Having completed a successful cross-country trek by car, I feel it appropriate to share my new found Canadian-roadtriping knowledge in the form of a few helpful hints and tips.
1. Go. It’s easy. Seriously, it seems far to go all the way across Canada, right? Sure, but it isn’t that far from Vancouver to Calgary, or [...]
Archive for July, 2009
Cross Canada Driving Tips
Posted in Cross Canada Trip on July 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Cycling in Vancouver
Posted in Picturesque, Pragmatics, Technology, bikes on July 27, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Cycling in Vancouver
Both yesterday and today I’ve been taking advantage of Vancouver’s various cycle paths to put a good deal of enjoyable kilometers under my tires. It’s hard to compare Vancouver cycling with cycling in Toronto, but I can put it this way – in Vancouver, I actually look forward to getting on my bike.
In [...]
The Rest of the Trip
Posted in Cross Canada Trip on July 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
After Edmonton we continued along the Yellowhead highway into Jasper National Park. At the park entrance we had to pay 19.60$ if we planned on stopping at all. I felt this was a bit absurd, since it encourages people to drive straight through without stopping.
The mountains through the park are impressive, but in a [...]
Town Update: Edmonton
Posted in Uncategorized on July 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Town Update: Edmonton
Edmonton is a big rich oil town. The buildings are tall, the streets are clean. Downtown has a proper “downtown” feel. And the mall downtown, unlike the suburban mall featured in my last post, feels clean and new and spacious. When we visited there happened to be a street performer festival happening. I [...]
Special Update: West Edmonton Mall
Posted in Uncategorized on July 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Since seeing the commercials on television as a child, I’ve been intrigued by the West Edmonton Mall. It seemed like the logical extension of the mall model – increase size until a theme park fits inside. However, in reality the mall is much less impressive. While it very well might be one of the biggest [...]
Town Update: Saskatoon
Posted in Uncategorized on July 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Saskatoon is a small city, more the size of Nanimo than Winnipeg. But, it felt alive – the streets had people, and shops were not all borded up. It even has an American Apparel and Lululemon downtown, and two Starbucks. You can hang out in the park down by the river, and according to the [...]
Town Update: Winnipeg
Posted in Uncategorized on July 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Winnipeg feels like a big town with less money in it than in the past. The town felt entirely empty – we spent over an hour searching for a decent looking restaurant. In fairness, everyone was out of town the day we were there at the Winnipeg Folk Festival – where we probably should have [...]
Risk, Externalized
Posted in Cross Canada Trip on July 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
On the trans Canada, just cross out of Ontario into Manitoba, we came across the scene of an accident. At first we couldn’t tell what had happened – a truck was in the ditch with its windshield caved in, and debris was strewn over the road. It looked a bit like he’d hit a deer [...]
Marathon, Ontario
Posted in Cross Canada Trip on July 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Marathon Ontario is the town my mother first lived when she moved to Canada at the age of 2 in the 1950s. Located on the northern shore of lake superior, it is a purely resource based settlement, beginning with a pulp mill in the 40s, and joined by several mine in the 1980s. The mill [...]
Day 4 Morning
Posted in Cross Canada Trip on July 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Since we weren’t able to get ahold of Tyler in Winnipeg, we decided to cut our losses and move on. Waiting around trying to get in touch with Tyler was actually a blessing in disguise, we ended up seeing far more of Winnipeg than we otherwise would have, and it’s quite a nice city. Expect [...]
