Travel on the Open Road

  Many moons ago, I asked our kids to look at a bunch of different provincial parks, that were roughly within a 5 hour drive from our home, and asked them which sounded like the best to see. The top choice was a park closer to a 7 hour drive from home, that had snuck in, like a sneaky little ninja. My kids were sad when we repeatedly told them, not this year. But as they have gotten older, they have gotten more and more competent around a camp site. And this year, we're going to go check it out, and see just how awesome it really is. So where are we going? We are going to Clearwater Provincial Park. There is supposed to be cove/caves, beautiful water (which I hope is warm enough for me to swim in, I know the kids will). We are hoping to do some canoeing, and hiking, sitting around a fire and eating marshmallows.  On the way home, because we have found, especially camping, that an 7 or 8 hour drive home is just too much. So we are going to camp in Duck Mountain Prov

As my eldest is in scouts, we have checked out a few camps that they host over the summer, and it's nice to know that they are teaching him just as much as taking care of them. He is going to be doing two different camps this year, both are canoe camps. The first one will be going to Grass River Provincial Park. So, my first thought was where is that? So let’s google map it… and it doesn’t exist. Um, okay. Let’s look at the government page ( http://www.gov.mb.ca/sd/parks/popular_parks/northwest/grass.html ). Alright, it says it’s a North East Manitoba park… That’s a big corner, but better than all of Manitoba. Oh cool, lowlands meet Precambrian shield, historically important during the fur trade era… Oh! It’s by The Pas! I kinda know where that is, I think – and it’s not close. They’ll have a long drive up there (home to The Pas is about 6.5 hours), but nothing unmanageable. Hopefully it'll still be light out when they arrive to set up camp. Of course the sun sets so late in ea

So, in my previous posts I showed a little of our timeline for our trip out east. It was definitely a hard trip to schedule, but there were really only 2 things that I really wish I had done differently, which is not too bad considering one was added after (and one was because I had scribbled on my calendar to many times and had lost a day. How even?) Why are we going? Eldest is going to a Scout camp outside of Halifax, and being a prairie family who has never been further East than Niagara Falls, we all wanted to see what our Atlantic Provinces had to offer. View of the ferry from our "short" crossing from Cape Breton to Newfoundland. We loaded near midnight We did research and found out what our “musts” and “that would be nices” would be. Never having been there, it was from things that trickled through collective consciousness (like Peggy’s Cove and Bay of Fundy), web searches, and talking to friends. It was a surprisingly fairly short list that is

Because, yes, just for fun can be the reason, and dare I say *should* be the reason? I want a road trip to go camping. I want a road trip to visit a friend in a different city. I want a road trip to see enormous statues of weird things. I want a road trip to see some neat museums. I want a road trip to eat regional foods in their regions. There are so many fun things to see and do! Dungeon Provincial Park, NL For something like this, you would want to do your research and find out what you want to see or do. There and many websites that will list things like giant statues, or parks, or museums, or nearly anything else that you can think of (maybe one day, here too!). After you have found all the things that you want to see (make sure you find out when they are open!), see if you can make a route between all the places. And make sure that if you are going to smaller places, you are comfortable driving on all the roads – there are still gravel roads between smaller tow

Why would you ask why? Road trips are fun! Do you need more reason? Well, sometimes there is an actual reason for a trip. You’re going to a family reunion. Or a friend reunion. Maybe there’s a wedding. Maybe your kid went on a trip to somewhere you want to see, so you decide to pick him up (that is a totally legit reason, right? I hope so! Because been there, done that!). Family Reunion, Lake Diefenbaker, SK Both have very different ways to plan. And maybe there’s more than one reason that you are taking the trip. Going out for a wedding; and exploring on the way home. So how do you plan for this? We’ll start exploring with the time sensitive one. Plan your route. If it’s more than you can drive in a day (which will depend on your personal comfort), make sure there is somewhere to stop at the end of your day. Some routes have lots of smaller cities or towns, but some routes don’t, and you don’t want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with nowhere fo

Sometimes the road trip chooses you, sometimes you choose the road trip. My family and I go on many road trips. We have gone camping, visiting family, and exploring. Some trips are close to home, some have taken days to travel. Some have been near constant travel. Google says St John's, NL is a 57 hour drive from home... We consider ourselves pretty lucky to live near the longitudinal center of Canada, and we have tried to explore the beauty that is Canada. I will be writing up my tips for trips. Some will be great, and some won't work for you - isn't that just the way. Eventually, I hope to include tips that haven't worked for us either - but might work for you. I will be telling stories about our trips, and, hopefully with practice, I'll get better at writing too.   See you later! Shaunna