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. 😉
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!)
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. 🙂
Oh your trip looked amazing! We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful province! Weather was definitely on your side. I am glad you enjoyed your trip and happy you are back to posting 🙂
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I have so much to catch up on – off to read your entries from last week! 🙂
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Enjoy 🙂
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Wow! Looks like you had a lot to do but it looks like you had a great time! 🙂
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Yes, we did a lot stuff but still feel relaxed! 🙂
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Well that’s good then! You don’t want to feel the need to take a vacation after going on vacation lol. 🙂
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Those pictures are so beautiful and are making me so excited for my trip! I only wish I had time to go to Toronto and Ottawa but I’m definitely planning on another trip so I can.
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Montreal has its own look and feel – very different from Toronto or Ottawa. I’m sure you will enjoy your time there! 🙂 Definitely have poutine!
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I’m planning on it! I’ve been hearing about it for MONTHS.
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Also, make sure you climb mont Royal – it’s not really a mountain, more of a hill, but the path is beautiful and the view from the top is worth it!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Royal
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Your trip looked wonderful !!! Lucky you 😀
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Thanks! Yes, the trip was wonderful and we’re glad we explored more of our province! 🙂
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I should do the same 🙂
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Woooo! First of all, that featured image rocks, secondly, your trip looked fabulous. I’m taking my first trip to/across Canada this winter! Very excited. Let me know if there’s anything I NEED to see 🙂
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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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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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Yes definitely try to head out west if you can, it’s very beautiful, and more “Canadian” in their landscape (mountains) than say Sault Ste Marie! 🙂
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Will do, thanks for the tip! 🙂
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Your trip looked fun and thanks for sharing the scenic pictures. xo
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You’re welcome! I omitted the boring photos of the museums or random flowers since no one cares I’m sure! lol
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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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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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This is the other side of Canada that is often seen. Thank you for sharing the beauty.
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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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May I ask what you thought Canada would look like? I’m curious! 🙂
I hope this bidet thing is just a fad… I just don’t get it.
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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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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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Wow..good to know! Thanks for not letting me feel super silly about it 😉
Ah..so much of the world I have yet to see.
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Finally! I was waiting for your posts to show up! 😘 Glad you had a great time and you take awesome pictures.
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Hi! 😀 I’m baaaack! Thanks for all the company over on Instagram while I was away from WP!
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Of course girl! 😊
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Amazing photos! I’ve only ever been to Canada once for a cousin’s wedding in Calgary! I wouldn’t mind going back to visit other places! Thanks for the great post! Hope you’re enjoying your trip! 🙂 x
Caryl – http://carylalmelor.com/
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Looks like you had a fab time. We’re hoping to come over to Canada as we have a friend working out there until next April who we can stay with – your pictures look beautiful I really do hope we get to go now! X
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Yes definitely come especially if you have someone to stay with and who can show you around! 🙂
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Hoping so – he’s staying in whistler doing a cycle/ski season but hoping we can do a few days out in other places and maybe cross the border to Seattle too!
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Whistler is beautiful! 🙂
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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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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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Thanks for the recs! We’ve never traveled with him before, so it’ll be quite the adventure 🙂
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Welcome back, sweetie. Looks like you had an amazing time! I know its a big place, but I’d love to visit Canada some day. It’s so strange that I’ve never been.
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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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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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Thanks! I have to catch up on your blog! I guess I better get a large vat of coffee for the marathon read? 😝
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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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Aw admit it, you missed me and couldn’t bear to write any blog entries without me around! 😆😝😋
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Ok you caught me !!!! Yes I missed my blog buddy! 😊😄😜🙈
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Great post! I love road trips! – Seri from http://www.Serisblog.com
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