St. John's, Newfoundland.

After a 15 hour ferry ride from Sydney, NS, we arrive in Newfoundland! The ferry wasn't bad at all, really. Most of the ride we were sleeping.

Once on the island, the moose hunt started, 125,000-150,000 moose they say, you're guaranteed to see one, they say. Well, it took till Gros Morne National Park before we finally started spotting moose. 

A mama moose with her two little ones.

St. John's was an adorable little city, of course each day there, it was either raining or in heavy fog, but that only added to the experience. The jelly bean houses on the streets, (Gower street had the best colourful houses ;) ) were my favourite part of the city. I imagine in the winter, they cheer the townspeople up on those cold foggy winter days. Another thing I loved was how friendly everyone was, always willing to help you. The history in the city was very abundant, Signal Hill, St. John's harbour, Cape Spear (the most easterly point of North America), the many lighthouses, Terry Fox's starting point of his run (where he dipped his foot in the Atlantic Ocean). Of course Gower street was very exciting to see as well. 

I would say St. John's has been my favourite city across Canada, and I'd love to come back again to experience some more of it's charm. It was as cute as a jellybean. ;) 

Gower street! 

ETR: For readers information, don't ask yet. ;) 

Gabe. 

Prince Edward Island.

Okay PEI was adorable. So far it's one of my favourite spots across Canada. We spend five days in the tiny province and I now see why they call it the gentle island.

The ocean was much warmer then home. I was rather surprised stepped into the water, (only feet away from our Buggie site) and feeling the refreshing, gentle water splashing across my ankles and onto the red sand behind. 

The island, tiny as it is, was filled with caches. Bob and mum cached every day we were on the island, not even making a dent in them. Most of the caches were in huge trails, as they'd call them (The Confederation Trail had a cache every 180 meters or so...) and although these trails and strings of caches were interesting, the ones I enjoyed most were the single caches put out off the beaten path. We found one in a tiny little cemetery with graves dating back to the early 1800s, another cache was at a lighthouse with views off high cliffs and seabirds nesting on them. We walked on an old road going through acres of potato plants on the way the that one.

Here're the cliffs. 

Mum and I visited the Anne of Green Gables historic site, well Bob went caching. We spent the afternoon exploring the property. We had raspberry cordial, talked with Anne, and of course read some of the novel. Then bus loads of Japanese tourists piled in so we made a break for it.

It's Anne! 

Almost everyday on the island we enjoyed a cone of Cow's ice cream, and if you've never tried it before, I'd highly recommend it. It was amazing (we even toured their ice cream and t-shirt plant).

We spent one afternoon in Charlottetown, where mum and I found an adorable knitting store, and bought thrummed mittens, it took us forever to decide on a colour...

Red mittens!

I really can't think of much else we did on the island... It was just so adorable and scenic, very relaxing and  gentle. It was the perfect break from the cities. 

ETR < 10

Gabe. 

Being a tourist.

Throughout my trip across Canada, the one thing I've noticed most is, I won't accept I'm a tourist.

Every time we've stopped at a tourist attraction alone the way, I catch my self thinking, or saying aloud, 'I wish there wasn't all these tourists' (I guess it's the home soil, telling me I'm a local, no matter where I am in Canada ). I've explored all these interesting places, learned, and refreshed my memory about Canadian history, that I've failed to remember from Mr. Mansfield's Social Studies class in high school. And I still won't accept being a tourist is okay.
I guess what I've discovered is; if I want to see the attractions I've got to join the herd of tourists alike and get that mandatory photograph of Anne of Green Gables, accepting my tourist name tag.

It's Anne! Anne with an 'e'.

But when you need break from the herd, take a step on the beaten path, only the locals will tread...

Quiet road, through a potato patch.

Find those hidden gems every local knows about, the quiet beaches, barn style restaurants, the secret lighthouses, the hidden views, quirky restaurants and cafes... These are the places I love visiting, and experiencing. I always feel a true sense of the community here, and never like a tourist.

Of course this past week was mostly with the herd. We stayed a few nights on the Acadian Peninsula in New Brunswick, exploring the islands and having our first tastes of lobster (mine was to chewy. :( ).

We spent one night in Kouchibouguac National Park, riding bikes around, relaxing for once. Then later in the evening I convinced the oldies to go out past their bed time and hunt for rainbow coloured plastic chairs at 10pm at night (It was a scavenger hunt!). I do believe they had just as much fun as I did. ;)

Next we drove down to Moncton, NB, I quieter city, we watched the Tidal Bore. Soon we discovering that was the only thing to do in Moncton, we had an earlier then usual dinner of pizza, from a wood-fired, stone oven and went to the Magnetic Hill for an optical illusion! Who knew it would be so fun, we tried it three times. ;)
Finally we the next morning we joined the herd again and explored Hopewell Rocks and the Bay of Fundy National Park.

Time to visit PEI!

Time to go over the Confederation Bridge!

And there's the island! 

Sorry all, you'll have to wait for my next post to hear my stories of this little island. Hint: we visited Anne of Green Gables! (I know big shock, not like it was my first picture or anything...)

ETR: < :20

Gabe.

Coffee.

Oh coffee, where ever are you? I've searched and I've drank, I've smelled and I've watched, yet no good coffee to be found.

 I wake each morning to the sound of coffee brewing, the drip, drip, drip... Then the smell comes, it drifts over me and I long for that first sip. But this isn't coffee. I won't be drinking this 'coffee'. The bitter brown liquid certain people in our society (Bob) call coffee. This coffee is what The People of Stick only joke about using while the bosses are away. This stuff, is not for me.

Mum and I search for the real coffee, we drive through town after town searching for the good stuff, The Stick quality stuff, but no luck. Province after province, nothing. Zip. We know it is here somewhere, we are just sadly in the wrong place, we keep trekking on our way, dreaming of our Cappuccinos back at The Stick, in Sooke. Soon, we say, maybe the next town, we dream. Nothing. It's just not happening.

Many times we gave in and had Timmies iced capp (:((((((((((((((((). Or we'd give a place a chance, buying a coffee, but no such luck. At one place, I ordered a cappuccino, I thought this place would be good, (they had good chocolate...)  I had high expectations, and I actually started looking toward to that first sip, rather then dreading it. Then I saw the girl taking my order reach for a cup, plop it under a machine, and press the 'cappuccino' button. Sigh...

The perfect Stick Cappuccino.

Finally we find it....
Just when I'd given up hope on ever finding, that perfectly balanced sip of coffee, we find it. We are in Gaspé, QU, and they have our first sip of good coffee since The Stick.
I walk in the little shop, which reminds me of  a much smaller version of Ottavio's in Victoria, BC, with a small town feeling, like The Stick. The shop is stuffed,  people are crowded inside the shop waiting to order their cheeses, fresh baked bread, coffees, desserts, deli meats and cured meats, pastry's, plus groceries and beer (I still don't remember the name of this place).

Couldn't get much better. We order a personalized pizza to share, three coffees, a dessert each, fresh baked French bread, two cheeses, and a buy and bake pizza for later. The coffee came with a jug of milk that was slightly warmed. On a scale of Timmies (1) to The Stick (10 aka. perfection) I'd give it an 9.

With crèma and everything, there is is. :)

Well, I'm off to hunt for good coffee...

Gabe.

Gaspé Peninsula.

Ahh, the wilderness, how I've missed you...

We spent four nights on the Gaspé Peninsula, two of which in Forillon National Park.
The scenery was wonderful, beaches everywhere you look, sea birds flying overhead, waves crashing on the beach, wind rushing through the trees, high cliffs towering above us, moose quietly eating the new growth in the clear cuts, beavers happily building their beaver dams.
The Gaspé was unlike anything we've seen yet. The fog was the only downside, but even that was beautiful hanging softly over the cliffs.

We hiked on the International Appalachian Trail, for a short time, well on our way to Cap-Gaspé Lighthouse (at the tip of the park). The fog still lingered, so there wasn't much of a a view, but with the waves crashing below us and the smells of ocean spray in the air, you had a good sense of the surroundings.

Driving back to Buggie that night, we spotted a family looking at a beaver pond, of course we stopped as well.
We watched as three beavers swiam across their little pond, building a dam. The fattest little guy would bring arm loads of mud from the bottom of the pond and dump it on the wall, the next beaver, a smaller one, would hunt for sticks and plop them on the wall. The last beaver just swam around, not to sure what his job was..

Here's the fatty, with his mud.

Of course the other family and us started to attract attention from other drivers, before we knew it, there was around 25 people watching the happy little beavers.
We soon drove on, and just down the road we spotted a porcupine waddling off the road, into the bush. We were getting some good animal views today, now just to see that darn moose....

Mr. Porcupine!

Five minutes from entering the Buggie site, we make our last turn and there she is; the moose. The day is complete. We have spotted our moose.

She's there, keep looking.

 Just before leaving the park, we took a morning drive to a beautiful little view point. 

Down the road from the Gaspé, we reached Perce rock. arriving in the town, we drove down Buggies steepest hill yet, at 17%.

Coming down the hill to the town of Perce, and Perce rock. 

The rock!

At our last Buggie site in Quebec, mum and I rode around a quiet little trail, near the site. On the way back, I stop at a unfamiliar sound... But I know what it must be; a beaver. Yup, there he is chewing away at his tree branch. I was in shock, he was no more then five feet away, could it get any better? Mr. Happy Beaver grabbed his branch, and waddled away into the pond, it was the perfect beaver viewing experience.

ETR: Soon! 

Gabe ;)

Quebec City.

Quebec City was by far our most stressful city experience yet...

The city was beautiful, tall buildings surrounded you everywhere you went.
The people have very good English, almost makes you fall guilty for not having better French.
It is CROWDED (I didn't enjoy being a tourist in the downtown core).
Driving around was almost impossible. Not only are there different rules here, the signs are all in French.
There was to much to see and not enough time.
We walked around, a lot.
The food was very good (except for the first place we ate lunch. It was TERRIBLE!).
The local beer was good as well.
The history showed.
The city was disappointing, but at least there was pretty things to look at....

Tall buildings everywhere..

Lets all crowd around to take photos...

The art was interesting, to say the least. 

That's all for now, folks!

Gabe. 

A stop between.

After leaving Montreal, we decided to have a stop before heading straight to Quebec City, we all needed a brake before heading into another city (they are stressful!). We stayed two nights in St. Boniface, very near Shawinigan, QC.
On our 'day off' between cities, we drove through Mauricie National Park. The drive was about 60km, but we took most of the day to do it (we stopped many times).

First mum and I had a little hike around a beautiful lake, which was very tempting to jump into, but silly me didn't bring a swimsuit (it was so hot and humid, I was thisclose to going in without one, but a group of men had caught up with us, which ruined my plans...:( ).
Next, we drove on and found more lakes to stair at, but none as tempting as the first. After numerous look outs, bogs, lakes, beaches, and endless forest, we arrived at Wapizagonke Lake.

Wapizagonke Lake was nearing the edge of the park, and a very popular swimming spot. At this point, we were all hungry and thinking about the steak, waiting for us at Buggie. Just this one last stop, to see the Wapizagonke Falls...
Am I ever glad mum dragged Bob and I to see these falls, not only did we see some allrightlookingfallsthatreallyaren'tthatexciting#sorrymum, we saw a BEAVER!!!

This beaver was the happiest little guy I've ever seen, he was swimming around in his little beaver pond, living in his cute little beaver house, just not giving a shit that 200 feet away there was 100 to 200 hundred people running, sliding, swimming, rolling, screaming, you name it, these people did it, all over these falls. The happy beaver just did his thing, ignoring all of us.

There he is! You see him right!? (He's on the left..) ;)

So far, I'd say Mr. Happy Beaver here, has been the most exciting thing I've seen on the trip..

Gabe.

Montreal.

Ahh, Montreal, where to begin....

We arrived mid-afternoon in Montreal, from Ottawa, with a very eager mother ready to see her daughter, living the city life.

So as soon as Buggie was set up, it was off we went to find Joanna's apartment. We drove into the city and found her place rather easily (just outside of the busier part of Montreal), then it was time to haul her kitchen-care package (and by 'package' I mean giant box) up to her place.
Finally we get inside, Joanna shows us around the apartment, we decide what to do for the evening, (this can take anywhere from 10 minutes , to over an hour..) and off we go.

First, we head over to the Metro. The Metro is the way to get around in cities like Montreal, there's so much city, covering so much land, and so many people, you have to use underground transportation if you want to get anywhere.
We grab our passes and wait at the platform, ZOOM! Here's our train.

After arriving in the core of the city, we walk over to Old Montreal, in search of good food.
There are so many places to eat in Montreal, it's insane. I'm pretty sure we spent our entire weekend eating. We grab a quick snack in Old Montreal, (just to hold us over, we were starving) then head over to the gay district.

You'll always know when you're in the gay district...

There's somewhere to eat everywhere you look here (and everywhere in Montreal), so it didn't take long to find good food. We chose a nice French restaurant, I had a beautifully cooked, moist, delectable flank steak with port wine sauce, and everyone else seemed very happy with their meals as well. 

Next, we walked around some more and started making our way back (can't actually remember anything else...and no, I didn't have to much to drink..). 

I stayed at Joanna's that night, so the next morning I went on a bagel search around Jo's neighbourhood, finally finding 'all right' ones (Joanna's words, not mine, I thought they were good).
Jo showed me around some more, then we meet up with mum and Bob for lunch, at Buggie.
A quick bowl of cheesy pasta with sautéed summer vegetables, and off we went.
More exploring the city, and much more food. Schwartz was probably our best stop that afternoon.
We tried the famous Smoked Meat Sandwich, which was amazing. The flavour in the meat was unforgettable, perfectly balanced, and simply wonderful. We all loved it.
Next we walked over to Mount Royal park, Mum and Bob cached around the hill, well Jo and I relaxed on the grass.

That night, after food stops, beer stops, and probably an ice cream stop, we made our way to the fire works. Every Saturday night in the summer, (I think..) Montreal has fireworks from different counties competing to be the favourite, it was America this time, which were wonderful. It was a very lively, exciting show (I guess most firework shows are...but this one just seemed better). After the show, Jo tried to drag me out for the night, for a true city experience, well mum and Bob found their our way back to Buggie, on the Metro. I didn't last long before it was past my bed time and Joanna almost had to drag me back to her place. Sorry Jo, just not a party girl.

The next day we took Jo out of the city, and drove to Oka, it was a wonderful little town. We found an adorable chocolaterie, with the most magical chocolates. I`ll never forget them.

So many to choose from!

We got our chocolates and headed down to the beach for a picnic. Bread and cheese, with cured meats and beer, couldn't get any better on a beautiful summer day. 

After sunbathing, swimming, relaxing, and repeating, we made our way back to Joanna's place (with another stop for fresh berries, fresh baked french bread and local Oka cheese). For our last night in the city, we made dinner at Joanna's place, and grabbed an ice cream, before saying good-bye to the wonderful land of food (and Joanna, I guess). 

After an emotional ride back to Buggie (I'm sure you can guess who the emotional one was... ;)), it was off to bed and time for a new destination.

ETR. Unknown. 

Gabe.

PS, Not sure if you noticed but we did A LOT of eating in Montreal. I was full after the first day, but just keep eating anyway...still recovering.

Ottawa.

London, ON to Ottawa, ON.

We spend two and a half days in Ottawa. Exploring, eating, shopping,  catching up with friends and enjoying ourself.

We arrived in Ottawa around 1 pm on the first day. We set Buggie up at a nice camp ground, then started planing the day.
First we went to Parliament Hill, that was a must.

Got the mandatory photo.

After grabbing our tour tickets (free, yay!) It was a 20-30 minute wait to climb up Canada's first inclined elevator (9%) to the Peace Tower (there was a little window in the elevator you could look out and see the bells, the largest weighing over 10,000 kg). The view from up top (a room just below the clock) was great. You could see all around the city, there was maps to slow what the different building were (mostly government buildings), also the history behind the Tower. The Memorial Chamber was beautiful, with its great high ceilings, and stained glass windows.

Finally time for our tour. We explored the parliament buildings, learning different facts about the buildings architecture, history, about the government, and more. We stepped inside the library, which is the only building in the Centre Block of Parliament Hill not destroyed in a fire in 1916, making it the oldest part of the centre block. 

Some of the architecture. 

                                       

 A stop at The Famous Five next...

Next we explored the Rideau Canal and the locks. 

There are 49 locks on the Canal.

After the locks we headed back to Buggie for the night.

The next day we drove to Arnprior, ON just outside of Ottawa, to visit mums friend Amanda. We went caching for the morning, then it was time for Wes' Chips.

We're been stopping in small towns all across Canada, at little chip trucks parked by the highway or road, for french fries. We'd drown them in Malt Vinegar and salt every time... Mum and Bobs friend Amanda has been telling us all about Wes' chip truck, that they are the best fries she's ever had. So of course we've been waiting and waiting to try the famous fries (they really are famous, Google 'Wes' Chips', I dare you ;) ). 

The fries were perfect. The grease glistened in the sunlight, the fries were crispy even after pouring Malt vinegar all over them, they weren't to thick either, just the right size, and the insides were fluffy. They let you season them half way through filling the box, so the fries are seasoned perfectly from top to bottom. They were magical fries. From the golden colour, fresh from the fryer, to the yummy crispy bits at the bottom of the box... Wes' Chips everybody. In Arnprior, ON. These are the best fries of the trip. One word says it all; Magical. 

Of course after all those fries the past two weeks, we're all sick of them now... But Wes' was well worth it.

After leaving Arnprior, we stopped in an adorable little town called Almonte, ON on the way back to Ottawa. This town scored a solid ten, on the adorable-town scale (Arnprior was actually pretty cute to).

Luckily there was a couple caches to keep Bob busy, so mum and I got to explore a little. 

Next we explored downtown Ottawa and the  ByWard Market. Once again Bob went caching/exploring on his own and mum and I went our way. Shop after shop, in and out. We wandered around town till just before 10 pm, then we made our way back to Parliament Hill for Mosaika. 

Mosaika is a sound and light show projected onto the Parliament building. The show was unlike anything I've seen before, absolutely worth it. The show tells Canada's story, showing wars, accomplishments, different landscapes and weather. We all loved it.

The next morning we got off to a late start, and headed over to the Diefenbunker Museum. After we went back to Ottawa to explore the city some more and look at the National Gallery of Canada.

For dinner we went to two different bars/restaurants for appetizers and drinks. It was almost like a mini pub crawl! ;) 

That's the end of Ottawa sadly, it was a fun city to explore, hopefully I'll be back one day.

ETR. Unknown. 

Gabe.

A walk with fire.

We left Whitefish, ON and headed on to London, ON.

On the way we made a stop in Sudbury to see the big nickel, have you seen it? It's big.

I was impressed. 

The next stop we made that day was in St. Jacobs. It was this cute little (cute town rating 7/10) town in the middle of no where, filled with tiny little shops designed for tourists. Mum and I walked around the town for about an hour, soon realizing all the shops were practically the same. They were all filled with little gifts, Canada themed items, and overly priced clothing.  Luckily for us, only the food sucked us in. We found ice cream served out of an old railway car and baked goods from a Mennonite bakery. 

We made it to London and set up Buggie for a couple days. Finally. A couple days staying in one place, I get to leave my bed set up! (I usually have to make my bed each night and take it down in the mornings).

That evening mum and I rode around the area chasing fireflies (we didn't actually chase them). Everywhere we went we'd see these amazing little sparks of fire out of the corner of our eyes. At first we didn't know what they were, but Bob soon told us. They reminded me of bioluminescence in the ocean at my summer place, except these little guys were in fewer numbers and also in the air. Back at the Buggie site there was also these funny rodents running around everywhere, may have been muskrats. 

About the size of a house cat.

The next morning we headed over to Niagara Falls. It was crowded, and before even looking at the falls, mum and I rusted to the Hershey's store. We didn't buy to much chocolate...

How could we not?!

We had to fight our way through crowds and refreshing mist to see the falls, and even more fighting to get to the spot the water actually falls over the edge at your feet. There was people everywhere, I'm sure glad I don't live around there. We rode an elevator down 125 metres behind the falls and explored the tunnels beneath, yet still we found people everywhere.

 There they are.

Bet you haven't seen a selfie with the falls behind before. 

(Haha...)

We drove down to Niagara-on-the-Lake for dinner that night, thinking we'd avoid the millions of tourists... Nope. Just as many tourists here, apparently we all had the same idea. Oh well. On the bright side, it was a really charming-adorable-perfect-cute little town. Big brick houses, perfectly mowed lawns, giant old trees lining the streets, adorable stores, it was a 10/10 on the town cuteness scale (there's been a lot of cute little towns in Ontario, Bobs tired of our "Awes!" and "Wow! Look at that one!").

A unique little dress shop in the middle of town.

The next morning we headed down to Point Pelee National Park (on the way there, we stopped at a fruit stand and found black raspberries! They tasted like a cross between blackberries and grapes, but had the texture of raspberries...weird). It is the most southerly point on mainland Canada (Middle island, only metres from the border is Canada's most southerly island). We had a freight canoe ride through a beautiful little bog in the park, and of course we walked out to the point...

Doesn't look like much of a point, does it? 

We stopped for fish and chips for dinner, and had fresh perch from Lake Erie, they were pretty good, I'd give them a 8/10.

The next day was rather uneventful, we dropped Buggie off for an RV check up (Bob wanted a couple things fixed, nothing major), then made our way from London to the Trent Hills, ON area for the night. We couldn't find a Buggie site (we tired to drive into one, but it was over priced and Buggie almost got stuck driving around the RV sites tiny little roads) so we parked in a church parking lot for the night... No one was around, ha ha.

Before bed we all walked around the area for a little bit, chasing the fireflies again. Maybe the last time we'll see them for awhile, headed for the big cities now.

ETR. Unknow.

Gabe. 

We're going on a moose hunt.

No moose were harmed in the writing of this blog post.

Kenora, ON to Thunder Bay, ON.

Oh moose, where art thou moose? I search and I search, yet I see no moose. 

We drive past bogs and grasslands, rivers and streams, and oh so many lakes and ponds. We search up and down, we search all around, and still, not one single moose. Maybe tomorrow we say, we hope and we pray, but do we see a wanderlust moose? No; not even a mousse. 

There are signs everywhere. Moose there, moose here, moose crossing, maybe even moose talking. But the moose were sadly lacking, not a single lip smacking, road licking, moose a trotting.

And as I take a peaceful nap, I drift off to sleep, just in time to hear Bob shot "There's a moose!" 

But of course, by the time my sleepy eye's have woken, the moose is long gone, and with it my great desire.

My only moose. (Moose Jaw, SK)

Okay, story times over for now...

We stayed just outside of Thunder Bay that night, mum and I rode down to Kakabeka Falls, and searched for a couple caches, it was a fairly regular road tripping evening for us.

The falls were rather spectacular, Bob described them the next morning, saying it looked like a river of beer, because of the deep brownish-red colour. 

Kakabeka Falls.

After leaving our Buggie site near Thunder Bay, we stopped at the Terry Fox Memorial statue. We are now travelling on the same highway he did back in 1981, which is amazing to see where he ran. 

The memorial.

From there on, we made our way to Wawa, ON (and at some point on the way there, I saw a beaver! It was happily swimming along below us in a river).

Wawa is known for it's giant Canadian goose, if you've never heard of the place.

We stayed in a quiet little RV park just below the town, classic spot. Lot of trees, a river, showers with excellent water pressure, a pool, and one channel on the television. The Amazing Race Canada, for Bob. 

The next morning we got an early start from Wawa, and made our way to White Fish, ON, just outside of Sudbury, ON.

Along the way, I had a wonderful nap, and woke up next to Canada's smallest Canadian Tire.

It was pretty cute.

We also stopped at Sault Ste. Marie, where we saw the canal. And of course walked around to find some caches....

For dinner mum was complaining for fish and chips, so we made another stop, about an hour from Sudbury for dinner. It was good fish and chips, I'll remember those ones...

And for dessert? Yet another stop. Ice cream from the North West Trading Company. It was well worth it with their home made waffle cones. 

Buggie finally found rest for the night in White Fish, ON, at a small little RV site. Mum and I got our evening bike ride in, then it was back to Buggie for some blogging. 

ETR. Unknown.

Gabe.

Survival tips for surviving trips.

Surviving a two month road trip, stuck in a RV with your mother and her boyfriend can be challenging, but I've managed to come up with my list of survival tips. It's a work in progress, I might add to the list as time goes by.
Here we go...

1. When someone needs coffee, we find coffee.
2. Atlas' are your new favourite book. You'd really wonder if you knew how often I look at it. One night I took it to bed with me. I wouldn't be surprised if we need our own atlas' soon too (see number 6).
3. Have a safe place. Once there, go to the happy place.
4. When things get bad, remember to always bring a stuffed animal with, you can hug it well rocking back and further.
5. Headphones. Even if there's nothing to listen to, when someone spots them in your ears, they'll draw their attention elsewhere.
6. Maps. For some reason we've each needed our own map, for most of the provinces we crossed.
7. Have an escape plan. Know there's always a way out.
8. When someone is having computer problems (not mentioning names) just let them figure it out. Especially if you know they've been shown before (still not mentioning names). The cries of anger and frustration will stop. But at that point, you're already in the happy place.
9. Nap. Take at least one nap per day, while driving (not while your driving, when someone else is), after which hydrate.
10. Take charge (try to, at least). Sometime you've just got to say, "No more caches, no more stops.". Then hope for the best.
11. Everyone has a job. Things get done faster if we all help out.
12. Eat the bloppy porridge. Just choke it down, once the berries are gone and there's just porridge left, you can discreetly stop eating it.
13. Beer time. No comments necessary.

Too recap everything I've said, be sure to have the essentials: 

You get the idea. 

Right?

Gabe.

A light show and a gold bar.

On day four we left Chaplin, SK and headed on to Brandon, MB.
I'll be honest with you, nothing exciting happened on the drive. We just drove through mini hills and grasslands. It's the prairies, what do you expect? The real excitement happened that evening...
Brandon had the most humidity of all our stops so far. After parking the Buggie (RV's nickname, because she collects so many bugs on the windshield each day) we stepped outside into a bathroom after a hot shower, expect with mosquitoes landing on you every two seconds, lets just say I didn't stay outside long.

After dinner mum and Bob headed off on a bike ride to find some caches, well I stayed comfortably inside the air conditioned Buggie with my netflix television show and beer (no, I'm not telling you what I watched, much to embarrassing). I was so focused on my show, I didn't hear the faint sounds of thunder rolling in outside, no cracks of lightening, nothing but sips of beer and the excitement of my show.
Mum and Bob zipped in the door, as fast as possible to avoid any bloody-buzzing-biting-bugs, "Gabe, a storms coming in!" they announced excitedly. I just thought it was a little rain, maybe some wind, but no. It's lightening. We decided to have our evening showers before the storm got to exciting, and after debating whether to drive Jeepy the one hundred or so metres to the showers, we ended up walking :( (the bugs were REALLY bad here). A few to many bug slaps, a quick shower to cool off, and a walk back through mosquito land, we were back to Buggie in time for a light show.

To us west coasters, the lightening storm was thrilling. We sat at the front of Buggie, with snacks and everything. Flash! Flash! Crack! Boom! Flash! You know when a small child is being silly and flickering the light switch on and off repeatedly? Imagine that going on for over an hour, expect it's not the lest bit annoying, just really spectacular. Now add on the sound effects and you got yourself an exciting evening. Who knew my television show would end up to be the dull side of my night?
I woke up early the next morning to the sounds of birds chirping, and stillness, it was both peaceful and disappointing, the thrill of last night was over.

My attempt of photographing some lightening, taken through the window around 10:30pm. 

After the excitement in Brandon, I'm sure the next few days will seem dull, but who knows...

Day five from Brandon, to Kenora, ON.

On the way to Kenora, we made a stop in Winnipeg at the Canadian Mint, the tour was actually rather exciting. We all held a nearly $500,000 in 999.9% pure gold bar, learned a little about the change in our pockets, and saw just how many coins from around the world are made right there in Winnipeg.

    

           It weighted about 24 pounds.

 Around the time we entered Ontario, (either before or just after) we passed the vertical halfway of Canada; based on longitudinal degrees.  

In Kenora, ON we set up Buggie in a camp site parking lot, it was their 'overflow' spot. Mum and I rode around the town that night, and relaxed after a long day of driving (it was actually one of our shorter distances driven that day, but we made more stops so it felt much longer). Perogies for dinner, and some relaxing television before bed made for a nice evening. 

ETR. Unknown. 

Gabe.

From mountains to badlands.

#rvlife

On a wonderfully air conditioned bus ride from Kamloops, I arrived in small town Cache Creek. I stepped off the bus, immediately feeling the heat. Can I get back on the bus?

The bus driver didn't magically know to drop me off at the RV camp, so I had a long and hot, sweaty walk 2kms up the busy highway to the RV. In the blazing hot sun, with my duffel bag, pillow and my purse, I started my trek. Upon arriving at the beer-bottle-on-the-picnic-table marked RV, I collapsed. Finally. One ice cold root beer later and I was good to go again. 

Day one of travelling we drove from Cache Creek, to Glacier National Park via Trans Canada hwy 1. 
We stopped in at D Dutchmen Dairy Farm for ice cream, a place my family stopped at about 14 years ago on a family trip. Still looks the same. 
That evening we camped in Glacier National Park. We geocached in the area and found beautiful little trails, through rock gardens and old railway beds. At one point, an avalanche path was right over the trail, so we hiked through the snow! 
On the way back to camp, we meet a family stopped at the side of the road, who reported seeing a grizzly with two cubs just up the road from our camp site. Great. No sightings sadly. 

Day two we left the park and on to Bassano, AB. 
Along the way, we drove through the Rockies and up the Big Hill, past the spiral tunnels. Unfortunately, no trains came through. 
Driving through Calgary (by mistake) was the most stressful adventure so far. "Hey, there's the Calgary Tower! Never thought we'd see that." Bob was sure surprised to be in down town Calgary.  
After missing three exits back to the highway, we finally made our way back on track (keep in mind, there was three GPS's in use at the time, and we still got lost).
In the tiny prairie town of Bassano, mum and I rode around the town finding geocaches and enjoying the flat prairie land. 

Day three we left Bassano and went on to Chaplin, SK. 
All I can say about the prairies is, it's called the badlands for a reasons: it's mostly flat and there's not much to look. I'll give you a brief description of what we saw.
Grass.
Bushes.
Fences.
A hill!!
More grass.
Tiny town.
 A patch of bushes.
Canola flowers.
More hills!
Grain elevator. 
Tiny town.
An antelope (that was actually exciting).
Some grass.

You get the idea. It was slow, boring, flat and unfortunately not over yet. 

In Chaplin, we drove Jeepy around town finding the five geocaches in the area. By the time we got back to camp, we all needed showers from the sodium sulphate in the air (the lake next to town is the second largest saline water body in Canada). 

The walk to the showers near camp was filled with ant tunnels, millions of mosquitoes, and happy gophers making tunnels for us to trip in. Rather different then our walk through tall forests in the mountains two nights ago.
It really is amazing to watch the landscape change each day. From mountains to badlands this week, I'm excited to see what the next couple days bring. 

ETR. Unknown.

Gabe.