Road Trip Across Canada

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Back when I used to live in Montreal, I didn’t travel so much around Canada. I only made it as far west as Toronto and to Quebec City on the east. It was not only that the distances are huge; but also that no matter which mode of transportation — plane, train, car — it was expensive. Still, I was curious to see what was out there, lying in the middle of all that immensity. The opportunity finally came when I was traveling with Alain. He needed to go back home and asked me to follow along. He wanted to fly to the West Coast from Colombia, spend the summer there and then drive to Quebec. And so we did.

During our first week in Vancouver, we looked around to find a suitable van for our trip. Once we found what we were looking for, we quickly did all the necessary paperwork and were set to go. It was great to have our own set of wheels to travel around British Columbia for the summer. When the weather started to change, we knew it was time to head east!

Before starting our journey to Quebec, we decided to head south of the border to get some provisions — everything is cheaper in the US. After loading up our van with all sorts of goodies, we were back in Canada. Our next stop was the wine & rock climbing paradise of Penticton, on the shores of the Skaha Lake. After a few days of nice climbing, we headed on to Alberta; where I saw some of the most amazing wildlife and nature ever.

We stayed for a few days in Jasper and then in Banff. During those days, I saw so many beautiful lakes and waterfalls that in the end it was hard to appreciate them. I was a bit like “Oh, yes… Another spectacular lake/river/waterfall…” It was not easy to take in all those beautiful and pristine landscapes.

At the end of our time in Alberta, we made a not so small detour to visit Drumheller and see some dinosaur fossils. It was very interesting to see the remains of all those massive animals. Unlike Alain who was the designated driver for the whole trip — I don’t have a driver’s license — I was excited to see the plains of Canada. Since you never hear much about them, I wanted to see all these places in the middle. Alain would just look at me as if I was crazy; he’d just repeat over and over that there’s nothing to see there. I could not believe it, there had to be something.

Once we left Alberta and the Rockies behind, the landscape just became totally flat for miles on end. Left, right and centre there were just endless yellow fields. For miles… and miles… and miles… Up until we got to Ontario, when trees and lakes started to appear once again on the horizon. And it was just beautiful, we had made it in time to see the last of the trees changing colours for the fall.

This road trip across Canada was an unforgettable experience. It was really interesting to see how things change from province to province. Plus, I got to cross off item #11 from my bucket list. If you’d like to see the rest of the photos from the road trip, visit my gallery.

Have you ever gone on an epic road trip? Where did you go? How did you like the experience? I’d love to know :) so leave a comment below!

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