"What is Canada's Greatest Natural Resource? Dirt!"
--Ren and Stimpy from "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen"
Canada Trip: Day 3
Today? Not as eventful as yesterday. Yesterday= driving around Toronto, walking around Montreal. Today= sitting around in the car, shifting around the front seat. Today= driving 15 hours from Montreal to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Montreal at sunset from our hotel.
The Three Amigos, where we had dinner last night in Montreal.
And what did I see during the 15 hr trek through Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia? Well, today's blog title is a bit misleading, because by my estimation, Canada's greatest natural resource isn't dirt, but TREES. I tell you, it was interesting to drive through three different Canadian provinces today. Mainly, my dad and I were greatly interested in getting OUT of Quebec. Seeing French written everywhere in a place where you expected people to understand what you were saying was a bit offputting.
And yes, I realize it is our mistake for not researching the area and realizing French is the main language and that it is the 2nd largest French speaking city in the Western world outside of Paris.
My bad.
Don't self-photograph and drive.
But once we passed that state line into New Brunswick and began to see "Blah blah STREET" on road signs instead of "Rue de Blah blah *French guffaw*"... oh how we rejoiced. Though we did pass through a town called "St. Louis de Ha! Ha!" on the way to the border. That was pretty awesome.
I kid you not. It's Louis de Ha! Ha!, and yes the exclamation points are there. Look it up. Fantastically hilarious name for a town.
While most of Ontario and Quebec's geography didn't appear how I expected, New Brunswick was a different story and had that distinctly Canadian "look". What I mean is, lots and LOTS of coniferous trees and rocky, craggy hills. The kind of landscape where I expect to find flannel wearing lumberjacks, grizzly bears, wolverines, and moosen.
Yeah, Moooooosen. I kept my eyes PEELED for moosen today. That's my new goal on this trip, to see a moose. When I was in Hilton Head, SC, I wouldn't rest until I saw an alligator. On my cruise, it was a dolphin or shark. Here in Canada, its a moose or a couple of moosen (I know that's not a correct term, do yourself a favor and look up comedian Brian Regan, ok?). But I suppose I'd be satisfied with even some sort of large, grisly bear type creature.
But 15 hrs in the car yielded no moosen. Just more and more trees. But it's true what most people say-- Canada IS a very clean place, at least when you get up this far north. Its pristine. Barely any litter (and I want to hurt whoever threw those water bottles on the side of the road). There is virtually NO ONE else on the road when you travel the Trans-Canada 2 highway from Edmundston to Moncton on your way to Nova Scotia. Say that five times fast.
Truth be told, we could have driven straight through the state of Maine to get to Nova Scotia, but that route would have taken us around the many, many lakes strewn about its geography, and the line to get into the US of A could have been an hours long wait just to get to customs. So we kept the trip strictly Canadian and drove north, around the tip of Maine, then south and then east to Nova Scotia. Basically around your @$$ to get to your elbow I've heard some people say.
But not Canadians. They're too nice to say that. The ones not from Montreal, I mean.
PS. Here's a funny stencil we saw in Montreal. This was spray-painted on the outside of an old bank.
And this doesn't constitute as treason- I'm in Canada. Though if I was in America, he might commute my sentence if convicted, anyway.
--Cbake
Canada Trip: Day 3
Today? Not as eventful as yesterday. Yesterday= driving around Toronto, walking around Montreal. Today= sitting around in the car, shifting around the front seat. Today= driving 15 hours from Montreal to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Montreal at sunset from our hotel.
The Three Amigos, where we had dinner last night in Montreal.
And what did I see during the 15 hr trek through Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia? Well, today's blog title is a bit misleading, because by my estimation, Canada's greatest natural resource isn't dirt, but TREES. I tell you, it was interesting to drive through three different Canadian provinces today. Mainly, my dad and I were greatly interested in getting OUT of Quebec. Seeing French written everywhere in a place where you expected people to understand what you were saying was a bit offputting.
And yes, I realize it is our mistake for not researching the area and realizing French is the main language and that it is the 2nd largest French speaking city in the Western world outside of Paris.
My bad.
Don't self-photograph and drive.
But once we passed that state line into New Brunswick and began to see "Blah blah STREET" on road signs instead of "Rue de Blah blah *French guffaw*"... oh how we rejoiced. Though we did pass through a town called "St. Louis de Ha! Ha!" on the way to the border. That was pretty awesome.
I kid you not. It's Louis de Ha! Ha!, and yes the exclamation points are there. Look it up. Fantastically hilarious name for a town.
While most of Ontario and Quebec's geography didn't appear how I expected, New Brunswick was a different story and had that distinctly Canadian "look". What I mean is, lots and LOTS of coniferous trees and rocky, craggy hills. The kind of landscape where I expect to find flannel wearing lumberjacks, grizzly bears, wolverines, and moosen.
Yeah, Moooooosen. I kept my eyes PEELED for moosen today. That's my new goal on this trip, to see a moose. When I was in Hilton Head, SC, I wouldn't rest until I saw an alligator. On my cruise, it was a dolphin or shark. Here in Canada, its a moose or a couple of moosen (I know that's not a correct term, do yourself a favor and look up comedian Brian Regan, ok?). But I suppose I'd be satisfied with even some sort of large, grisly bear type creature.
But 15 hrs in the car yielded no moosen. Just more and more trees. But it's true what most people say-- Canada IS a very clean place, at least when you get up this far north. Its pristine. Barely any litter (and I want to hurt whoever threw those water bottles on the side of the road). There is virtually NO ONE else on the road when you travel the Trans-Canada 2 highway from Edmundston to Moncton on your way to Nova Scotia. Say that five times fast.
Truth be told, we could have driven straight through the state of Maine to get to Nova Scotia, but that route would have taken us around the many, many lakes strewn about its geography, and the line to get into the US of A could have been an hours long wait just to get to customs. So we kept the trip strictly Canadian and drove north, around the tip of Maine, then south and then east to Nova Scotia. Basically around your @$$ to get to your elbow I've heard some people say.
But not Canadians. They're too nice to say that. The ones not from Montreal, I mean.
PS. Here's a funny stencil we saw in Montreal. This was spray-painted on the outside of an old bank.
And this doesn't constitute as treason- I'm in Canada. Though if I was in America, he might commute my sentence if convicted, anyway.
--Cbake
posted by Cbake at 11:02 PM
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