Parc Jean Drapeau.

One night in Montreal we went for a bike ride from Greenfield Park to Vieux Montreal in order to stalk Chuck Hughes at his restaurant, Garde Manger. These were taken en route, from Parc Jean-Drapeau. By the time we got to the restaurant, we were too hot and sweaty to show our faces. Instead, we danced in the alley behind Garde Manger, hoping to lure Chuck. It didn't work.

Newfie beach.

A beautiful beach in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland. We found tons of sand dollars here! 

Night in.

These were taken in Vancouver at the home of our super hospitable hosts. A lovely night in with lots of candles and good company.

Hark!

Vagrants meet their match in Halifax.

White balancing skillz.

Our super-advanced film making techniques revealed! This is at the Hopewell Rocks in the Bay of Fundy. 

Funny dog picture.

This is a really funny dog we saw at our campground in Tofino. He was cruisin' with a cool-looking older couple in a rad camper van. Looking at this photo still makes me laugh every time.

Making the most of it.

These were taken on our first full day in Halifax. IT WOULDN'T STOP RAINING. Instead of commiserating, we ran around like fools, splashing in puddles and gesturing to cars to soak us with oily runoff. It was bliss. 

Easily Amused.

These were taken down by the ocean in Victoria. Jono and I found these slimy rubbery things that highly amused us. After a photo shoot with our new found joys, we thought it would be a good idea to drag them back to the beach and assault Staz with them. She wasn't amused. Then we dissected them with a Swiss Army Knife. Jonna later found out from a kayak guide that the hollow inside of our favourite play things contains carbon monoxide. Awesome. 

Saying goodbye to Newfoundland.

On our drive from Gander to Port-Aux-Basques (where we'd catch the ferry back to Nova Scotia), we were treated to a beautiful sunset over a roadside mountain range. I never really realized that Newfoundland had so much mountainous terrain! 

Honeymoon.

One of the greats. This is one of those "a picture is worth a thousand words" cases.  

Jonna A. MacDonald

Here's a pic of Jonna getting fresh with John A. MacDonald in Charlottetown. A large gaggle of Asian tourists found her scandalous posing very amusing and encouraged her to "mack" on the Mac. Shock horreur! 

Lobstah.

These were all taken at Jonna's cottage, which, on one occasion during our stay, became the location of a gourmet lobster throw-down. There was fresh Maine lobster, there were scallops, there was haddock. It was delicious. 

The table in-waiting.

Lobstah tools.

Staz makes friends with her food.

The carnage.

Fire!

These were taken at Jonna's cottage on Lac Megantique in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. We roasted some "fat free" marshmallows. Lesson learned? Never use fat free marshmallows. 

Scarecrowed.

These were taken at "Joe's Scarecrows" near Cheticamp on Cape Breton Island. We were coming to the end of the Cabot Trail when we saw this field full of characters along the road. I had seen Joe's before on a Billy Connelly documentary and thought it was super weird. It was even weirder in real life. There are all different kinds of scarecrows here, and a lot of them are modeled after real people (Jean Cretien, George Bush, and the Queen, to name a few). The whole thing is super eerie, but also super cool. I would definitely recommend checking it out if you're ever on the island! 

Peggy's Cove.

Peggy's Cove. Beware the rogue waves! 

Mud Fun.

These were taken at the Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick on the Bay of Fundy. Jono decided to bare-foot it on the mud flats. I think it would be outstanding to streak across the vast expanse of mud. Too bad there were so many tourists around!

Tree Time

This photo was taken in Stanley Park in Vancouver. We had just ridden city cruiser bicycles up a gravel incline, and, having lived in a van for a while, I was feeling the burn. Exhausted, I plunked my out-of-shape butt down underneath this tree and looked up. Voila! 

D'Awesome.

This was taken in Dawson in the wee hours of the morning after Georgia's wedding. I handed my camera over to my mom for a while and I guess she snapped this shot. Not too long before this was taken we had been dancing our butts off in the pouring rain. I guess we needed a rest. The folks in the picture with Jonna and I are Mel and Jimmy, two locals and totally awesome characters. What a pleasure to hang out with this bunch! 

Photo Madness

Hello friends.

So reality has officially reared its ugly head and I find myself thinking: "Wow. This summer actually happened." It's hard to believe. It's also hard to believe it's been over a month since we got back to The Big Smoke.

I'm already nostalgic, so I've been flipping through a lot of the photos we took over the course of our journey. Today I was looking through them and I thought, "Shit son-- I gotta post some of these!"

It's a little overwhelming to think about getting all of my favourites up here (I managed to whittle my collection down to a 'manageable' 1500 from the 2000 I originally had), so I've decided I will post one or two per day, unedited and in no particular order. Keeps it fresh, ya know?

Hopefully this will keep you entertained and still interested while we continue to edit the mass amounts of video footage on our hard drive.

So here we go:

Today's photo was taken in B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L Victoria, BC. I believe this place used to be a nunnery. There were great big cedar trees all around the edges of the lawn and the sun was shining in that perfect dusky way. Wonderful.

In other totally random news, I found a really great quote today that I wanted to share with everybody I saw, so I'll share it with you here:


"What if a demon were to creep after you one night, in your loneliest loneliness and say 'this life which you live must be lived by you once again and innumerable times more; and every pain and joy and thought and sigh must come again to you, all in the same sequence. The eternal hourglass will again and again be turned and you with it, dust of the dust!' Would you throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse that demon? Or would you answer 'never have I heard anything more divine?'"

- Friedrich Nietzsche

Almost Famous.

Hey, check it out!

Jonna's uncle called the Windsor Star.

Too funny.

http://www.windsorstar.com/three+friends+Canadian+road/5321364/story.html

Photograph by: JASON KRYK, The Windsor Star

The story was on the front page of the "Bright Side" section of today's paper.

The bigger media outlets better hop on this quick before we become too important to speak with them! Hehehe. 

Stay tuned for pics and vids... coming soon!

Road Tunes

Here is a compilation of some of the songs that kept us company along the journey. There were many more, however these are the standouts. Some Canadian, some not, but all sung at a piercing pitch, loud volume and with the windows rolled down. 

• Tom Morello- The Road I Must Travel
• Willie Nelson- On the Road Again
• Rusted Roots- Send Me On My Way
• Flogging Molly- Drunken Lullabies
• Joel Plaskett Emergency- Work Out Fine
• Pink Mountaintops- Holiday
• Musical Youth- Pass the Dutchie
• Classified- O Canada
• City High- What Would You Do?
• Eminem- Without Me
• Ace of Base- Cruel Summer
• Sam Roberts- Streets of Heaven (Promises, Promises)
• Great Lake Swimmers Pulling on a Line
• Beck- E-Pro
• Train- Meet Virginia 
• The New Radicals- Someday We'll Know
• Pitbull- Give Me Everything
• One Republic- Good Life

Here's a link to a playlist in case you'd like to listen to it that way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrBfPLUm5so&feature=BFp&list=PLB0149C3ED7A2291E

Back Home!

3 girls, 2 months, 1 van & a whole lotta duck tape. 

We are back in our respective homes! This picture was taken in Danielle's driveway after a long haul from Riviere-du-Loup to Cookstown, Ontario. The van made it! 26 000 kilometers and our bumper did almost fall off in St. John's but it was nothing a little ingenuity and a whole lot of camouflage duck tape couldn't repair. Temporarily at least. Many thanks to those who helped us along the way!

I have traded in one sedentary lifestyle for another (car chair to house chair) and although I am having a hard time adjusting to my no longer nomadic lifestyle, I am having no problem adjusting to regular showers, a bed and a refrigerator. The pleasures of a settled existence.

More posts to follow with highlights of the trip, pictures of favourite places, pro/con lists of all the places we visited and the lingo we created while living in our Chevy Astro van.

We made it.

Well, here we are. We've made it to the eastern-most point of our journey-- Cape Spear in Newfoundland. Before we start the homeward leg, here's a summary of our time spent in St. John's.

During our stay in St. John's, the van was, quite literally, our home. Thanks to sparse internet and a fierce desire to avoid shelling out cash, we ended up spending most of our nights in the local Sobey's parking lot. How quaint.

On a recommendation from a friendly local we met in said Sobey's parking lot, we spent Thursday night hanging out at The Levee. The night was a lot of fun. So much fun, in fact, that the morning looked like this:

How could I complain about sleeping in my van when I had this to wake up to?

Let's just say that those Newfoundlanders sure know how to party, and, as a result, our next night was an early one.

On Saturday we hit up the local farmers' market. We'd been dreaming about the food there since the last time we were here (October 2010), and we weren't disappointed. We were also treated to some tunes from Michael Banks, a friend of our Sobey's parking lot comrade and a very talented musician.

Tasty treats at the farmers' market.

After filling up on some soul-satisfying grub, we hopped in the van for a mini road trip to Ferryland. What a wonderful way to spend a sunny afternoon!

Jono communing with nature in Ferryland.

That night we hit the town again and got the sweetest shout out at Michael's show. After the set was done, something really cool happened:

Girl and guy sitting next to us at the bar: "Are you girls travelling across the country, by any chance?"
Us: "Yes..."
Guy sitting next to us: "I think I'm your couch surfing host for tomorrow in Gander!"

Small world. His name is Chris and I'm surfing on his lovely red couch right now. He was in town for the weekend with his girlfriend, and just happened to be at the same bar as us, at the same table as us, the night before we were supposed to meet for the first time. Crazy!

Tomorrow we continue westward, ultimately en route back to Toronto. I'm going to miss Newfoundland and St. John's. I think I can safely say St. John's is my favourite place in this country, and I know I'll be back soon. Like my horoscope told me the last time I was here, I've found my "tribe."

See you later, St. John's.

From The Rock,
Danielle.

Halifood.

We`ve made it to Halifax where we`re staying with Tyler, a dear friend of mine from high school. So far our time in this beautiful city has consisted of dancing, puddle splashing, and eating. And eating. And eating.

The great butter binge of 2011, as I`ve decided to call it, started with a trip to Two if by Sea, a delightful little cafe across the bridge in Dartmouth. We had croissants. They were huge. And delicious.

Pre butter bomb.

Post.

After this arterial clog-fest, Tyler took us on a mini-tour of Dalhousie University, where he treated us to a free dance class in the school studio (that`s right, he`s a choreographer AND a croissant connaisseur!)

When we left the studio, it was raining. Hard. We decided to make the most of it by splashing through the streets and encouraging drivers to zoom through puddles so we could be showered with oil-soaked gutter runoff. It was fun!

The best part about the rain was that it disguised how horribly sweaty we were after a small amount of physical exertion in the dance studio. 

After drying off, we gorged ourselves on pizza and martinis and ended the night with a gleeful ride on the local teeter-totter.

Today Jono, Staz and I hit up Peggy`s cove, where we marveled at the ability of swarms of tourists to detract from nature`s natural beauty. We also saw some cute dogs, one of which appeared to be driving a Honda golf cart.

Beware the rogue waves!

Tour guide.

A little further down the road we met up with Courtenay, a friend we made in the Yukon who lives in St. Margaret`s bay. She took us to a beautiful beach and showed us her wicked rooftop deck. We made sure to have Courtenay and her sister, Charlotte, sign the van before we left, since they didn`t get a chance to sign it in the Yukon.

When we got back to Tyler`s place, we were greeted by a tantalizing aroma. Tyler-- that beautiful, beautiful man-- made Boeuf Bourguignon. Drool. Tyler`s muse for the evening? BUTTER.

Appetizers. Where's the butter? (Come on, Tyler).

Chocolate. With butter.

Mushrooms. With butter.

Butter. With butter.

Butter-crazed.

Needless to say, the dinner was IN-FREAKIN-CREDIBLE. My arteries are still screaming bloody murder.

Tomorrow we board the 14-hour "vomit comet" to Argentian, Newfoundland. I hope I wake up from my butter-induced food coma in time to catch it.

See you on the rock,
Smelly.