But we’re not done with Canada yet! Next we went to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. We stayed in the Lunenburg City Campground, near the downtown, on a hill, in the wind, overlooking a bay. The days we were there, the city hosted a music festival, we didn’t know when we made reservations, but it was fun. We represented the US at the campground! In most places we stayed, we were the only or one of few from the States, the only ones from California. We rodeour bikes to Mahone Bay for one of our activities, also a cute town. We ate lots of fish, and enjoyed our stay in the area.

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia – campsite

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada – We made it!

Cape Breton Highlands is an amazing place. The farthest place east we’ve been, next is the Atlantic Ocean! Here there is great hiking, rocky beach walks, and wonder views. The National Park is quite large, very diverse, and rugged. Is is a contrast to our Pacific on the left coast of the US, smaller waves and it seems less sea live close to shore. We are here at an ideal time and I suspect in a storm, it’s pretty wild. The beaches are rocky as you see from the photos. I’ll let the photos show you the area from our lenses.

Some observations about our trip across Canada. We’ve found the people to be very friendly and helpful. The roads in BC, Alberta, and parts of Saskatchewan were very good, much better than out rough California roads. Nova Scotia main roads were also great, not so for secondary roads and the Cape Breton roads outside of the National Park. They were some of the most jarring roads we’ve experienced. But as I said, California roads are not so hot either!

Victoria, Cape Breton, Canada

Antigonish, Canada – second stop

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

Broad Cove Campground, Cape Breton, Canada

Water Service – Cape Breton

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada – my artwork

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada – Red Chairs

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

Broad Cove Campground, Cape Breton NP, afternoon rest

Whiddens, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada

Almost to Nova Scotia! We crossed the border into Nova Scotia and into one of the worst rainstorms I had ever driven through. No place to stop but everyone was driving very carefully and slowly, at least those we could see! It lasted a long while but finally subsided before we got to Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Hope to never have that again, but with our crazy weather patterns, I’m not holding my breath. We stayed in Antigonish, a university town with a quaint downtown and good restaurants. We are now in seafood chowder country so we had our first! Wonderful! The campground, Whiddens, is nice, not fancy, right next to the downtown. It turns out we will stay another night on our way back through because the drive to Cape Breton Highlands was longer than expected. So, we needed two days to reach Lunenburg.

Mactaquac Provential Park

The next one night stop was Mactaquac Provincial Park, near Fredericton, New Brunswick Province. It too was very steeply sloped pull-through, just like the previous two Provincial Parks. The power was also hidden in the shrubs between sites as in the photos. Interesting setup. It was a beautiful location with nice walks and trails if we had stayed longer.

Quebec City, Canada

Next was Quebec City. Did I mention that the whole Provence of Quebec is French? All signs and language is French, we were back in France again! Although we knew this, to have all signage change after we crossed the border was a shock. Quebec City was as nice as it was described. We happened to be there at the start of the two week construction worker holiday, so the city was packed with people, but still fun. There are bike paths everywhere and so the next day we road our bikes from southwest of the city, through the old city, and all the way up the river to Montmorency Falls (chutes Montmorency), a beautiful 30 miles on wonderful separated trails. The beginning bike path was a newly completed linear parks with sculptures, viewing, and picnic areas.

Quebec City, bike trail

Montmorency Falls

KOA, Quebec City, Canada

Old Quebec City, Canada

Old Quebec City, Canada

Quebec City, Canada

Montreal Canada

Then Montreal, another beautiful city worth more time than the two days we stayed there. Again we stayed in a beautiful KOA, very different from those in the states. It was a 15 minute drive to the Metro stop and then into the city. On the first day we walked much of the city with rain threatening, and then it stormed! We hid in a small hotel until the rain let up and then continued. The next day was beautiful and we enjoyed more of the old city and the St. Lawrence River area.

Waterfront, Montreal, Canada

Clock Tower Beach, Montreal, Canada

Notre – Dame Basilica, Montreal, Canada

Montreal, Canada

Norte-Dame Basilica, Montreal, Canada

Montreal, Canada

KOA, Montreal South

Chambly, south on Montreal, Canada

Chambly, south on Montreal, Canada

Ottawa, Canada

We stayed in a municipal park on the outskirts of Ottawa, nice and relatively close to the bus stop into the city. We only had one night there so just a visit for the afternoon and early evening in the city. If we’re ever in the area again, we’ll stay longer, it is a beautiful city with lots to see and do.

Parliament, Ottawa, Canada

Major’s Hill Park, Ottawa, Canada

Major’s Hill Park, Ottawa, Canada

Ottawa River, Ottawa, Canada

Wesley Clover Park, Ottawa, Canada

Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park

The next stop was Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park. It was a beautiful setting and although we only stayed one night, there were beautiful hikes along the river. It’s a place that could be explored. Again though, the pull-through was very sloped, not sure if all of the Quebec parks are like that, and the electric connections, hard to find. Then, on to Ottawa.

Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park

Electricity, Provincial Park Style

Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park

Sault ste Marie, Canada

Sault ste Marie was not what we expected, but the KOA was one of the best RV campgrounds we’ve stayed in. Very nice facilities, grounds, and staff. The town was a working town with a downtown that was not very vibrant, much seemed dead. The major locks are on the US side, so only history here. Very few places to even to eat. They did have a fabric store to buy some cord for our broken skylight shade. The next day we took it apart and restrung the cord, it took a while but we did it! But, a beautiful day and riverfront.

KOA, Sault Ste. Marie, Canada

Sault Ste. Marie, Canada

Sault ste Marie, Canada

White Lake Provencial Park 

On to Canada again, this time into the Province of Ontario. So far on our trip, we’ve covered all of the Provinces from the west coast – British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and now Ontario. Our stop was at White Lake Provincial Park. The parks are beautiful, but tight and check out how the electrical hookups are located! Many of the sites have a great deal of slope, even pull-throughs it seems. This was a soggy stop on the way to Sault ste Marie, but beautiful nevertheless.