The Excellent Canadian Road Trip

~ stashy

Helloooooo! I’m back from our little road trip across our province! Firstly, THANK YOU for the birthday wishes here and on Instagram! I really appreciate it! 😀 I spent my birthday hiking through a Unesco World Biosphere Reserve, so it wasn’t a bad way to spend the day. 😉

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The Grotto, Tobermory

Before I get back into beauty posts, I thought I’d share some of the photos I took on the trip – I’ll try not to replicate the ones I posted on Instagram – and provide some quick tidbits about our trip:

• Covered 1,700 km and were on the road for 22 hours spread over 5 days of driving (plus a ferry ride) – stopping into 5 towns / cities along the way, ending with our country’s capital, Ottawa. (I should mention here that my title is a little misleading since Canada has SO much more to offer than just the province of Ontario – just in case any of the West or East Coast / Quebec get their panties all in a bunch – it’s just that “Canadian road trip” is more impactful than “Ontario road trip” for my non-Canadian readers!)

• Discovered our love for the podcasts The Bugle (British political satire with John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman) and Stuff You Should Know (we listened to the episodes on Street Gangs, Junk Food, Does the body replace itself? and 10 Bizarre Medical Treatments)

• B&Bs do provide toiletries to varying degrees: of the 3 that we stayed at, only 1 provided individual / travel sized shampoo / lotion similar to hotels – the other 2 provided “communal” full sized toiletries like as if you’re visiting your relatives’ home.  One B&B even had a bidet which really grossed me out but I wished I had tried it… has anyone ever used a bidet before?

• The place that surprised us the most was Sudbury – if any Ontarians are familiar, this town has the distinction of being a bit of an industrial mining community (30% of the world’s nickel comes from Sudbury) but it has a beautiful waterfront and quite a lot of hiking / conservation areas.

• Didn’t have any wild animal encounters (no deer, moose, bears) but we did see a tiny rabbit and a couple of groundhogs… in Ottawa (which is funny since it was the most urban of all the places we visited)

• Saw Gord Downie (of The Tragically Hip fame) outside our hotel – he was in Ottawa for Bluesfest!

• We didn’t do any shopping save for a couple of silver coins from the Royal Canadian Mint, a bookmark and a fridge magnet.

• Visited 10 museums / attractions during our trip including a very realistic simulated nickle mine, the Animals Inside Out exhibit by Body Worlds, and a real 1960’s Cold War bunker meant for the Prime Minister and 500 other top government officials.

Onto the pictures! (Yes, I took all of these pictures myself!)

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MS Chi-Cheemaun ferry, Tobermory
Bruce Peninsula National Park
Bruce Peninsula National Park
Little Tub Lighthouse, Tobermory
Little Tub Lighthouse, Tobermory
Big Nickel, Sudbury
Big Nickel, Sudbury
Hermit's Bay, Sudbury
Hermit’s Bay, Sudbury
Parliament Building, Ottawa
Parliament Hill, Ottawa
Rideau Canal lock, Ottawa
Rideau Canal lock, Ottawa
Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, Ottawa
Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, Ottawa
Sparks Street, Ottawa
Sparks Street, Ottawa

As you can see, we had fabulous weather – the only rainy day was the last day which we spend indoors at museums.  I return with a layer of sunscreen covering all of my clothes, 5 mosquito bites (thankfully none of which are on my face or buttocks!) and probably 30% more freckles on my face.  Now, I’ve got a LOT of blog entries to catch up on! (Has WP messed around with Reader? It looks different!)  It feels great to be back. 🙂

47 thoughts on “The Excellent Canadian Road Trip”

    1. Oh thank you very much! May I ask if you’re Canadian? And will you be travelling across the whole country? I’ve been to the major parts of the country so I can try to point out some stuff. 🙂 I really love Vancouver, BC if you’ll be heading all the way West.

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      1. I am not Canadian, but several of my good friends from college are! I have friends in Toronto, Alberta, and Sault Ste Marie. Not sure if I’ll be making the drive to Alberta but I’ve heard good things about Vancouver so it may be worth the trip!

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  7. I’m happy that you’re back! 🙂 such a wonderful trip communing with nature. And your pictures, they’re like postcards! Such a beautiful weather to capture all those great sights.
    Bidet pretty much reminds me of our “arinola” or maybe that’s their equivalent. 🙂

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    1. Thanks babe! I really had beautiful scenery and gorgeous weather on my side for those photographs! I am lucky to live in such a diverse and bountiful place!
      Oh how interesting you have a local term for a bidet, yes, I think it’s a similar concept!

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  8. Such beautiful weather!
    For some reason this is not what I expected Canada to look like, but it looks gorgeous nonetheless.
    And bidets! Yes omg they gross me out! Never used one but seen a few lately…I think they are gaining popularity which is a worry..

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      1. This is embarrassing and just shows my lack of knowledge for all things Canada but I have always imagined mountains and snow..bit of a stereotype right? For us Canada is always promoted more as a “winter” destination so was suprised to see a picture of a seaside and all those enjoying the warm weather at the beach.

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        1. Oh no, it’s not embarrassing, it’s just how Canada markets itself. The mountains and snow is definitely a hallmark of the Canadian landscape (more so in the West and only in the winter time!). But we definitely have summer here and it gets quite hot… we’re just coming off a heatwave where temperature soared to 40C with the humidity!

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  12. Never used a bidet – when we were househunting a couple yrs ago, we saw a place that had a bidet in the MBR. LOL. “Well, that’s gonna have to go.”

    Looks like you had an awesome vacation! Apart from Ottawa, I’ve never been to any of those places, and you’ve inspired me to plan an Ontario trip sometime. Great photos, too! (I also take many boring pics of museums and flowers, haha!)

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    1. In Ottawa we saw a bee hotel! It was so cool that I took a picture of it… but I’m sure no one cares.
      I highly recommend a trip to Tobermory with the fam, your little peanut would love the waterfront, it’s very family friendly.

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    1. Well, I’ve only been to the Bahamas on a cruise when I was young. I don’t feel like I got the full experience!
      Canada is a big place but I definitely recommend visiting either the East or West coast – they’re beautiful! 🙂

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  14. So jelly! That trip looks amazing! ! I’m glad you enjoyed yourself! Everything looks so perfect and relaxing ! I would love to visit Canada one day!:) welcome back!!😊😊😊

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      1. Hahahaha!!!! Yes ;p however I don’t think you missed much! I had writers block or is it blogging block ?? Couldn’t think of what to do but I got ideas now so get ready 😉😊😜

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