Welcome to Gaia! ::

i've been on the road travelling Canada's east coast the past week and a half or so, and i got back today. never really mentioned it because i had internet access the whole time (my dad is such a tech addict XD) but i'm happy i'm finally on my home computer and i don't have to b***h with my brother over the laptop (in which it takes him at least 20 minutes just to answer ONE email).

so trip outline/highlights:

day one (Tues, July 22): left home around 5pm or so and basically drove until Montreal. took a long time because when we got to Montreal, the highway we were supposed to take had been closed down for maintenance so we had to take streets alongside it and it was incredibly busy for midnight D: we were all glad to sleep. it was also cloudy and rainy a lot of the day, which didn't seem like a good sign for our trip.

day two: got up early to drive some more. drove all day to St. John, NB. we went to sleep again. the place is funny because our hotel was right by a Hollywood-like sign XD drove by the Reversing Falls on the way to the hotel, but didn't stop and look. rained most of the day again.

day trois: get up early again to catch ferry to Nova Scotia. drove past the Reversing Falls again, noticed that they didn't look the same as they had last night, so i assumed that was them reversed. not particularly exciting, but then again i care less early in the morning. got on the ferry, sat around bored for 3 hours. got off at Digby, which is a quaint little seaside town. my brother started driving and we didn't really stop until we got to Halifax. checked into our hotel, then went wandering towards downtown. can't remember doing anything particularly memorable, other than stopping in at Boston Pizza for dinner and having the best tasting chocolate-caramel molten cake ever. weather kind of overcast while still in NB, but cleared up by when driving to Halifax.

(this one's lengthy)
day four: crappy-looking weather, but we don't let it bother us. we decide to do a harbour boat tour after breakfast at a nearby Micky D's. we make a plan to split up; my mom and i head to the harbour downtown to get tickets while my dad and brother head back to the hotel for some extra stuff (ponchos, cell phone, etc.) my mom and i arrive at the harbour and get the tickets, then wait at a nearby street corner for the other two. sometime later, my dad shows up alone, and somewhat fatigued. apparently, my dad and brother split up when they got to the hotel, agreeing to meet in the lobby; my brother would go downstairs to the parking garage to find the cell phone in the car, while my dad grabbed the ponchos. my dad arrives at the lobby, waits around for what he thinks is several minutes, then decides that maybe my brother went ahead and tries to catch up with him. but, he never caught up to him, and he ended up getting lost.

so, of course, we assume the worst; my brother went wandering off when my dad didn't show, or something, and got lost himself. since my brother is like me - doesn't like talking to people when he can avoid it - we think he probably won't ask anybody for directions or anything. we split up and wander downtown, looking all over for him, call the cell phone (which was maybe dead), the hotel and the hotel room. we ended up cancelling the tickets, asking a police officer for help, then eventually heading back to the hotel with the hopes that he's still there (my mom took a different route to get some Timmy's coffee) it's already been 2 or 3 hours, and the whole time my dad's saying how much of an idiot he is because he made some stupid decisions, and thinking that my brother's never going to forgive him. sadly enough, my brother's been somewhat angry with my dad recently, so i wasn't sure if my brother really would forgive him, but i told him if he was genuinely sorry and admitted he was wrong, then he'd probably be fine.

we get back to the hotel, and we split up again; dad heading downstairs to check for the phone (because my brother's horrible at looking for things and probably didn't find it) while i head to the room. i'm really scared and worried for him at this point, because even though he's 17 and a head taller than me, he's still my precious little brother and i can't think of life without him. i get to the room, and annoyingly, frustratingly, the key that hasn't been working still won't work. i try several times before desperately knocking on the door. i hear movement, and thank god, my brother opens the door. i give him a hug, even though i'm wet from the drizzle outside, then come inside and quickly explain what happened. he's obviously irritated, and apparently had been sitting in the lobby waiting for us to finally come back to get him pretty much the whole time and had only gone up to the room within the past half-hour. few minutes later, my dad shows up, is incredibly relieved to find my brother there, and we explain things in more detail. later, my mom shows up, and we all relax as we get the full details of everything.

so, after re-evaluating our iternerary (as well as strategies for any future situations), we decide to just spend the rest of the day souvenir shopping. after getting tired and drenched (man did my feet hurt), we head back and have dinner. by the end of the day, we're joking about the whole experience. my brother said he didn't want to go on the tour anyway XD

day five: get up and head to Peggy's Cove. weather seems better than before. we get there and then walk to the rocks. the waves there are amazing eek i'm serious! they're like something out of those movies with the epic splashes. my brother did some what we call "Fantasia" poses after The Sorcerer's Apprentice in Fantasia. we're all silly like that. the rocks were fun to climb around on too. i bought a pretty piece of artwork by a local (because i'm an art junky) and he even signed it! smile after that, we drove around to some of the small fishing villages and shopped some more. drove back to Halifax.

day sexta: got up, had breakfast, then went to the Alexander Keith's brewery for a tour. left Halifax after to head to Cape Breton Island. mostly uneventful. stayed in a town called Baddeck. the room we ended up staying at was nice, but the weather finally cleared and warmed up, and we had no air conditioning. so it was hot as hell when we were trying to get to sleep.

(lengthy again because i loved this part of the trip)
nananichi: get up again and drive up towards the road known as the Cabot Trail. we stop to look at "Joe's Scarecrows", a field of fun scarecrows a guy put up for giggles. most, if not all of them, have little signs saying something about them and their names. we came across this because of a show we watched featuring the comedian Billy Connolly as he went across Canada. he spent 4 hours there! it was an interesting stop.

we continue on to the national park, and decide, after stopping for lunch and driving a ways through, to take a hike through one of the paths, particularly the one that overlooks one of the highest points. it was beautiful, but harrowing as it was a little windy and you are very, very high up with no guard rails on the boardwalk (which is only there for that particular point). after getting off the boardwalk, we decide to take the loop part of the trail for some exercise. an hour to two hours later, we're happy to be back to the beginning, as it was long, uphill most of the time, and hot as Hades. we managed to see a moose, but no pictures because it was leaving when we saw it.

drove some more, stopping at a lot of the scenic lookouts to take pictures because it's absolutely breathtaking up there. i'm glad i wasn't driving for a lot of it though, because those roads are narrow, twisty, and it started raining partway through. we did stop for a short little trail, but then decided to move on and head back. went to Sydney for dinner then drove back to Baddeck.

day acht: left Baddeck after checking out the Alexander Graham Bell museum. stayed longer than expected because my dad sat himself in a presentation that went on for a long while. rest of us got bored and we refused to let him explore anymore. went down to the ferry to PEI. not quite as long as the one from New Brunswick to Nova Scotia, but there was a guy playing Celtic music where we were sitting. he was pretty good.

got a bit lost once we hit Charlottetown, but managed to find our hotel. lazed about. weather still good.

day nine: went to Cavendish to check out the beaches and rocks. the beach was nice, but crowded, so we didn't actually swim. took a trail or two and then walked across the rocks and sand. it's really quite nice there. there were jellyfish in the water, and it was hard to walk around while keeping an eye out for the ones who weren't able to make it to deeper water before the tide went out. it was my first time seeing jellyfish, but it was kinda gross seeing the dead or dying ones...

headed for another section to take a walking trail, and soon found that mosquitoes love redheads, particularly my brother. while walking through the woods, he was almost constantly surrounded by a swarm, and even bug spray didn't completely ward them off. i got several bites on my legs, and a couple on my back, which amazes me as i was wearing a fairly thick t-shirt. i still itch, and they drive me crazy. still, got to see a cool bubbling spring.

spent the rest of the day wandering down the waterfront of Charlottetown. tried some Cows Creamery ice cream, and i have to say, they aren't lying when they say best ice cream in Canada. they have the corniest t-shirts ever, but they're all hilarious. wearing one i bought saying "MooTube", with a parody of the YouTube logo biggrin also bought postcards with "Guitar Heifer: Barnyard Tour", "Pirates of the Cowibean", and "CSI: Cow Scene Investigation", subtitle "Moo are you...Moo Moo, Moo Moo". also got a PEI dirt shirt; a shirt that has been dyed with PEI's red dirt. also ate dinner at an Irish-inspired pub, and the guy who played as the entertainment was really good and fun.

day dix: drove down to Quebec City. it was cool going over the Confederation Bridge, though sadly i didn't get any really good pictures of it. found the hotel we were staying at was the same one i stayed at during my grade 8 grad trip, as well as my brother. rooms looked a lot nicer than when i had stayed there all those years ago. went to a multimedia presentation that was was projected on the grain silos of the harbour. got bitten a couple more times, but it was cool. we also realized that the free Cirque du Soleil show in the streets wasn't running while we were there ):

day eleven: go for a hike at a park some ways from the city. checked out some cool waterfalls, but nothing terribly exciting.

went back and then wandered downtown/Old Quebec. i love going to this city each time, because it's so beautiful, but basically all we did was souvenir shopped. found a funny guy doing a show in a little park, and if you ever manage to find him, i suggest you learn your French because he jokingly translates what he says into English and most of the humour is in what he originally says in French.

day 12: today. drove all day from Quebec to home. glad to be back.

i'll try to post pictures soon to get an idea of some of the scenery i describe, because there are just not enough words for what i've seen.

i'm kinda sad because there are 3, count 'em three Cirque du Soleil shows that i'm missing. there's Ovo, the new one that was actually set up nearby the presentation in Quebec (tickets pretty much sold out, too expensive or too crappy), the Invisible Streets, the one in the streets that runs from every Sunday to Wednesday, and Alegria (which has one of the most beautiful curtain call song ever), which is only in Hamilton for 4 days (tomorrow being the last day) before leaving for the US ): i love Cirque shows, but i've never been able to see one live, only videos of them. i hope i'll see one one day. my dad says that if we ever go to Las Vegas, we're all going to see at least one Cirque show.

now i've been munching on some white cheddar cheese curds because cheese curds from Quebec are freaking delicious. if you get any, don't you ever put them in the fridge because they aren't nearly as good.

probably going to bed soon. i'll be glad to be finally sleeping in my own bed.

how sneaky of you x3

YOU WERE IN THE MARITIMES?!?!?!


I LIVE THERE gonk IN MONCTON. WHICH IS LIKE AN HOUR FROM ST-JOHN.

No worries, this is just the first time an Internet friend has been so close XD I wish I would've known in advance you were coming, but ah well, glad you had a fun trip nonetheless!

And yeah there isn't much to see in NB, save maybe beaches and a giant lobster statue. XD But I guess it's pretty quiet and people are generally really nice, so it's not a bad place to live.