From Newfoundland to here

Hello! So we've traveled very far since Newfoundland. We decided we wanted to get out west as soon as possible. So we traveled quickly through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec. But before leaving Nova Scotia we did the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton and also stopped in Halifax.

The Cabot Trail was amazing, what a beautiful drive. We drove it all in one day, which was about a 4-5 hour drive. We stopped at the lookouts along the way and were able to see some pretty beautiful sights. At one stop that looked over the the opening of the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, we were able to see a bunch of minke whales.

Including our drive back to Port-aux-Basques from St. John's in Newfoundland, we did six full days of traveling. These six days took us from St. John's to Badger, Nfld, from there to Port-aux-Basques, the next day we did the 8 hour ferry ride from Newfoundland to North Sydney, Nova Scotia. Then the next day we drove the entire Cabot Trail, then headed all the way down to Halifax. We went from Halifax to Saint-Leonard, New Brunswick, and on our final day of traveling we went from there to Ottawa.

When we arrived in Ottawa we were feeling pretty exhausted and kind of sad. We were both missing home and it was much harder because we were closer to home than we'd been so far this trip. We decided to stay in Ottawa for three nights. We both really enjoyed our stay in Ottawa last time so we wanted to see more.

While there we spent some time meandering around the city for the first day. On the second day we contacted the friends we had met while we were in Newfoundland. They right away invited us to stay for the night and for dinner. We had already booked our campsite for that night, but they told us we were welcome to stay the next night. We went there for dinner and it was awesome. Dave and I aren't used to having very nice dinners as we've been camping (we eat well, but its always nice having fresh homemade meals). We had fresh apple pie for dessert too, which was wonderful. (Simon, you would've cried).

The next day we went to the National Gallery of Canada. It was an amazing art gallery. We spent a few hours  there and still saw maybe half of the exhibits there. We were lucky enough to see the Caravaggio exhibit that's there for a little bit. That was really neat. I was able to see my first two Emily Carr paintings; I was very happy. They were located in the Canadian Gallery. So we were also able to see some A.Y Jackson, Lawren Harris, and Thom Thomson. We were unable to see everything though because we were once again, invited over for dinner from Andi and Laurence. We rushed over there and had some great Lebanese food. We stayed the night there also. We had such a wonderful time, and were so thankful for them having us in their home.

Stopping in Ottawa was a great idea. Being able to stay with Andi and Laurence was perfect for us at that moment of our trip. They gave us the closest sense to home we've had this entire trip. We were fed fresh blueberry pancakes the morning we left and were able to spend some time with Kathryn, their daughter, and also two of their granddaughters. Their granddaughters were around the same age as Dave's nieces, so we felt a small sense of home there.

When we left, we had the energy and the excitement to head out West. We still missed our families and friends but were no longer feeling any sadness.

After four nights in Ottawa we headed out West. We decided to take it easy and not do so much driving in one day. We went from Ottawa to North Bay, from North Bay to Moonbeam (just outside Kapuskasing), from there to Thunder Bay. We stayed in Thunder Bay for two nights, to relax a little. Then from Thunder Bay to Kenora, and from Kenora to Winnipeg, Manitoba.

We have been in Winnipeg for five days now. We are actually leaving Winnipeg and heading to the National Park to stay there for a few nights. We will be passing through Manitoba on our way home too, so after four nights in the National Park we are heading into Saskatchewan.

We will be posting later this week about what we have been up to here in Manitoba. Just updating you now!!

Pictures!

These are from the Cabot Trail.

Can you see the fin of the minke whale? We were unable to get amazing photographs. 

They were all around the boat out there. The boat was a whale watching boat, so I watched it until it found some whales. They were a bunch of them. The photos don't capture the commotion going on at the surface of the water.

Talk to you sooooon!