Vermont

In Vermont on my way back to Ontario. The squalor in which I am forced to reside this evening:


Hahahahahahaha! Yeah.... that's a king size bed. I want one for Christmas. Yes??

Back to Ontario

I'm in Amherst Nova Scotia again on my way out of town. Wa waaaaaa... This morning I left my Hotel in Dartmouth; it was grey, but didn't seem too bad so I figured what the hell? and started driving towards Cape Breton. As I got closer and closer it got rainy and foggy, so much so that I couldn't see more that the road in front of me. And so I thought to myself, am I going to drive all the way up here for sight-seeing when I won't be able to see the sights? Am I enjoying myself driving around in this shitty weather? Of course not! So I'm heading back, and thinking that I'll stop off at the parents cabin on the way home to continue my little vacation until I come back on the weekend. This also means that I don't get to see NFLD, but as I stated before, there's no guarantee I'd actually SEE anything, so it'll just have to be a reason to come back out east someday in the future! What I did see was awesome (PEI being my favorite), and I wasn't really expecting much anyhow at this time of year.

So anyways, as I neared the Cabot Trail and visibility became less and less I decided to turn around and go back, and as I left all that rain and fog and headed back towards New Brunswick it was snowing... A LOT.... so here I am hanging out in Amerst til the morning.

Weather Sucks

In Dartmouth NS, but if it starts snowing like it's supposed to I'm done! Out! Today I did a little driving through NS but didn't actually see or do much since it was pouring and foggy all day. Shitty!

No Matter Where I am, I'm All About The Classy!

From the lighthouse I went to the small fishing town of Souris. Unremarkable except for the fact that it made me laugh. I stopped to check out a little harbour that was full of snow...


Then I saw these two VERY clever peices of grafitti. Hahahahahahaha...

Obligatory Lighthouse Picture Alert

This lighthouse was... somewhere... I wasn't going to stop, but then I thought, what the hell they're all over the place and historical and such AND people love this shit! There's nothing un-petty about a lighthouse by the ocean.

PEI National Park

Confederation bridge, the bridge I took from NB to PEI was... long. The guardrails were just high enough that you couldn't see anything around you, which was crap! Charlottetown was nice enough, but by far the best place (where I went this morning) was Prince Edward Island National Park. Just awesome! White sand dunes amidst the red cliffs, sunny beautiful weather, and of course the beach. I could definitely live around there. Only pictures will do, really:

Hopewell Rocks

Sigh... I guess I'll stop being lazy then... since I got in trouble. Alright, I'm going to split this into several posts so the don't get to long and I don't get confused. Yesterday before I left New Brunswick I decided I would try to find Hopewell Rocks. This is the place where the tides are the highest in the world which has created the flowerpot-like rock formations. Very cool!
Of course they're on park property and the park was closed, but I thought "screw that! I've already come this far" as I parked in front of the locked gate and went for a little hike. The snow on the trails was a couple feet deep, but I kept going until I reached the stairs to get down to the ocean floor... which had been raised and locked so that dumb tourists (such as myself) didn't get trapped and drown when the tide rose. I still got to see a few cool rock formations from above though, so it wasn't a wasted trip!

So... Lazy...

I've made it to PEI, but at the moment I'm too lazy to write a decent post about it. Tomorrow!

Fundy Fun (I hate myself...)

This morning I started my journey in St. John and headed off to the New Brunswick Museum. Walked around feeling all superior and intelligent looking at local art, but have to admit that my favorite part of the museum was their collection of whale bones! Very cool!! There was an entire skeleton suspended from the ceiling that looked temptingly like a jungle gym.

From St. John I moved on to the oh-so-famous "Reversing Falls" in which the water is supposed to flow up stream in a very entertaining way. I got there and...

nothing... well... it's there but I think the tide may be too high and the water levels higher than usual due to all the rain and whatnot. Look closely and you can sort of see the switch in water direction. Wa waaaaaaaa.Then I was off to the small town of St. Martin that was near a section of the Bay of Fundy. It was very... secluded. Lot's of old weather-beaten houses that looked unlivable if not for the the awesome nearby views. After getting a couple decent shots at a deserted tourist spot I tried to find some other viewpoints, but every road I went down just... ended. All of the suden the pavement would end and it would be a muddy snowfilled pit where the road should be! Made me wish I had a larger vehicle or an ATV of some sort! But it was still fun wandering around and checking out the area.My last stop was Moncton, where I found a room at yet another random hotel. I've been going for the semi-expensive ones ($80-$90) since it's sort of a short trip anyhow and those really cheap motels ALWAYS smell like a dirty homeless man. It's worth the extra $20 to breathe easily.

Still Cold

So I'm in Fredericton New Brunswick, which is good, but the weather is still crap, which is not good. I'm a little worried about ferries to the islands since there's still a lot of snow... I just checked it out online and it looks like I'm set. I can just take confederation bridge to PEI and there are ferries running to NFLD island. Wooo! I just hope I get to see some sun on the trip at some point. I don't mind cold and snow, but it's depressing to drive for hours through rain! Today I stopped off in a cute little town called Grand Falls on the way to Fredericton and took a couple of pics, so here the are!


I'll explain the first one. I was on the Trans Can after leaving Grand Falls and part of the road must have been redone and moved slightly, beause all of the sudden my GPS got really confused and every five seconds she'd say "re-calculating!" and try to direct me to roads that I couldn't get o from the highway. hen one time after re-calculating, all it said on the map was "Canada" as though I was off-road and headed towards a town called Canada... weird... so yeah, sometimes you can't really trust your GPS...

Shit Weather!

As of now I’m in a little town called Levis just outside of Quebec City. This morning I left my hotel early in the hopes of a nice walk around Ottawa. Of course it started snowing, so I only got as far as the parliament buildings before seeking refuge in a Starbucks to get away from the snow. I tried to wait it out, but after a while I just gave up and moved on to my next destination: Montreal. The city of ridiculous amounts of one way streets, unmarked lanes and tiny traffic lights that I would barely notice if not for the mass amounts of traffic in front and around me guiding me along. There was a downtown section that I wanted to visit near McGill University, but for the life of me I couldn’t find a parking space nearby, so eventually I gave up and moved on to Quebec City. QC was surprisingly hilly and beautiful! Lots of ornate old buildings and narrow cobbled streets to walk down.
Some pictures:
One of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa. They were beautiful but it started snowing and became so freaking cold that I didn't stay long.
The rest are in Quebec City within the walled portion of the city. Fun!

First Stop: Ottawa

Made it to Ottawa with no issues. The only mildly interesting thing that happened was a litle dog running on the 401. I was in the other lane, but the car that was beside me came very close to hitting it! I don't know how the little guy ended up on the highway; hopefully not some jerk dropping it off on the side of the road!

Tomorrow I'm going to go downtown and check out the parliament buildings and maybe the National gallery, then off to Montreal! Fun!

The Quarterlife Crisis

So true it's disturbing/funny:

"This phenomenon, known as the “Quarterlife Crisis,” is as ubiquitous as it is intangible. Unrelenting indecision, isolation, confusion and anxiety about working, relationships and direction is reported by people in their mid-twenties to early thirties who are usually urban, middle class and well-educated; those who should be able to capitalize on their youth, unparalleled freedom and free-for-all individuation. They can’t make any decisions, because they don’t know what they want, and they don’t know what they want because they don’t know who they are, and they don’t know who they are because they’re allowed to be anyone they want."

So, in reaction to my quarerlife crisis I'm going on another roadtrip starting this weekend! Last summer I went out West, so it only makes sense that I'll go East. I haven't actually planned anything yet (leaving in two days...), but I've got Pabo, Garmin and my income tax return to keep me going for a couple of weeks. I'll be posting while I'm gone so mom doesn't worry. Pictures to come!