hockey arena which was cool especially for my sports fan hubby. They even took us up to the press box which was pretty cool. As usual I was STARVING so we found a place to eat lunch at a little hole in the wall place where I'm sure it is very busy during hockey season. Not so busy when we were there as the cook/manager/owner sat down and talked with us while we ate. We proceeded to walk around town on a very hot day and see all there was to see, well as much as we could before our shuttle left to take us back (or before we crashed with exhaustion). We saw some beautiful churches (Basilicas), I believe most were Catholic in Montreal. As we sat in the Notre-Dame Basilica, it was amazing how beautiful it was and yet heaven will be even more beautiful and spectacular [That place is the only nice thing named Notre Dame I know of. FIGHT ON!! -J]. I was not able to take any pictures but I did get a post card so if we get our scanner working I will add it to the blog. As we meandered through the town I began to crave a diet coke so my sweet husband found a place and before I was able to check the price I had tiny little diet coke sitting in front of me which cost us over $3. It definitely hit the spot but I don’t think my husband thought it was worth that much. After we paid the guy told us just a block over we could have gotten one for much cheaper…GEEEE thanks!!! We headed back to the shuttle as we were hot and tired and we ended the day with an ice cream cone as we waited for the shuttle. That night we had another lightening storm but not quite as cool as the last one. This is the campsite where chief decided he liked to sleep under the bus...only problemis he cant get out...You will hear about this more in our ' Bloopers Blog'.




From Montreal we headed to Quebec city - the most French city in a predominantly French province which was really fun. Everyone spoke French and some did not speak any English, which made it interesting. We arrived there 3 days early which meant there was a chance of no campsite and that is pretty much what happened. We ended up staying in the overflow parking which was at the entrance of the KOA right on the main drag, with no water or dump and only 15 amps which did not run the air….but it was a place to stay where I felt ok leaving the dogs in their fence while we were gone. Now that I look at the pics this was here where the lightening storm was and not in Montreal [wups]. We took a shuttle into the city and again did our own self-guided tour through the city. We followed one walking tour group for a while then headed to the Citadel. We spent a lot of time at the Citadel where we saw the changing of the guards. Jimmy was amazed at how still they stood as they guarded the Citadel. The changing of the guards was a long ceremony where the last group of guards got off duty after 24 hours and the new group got on duty. They marched around, stomped their feet, paraded a goat around, brought the band out, checked their uniforms and weapons and then marched around more. It was very cool...well, not the weather…we were hot and these guys were in these suits with these hugs hats on that only showed their nose and mouth, they had to be baking in there. Not one broke their serious demeanor as they carried out their duties. My husband tried to break them but they stood there like statues. Some of them did not even blink…crazy. We then took a tour of the Citadel which was cool to see everything that was there. The buildings were covered with grass to camouflage the place which was pretty ingenious. After the Citadel we continued to explore the city. We have tried to eat at the most authentic cuisines in each place we have been and we found a quaint little place in Quebec city. We did not realize it in the beginning but their specialty was rabbit. So of course wanting to get the full experience we ordered the platter that had samples of all of their authentic food, including rabbit. It was actually pretty good if you did not think about it. Jimmy thought too much about the little white tailed fellow hopping around and did not enjoy it all that much. Had I thought about it at all I would not have been able to eat it so I didn’t and it was kinda like a more savory tasty tuna. After our exciting lunch we walked around the lower part of Quebec city while a festival was going on and then headed back to our shuttle. Quebec city is bi-leveled [as opposed to hetro-level -J]. The big hotel on the top used to be the castle of the French king (some kind of French ruler) who from there could see the towns people in the city on the lower level but also across the river to their enemies, the British [GO BRITISH!! -J]. The more affluent people lived on the upper level which was on the same level from the Citadel. Very cool city but it was time to head back to our shuttle to take us back to our Moose in the overflow parking.


Next destination: Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia was absolutely beautiful. We took 3 day trips around the area in a rental car. First day we rested and had some home made chicken soup which was perfect for the rainy weather. It actually rained/wind/stormed the whole time we were in Halifax and did not let up until we left for PEI. Our first excursion in Nova Scotia took us through the town of Halifax and through the scenic route to Luneburg on which I believe was the lighthouse trail. We saw a bunch of lighthouses and some beautiful scenery. We stopped at Peggy’s cove which is supposed to be a famous cove. It has a population of 40 and is a quaint little town. We saw an old lighthouse, got some pics of the Atlantic and then got some homemade ice cream on homemade waffle cones at a little shop in town ( best ice cream so far). The Atlantic ocean was very cool and a bit different from the Pacific which we would see more of on our next days adventure. Since we were on the scenic trail we did not get as far as we would have hoped but as the rain got heavier we started worrying about the dogs so we started back. Although it had taken us 6+ hours to get where we were on the scenic route, our trip home was only an hour on the main road. Of course the dogs were all snuggly buggly wuggily in their padded little bedroom/luggage compartment under the bus. The next day we awoke to lots of wind which ended up making our trip very exciting. We drove the very scenic Cabbot Trail on the little island of Cape Brenton. As we arrived to the land bridge the wind was so fierce the waves were crashing over the bridge. It reminded me of that scene in the movie ‘Twister’ when they are one that little strip of land in the middle of a lake and two twisters twist around them and spin the car around them and cover the car with wind and water. Well that was what it was like except for the twisters, the car spinning and there were no cows flying by. It was pretty crazy, I actually had to stop the car in the middle of the bridge as a semi was coming the other direction and a wave hit us so hard I was blinded for a few seconds even though the windshield wipers were on. I got a few pics but was focusing on driving at that time (After that experience Jimmy drove the rest of the day). The rest of the day ended up being VERY LONG as we had not realized how long of a trip we had embarked on. We had already driven 2+ hours and had left around noon. The tourist information guy informed me we had 6+ more hours to go. Well it was more than that. We didn’t stop too much but we did stop for some authentic clam chowder and fish cakes which was delicious. We also stopped to get some cool pics and experience the furry of the wind. It took us about 10 pics just to get a pic with my hair somewhat out of my face. The wind was crazy which made the waves even crazier. Jimmy kept saying “ this ocean is pissed’…and it was. After a while the storm broke a bit and the clouds were beautiful. If you look closely you can see the coastal road we traveled on...So pretty!! OH YEAH this is where we finally saw a moose and got a picture. I was so excited!! It wasn’t a bull moose with the big horns but it was a moose…FINALLY! I started out this trip in the front seat leaning over Jimmy or having him open the back window and leaning back to get the pics because the ocean was on the left. Finally a smarted up and ended up sitting in the back seat for a few hours because he wasn’t much for stopping as we had a long day ahead of us. Don’t worry I got some great shots as he would pull over quick and give me a few seconds at each pullout and then we were off. Our book said something about some special Scottish Scones at a little restaurant so our taste buds were ready for some yummy scones but being spoiled by my mom’s friend (Cathy Burns’s) scones we were a bit disappointed. We got home late that night and were up the next morning to head to head to Prince Edwards Island (PEI).

Luckily we heeded my parents advice and took the bus as we ended up spending the night at the KOA there. PEI was beautiful although my husband and the moose had some struggles with the roads. They were a bit hilly and curvy for the good ol' moose. The main thing I wanted to see on PEI was the house of Anne of Green Gables. There are 2 sites one which is the town of Avalon which is like a re-creation of the town. The tea house my mom told me about was not open so we had sandwiches and tea in a Styrofoam cup. I was a bit disappointed but my husband made it fun. He put on his proverbial tea party hat and pretended he was one of the girls at a tea party (trying to have a tea party conversation-whatever that is) using words out of his repertoire like magnificent, superb and then the best one he kept trying to get us to pose for more pictures and when I asked where we should stand he said ‘I cant decide’. I died laughing and we went on our merry way. It was an interesting ‘tea party’ but definitely unforgettable. We found out that the enchanted/haunted forest was at another site and since I really wanted to walk through it so I could tell my mom all about it we packed up the bus and headed over. Jimmy stayed with the dogs (I can't imagine why he didn’t want to pay money to see Ann of green gables house and walk through the forest that was in the book) [Yeah...me neither -J]. Anyway I thought it was going to be just a nice little stroll, I mean how hard could it be, a little girl did it all the time to go to her cousin's house. Well it was a long mile hike and Jimmy was waiting back at the Moose so part of it I tried to run. By the time I got back I was exhausted. The house and garden were beautiful and the forest was quite enchanting but im sure if she left late and got back after dark it could seem a little scary for the little girl.

We left PEI ( which cost us $40+on the toll bridge—YIKES!!!) and headed for the U.S. border. We spent the night in an empty lot at Frenchy’s store (thanks Frenchy) which ended up being one of our favorite places to stay. Great weather, quiet and lots of space for the dogs, we didn’t even have to put up the fence. We got up early(well Jimmy got up early) and we headed for the border.
NEXT STOP…… THE GOOD OL' US OF A!!!!!



We are excited to get back to the U.S. although Canada has been fun and beautiful. We are ready to use our phones and internet as much as we want since there won't be anymore roaming charges and we are hoping we can get our TV working. We will be staying with my sister in a couple days which I am really excited about. We haven’t seen a familiar face in quite a while so it will be really nice to see Leslie and Catherine (and to get off this stinkin bus for a few days). I have never seen her place and we haven’t spent quality time together in years so I am really looking forward to Vermont.

Hope all is well with everyone [Couple more weeks till football season!! -J].
Lots of love
The Tyners