Does anyone think that flying 1,000 miles across the country and then taking a road trip around Niagara Falls, up the Eastern border of Canada, and then down the coast of Maine sounds like an enjoyable trip? Did I mention that we’d be covering about 2,000 miles in the car in just 8 days? Well that sounded like the perfect adventure with the company of Elizabeth (who is currently living near Boston for school for the time being).
We felt a little rushed to be honest. There was just so much to see, but we only had so much time in each city before we had to leave or we’d risk not getting to all of the sights (or making it home on time). This vacation is the perfect example of “run, run, run you-can-sleep-when-you’re-dead” vacations. We were up at 6am almost every day and out on the road by 7am. We drove and visited and sightsaw until we finally called it a day between 12am-1am. That being said, this was a wonderful vacation and we had so much fun and saw so many things.
Keep on reading for our day-by-day adventures!
Day 1, August 9: Boston, MA
Our first day of adventuring! We woke up bright and early and headed out from Elizabeth’s house. We were all able to fit into her Yaris with our entire luggage for the week packed into that little car. We were also planning on camping for a good deal of the trip, so we had a tent, air mattresses, blankets, and pillows on top of everything else that was jammed into her car. Since we like odd things, what better way to start our trip then to see the “Eye Glasses Monument” about an hour west of Boston. It’s a monument created by American Optical that used to work in Southbridge back in the 1800’s. We really just went for some photo opportunities.
We finally got to Springfield and stopped at the Dr. Seuss National Memorial. A sign near the monument posted by the Friends of the Springfield Library, Inc. stated that “Theodor Seuss Geisel, known to the world as the beloved children’s author and illustrator, Dr. Seuss, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1904 and drew much of his early inspiration from his hometown. May this memorial serve to spark creativity in future generations.” It was so much fun! There were statues all around that we could pose with! While the monument area was pretty small, there were a good amount of statues. Everything was off to a good start!
An hour west of Springfield houses the Norman Rockwell Museum. Norman Rockwell was a popular painter and illustrator in the 20th Century and the Norman Rockwell Museum contains the world’s largest collection of Norman Rockwell art. Again, it was the perfect place to pose with the art and mimic the characters in the drawings and paintings. There was also the Linwood Estate house on the museum’s property, which was where Norman Rockwell would sometimes do his work.
We drove another 5 hours and stopped at a small campground about 20-30 minutes from Niagara Falls. It was mainly for campers, but in the back there was a small patch of grass where we could pitch a tent. Since it was pretty late, we just grabbed some sandwiches.
Day 2, August 10: Niagara Falls
We finally made it to Niagara Falls! We wanted to explore everything that Niagara had to offer. We opted to explore Niagara on the US side for the most part. We had to go to the Maid of the Mist, the observation tower, the bridge across the water, the Cape of the Winds, the Three Sisters’ Islands, the Nikola Tesla Memorial, and the visitor’s center. The first thing we did was just look at the water. It was gushing over and falling so fast. It was the largest waterfall we have seen, and you could hear it fall. There was a slight mist to the water and we could smell the freshness of the water in the air. We all decided to take a boat ride on the Maid of the Mist, which is the boat that took us to the base of the American Falls. We were given blue ponchos that worked for the most part. It was misty but we could see lots of rainbows. We continued to walk around, taking in the views of the Falls from different angles. Finally it was time for the Cave of the Winds. The Cave of the Winds was our favorite attraction at the Falls. We were given these yellow ponchos that didn’t do anything compared to how the water fell. Basically, we walked down these wooden steps right into the Bridal Veil Falls. Once we got down onto the deck, we could spend as much time near the water as we wanted. We took one round around the deck taking pictures. Since we had as much time as we wanted, we opted for another round to just take in the views and the water. The hurricane deck was where the water hit the hardest. We got soaked! The ponchos were a joke compared to how strong the water and the winds were coming in. It was almost hard to stand up while on the hurricane deck. Afterwards, we were soaked but feeling good! We continued to walk around the Falls until we had explored every inch of the area.
Late that afternoon, we crossed into Canada. How often does one visit Niagara Falls? We splurged and booked a room with the views of the Falls. After a quick swim in the pool, we all got dressed up and went out to explore the town. We tried poutine at a local restaurant and walked down the street, stopping at some of the shops. At 10pm, the Falls lit up in different colors and fireworks lined the sky. After the firework show, we headed back up to the hotel to get some sleep.
The next morning we woke up to watch the sunrise over the Falls from our hotel room. It was so pretty to see the sun over the Falls and the pastel colors of the sun looked so peaceful from the quiet of our room. After we got packed up and checked out of the hotel room, we walked down to the Falls one last time. We walked right up to the Horseshoe Falls, which made the day look misty due to all the water that was misting. We grabbed some Tim Hortons, the coffee shop of Canada, and headed off to Toronto.
Day 3, August 11: Toronto
On the way to Toronto, we stopped at a few different fun sights. We stopped at this clock made out of flowers and a gorge where the water from the Falls flowed into. Then we finally got to a well waited destination: Inniskillin Winery. Located in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario, Inniskillin is most well-known for its popular ice wine. We all decided to buy tickets for a tour of the winery, and a tasting at the end. We learned about the vineyards, the wine making process, the bottling process, and the ice wine making process. Ice wine is basically a sweet dessert wine that is made from grapes, picked from the vine while still frozen. These grapes are very delicate, so all of these grapes must be picked by hand. Since the sugars in wine don’t freeze, but the water does, it allows for a sweeter wine. The temperature in Niagara-On-The-Lake is ideal for ice wine and is why Inniskillin is one of the most well-known producers of ice wine. The process doesn’t make a lot of wine, hence, the hefty price tags on ice wine. We decided to buy 2 bottles of ice wine, one for the trip and one for our return home (I like to celebrate when I finally finish my scrapbook months and months later).
After grabbing some fruits and veggies at a local market, we stopped at the Devil’s Punchbowl. This was a just a quick stop to see the 121 foot deep hole in the ground. It was actually formed by glaciers 450 million years ago and is made up of many stratified rocks. At the very top of Devil’s Punchbowl is a cross created by William Sinclair in 1966. A few movies have been produced at the Devil’s Punchbowl as well. We took in the sights and then headed off to Toronto.
Toronto Park was really pretty. There were a ton of red flowers all over the place, which we deemed as appropriate due to Canada’s flag having a lot of red in it. There was even a flower bed in the shape of a maple leaf (as well as some nude sunbathers). We walked around the park for a while, and took some goofy pictures. It was nice to be out walking for a while, instead of cooped up in the car. While we had only driven about two hours so far, the fresh air was a blessing.
We ended up staying in a hotel in Toronto. It was harder to find a campsite in Toronto but we were able to eat a really nice free breakfast, there and pack lunch for the road (fruit, and bread, and peanut butter at the breakfast=free lunch for later). We decided to stop by St. Lawrence's Market. In 2012, National Geographic named the St. Lawrence Market as the best in the world! There were food stands with pre-made food, meats, cheeses, fish, and even shops. The shops sold tourist merchandise, jewelry, art, and clothing. While we had packed a lunch, we ended up buying a peameal sandwich. Since we had just gorged ourselves on breakfast, we took our sandwiches to go. What's a peameal sandwich? It’s basically a bacon sandwich. The bacon has a crust of peameal (ground yellow peas) and then is fried and made into a sandwich. We knew that mustard was on it although we're not sure what else was on it. It was yummy though.
Day 4, August 12: Ottawa
We drove for 5 hours until we got to Ottawa. It was already about 5pm when we arrived and it was getting dark and was starting to drizzle. We walked around Capitol Building and took some pictures with the statues around the city’s center. We were disappointed that we could not tour the Capitol but we were able to walk around the building. We had just arrived in Ottawa a little too late. While the city is apparently the most educated city in Canada and full of museums, art, and cultural sights to see, we had our sights set on one thing: beaver tails. Oh gosh, can we eat another one? We had originally gotten one to share, but then the three of us knew that one was not enough. It’s basically a long pastry of fried dough, in the shape of a beaver tail. The beaver tail is then topped with anything and everything that one could think of: cinnamon sugar, bananas and hazelnut spread, caramel apples, or even peanut butter chocolate. It was truly decadent. We debated about finding a hotel room since it started to really rain, but we thought, hey, we can do it…
We stopped at a Walmart to grab some extra blankets since it kept getting colder the farther north we were travelling. We grabbed some random snack foods like ketchup chips and were amused that the Kraft macaroni and cheese dinners were actually called “Kraft Dinners.” It was already late so we stopped at a pizza place and ordered the largest pizza there. We probably didn’t need that large of a pizza, but we were hungry! And then came the best (just kidding), the worst night of camping of our lives. At this point it was pouring. Elizabeth parked the car as the mud was rushing down the hill. In the dark and in the rain, we pitched the tent. It was already midnight and we were tired, cold, and wet. It was not a very peaceful night of sleeping to put it that way.
Day 5, August 13: Montreal
We woke to find that it was STILL raining. We showered at the campsite and dressed for the day. Montreal was gloomy and the skies were cloudy. Our first stop was St. Joseph’s Oratory, Canada’s largest church. A Roman Catholic Church, the basilica is dedicated to St. Joseph. However, the founder, Brother Andre, welcomes all people of any religion or beliefs to come visit the Church. For those who want to, people can climb 99 out of 283 stairs on their knees, symbolic of the pain that Jesus Christ endured on the cross. The inside was very ornate and very pretty. One of our favorite rooms was a small museum of nativity scenes from around the world.
After the museum, Elizabeth was exhausted. While she took an hour or two nap in the car, I checked out the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. It is a wonder how pretty churches can be! I also checked out some of the shops, and I bought a necklace with a maple leaf charm on it. I also found some scrapbooking stuff! Since all of us were cold and tired, we gave up the idea of camping and settled on finding a hotel room. We stopped at a hotel chain and were informed at the front desk that no one had booked the conference room with a king size bed, so they offered it to us at a very low rate. We took it! The bedroom was huge and had its own bathroom. There was a large conference table in the conference room (a perfect place to dry off the tent), a small kitchen area and a half bathroom in the conference room. Once we got settled in our hotel, we cleaned up after the day of touring in the rain, grabbed some pho for dinner, and then decided to explore Montreal’s pink district.
There were thousands of pink balls that hung over the street of the largest Gay neighborhood in the world. We walked around the main street of St. Catherine Street East and marveled at its fun wall murals, store fronts, and night time glow art. We decided to check out the SPICE GIRLS that night performed by drag queens! It was a fun night and we met some interesting people, until we found a man who was very into men. When the man realized that the man traveling with us was not going home with him, he thought he’d try to seduce to all of us. Unfortunately for the man, we did not go home with him and went back to our own room, falling asleep very quickly given how exhausted we all were.
Day 6, August 14: Quebec
We spent most of our day in Old Quebec, a historic and charming town. We started by visiting this huge mural of Old Quebec, and visiting this church (we forgot the name of it…). Since it was so close to the La Citadelle, we spent time exploring that. The Citadelle is the oldest military installment in Canada and is a National Historic Site of Canada. The Citadelle provided tours at its visitor center and we were able to see the guards outside of the Citadelle. There were also signs with Quebec’s motto: Je me souviens, or I remember. Elizabeth and I had a lot of fun photobombing people with our “mustache hair.” Towards the end of the day, we viewed a fountain, some gardens, some large pigeons and of course, a café for desserts! As we were leaving we found these huge peg boards that we could lay our bodies in to form shapes! Talk about true adult fun right there.
Before our long drive the next day, we had our one good night of camping. We actually had time to start a fire, make dinner, and roast some s’mores. The next day we spent a little time at the campsite without rushing. We ate a good breakfast and drank some maple milk. Ahead of us was an almost 4 hour drive, including driving the car onto a ferry!
Day 7, August 15: Tadoussac
At last we made it to Tadoussac, which is by far the most awe-inspiring place we have ever been to. The location was so pretty. Large rocks lined the water and the trees that grew on top of the rocks made the landscape green with vegetation. Looking out was water, as far as one could see. It was time for our fancy picnic. We picked up a bottle of wine, some fruit, some bread, and some cheese. It was also time to open that bottle of Inniskillin. We laid out a blanket and spent a really nice afternoon eating and drinking together. We played around and goofed off a little and of course took some silly photographs of each other. Eventually, it was time to end our lunch but that is when the real magic happened. Imagine huge whales swimming 150 yards away. It was magnificent and a life changing event. We had never found ourselves in such a calming environment that was also so beautiful. We're not even sure we can put into words what we saw, or felt, or experiences. Hopefully some of the pictures can help me share what we experienced, but then again, pictures are never the same as actually being there.
Day 8, August 16: Maine
We decided that we wanted to go back to the States that night. That was probably the one stupid idea we had all trip. It was around 5 or 6 when we all decided to pull ourselves away from the magic of Tadoussac. We thought hey, we could camp near Quebec again, or we could just head for the States. It would be nice to finally be back in the States. No. That was not a good idea. About 5 hours later we passed into Maine. It was dark and creepy and we were pretty sure we had just found ourselves in the middle of a horror story. There was no one on the roads, and the trees that hung overhead were dark and cast scary shadows over the road. It doesn’t help that this is the place Stephen King gains his inspiration. We tried to google any hotels, or campsites, or inns. All we found were “ghost inn” and “haunted inn.” We finally found one hotel and called the emergency number on it at 1am. A man came over in about 15 minutes and helped us get checked in. He told us that we were brave coming into that part of town so late without a reservation. We didn’t tell him how lucky we felt that something was available.
The next day we stopped to see the giant statute of Paul Bunyan and Stephen King’s house. The town of Derry in It was based off of the local town of Bangor. Finally it was time to hit the road again. A little over 3 hours later, we were at Cape Elizabeth! We spent the afternoon swimming in the ocean. After that, we were starved and what’s the only thing to eat in Maine? Lobster. It was the first time we had had lobster and we had a feast. We bought a whole lobster, crab cakes, lobster rolls, shrimp, and clam strips. It came with fries too! We then took some time to see the Portland Head Light. This is the oldest lighthouse in Maine and the most photographed lighthouse in the world. The nearby town looked really cute and we wished we had time to go into those shops, but we were finally off for the final 3 hour drive back to Elizabeth’s house.
Day 8, January 4: Go Home
All good trips have an end, and our time in Canada had come to an end. We are finally glad to be going home and get some long awaited sleep. It was a great way to spend some time with each other as well as with a best friend. It was great to finally see Niagara Falls, experience another culture, try ice wine, explore the world's largest Gay district, see old Quebec, whale watch in Tadoussac, become spooked in Maine, and try lobster for the first time!