Canada Travel Map

I have visited 8 of the 13 provinces/territories of Canada.

My first visit to Canada was as a young boy with my family. I must have been about 12 or 13 and in junior high school. We drove up through Glacier National Park in Montana into Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, just the other side of the border, where I recall seeing a lot of deer. Then we drove over to Cardston, a town settled by the Mormons, and saw the Mormon Temple there. I recall driving through Calgary, or at least the outskirts, then up into Banff National Park. I particularly recall the beautiful, cold, Lake Louise. We took canoes out into the cold water. Up until a few minutes ago, I would have guessed the Athabaska Glacier was right next to Lake Louise, but I'm seeing it is 80 miles north. We took a snow cat up onto the Athabaska Glacier and got out and walked around on the glacier. I recall the warnings of not walking too far because of the danger of crevasses. The only other strong memory of the trip is seeing a mother black bear and her cubs up in a pine tree in Jasper National Park. We may have driven through Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, on the way back home - I'm not sure. I would have guessed not, but as I look at the map, I think we may have. 

Jump forward 25 years or so to the summer of 1995 when we took our young family to Washington State and British Columbia. We took a ferry from Port Angeles in Washington to Victoria on Vancouver Island, the capital of British Columbia. We went inside the Parliament Building, visited the Royal Museum of London Wax Museum and the British Columbia Museum. We drove up Hwy 17 and stayed in Saanichton, then visited Butchart Gardens the next day. We took the ferry from Swartz Bay over to Tsawwassen, south of Vancouver. We drove past Horseshoe Bay up to Squamish, where we spent the night, after visiting Shannon Falls and Alice Lake. The next day we drove to Vancouver where Judy and Rachael visited the Gastown area and I took the two boys to the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. From there we took the I-5 back into Washington. 

In April 2003, with Sam and Andrew, we visited Niagara Falls, both in New York and Ontario, Canada. It was very cold and icy.

In December 2015, Judy and I drove from St. Albans, Vermont, to Montreal, Quebec, where we spent the day, then drove back to St. Albans, Vermont. We visited the Notre Dame Basilica, St. Joseph's Oratory, Mount Royal and a wonderful dinner at Au Cinquieme Peche. 

In May 2017, as part of an Alaskan cruise, we rented a car in Skagway, Alaska, and drove up through a sliver of British Columbia, including the town of Fraser, and into Yukon Territory, passing through Conrad, Carcross, and Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon, to the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. Afterwards, we had lunch in Whitehorse at Burnt Toast Cafe before heading back the same way to Skagway. Later in the trip, our cruise ship docked in Vancouver, British Columbia. We visited the Granville Island Public Market, Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, the Capilano River Hatchery, Chinatown, and then had a wonderful dinner at Forage. We flew home the next morning from Vancouver. 

In August 2018 we hooked up with our son, Andrew, in New York, flew to Bangor, Maine, then drove Hwy 9 into New Brunswick where we visited St. Andrews where we took a whale watching voyage out into the Bay of Fundy. We stayed in St. John that night, where we briefly looked at the Reversing Falls Bridge and hunted for mushrooms in Irving Nature Park. The next day we drove up to St. Martins and took the beautiful Fundy Trail Parkway, and a wonderful walk near Flower Pot Rock. We drove down Hwy 114 into Alma in Fundy National Park, then drove to Hopewell Rocks Park, where we walked out among the sea stacks while the tide was out. We stayed the night in Moncton. The next way we headed back to Maine on an inland route on Hwy 2, to Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick, where we visited Christ Church Cathedral. Near Woodstock, we took the Maliseet Trail to Hays Falls and had some wonderful mushroom hunting. We ate in Woodstock, before heading back into Maine. Later, we hooked up with Judy's siblings and their spouses for a cruise, starting in Boston and then back up into Canada. In Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, we visited Citadel Hill, Fairview Cemetery, and Peggy's Cove. In Sydney, Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton Island, I took a boat tour out to Big Bras d'Or to see sea birds and seals and Judy visited Louisbourg. In Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island, we drove through PEI National Park to Cavendish and the Anne of Green Gables home. Then we had a nice tour in Charlottetown which included a visit to Province House, where the Canadian Conference on Confederation was held. In Quebec City, the capital of Quebec, we took a great food tour through Old Quebec. When our cruise docked in Montreal, we rented a car and drove to Ottawa, Ontario, the capital of Canada. The highlight was a tour of the Canadian Parliament Building, as well as a boat cruise on the Ottawa River. We also visited the National Gallery of Canada and Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica. We flew home from Ottawa.

In September 2018, I had a business trip to Toronto, the capital of Ontario. We got a wonderful tour of Trinity College, part of the University of Toronto, then visited the Royal Ontario Museum. Then we drove out to the Bruce Peninsula, which juts into Lake Huron. We got to Tobermory, at the end of the Peninsula, and took a hike in Bruce Peninsula National Park out to the Grotto. We took another drive back into Toronto and visited the Kensington Market, the best market we've been to in any city. We had a wonderful meal at Pow Wow Cafe, before flying back home.