Month: July 2018

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Day 3- Montreal

Amy Kline

I’m just going to start off saying that we love Canada. The people are so friendly and helpful and it is beautiful.

We started off by taking the subway into Montreal. Everything is only in French. A nice man helped us buy tickets properly and we walked right into the subway just before it left. Coolest subway ever! It was super clean and all the cars were connected and open on the inside. It looked like an infinity mirror when you looked down the train.

We first went to Notre-Dame Basilica and it was so beautiful! The pictures don’t do it justice! So ornate and huge. I loved all the stained glass and the ceiling details. The pulpit stairs are pretty unique too.

Here are a couple photos I took with my phone. I took a ton more with my regular camera but you will have to wait for the photo book to see those. 😀

After walking through the church, we headed towards the historic district

We peeked into a few souvenir shops. I had to laugh at this shirt, because it is true! But it’s only because I “google” everything, LOL

We stopped and tried some poutine, which was delicious! Poutine is made of French fries topped with cheese curds and brown gravy. So yummy!

We kept walking and stumbled onto Montreal’s version of Navy Pier. We played a fun game at the entrance, then walked around and looked at everything. There were a ton of food trucks in one area and we guessed that there was some sort of fest going on. We were right! Most of the trucks were selling Mac n Cheese. We found a sign that said MacFest was going on. It wasn’t crowded while we were there but got busier throughout the day.

We also did some of the touristy things including riding the big Ferris wheel and the boys (including Jeff) did the remote control sailboats.

As we meandered back to the subway station, we stopped so I could take flower photos in an historic garden (photos on regular camera) and so Carson could walk around and cool off in a fountain. The kids were tired of walking around in the hot sun, so actually learning all about the history of Montreal will have to wait for another trip. Oh well, we have a lot of other history-learning opportunities on this trip!

After taking the subway back to our truck in the suburbs, we walked around a mall, and then headed back to the campground just in time to beat a big thunderstorm. We did see this Lamborghini in the parking lot of the mall. Parked as far as possible from other cars of course.

Tomorrow, we head back to the states. We are going to be camping just outside of Acadia National Park.

I have to admit that I am really looking forward to having cell service again. I hardly ever use my phone for actual phone calls but I love having the internet at my disposal to “search up” (as the boys call it) anything and everything I and the rest of the family want to know.

Until tomorrow!

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Day 2 Drive from Sudbury to just outside of Montreal

Amy Kline

Today all we did was drive. We did stop for gas a couple times, and stopped at Tim Horton’s (like a Dunkin Donuts that is in every large town). We stopped for about 20 minutes at a wayside so Jeff could take a quick nap too. But really we just drove. Ok, Jeff drove and I read a book and kept pining for internet access so I could look up things I wondered about along way such as:

  • Where was all the roadkill? Are there less animals up here, does Canada clean up the mess quickly, or do scavengers swoop down and grab the carrion?
  • I need to brush up (or learn) about Canadian geology. If glaciers covered this country, why is it so hilly to the point of being mountainous?
  • The forests in the first half of the day seemed to have a very diverse number of trees. Did Canadian forests get spared when clear cut logging was a thing? Is it still primary growth forest?
  • There were a lot of rainstorms during the day. Huge downpours at times where the windshield wipers could barely keep up. Then the sun came out and it was gorgeous with all the trees and rocks and beautiful lakes.
  • Here are a couple photos I took as we were zooming down the highway:
  • The kids read books and Carson humored is with some Would You Rather questions.
  • Now we are at our campsite for the night. Jess is having a ball remembering his French lessons from High school. I am amazed at how much he remembers! Pretty impressive!
  • Here is our campsite:
  • Tomorrow we take the subway into Montreal!
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    Day 1-Green Bay, Wisconsin to Sudbury, Ontario

    Amy Kline

    The first day of our adventure was a driving day. About 10 hours of driving (Jeff drove the whole way), one of the longest driving days of the trip. We slept in a little longer than we planned to so didn’t get on the road until 8 am.

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    We actually got to the west side of Green Bay before the kids started asking for their phones, LOL.  After we got through that battle, they were content to read most of the day. We listened to the Mama Mia soundtracks and I treated the family to their very own Mama Mia karaoke concert. They were not as appreciate as they should be, LOL.

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    We drove through a bunch of rainstorms but they were quick and not severe, and then got to Sault Ste. Marie about 3 pm Eastern.  A ship was coming in so we stood at the observation deck for a few minutes, took some photos and then went on our way to Canada!

     

     

    Once we got into Canada and got out of town, there was not a lot of civilization. We took the Trans-Canadian highway where there was a lot of construction that brought traffic to one lane. Towns were very small, 1000 people or less, though every town had an Arena for the local high school hockey team, which is kind of cool.

    Some areas really reminded me of the Boundary Waters in MN, because there were neverending trees and rocks and lakes and rivers. Beautiful!

    We arrived at the hotel about 9 pm. Relaxed a bit and then sleep so we can drive again tomorrow! But this time only about 8 hours of driving to our first campsite just outside of Montreal.