Tour of the Rockies: Forest Fire Disaster

In my last blog post I talked about how the skies in Calgary were hazy due to forest fires in British Columbia. But I didn't realize just how bad things could get until we crossed the border. After doing the typical tourist stuff in Banff/Jasper we crossed the Rockies where we visited Mount Robson provincial park. Fun fact: Mount Robson is the tallest mountain in the Rockies at 12,989 feet.

We then meandered south until we arrived at Clearwater, British Columbia, which is a really village in the middle of nowhere. There's not much there but it does have the distinct advantage of being at the base of Well's Gray Provincial Park, which has 39 named waterfalls and is a hidden gem in the middle of the province.

Dawson Falls

It's a beautiful area but it was at Clearwater that we really started to notice the distinct smell of smoke in the air. Also, the sky started to get much more grey. Luckily we were pretty distracted by all the waterfalls and some fun whitewater rafting, but our luck ran out when we headed further south to visit some friends in the tourist town of Revelstoke.

I kid you not, I have seen an eco-disaster and it lives in British Columbia. Imagine day after day of featureless soul-sucking sky where the colour of the sun shifts between a pale white and a sickly orange.  Image smoke rising from the hills where the fires are burning out of control as no one is putting them out (as there are too many forest fires).

Smoke rising from the hills. This photo was taken in mid afternoon but it looks like evening.

But by far, the worse thing was the air. It tasted like ash. In my home province of Ontario, people eat outside as they are afraid of COVID. In Revelstoke, it was the opposite: we went to a pub and they closed the patio as it was too dangerous to breathe the air outside!

We weren't in Revelstoke very long and soon we moved on to Radium Hot Springs and beautiful Kootenay National Park.

The surreal paint pots trail

We've also had a few great adventures since Revelstoke including seeing three bears on a hiking trail just today!  But how the disaster in BC isn't getting more press is beyond me.

Tour of the Rockies: the Alberta Side

I've been to many great places in Canada before, including the BC coast, Quebec, the Maritimes, Newfoundland and, of course, all over my home province of Ontario. However, I've never taken the time to enjoy what is arguably Canada's most iconic corner: the Canadian Rockies. So this year, with all the hassles associated with crossing the border, Glosette Girl, Margot and I decided it was the perfect time to vacation in the area and see if it lives up to all the hype. My conclusion so far? Yes, yes it does!

We've only explored the Alberta side of the mountains so far, mostly around the three towns of Canmore, Banff and Jasper, Alberta. However, we've already had a great taste of what makes each of them so special. 

Top highlights so far: 

• Floating down the Bow River with some locals.

• The awe-inspiring drive of the Icefield parkway between Banff and Jasper. This is the most beautiful road I've ever driven.

• Swimming in an Alpine lake. To answer the question you're probably thinking about: yes, it is cold!

• Touching the remains of a glacier near Mount Edith Cavell (not super wise of us considering the glacier towering overhead but hey life is for living) 

It's been a great trip so far, but also a poignant one. Coming here is like seeing the impact of climate change in action.

For example, Glosette Girl visited the Athabasca glacier back in 2002 and at the time was able to simply walk up to the glacier and touch it. However, in the 19 years since, the glaicer has retreated so much that that's no longer possible unless you take a paid guided tour.

Another sign of climate change? The thousands of dead pine trees covering the slopes around Jasper - victims of the pine beetle, which didn't used to be able to survive Canada's cold winters. Finally there's the smoke from thousands of forest fires in BC, which is wafting into Alberta. It's not so bad where we are now (in Jasper) but the sky was pretty hazy with smoke when we landed in Calgary. 

None of this takes away from the beauty of the place but it has us a little apprehensive for the next leg of our trip in BC when we'll get a bit closer to the ongoing wildfires. But that's next week's adventure.

Goodbye 2020...with one last adventure

Even though we slipped away to Sheenboro, QC, last week, we couldn't let the year end without one last winter walk. This time we visited Northumberland County, Ontario, which is about three hours West of our house. For obvious pandemic-related reasons, our expedition was pretty low key: just enjoy a change of scenery and perhaps go for some local walks and hikes.

Even aside from the obvious, it's been a strange Christmas season because there has been almost no snow. Usually at this point we're knee deep in the white stuff but we actually had a Green Christmas in Ottawa this year and Northumberland County was hardly better. The forests had a sprinkling of snow but the property surrounding the farmhouse property we stayed at near Castleton, Ontario, had almost none until our last morning there. 

Snowless in December?!

I'll say one thing for COVID, it's given a newfound appreciation for the quiet beauty at my doorstep in Ontario and Quebec. Northumberland County is a land of rolling hills, small forests and little creeks. It's Ontario's answer to the rolling countryside of England but at the end of the day it just a pretty place I've somehow always overlooked as I go back and forth between Ottawa and Toronto. 

We did eventually find some ice and snow in the woods

The site where we stayed even had a cool tiny microhouse and maze at the top of a hill you can rent with a commanding views of the surrounding (snow-less) hills and farms.

The little maze and littler house

View from the top. Ah the beautiful browns and greys of early winter!

Best of all, it offered just what we needed to end the year: a place for walking, reflecting and a chance to disconnect from the news cycle. (Oh and a nice big fireplace)

2020 - you were a son of a gun. But you didn't stop me and my gang from discovering these simple pleasures. Bring on 2021!

Sheenboro ski holiday

On Monday, Glosette Girl and I jetted off in our Kia Rio to Sheenboro, QC, where we had rented a cottage for us to hide in for a couple of days. 

First cross-country ski trip of the season!

 The cottage had all the essentials for a great Canadian winter getaway:

• Waterfront view - check.
• Down a dirt road - check.
• No Internet - check.
• Crazy cat blankets - check.
  
• Old Board games and puzzles lying about - check.
• Wood oven stove, which I kept crackling with fire  - check.
• Cross country ski trails....well....there weren't exactly trails in the area, but because the cottage was so isolated we were able to use the dirt road leading up to the cottage as a makeshift trail. A bit dodgy but since we never saw another car on the road for the 2 days we were there, I'd say it was less dodgy than going to the grocery store and trying to dodge all the people not folowing the arrows on the ground!

The hills on the road made for good fun:

 

There was a power failure on the last day, which meant we had to skip out a little earlier than we had planned, but overall I would say the visit was a grand success. It was the perfect excuse for each of us to indulge in some simple pleasures (me - eating chips and drinking coke; Glosette Girl - reading and knitting; Margot -  reading tons of bande dessinée and watching some Christmas movies and TV shows) without any guilt that we should be more productive with our time.

500 piece puzzle completed in two days: check!

Fall camping - the edge of madness!

To celebrate my b-day this weekend (yay me!) I convinced Glosette Girl and Margot to try fall camping with me. We've done fall camping twice before, but never this late into the season. Our target: Reserve Faunique Papineau Labelle where the temperatures were forecast to hit minus three degrees celsius at night.  A little bit crazy? Not for an Ottawan!

I'm not sure what the technical difference is between a park and a reserve faunique is in Quebec. Without googling the answer I'm guessing that the answer is that "parks" have more facilities and are geared towards camping and hiking, while "reserves" target hunting and fishing. And when I say "target" I mean target: just a couple of minutes past the reserve entrance we saw orange clad hunters in full hunting gear. The lady at the reserve check in also cautioned us to wear bright colours if we took a hike as it was boar season and she didn't want us to get shot. 

...

We decided to pass on hiking.

Fortunately our campsite was really pretty and didn't require us to explore too far. We started our day by reading by the shore. It was very peaceful.*

We ended our day eating fire-cooked hamburgers and roasting marshmallows. A real bonus was that the night was very clear and the stars were out. For the first time ever we got a chance to see the Milky way.**

Fortunately our tent was bright orange!

I was a little worried that the cold at night would be unbearable but we were smart enough to pack tons of blankets and a couple of air mattress. With all three of us bundled up under the covers it wasn't too bad.

Reserve Faunique Papineau Labelle is just under two hours away from Ottawa. The campsites are super secluded (only five where we were [at Lac Ernest], compared to hundreds of sites at some of the local Ontario parks). I 100% recommend going...if you have bright clothing.

Morning mist by our campsite

* we only heard two gunshots far in the distance! 

** for astronomy geeks: we live in the Milky Way galaxy but I'm talking about the band of hazy light that is visible across the night sky if you go far away from light pollution.

Charlevoix: between the mountains and the water

With limited travel options this year, the fam' and I had to get creative. Fortunately, within a reasonable (6 and a half hour or so) drive from Ottawa there are some pretty amazing destinations. The choices were between going west (towards the Great Lakes) and east (deep into Quebec). We chose east and ended up in the Charlevoix region of Quebec where we shared a chalet with my bro and sis and their families. I'm so glad we chose this area the landscape in this region is simply stunning. It rivals anything I've seen in Europe but with a Canadian twist of course.

Cute towns and villages? Check. Majestic mountain valleys? Check. Casse croute? BIG check!

Home away from home!

We're mid-way through our 6-night mini-trip to the region but so far the area has exceeded my expectations. Our current home is a chalet up the side of a mountain overlooking the St. Lawrence river. The vegetation here is maritime forest and very lush.

Somewhat crazily we're actually in the off-season here as this area is best known for being a major ski destination with the highest vertical east of the Rockies. But I came for the hiking. After testing the waters on the Sentier de la forêt marine-La Seigneurie, we hit the Mont du lac-des-Cygnes in the Parc National des Grand Jardins.

Monkey in the Mist

Pizazz in the Parc!

A bit busy, but there is a reason for it. The first three quarters feels like a magical misty birch forest, while the last bit is a massive rock bursting through the clouds. I can't wait to see the rest of what this region has to offer.

Cultural Phenomenon

It's not too often that I get a chance to participate in a veritable cultural phenomenon. However, this past week, with my geek mode set to maximum, I had an opportunity that was too good to pass up: be one of the first to try out the new Star Wars rides in Disney World.

It was a crazy - but fun - experience!

First, my family (yes, Glosette Girl and Margot came along for the ride too) dragged themselves out of bed at 5:45 am. Then we took an uber over to Hollywood Studios, in Disney World, and walked into the park around 6:30 am, which is before the park rides officially open.

The dark rises...and the light to meet it!

You might be thinking we were one of the few who did so. Not so! I'm guessing we were joined by about 20,000-30,000 other Star Wars fanatics who all had to be in the park to join a virtual queue for the new Star Wars Rise of the Resistance ride at 7:00 am. On some days, this virtual queue fills up in about 20 minutes.

We booked our spot at around 7:05 am, which meant we were able to get on the ride at around 7 pm later that day (did I mention that Rise of the Resistance is insanely popular?).

Luckily being in a virtual queue means you are free to do other things until your virtual  number is called up. So what did we do after we virtually signed up to one queue? Well, of course, we hopped in another queue - this time a real one -for the other new Star Wars ride, Smuggler's Run.

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy...

Smuggler's  Run is not as popular as Rise of the Resistance so it only takes about two hours to get through. But c'mon. You get to ride the MILLENNIUM FALCON.

Who wouldn't wait 2 hours to drive this? 

I'm not going to give any spoilers away about either ride but if you are near a Disney World park and are even mildly amused by Star Wars, you have to check out the Star Wars world that Disney has created.

Even if you get stuck in a line (and you will) it'll be a memorable experience. There's just something fascinating about sharing an experience with thousands of other souls who are willing to go the extra mile for something they love. May the force be with you!

p.s. bonus points to Glosette Girl for sticking this out with me. She isn't even a Star Wars fan...yet.

A life of experiences

I'm always on the look out for new experiences, whether it's simply visiting a different park in my neighbourhood, when I go visit my family or when I do small day or overnight trips near Ottawa. Best of all, while I love traveling,  some really magical moments can be found close to home without spending thousands of dollars.

That's probably what makes Glosette Girl and I a good match - we both share a love of exploration and curiosity and we're doing our best (and succeeding as far as I can tell!) in passing on that spirit to Margot.

This past Thanksgiving weekend we found a new nearby adventure. Just 1.5 hours away from Ottawa in the Laurentian region of Quebec is Refuge Lac Démélé, a 100 acre oasis where you can rent...wait for a it... a treehouse! Renting treehouses is very "2010's". I never noticed these types of places until the last 10 years or so and now they're starting to pop up everywhere - especially in the Laurentians.

Welcome to the wild side!

Our treehouse, the "Cabane du Lac" was an interesting place to say the least! Built on stilts in the middle of a forest but overlooking a nearby lake, it was, to me at least, the perfect example of glamping. Yes to:

• Wood oven stove 
• Solar shower
• Fire pit
• Propane-powered hot plate 
• Cutlery
• Water for cleaning dishes or boiling
• One solar powered lightbulb

No to:

• Potable water 
• Indoor toilet
• Electricity (other than the one lightbulb
• Internet or WIFI

If you're used to camping, like I am, what does it add up to? LUXURY!

It was definitely a new experience for us. While we were only there one night we were able to take full advantage of the on-site paddle boats, playground and acres and acres of picture perfect autumn trees.

Happy Thanksgiving 2019! 

Two Worlds only Hours Apart

This year for our annual summer family vacation Margot, Glosette Girl and I packed into a plane and hopped across the pond for a France/Swiss double combo! Bonjour! Wie geht es dir! While the original focus of out trip was Switzerland, whenever we go to Europe we look for an excuse to visit one of Jen's besties, B, and her family in Béziers, France. So with the help of the magical Interweb we figured out the logistics and started our Swiss adventure with a side trip over to Southwest France.

Margot with B's lovely kids, M, O, and N

It's amazing how different France is to Switzerland! Some observations about the area of France we saw:

• Food and wine is really well priced.
• Standard food: bread, cheese (of all kinds), charcuterie, regional fresh fruits (melons, nectarines, plums).
• Night rules! Everyone eats dinner late, and even kids stay up to 11 pm or midnight on a regular basis. This was especially important during our visit as Europe was in the midst of a heatwave, which made walking around during the day a challenge.
• Politics is much more a part of everyday life. We noticed announcements of local political activity were prominently mentioned in local weekly magazines.
• People aren't that tall. At 5'11" I felt like the right height!
• Stylish yet at the same time a bit rough around the edges.
• Overall, the country has a feminine feel.

Minerve: one of the prettiest villages in France

In comparison, here's what I thought about Switzerland:

• Food and wine expensive! $20 hamburger? Yes, please!
• Standard food: bread, cheese (with focus on Gruyere, elemental of course), and much less fresh fruits and veggies.
• Day rules! Everyone in the mountains people grab their hiking gear and get out during the sunlight because night is for sleeping.
• In the mountains it feels like it was 90% tourists.
• Lots of tall people! ...I felt short :(
• Germanic language is like "almost-English". You think you can read it...until you realize you can't.
• Masculine feel.

Lovely, rainy Bern - the federal capital (but not capital city!) of Switzerland

I think what blows my mind the most is just how different where we were (France) is to where we are (Switzerland) considering the two locations are only three hours apart. In Canada, you would still be in the same old boring province after driving in any direction for three hours. I'm sure it must be challenging to live with this much diversity in such a small geographic space sometimes but wow those Europeans are lucky to have this much at their fingertips!

Places like this really do exist outside Disney movies!

Iceland: the Crown Jewel

I mentioned on last week's blog post that I was in Iceland. Well I'm back now and it's time to write a blog post. Wow...where to begin...

First things first, even though I've travelled a fair bit in recent years (to Europe, Central America, and even within Canada) what made this trip really different is that it was a guys trip - just me and three of my best mates. It doesn't sound like a big thing but organizing an overseas trip with four friends, all with families, partners and different life circumstances, is actually a pretty big deal. For a couple of years now we talked about booking a trip for when we turned 40 and amazingly we pulled it off.

The crown jewel of the trip (for me) was a 3-day backpacking trip to the Landmannalaugar region of Iceland. I don't even know how to describe just how stunning this region is in Iceland. I visited 7 years ago on a day trip and I promised myself I would always return. I'll let a couple of photos do the rest of the talking:

Actually, scratch that. No matter how stunning Landmannalaugar was, the crown jewel of the trip really was spending a week with my 3 friends, D, J and R, while we laughed over some of the silliness we encountered, and overcame a few challenges. We experienced:

• 22 hours of daylight...every day for a week (the sun technically set at midnight and rose at 2 am but really it never got truly dark). "Just until sundown" is the ultimate excuse to stay up all night long and have just...one more beer!

2 am - Reykjavik style

• Chilling out in various hot springs (Do you know what's better than chilling out in a hot spring? Chilling out in a hot spring with a glass of whiskey).
• Trading stories with other foreign tourists about some of the realities of our home countries. 

Canada has a pretty good reputation out here

• Munching on beer-soaked hotdogs from a U.S. President-approved hot dog stand (hmmm I'm afraid this blog is giving the impression that I may have partaken in a bit of drinking).

I'll have the Bill Clinton special

• And generally, just having each other's backs as we slogged over mountain trails, on a couple of hours sleep, sharing one tiny hut with a group of 20 other strangers*.

Did the trip go off without a hitch? Hell no! Am I already getting about the next one? Hell yes :)

See you on the next trip boys!

*who hadn't properly bathed in 3 days. We kept the window open.

A Very Big City Christmas

Glosette Girl, Margot and I don't really have a routine when it comes to Christmas day. I don't mean the build up to Christmas - we always do certain things in the month leading up to the big day:

• Put up Christmas lights around the house about a month before Christmas.
• Put up a Christmas tree a couple of weeks before Christmas.
• Go see the Aylmer Christmas parade.
• Watch Margot in her school Christmas concert.
• Attend a kids' "midnight" (i.e. 4 pm) Christmas church service.
• Watch cheesy Christmas movies (Glosette Girl has a soft spot for Home Alone, I'm more of a Rankin/Bass person myself)
• Listen to way too much Christmas music.

But when it comes to Christmas itself, we're all over the map. The same goes for New Years. Last year we jetted off to El Salvador immediately after Christmas. In 2016 we were in Costa Rica. In 2015 we were living at our old home in Hull, Quebec. That was the year it was almost 17 degrees Celsius on Christmas Eve. The next day we went for a "winter" walk in light jackets. Hard to believe when you look out at the snow blanketing everything now!
 
There are a couple of reasons for this seasonal excitement. First, Glosette Girl is a teacher (her students call her Ms. Glosette) so Christmas is one of the times that are easiest for us to travel. Second, my family lives in Toronto so we try and make a point of visiting them at this time of year. And that's where we were this year on Christmas day. Here are some snaps from our urban Christmas 2018!

#1: Skating under an elevated highway

#2: Visiting the most castle-y house in Toronto - Casa Loma!

#3: Enjoying Toronto's version of "snow" (it's warmer here than Ottawa - white stuff falls but it doesn't stay on the ground!)

Honestly, I'm just super grateful to be able to share all these cool Christmas experiences with my family. And Margot takes everything with stride. Let's listen to her opine about our latest adventure:

Chat you later!

The Flambée des Couleurs - Misty Edition

Tough Cookies: Hintonburg Style isn't intended to be a travel blog.

I like to write about what happens in my neighbourhood, the restaurants I visit and life with Margot and Glosette Girl. But sometimes that life involves visiting new places and trying new experiences. And this just happens to be one of those times. So hot on the heels of last week's fall camping post, I'm going to write about another mini adventure: a visit to Quebec's Eastern Townships.

The Eastern Townships are Canada's New England.  It is a place of hills and lakes, agri-tourism, monasteries, small mountains, and cute little villages and towns. Glosette Girl went to University in this area so the area will always be special to her. To me it's just a really pretty region that's just close enough to Ottawa (a hard 3 hours or more realistic 3-and-a-half hour drive) for a long weekend visit.

Normally I like planning an itinerary for even mini trips like this but with the fall camping trip and life in general being generally busy I wasn't able to do much more than check out a few websites and get a rough idea of what I wanted to do.

Still, we were able to cram a few cool things into the weekend.

We started out with a trail run (Margot's training for the cross country team if you can believe it) on a forest trail. Then it was on to our B&B where we relaxed in a hot tub (I'll spare you the photos even though you know you want to see them!)

Then we were off to experience Foresta Lumina, a night time multi-media walk through a forested valley. I'm only going to say one thing: holograms are awesome.

The weather didn't quite cooperate this weekend - it was more grey than anything. But sometimes them's the breaks folks. And at least it didn't rain. Actually, even though the fog and clouds obscured most of the fall foliage views we were hoping to get (the big attraction in this area at this time of year) the grey weather made for an eerily beautiful atmosphere.

I'll have a ghost on the side please

Those snaps are from Mont Orford, in case you were wondering. In the end we hiked and walked a lot, saw a cool nighttime show, and visited the nice little town of Magog, sortof the hub of the region and which legend says sits on the shores of a lake with a monster hidden in its depths.

Monsters? Mist? Night time walking? Either I'm developing an interest in the occult or Halloween is just around the corner.... bwah ha ha!

Ontario Provincial Parks: Ranked

This past weekend I packed Glosette Girl and Margot into the ol' roadster, threw on some tunes and drove up to Silent Lake Provincial Park for our first ever autumn camping experience. Although we were probably a week early for fall colours it turned out to be a great experience; no bugs, no hot tents (especially in the morning - ugh) and a lot less people!

Unsurprisingly, the park has a big lake in the middle of it!

That got me thinking, I've been camping for almost 20 years. Just how would I rank the parks I've visited? Are there any shining stars or obvious disappointments? One would think that from the glowing reviews travel writers give all these parks they would all be amazing. Unfortunately, they would be wrong.

Trekking the Silent Lake woods with my sis and her family

Hmmm here's my 100% objective-no-bias-at-all-list-of-Ontario parks that you can take to the bank. Full disclosure: I've only included parks where I've slept overnight. OK, let's go:

The Best of the Best

• Awenda: quiet beaches, nostalgia from visiting during my childhood days and beautiful Georgian Bay. Perfect!
• Charleston Lake: classic Canadian shield park with awesome hikes.
• Silent Lake: maybe my weekend visit is too fresh in my mind but this small park really impressed me.
• Murphy's Point: for a park that's barely over an hour from Ottawa this park hits the right notes. It has a mine that you can visit, nice geology and geography, and pretty vistas.
• Pinery: the only "beach" park on my "best of the best" list. Although it's a bit busy and not a nature park, the  Oak Savannah and long beaches on Lake Huron are too nice not to like.

The Middle-of-the-Road-sters

• Algonquin: whaa..? Alonquin is only average? Yup, for me, that's what it is.While I appreciate it's a quarter the size of Belgium, meaning it's great for the environment, in terms of scenery and facilities for me, your standard car camper, I just find it...OK.
• Silver Lake: the lake is nice but the park is small and a bit too close to the highway for my liking.
• Sharbot Lake: it's been awhile since I went to Sharbot Lake so my memory is hazy. The words "distinctly average" keep coming to mind though.
• Killbear: I debated whether I preferred Killbear or Murphy's Point and in the end I settled on Murphy's point. Maybe I just had too high expectations for Killbear seeing how it's supposed to be one of the highlights of Ontario's cottage country.
• Bon Echo*: has cool ancient petroglyphs so it's a potential "best of the best" but I was sick the last time I went and that's coloured my opinion...for now.

The Dregs

• Rideau River: OK, to be fair, I had a great late summer experience at Rideau River recently. And Margot had fun. But because it's only 30 minutes from Ottawa it's a bit too urban for my tastes. The heavy boat traffic in the summer on the river doesn't help.
• Fitzroy Harbour: a decent park but again, being so close to Ottawa it seems a bit overpopulated and not outdoorsy enough. The big dam within eyesight doesn't help.
• Sibbald Point: a park near to my hometown of Newmarket, Ontario, on the Shores of Lake Simcoe. Has some interesting local history but otherwise kindof "eh". A fun place to party when you're a teenager though!
• Six Mile Lake: I used to love going here when I was a kid but the Government ruined it unfortunately. First, they crammed a gazillion campsites into it. Second, a major highway now runs right by the park. I visited the park last year and was heartbroken!
• Voyageur: I made the mistake of visiting Voyageur, a somewhat dirty, uninspiring park on the shores of the Ottawa river, after visiting Maui so perhaps my perspective was a bit skewed at the time...but too bad! Other than Six Mile this is probably my least favourite Ontario provincial park. Sorry Voyageur!

Wow that's a lot of parks! Lots of great memories too - even in the "dregs" :)

Hopefully Margot will always have a connection with nature

* Oops in an earlier version of this blog post I forgot about Bon Echo.

Exploring the edge of the World

I've travelled far and wide in Canada: British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick, Quebec, PEI and Nova Scotia. Everywhere I've been (even francophone Quebec) has felt reasonably similar to my home in Ottawa, Ontario. For that reason I've tended to make certain assumptions about how Canadians live and who we are as a people.

All my assumptions have been thrown out the window now that I've visited Newfoundland.

Glosette Girl, Margot and I are currently wrapping up our 12 day tour of this far flung province perched on the edge of North America. It has been been an eye opening experience. I don't want this blog post to sound like a tourist ad but the scenery has been spectacular.

I mean, what's your fancy? Haunting beauty?

The gates of "Western Brook Pond"

Vertigo inducing hike?

Hiking in the clouds of the Skerwink Trail

Or just your regular, run-of-the mill, breathtaking lookout?

Lobster Cove Lookout

Of course, pretty much everywhere in Canada has pretty scenery. What has made Newfoundland extra special for me has been the people. The people here are different. They say "hi" and look you in the eye. They are rougher but nicer. And everything you've heard about the Newfoundland accent is true (other than in St John's, where the accent is less pronounced). The words are English, I suppose, but they just come out of people's mouths in a different way!

And I haven't even gone into the traditions yet. Ever heard of a Mummer's parade?

This weather here is harsh and to add to that (or sometimes because of that) history has not been kind. A melancholy feeling hangs over the air. Yet there is a fierce and authentic happiness that is hard to put my finger on. I can see why, even with its seemingly endless winters, people can fall in love with this island.