Prince Edward Island

I loved spending the last week of my trip on PEI. It is a gorgeous, small island and I knew I would love it before I got there. There was a great mix of farm life with touring around the island.

Sunday when I arrived at Weedy Gardens, which is a farm just outside of the small town of Breadalbane, the house was full of the friends and family of Angel, Hans and their kids Zora and Fidel.

I wasn't sure until Monday who actually lived at the house, which is a hexagon tower, with a tv room in the basement, a kitchen/living room on the main floor, then the bathroom and two bedrooms on the next floor and a bedroom where wwoofers usually sleep on the top (I spent the week sleeping in Black Beauty, just because). They also have a large shed where they hang garlic and onions to dry with a living area above it. And Hans' dad Konrad has a small cabin on the property, as well as their friend who lives in a camper along the path on the way down to their house. Always a busy, full of people house, but I got to meet some great people.

Monday I got right into farming - weeding lettuce beds for compost, and spraying tomatoes to protect them from blight. At first when Angel hauled out this sprayer I wasn't sure what I would be spraying on the tomatoes, but a mixture of 2 cups of non-fat/skim milk, with 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and the rest of the quart filled with water, is an easy organic-friendly way to protect from blight. Although you do have to spray lightly and flick the leaves so the mixture doesn't form around the tip because it will burn the leaves.

Tuesdays and Fridays are harvest days for the Wednesday and Saturday Farmer's Markets in Charlottetown, so I spent Tuesday helping with picking, washing, and bagging arugula, (it is delicious!) as well as picking basil and green beans. I also drove into Charlottetown for the first time, because I was sadly selling Black Beauty, so I could fly home in time for work this week. I wanted to make it all the way to the East Coast and the thought of driving over 60 hours back to Victoria was not really possible and not at all appealing. In the end the guy that checked the van out Tuesday did end up buying it, but not before I showed it to a bunch of other people, realized my time was running out and shipping it home would be an expensive hassle, and lowered the price by a lot. Definitely sold it for less than I paid for it, and I put work into it, but rumours that you can sell a vehicle, especially a vw van, for more on the East Coast are not accurate.

Wednesday was the market, which turns out to be a busy day for Hans and Angel, who go into town and run it, but they have their system, so I got Wednesday and Saturday off. I caught a ride into town with Mike (the guy that lives in the tent trailer) and wondered around the city and sat by the water.

Garlic and onions hanging in shed 

Thursday I picked beans again, (a vegetable that is harvested almost everyday) put straw around some kale, (so that part of the plant might survive the winter) and made some beds for lettuce. To make the beds I first moved the straw to the kale, then Mike forked over it, then I shoveled compost into a huge wheelbarrow and raked it over the bed, and Hans transplanted the baby lettuces that had been happily growing in the warm house into the garden.

Friday was a very long day, as the Saturday market is pretty intense, so I picked green and purple beans again, as well as dill, mint, arugula, kale, etc. Then we washed it, and bagged it. The kale is a really interesting plant to wash. We put it in big tubs of water to clean it, and the bottoms of the leaves glisten and look like silver, the way the sunlight hits the water. It's beautiful. A bunch of friends of Hans and Angel also came over and we had a potluck of fava beans, and various fresh salads and cooked vegetables. Angel made pickles with small cucumbers they grow specifically for this and I learned that if everything you are using to can is really hot, you don't necessarily need to boil the cans after. She puts the glass jars in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes and boils the lids and vinegar mixture and leaves them overnight. I think the next day only one hadn't sealed.

Saturday was another day off so I drove to the famous Green Gables, located in Cavendish, and saw the house that the book is based off of. It was neat to see, but nothing too exciting. Another few people looked at the van, and that night was Art in the Open.




Art in the Open is a yearly event that happens in a bunch of squares and parks in Charlottetown, with lots of performance art throughout the evening. It was great! Konrad had this large wooden pole and his piece was to get audience participation to decide when it was straight up and down before planting it in the ground. Hans' sister had a piece in the woods of the park, with a girl in a bedroom moving around, and his neice was in one at the Art Gallery that had music and people doing different dances in the windows, while the audience stood outside and moved around the building to each of the different windows. There was also a giant spiderweb, a carousel of plastic horses, a march of the crows, and more.

Sunday everyone was tired from the night before, and Angel and Hans were probably tired from the week, (they are always doing something - farming, canning, building a deck, etc.) so we only did a little bit of farming (watering lettuce, picking beans of course) and then went to this beach they call Cliff Beach. It had beautiful red rocks and sandy shores, and I swam happily until a little lobster or something bit my foot. It wasn't hard and maybe it just walked over it, but it felt like it clamped on and then I was out! That night family and friends came over again and we had fresh artichoke with garlic butter and pasta and other delicious things.

It was also my last night with Black Beauty, and then the couple came and took the van away Monday afternoon. Bit of a tearful goodbye, but I took pictures of every part of the van to remember it... We had a great, successful trip across the country!

Monday, with my massive bags all packed with pillows and sleeping bags and other camping stuff, (one of which ended up being overweight, probably because of all my books - $75 extra!) I left with some friends of Hans and Angel and went to Basin Head on the east end of the island. It's right on the ocean but also has this basin area where the current pulls water in and there's docks on either side and a little bridge going over. People jump off the sides of the bridge and then get pulled down this giant salt-water slide to the sandy shore inside, although apparently the water is sometimes also flowing out towards the ocean. Then I went back into Charlottetown and spent the night at Hans' brother's house with his family because my flight left before 6am yesterday! I woke up at 4, but didn't sleep very well, and then waited in Toronto because the flight to Vancouver was delayed for about 3 hours. Gave me time to write my last blog!

So my trip has come to an end. Almost 2 and a half months, definitely over $1000 in gas, and 6078 miles (9781.59 kilometers) according to the pictures I took of my odometer when I left Victoria and after I drove Black Beauty for the last time! What a trip. Until the next time I travel somewhere exciting around the world I'm signing off...

Rough Route of my Cross-Canada Journey!

 

Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia

As you can see I have passed through many provinces since my last post and have made it all the way across Canada! Horray!

Montreal

In Montreal Dace and I wandered on Saint Denis street, which is full of shops and places to eat. We went for Mexican food at 3 Amigos (wouldn't necessarily recommend it) and slept a few streets away in a residential area in the van. The next day we continued our wandering and walked all the way down to Old Montreal, where we had delicious crepes at Cafe Suzette. We were going to stay another night, but Dace had brought her dog Mowgli, so she couldn't easily catch a bus, and we had seen most of what we wanted to, so we drove to Ottawa. I was there last Christmas, but it was nice to include it, as well getting a famous Obama cookie. We also went to a restaurant her friend owns called the Smoque Shack.

The farm I was planning to stay at in PEI for my last week of travel cancelled on me a few days before I was supposed to arrive, so I spent an extra day in Ottawa to find another farm. Ended up finding this place called Weedy Gardens near the center of the Island that I think I'll enjoy much better (just got here last night).

 

Quebec City

Thursday I drove to Quebec City, which is definitely one of the most beautiful places I have seen during this trip. I parked just off the main street (which has lots of different shops and eateries, including a delicious vegetarian buffet restaurant where I had dinner) for the night and slept there, but it was pretty loud. Somehow from Thursday to Saturday in each of the different cities I was in there was a free show to see. In QC Cirque de Soleil put on a full-scale outside show, with a stage, ramps, trampolines, etc. under this highway. There's also lots of historic stuff to see, such as a Citadel, churches, and old cobble-stone streets. I was tempted to stay there, learn French, and eat pastries!

 

New Brunswick

View from top of lighthouse

Alas I departed Friday and drove to Fredricton. I got there in time to see the end of some live country music at the Lighthouse on the Green, which is a lighthouse on the St. John River. I picked up a tour pamphlet of the city and parking on random streets didn't seem to be too supported by the city, but I ran into this really nice family from France that was headed towards a Walmart, so I followed them there. They are traveling around North America for a year with their three kids. Pretty cool!

Saturday I got up and went to the Boyce Farmer's Market, full of produce and fresh-baked good and different art pieces. Yum fresh orange juice, soft pretzel and gouda! The town also has an Officer's Square where they do a changing of the guard demonstration with men marching around in bright red uniforms. I kept running into the family from the night before, and they are making their way West, so maybe I'll see them again on the island...

Nova Scotia

Then I headed to Halifax, Nova Scotia - the furthest point east on my trip! I drove straight through town to Point Pleasant Park, where a group called Shakespeare on the Sea puts on shows in the park every summer. I saw this hilarious comedy-rendition of Alice and Wonderland that would be worth a trip to Halifax by itself!

Long story short it was foggy that night and I got quite lost but finally found my way to a Walmart. As much as I may not like the store itself, they do get points for letting people stay in their parking lots overnight. The next morning I got up and drove to Peggy's Cove, which is further south along the Atlantic and probably the stereotype of what tourists (like me) think Nova Scotia looks like. It was nice but very touristy, of course, and I somehow managed to get lost again and drove around Purcell's Cove before finding my way back downtown. I walked along the harbourfront and got some lunch, then drove to Prince Edward Island. Last stop of the trip!

I could have taken the boat, but that's not very exciting living on the coast with the BC Ferries, so I took the Confederation Bridge. Longest bridge (over ice-covered waters?) in the world!

London and Toronto

London

Haven't posted anything for a while so I thought I would update everyone on my progress:) Last weekend on Saturday I went with my Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jack to Port Stanley, which is this small cute town on Lake Erie. That night we got pizza from my cousin's husband's pizza place in downtown London. Yum!

Sunday I got up early and my cousin Kerry and I drove to Canada's Wonderland, which is a huge amusement park north of Toronto. We met up with two of her friends in Kingston and all drove together. It worked out well because one of the friends liked riding at the front of roller coasters like me, so that's what we did while Kerry and her other friend watched or rode further back. We did convince them a few times but they didn't seem as into keeping their hands in the air the whole time. It's the best way to ride! There are more than half a dozen coasters, and we rode all of them a few times. Leviathan and Behemoth were the two biggest, fastest ones and my favourites!

Toronto

Monday I headed out to Toronto to spend this week with Dacia! So nice to see her again. When I got here we walked downtown, which is a good 5km walk, and I got to see the huge billboard screens, and they also had tv screens set up in the main square for the Olympics. Tuesday we went to Yorkville, which is an area with a bunch of different shops, including frozen yogurt. We also went to the Eaton Centre, which is similar to Edmonton Mall in that it has a lot of stores and we spent way too much time there! But I was good and only bought one thing. Wednesday we hung out at Dace's place (she lives in a house in a pretty nice neighbourhood) so she could get some work done, but she ended up having an almost all-day meeting with her rho sorority sisters, and I relaxed and watched movies.

Thursday we went to this place called Kensington, which has a bunch of neat spice shops and food from all over, as well as beautiful murals and graffiti. The car in this picture had plants growing out of it! We also walked through the Chinatown area, which is near Kensington and had fried and steamed dumplings. That night we went for drinks with a few of Dacia's friends to this place called, no joke, Philthy McNastys.

Friday we drove the two hours south to Niagara Falls with one of Dacia's friends, Warren. It was definitely worth the short drive to see it, though I almost liked Kakabeka Falls more because there was lots of walking trails and forest around, whereas the falls are right in the city of Niagara, near casinos and with boats constantly in the water. Where we parked the car there was a Jamaican truck so we had some delicious food. On the way back to Toronto we stopped at Warren's friend's winery - Harbour Estates - and did some wine tasting, as well as getting a tour of the vineyard. The owner's daughter was getting married the next day and there was a tent set up at the back of the vineyard near the lake and a cello playing while they did their rehearsal. 

Saturday we went to St. Lawrence Market, which is a farmer's market with produce and bread and cheese on Saturdays, but also has fresh fish and meat markets, and other knick knacks. Warren got a bunch of groceries for dinner and made us (Dacia, her friend Kweku and I) an amazing three course dinner. He is a chef and owns a smokehouse. The first course was zucchini fritters with curry cream sauce; the second was homemade leek-filled tortellini with shrimp in this amazing sauce he cooked separately with veggies; the third was pan-roasted halibut on warm lentil salad. It was so good! We also went out to Empire club that night and danced it up.

Today was a pretty restful day, but we went for dim sum in Chinatown, which I've never had. The waitresses came by with carts and we got lots of dishes with shrimp in them, like shrimp in rice noodle, shrimp stuffed taro, bok choy, and green onion and shrimp cakes, which were my favourite. Tomorrow Dace and I head to Montreal for a few days and then I continue on East! I have now officially seen all of the great lakes!         

Ontario

Kenora

I had a great weekend in Kenora visiting my aunt and uncle. Saturday we went for lunch at this hotel that has a restaurant on the top overlooking the Lake of the Woods. It has a huge shoreline, which I got to see Sunday evening when we took my uncle's aluminum boat out for a tour of the lake. There are some pretty amazing houses built on the water too, including one that is completely geothermal.

Saturday we also went to an art studio called Fragile Glass, where I spent a good amount of money. My uncle is a pastor at the Lakeside Baptist Church, but Sunday a missionary who has lived throughout Africa did the sermon. Afterwards we went for a swim at the Keewatin beach (Kenora is named after three areas - Keewatin, Norman and Rat Portage) near their house and my uncle also took me to see the giant Husky the Muskie fish on his motorcycle. I want one!

Kakabeka Falls

Monday I left to start making my way south through Ontario towards my aunt and uncle in London. I drove the 6ish hours to Kakabeka Falls, which is a gorgeous waterfall just outside of Thunder Bay. There are some pretty good walking trails there, and the river has a lot of history as a portage route for both Indigenous people, as well as later settlers. I camped the night at the provincial park beside the falls, and even though it was $40, which seems like a lot to me for a campsite, it was nice to be able to take my time there. I also had a little campfire that night, of course, although it took way too long to get it going. It's all about the kindling.

White River

Tuesday I drove to White River, which is this tiny town that took about 5 hours to get to from Thunder Bay. I was hoping to find a cheaper campsite in that area, but there wasn't one, so I spent the night in the tourist information parking lot, where there were other motorhomes overnight as well. Not a lot to do in the town, which is where the bear cub that inspired Winnie the Pooh was from, but I sat in a coffee shop for a while and hung out in my van. I actually saw a baby bear on my way into town. When I first got to the town another BC VW that I had seen on the road earlier pulled up behind me. It was this cute yellow van with red flowers, and the couple is from Kimberly and also headed to the East Coast. Maybe I'll run into them again...

Sault Ste Marie

Doesn't it look like BC?!

Wednesday I drove to the Soo, which was a fairly short drive from White River, so I took my time and stopped every hundred kms along Lake Superior, which looks deceptively like an ocean. The Northern Ontario landscape is really similar to BC, with fir trees and ferns and big hills (no mountains though). I also stopped at the info centre for Wawa, though I didn't go into the town, where the big goose is.

The Agawa Petroglyphs were really neat as well, though a bit precarious walking along a rocky ledge right by the water to see them. All along the road were signs with a moose with a warning underneath that they are a night danger. I kept thinking it would make a good song with the music from that 80's song. The moose, they're a night danger, who could it be now haha... maybe not. That might be two different songs. Anyways, I stayed the night with my second cousins, the son and family of the great aunt and uncle I am staying with in London this weekend. I had met Steven before, but not his wife or their son and daughter, so it was great to get to spend the night visiting with them.

Thursday I left early to start the long drive from Sault Ste Marie through Michigan to London. Going through the US cuts off about 3 hours of driving and it's all a flat, four-lane highway. I went over three toll bridges, including one with Lake Michigan on one side and Lake Huron on the other. I have now seen three of the great lakes, and may just see them all by the time this trip is over! 

Coming back into Canada from the US was fine, but going into Michigan, (maybe because I was driving an old van) was interesting. I got taken inside while Black Beauty was rummaged through, and three different border authorities asked me the same questions. Where are you from? What did you do there? What did you take at school? Where are you going? Inside there was also a family that had tried to sneak citrus over the border, as well as a young couple with a newborn baby. Not sure what they were doing there... perhaps just "randomly selected" like me. The guy looking through my van also tried to open the side, sliding door (which doesn't work) and broke it off, so that was fun putting it back on, and one corner is significantly more bent now. I know they are just doing their job and all that, but I definitely felt pretty harrassed by the time I left. Their road signs, like "Injure/kill a road worker = $7500 plus 15 years" and "Prison Area do not pick up hitchhikers" were good indicators of their society built around fear. Not trying to harp too much on the US, but I was very glad once I was back in Canada.

Wawa Goose

Manitoba

The Besnard Lakes show last weekend was definitely fun! A lot more psychedelic-rock than folky for sure. They transformed the room by putting all the couches in a row and adding chairs, and the tv room became the stage. Perfect venue for it, although the space was a little small for how loud the music was. Afterwards the band hung around on the porch and chatted to fans and I went to sleep soon after. Sunday morning I headed off to Manitoba and whatever awaited me at Littlepath Farm, just outside of Minnedosa...

Littlepath Farm

Me and Black Beauty at Littlepath Farm

I was definitely happy that Wes turned out to be a young guy with a nice girlfriend instead of a creepy middle-aged man living alone in a tent! Before I had found their place, I had been driving around in search of it and ended up at this run-down house up the street that had no one around and I had the feeling that I might not get out of there, but it all turned out. I backtracked to another house and got some directions from some very friendly Manitobans on how to find the farm (the province's license plates are accurate) and finally found it down a gravel road.

Minnedosa Beach

Monday I wandered around Minnedosa. I went to the beach and enjoyed the breeze and read, then went into town to Chipperfield's Cafe and sat on my computer drinking freshly brewed iced-tea. Side note - it's interesting that when you are in Saskatchewan or Manitoba the first thing you see before you enter the town, or when you know a town is coming up, is big grain towers or oil buildings. Also, Manitoba is definitely more hilly than Saskatchewan, and the canola fields turn into sunflower farms.

Tuesday Andrea works at a bakery near Onanole, so Wes and I spent the day in their 2-acre garden weeding thistles and this demon ivy stuff away from the green bean plants. There was a forest of weeds around the plants, so much so that it was hard to see where the beans were. But we rescued three long rows by the end of the day and then I went off to Minnedosa beach to jump in the lake, because they don't have a shower (no power or electricity).

Broccoli

Wednesday was another day of weeding - this time carrots. And the weeds were worse. Everytime I pulled out a carrot I had to eat it so it didn't go to waste, of course, and it's suprising how delicious a long, thin carrot is in comparison to the huge beasts they pass off as carrots at the grocery store. Fresh vegetables are amazing! A bunch of Wes's friends that he works winters with at a resort in Riding Mountain National Park came up for the day to help weed as well, and then we harvested carrots, beets, onions and broccoli. On Wednesdays Wes runs a box program in Onanole, where he meets people in town and they come pick up their box of veggies for the week.

Once we got to Onanole and had helped Wes set up his table, I went with Wes's friends Andrew and Erin to grab bbq stuff to take to their apartment in Riding Mountain Park. The park is right on Clear Lake, and it's a beautiful little town with shops that only run during the summer. In the winter everything kind of shuts down and people have to go to the few shops open in Onanole. Erin and some other people that came for the bbq are all on work visas from Australia, and her and Andrew might be moving out to Victoria for the winter when things die down at the resort.

Winnipeg

Inside The Forks

Thursday morning I got up and headed to Winnipeg. I spent the day at The Forks, which is a Granville Island type market right where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet. There's a beautiful park around the area, with an Oodena Celebration Circle to celebrate the many cultures that have met in this area for thousands of years. 

Oodena Celebration Circle

The circle is really neat because when you stand in the center at the bottom you can look through different sighting circles at specific times of year and see stars from constellations like Orion and Cassiopeia.

After spending about an hour in traffic to get out of the downtown area (it was a hot day and I thought black beauty might overheat!) I finally got to Assiniboine Park, where the Royal Winnipeg Ballet has been putting on free ballet in the park for something like forty years. The show was more than an hour and a half; sitting outside on a blanket watching some amazing dancing on this outdoor stage. I was planning to sleep in my van in the Walmart parking lot, or in the park itself because I found out it never closes, but I met this great girl - Leanne - and her cousin at the ballet and she invited me back to her place to hang out and crash on her futon. My overall impression of Manitoba is that everyone is really nice.

I slept in and Leanne picked up some delicious croissants for breakfast and then I went to the Royal Canadian Mint, where I took a tour of where money for Canada, as well as some other countries around the world, is made. It was kind of nerdy, but there were lots of interesting facts about how they make coinage and how they put different coins in circulation or not depending on what is out there already. You can also design your own ideas to go on money and submit to them and if they pick your design you get the first coin minted, as well as your initials on the coin!

I then drove to Kenora, Ontario, where I'm staying with my aunt and uncle for the weekend.

Calvin, Parker, Lily and Francis

Downtown Minnedosa

Ballet in the park