Thank you Canada!
As we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving today, I had a few things to share and in the process create my first Medium post.
(TLDR: Trans Canada road trip, a must!)
Ashwini (my partner) and I recently completed a road trip across Canada from Vancouver to Montreal and this is a short description with some pictures about our experience.
If Ashwini had not jumped and said yes to the idea of driving to Montreal, this would not have happened! Thanks a lot Ashu :)
At first, it seemed daunting to think about driving 4800+ kms but since I liked driving and had driven some long stretches before (to Banff etc) and since Ashu would also be chipping in, we decided to give it a go. We chose to drive within Canada instead of going south and driving through US as we wanted to experience the Canadian landscape and provinces. And I am so glad about that decision :)
We decided to stop at the major cities along the way for the nights. It was tricky for the last leg as we weren’t sure about the cities between Thunder Bay and Ottawa as we couldn’t do it in one go. We decided on Sudbury as the stopover after considering other smaller towns in between.
In a nut shell, our itinerary was something like this:
- Day 1: Vancouver, BC to Calgary, AB (10+ hrs)
- Day 2: Calgary, AB to Drumheller, AB and Regina, SK (1.5 hrs + 6.5 hrs)
- Day 3: Regina, SK to Winnipeg, MB (6 hrs)
- Day 4: Winnipeg, MB to Thunder Bay, ON (7.5 hrs)
- Day 5: Thunder Bay, ON to Sudbury, ON (11.25 hrs)
- Day 6: Sudbury, ON to Ottawa, ON (5.5 hrs)
- Day 7: Ottawa, ON to Montreal, QC (2 hrs)
Since we had been to Banff a number of times, we decided to drive a bit further on day 1 all the way to Calgary for the stop over. If you haven’t been to Banff, consider staying there as its quite beautiful! We started a bit late in the day around 10 AM as we had to pick up the rental car. Would have been a bit better had we started early in the day. That would have meant that we would still have some light when we passed Lake Louis :)
I have been wanting to thank the provincial and federal governments for the wonderful roads. This is probably one of the few areas where i am fully satisfied with the use of my tax dollars. Thank you DriveBC and all the crew that ensure our roads are awesome and safe!
Even though we had to drive a bit in the night to reach Calgary, most of the highway from Banff to Calgary was 2 lanes and there was quite a bit of distance between our lanes and the opposite lanes. You can especially appreciate it when you are driving in the night and are thankful that the lights are not blinding you.
After a good rest at Calgary, we just had enough time to walk across to the riverfront in the downtown area. Was quite beautiful in the morning!
We then headed towards Drumheller, AB to visit the palaeontology museum. While the scenery in BC was all about mountains and valleys and winding roads, the drive in Alberta was much different with endless farms and flat lands as far as your eyes can seen.
And as we approached Drumheller, the scene changed completely to the badlands! Not any less stunning than before.
The Royal Tyrell Museum was an interesting experience and the surroundings were quite beautiful in the beginning of fall.
Our next destination was Regina, SK and we chose to drive on highway 1 as we wanted to make sure we had enough cities on the way to fill up on gas. On the way we stopped at Medicine Hat, AB to view the world’s largest Teepee :)
It was overcast that day as we approached Regina and we stopped along the way to take in the stunning light and beauty as the sun set. May be that’s why they call Saskatchewan, the land of living skies.
Since Regina to Winnipeg is a relatively short drive (6 hrs) we decided to do some quick sight seeing. We had an awesome breakfast at Fresh and Sweet cafe near the downtown area. It was quite busy with the office crowd that morning.
We also visited the RCMP Heritage Center. Interesting to learn about the history of RCMP.
We then started our drive towards Winnipeg, MB. Have to say, at no point during our journey did we feel lonely (as we had been warned before). There was always some traffic in both directions. And we planned to avoid driving in the nights as well, so, it was quite good all the way through.
When we reached Winnipeg, we still had some light and we decided to do a quick stop at the Royal Canadian Mint building there. We couldn’t go in as it was already closed for the day. Quite a nice sight.
Winnipeg is quite a big city and I wasn’t expecting that. Was pleasantly surprised by that. It was also quite lively. Maybe its because its still not winter yet :). The streets and houses (of what little we got to see on our short drive around the city) were pretty neat!
The next phase of the drive was towards Thunder Bay, ON. We made a quick stop at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights before we started our drive. This is supposed to be the only ‘national gallery’ outside of Ottawa.
The scenery again changed from the flat farm lands in the prairies to trees in fall as we entered Ontario. Again, all the time, we were never bored of the landscapes along the way.
As we entered Ontario, i think highway 1 became highway 17. And it also turned into single lane traffic with passing lanes along the way.
Another striking thing is that as you enter Ontario, you can see on maps, the state is dotted with thousands of lakes. And as we passed through Kenora, Dryden etc, we could see numerous beautiful lakes along the way. It was probably even more beautiful because of fall.
We had to get an early start from Thunder Bay, ON as the drive to Sudbury was the longest in the whole trip (~11 hrs). One of the things we had to plan before we started on the drive was to identify where you would need to fill up. This is probably very important as it will give you peace of mind during the drive instead of worrying whether you would get any gas stations ahead as the fuel gauge drops.
We also stopped by the Terry Fox memorial. His story is an inspiration always. It was here at Thunder Bay that his run had to halt as he was taken ill.
The drive from Thunder Bay to Sudbury hugs the lake Superior for most of the way and it is quite scenic. Probably one of the reasons why the 11 hour journey wasn’t too traumatic :)
We encountered many construction delays along the way in Ontario. The single lane highway meant added delays. Nonetheless, the work has to be done and I thank the crew who get it done.
After much needed rest at Sudbury, we took it a bit easy the following morning before we started our journey towards Ottawa. Along the way, the yellows started to turn into oranges and reds and overall the scenery got that much more beautiful.
As you approached Ottawa, the single lanes became multi lanes and you could feel the big city vibe much before you reached Ottawa. We had decided to stop over at Ottawa since we had never been there even though we had been to Montreal several times. We had some time to visit the Parliament hill and take in the downtown experience of Ottawa.
The last leg of our trip was the shortest as well :) We had done all the hard work much before.
I have to say, Vancouver and Montreal are my loves on each coast of Canada :)
This trip, the timing near the thanksgiving and also the proximity to Canadian elections (Oct 19th) gave me enough time to reflect on things. I am thankful that I got this opportunity to experience Canada from coast to ‘almost’ coast with the person I love. I am glad that Ashu and I ensured that we cast our ballots ahead of time as we knew that we would not be in our home riding on election day.
In all, i think that the trans Canada road trip is a great experience that you would cherish.
If you are here, thanks for your time in reading all this :)
