The Home Stretch

August 19, 2019 – September 7th, 2019

We made our way to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where we had booked a hotel room for two nights. We had been wild camping for a few days so we were both looking forward to a shower and we needed to get some laundry done. We didn’t end up doing much more in Winnipeg than that, other than enjoying having extra space, a television and take out food delivered to our door.

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Ontario

August 10, 2019 – August 19, 2019

One of the best things about travelling the way that we were was the flexibility and freedom we had….if we liked a place, we would stay an extra day or two, if we didn’t like a place, we would move on. Plans were never written in stone, and we had altered our route many times on the trip in order to avoid areas where there might be a bit of civil unrest, or to take a detour to see something of interest that was previously unknown to us.

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Quebec

August 4, 2019 – August 10, 2019

We crossed from Labrador City into the province of Quebec and the road once again turned to gravel. We were in a somewhat remote region of the province and the road twisted around lakes, crossed rivers and circled around large mining sites. We were headed towards the Manicouagan Reservoir, a huge reservoir with a massive island in the middle. The almost perfectly round lake was created about 214 million years ago by the impact of a meteorite that was 5 kilometres in diameter….wow.

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Labrador

August 1, 2019 – August 4, 2019

The ferry from Newfoundland to Labrador actually lands a few kilometres south of the east-west Labrador/Quebec border in the remote town of Blanc Sablon. From here you can drive about 70 kilometres east along the south shore of Quebec, then take a series of ferries to hop from town to town, or you can drive north into Labrador. We headed north.

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Newfoundland – Part II

July 20, 2019 – August 1, 2019

Just south of St. John’s, Newfoundland is Cape Spear, the eastern most point in North America. Since we had driven to the most southerly point you can drive to in South America, it was only right that we visit Cape Spear!

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Newfoundland – Part I

July 9, 2019 – July 20, 2019

The ferry arrived to the island of Newfoundland just as the sun was rising. It had been a long night, neither of us really sleeping much on the ferry despite the ample leg room and comfortable, semi-reclining chairs. We had originally thought that we would get a campsite close to the ferry for the day and then head the next morning to Stephenville in order to take Piper to the vet, but as we drove off the ferry, Derek said he felt pretty good, so we drove the 165 km to Stephenville.

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Cape Breton Island, Part II

July 4th, 2019 – July 8, 2019

Note: We have been home now for about 2 weeks. It was hard to blog as we drove across Canada due to remote camping locations and the long driving days. I have read many blogs that just suddenly ended, and they left me wondering about the return home and the final parts of the trip and it just kind of bothered me, but now I understand….the return home is a busy time, seeing family and friends, getting the hot tub operational again (prioritizing at a time like this is essential), getting your home and life back in order,etc. I am determined however to see this blog though to our return home, and hope to do so within the next few weeks.

We boarded the boat operated by Bird Island Boat Tours and motored out to Bird Island for a “3 hour tour” (…..key theme song from Gilligan’s Island…). We were promised that we would get to see puffins, among many others, and I was excited to see these little clown like birds (friendly clown, not scary clown).

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Cape Breton Island, Part I

June 26th, 2019 – July 4th, 2019

We drove along the north shore of the mainland of Nova Scotia, making our way to Cape Breton Island. One of our first stops was a pub that had been recommended to us by a Cape Bretoner that we had met in Halifax. Besides having good food and drink, The Red Shoe Pub is a music venue located in the small town of Mabou. For those of you who are familiar with East coast musicians, the pub is owned by the award winning Rankin Family, and there is live music there almost every night of the week.

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New Brunswick

June 16, 2019 – June 26, 2019

We arrived at Tim and Tasha’s place and were greeted by Tasha’s father, Gerry, who, along with Tasha’s mom, Cathy, lives in a nearby house. Tasha was at work, and Tim was on his way home from the airport where he had gone to pick up Randi and Amy. Gerry told us they would be back soon and that we should make ourselves at home. Just then, Tim rounded the corner and came up the driveway.

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