My Cross Canada Roadtrip

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Resources Used for My Cross Canada Blog

Vancouver

Six days later, we reached the last stop on our trip, Vancouver.I can not believe that I am already in Vancouver, it feels like a just a few days ago I was on the east coast in Halifax.Vancouver is located on the west coast in the Pacific Maritime Ecozone at 49°15'N and 123°10W. Vancouver is located by the Pacific Ocean and Halifax is located by the Atlantic Ocean. Both of the two cities have similarities and differences. The climate in Vancouver is different from anywhere else in Canada because of its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. Summers are cooler and winters are more mild. Summer temperatures average 13°C and winters temperatures average -1.5°C. Both Halifax and Vancouver recieve approximately 1400mm of rain annually. After we checked into our hotel, we decided to get something to eat and then take a tour of the city. Fortunately for us, we found a tour that includes food and touring.We took the Gastown Tasting Tour, which is a small tour in the Vancouver Food Tour. We got to taste many different foods from Vancouver's historic Gastown region. This tour wasn't just one meal, one seat, one menu or just one drink. This was a tour of all the best food and restaurants Vancouver has to offer in the cities different regions. Before going on this trip, I had no idea what tapas were, but now I love them! Tapas are a spanish snacks made from different mixes. I prefer the mix of cheese and peppers.

For breakfest the next day, I had leftover tapas from the Gastown Tasting Tour we took yesterday. After I had finished my breakfest, we decided to take another tour of the city. We found a FREE guided tour of that offers many tours for specific regions of the city, called Tour Guys. Our tour guide Steve, was very funny and relaxed. He often told us random facts about Vancouver and about the areas we visited in Vancouver. An example of a fact he told us was, Vancouver's total population is 545, 671 and its population density is 5,335/km². We spent the whole day touring the city. First we started off at Stanley Park. Stanley Park has many things to offer with many gardens, recreational space and forests. It felt like we were in the nearby Pacific Rim National Park! Next, our group went hiking in Grouse Mountain. The trail that we followed was very rocky and rough, which made my bad legs ache. Vancouver is an urbanized towns, so most of the land is concrete, with the exception of a few parks and mountains.Vancouver is situated on a peninsula in southwestern British Columbia between the Pacific Ocean and the Coast Mountains. Before Vancouver was urbanized, the area was orignally a temperate rainforest, with large pockets of maple and alder trees and swamplands. When I was at Stanley Park, I could tell that this land used to be a rainforest. After many more landmarks and parks, we reached our last stop of our tour for the day. Our tour guide, took us to an old port where shipments from across the world were delivered and handled many years ago. The port is no longer running because the company that owned the port was bought out by a larger shipping company.Vancouver is the main shipping center for western Canada. Vancouver is involved in heavy trade with many Asian countries, shipping many of Canada's natural resources. Vancouver used to be a major fishing industry, but overfishing resulted in the resources diminishing. Vancouver's largest industry now is forestry because of the abundant amount of trees around Vancouver. After our tour was over,we walked back to our hotel and had dinner. After dinner we stayed in our hotel room, and watched the movie Avatar, but I fell asleep before it ended.

After we had checked out of our hotel, we had our last breakfast of the trip, at a pancake restaurant called Molly's Reach. We spent the last our last day at the Vancouver Aquarium, watching the exotic sea animals from belugas to sharks. The Vancouver Aquarium was fun, but it was much like Marine Land, which is a theme park close to St. Catharines. After the Aquarium, it was time for us to end our trip and say good-bye to Vancouver. I can not believe how fast this trip went by! It was sad to leave, but it felt good to go home and relax, but I knew I had a long car ride back to St. Catharines ahead of me.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Edmonton

From Sudbury, we headed west and 8 days later we reached the capital of Alberta, Edmonton. Edmonton was another big city like Montreal and Halifax. Edmonton has a total population of 730,372 which is the fifth largest in Canada and a populaton density of 1,067/km². I have been to and driven through many different ecozones, such as the Atlantic Maritime, Mixedwood Plains, and Boreal Shield, but Edmonton is located in one of the most peculiar eczones yet! Edmonton is located in the Prairies Ecozone, the land in Edmonton is flat and the soil is very fertile. Almost 95% of the Prairies Ecozone have been converted into farming, but despite the huge amounts of land for farming, most of the people in the Prairies live in urban areas like Edmonton. After we had checked into our hotel, we decided to have some fun and go to the West Edmonton Mall. The West Edmonton Mall was masssive! At the mall we separated and did our own things. My mom went on her own shopping spree, while my dad and I went to GalaxyLand, which was inside the mall. GalaxyLand was amazing! The roller coaster is a must, if you ever go to the West Edmonton Mall. We also went through the indoor Tropical Rainforest and we went bungee jumping! The tropical rainforest was very realistic and entertaining, but the bungee jumping was terrifying. Before we went to the West Edmonton Mall, I had never been bungee jumping before and I never had wanted to go bungee jumping, but my dad talked me into it. All my fears seemed to disapear once I got to the top, but as soon as I jumped, a cold chill went down my spine because I thought the cord had snapped. Once my horifying bungee jumping experience was over, we reunited with my mom and went back to our hotel. We could have spent days at the mall, but sadly we only had one.

After we had breakfeast the next day, we decided to spend the day at the Servus Heritage Festival. The Servus Heritage Festival celebrates the many different cultures of the world and is exclusive to Edmonton. The festival was amazing! I got to see many different performances, artwork, crafts and clothing. I also got to talk to many people who told me stories about their cultral roots. The only bad part at the festival was the weather. The day we went to the festival it was 32°C and I was perspirating a lot! The summers in Edmonton are very dry and warm with the average temperature ranging from 20° to 25°, with some days reaching up to 30°+, like today. The winters are very cold with the average temperature around -11°C. The Rocky Mountains to the west of Edmonton block most of the percipitation. Edmonton only recieves 447mm annually.

The next day we attempted to go camping in the nearby national park Elk Island National Park. My family has never been camping together and the only one of us who had been actually camping before was my dad. Unfortunatley for us, we only lasted a few hours because we forgot to bring sleeping bags. In the end, we drove back to Edmonton and we went to the Interlude Skin Care and Massage, which is the #1 tourist attraction in Edmonton. After we got massages, we went back to the hotel and went to sleep.

Today was our last day in Edmonton and we had not taken a tour of the city yet, so we decided to today. First, we went on the High level Bridge and StreetCar. We went over the river, which I felt like I was on a roller coaster. Also, I had a beautiful view of the city. Next, we went to the Old Strathcona Farmer's Market, where we feasted on Canadian grown vegetables, sausages and chocolate. The food was overpriced at the market, but enjoyable. I would have liked to go there again. While we were at the market, a surveyor came up to my parents and asked them on their opinoins about the a new oil refinery near Edmonton. I thought the situation was hilarious, since my parents are not residents from Edmonton. After my parents told them their opinoins on the refinery, I was intrigued to find that was the main industry in Edmonton. Edmonton has a wide variety of main employment centers. Edmonton is a staging point for large-scale oilsands projects occurring in Northern Alberta, large scale diamond mining operations in the North West Territories and also an educational center. After we were finish our tour of Edmonton, we had dinner and a movie at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre. After our dinner, we checked out of our hotel and headed for our final destination of Vancouver.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Sudbury

Three days later, we reached the city of Sudbury, Ontario located at 46° 30’ N and 80° 58’ W. Sudbury has a similar population to St. Catharines, with a population of 157, 857 and a population density of 49.3/km². It felt kind of weird being in a town with a moderate population compared to being in the cities with large populations like Halifax and Montreal. Sudbury, which is located in the Boreal Shield ecozone, was built on the Canadian Shield and there is lots of exposed rock and lakes. Sudbury has around 330 lakes within its city boundaries! After we had checked into our hotel, we decided to stretch our legs out, since we had been driving for hours, to play mini golf at Dinosaur Valley Mini Golf. The Mini golf area was huge! There was 54 different holes and 6 different courses, it had taken almost 2 hours to finish the entire course. While at the gold course, I was freezing cold. Sudbury is the farthest north city that we have been to so far, and I was just wearing a T-shirt and shorts. The average summer time temperature in Sudbury is around 13°C, while the average winter temperature is -20°C. There is also not very much precipitation with an annual average of 400mm.

The next day we had a big breakfest buffet at our hotel, which was scrumptious. We then decided that we would take a cruise of one of the hundreds of lakes in Sudbury. We took the Cortina Cruise, which was a group boat tour around Ramsey Lake. I got to see a unique view of Sudbury and see some huge lakeside house that were beautiful. Furthermore, during the cruise I was able to drive the boat for a certain period of time, with the help of the captain of course! The rest of the cruise, I spent relaxing, while listening to the soft jazz music playing in the background. The cruise was the most relaxing and entertaining part of the whole cross canada trip so far. Next, we went to the Sudbury Center North, which is a science center. I have been to the Science Center in Toronto before, but to be honest, I enjoyed The Sudbury Center North. The Science center is a very hands-on museum, where you are encouraged to touch, ask questions and make observations. There are also numerous novelties throughout the museum, such as the INCO Cavern, a large tunnel that you must walk through to get to the actual museum, which is designed to look and feel like you are walking through a real underground tunnel.
After that, we went to the Big Nickel to see the giant nickel and to take the underground tour of the mines in Sudbury. Sudbury is the center of Canada's largest mining region, which produces much of the world's nickel and large amounts of copper, platinum, gold, silver, cobalt, and sulfur. Most of Sudbury's population works in the mining industry for their living. From the underground tour I saw how mining requires alot of work and physical labour. I now know that I do not want to persue the job of a miner when I grow up.

Sadly, we had to leave another great city again. As we drove away from Sudbury, I looked back and caught a glimpse of the nearby national park of Georgian Bay Islands National Park of Canada. Once I got Sudbury out of my mind, I was looking forward to visiting Edmonton.

Montreal

Two days later, my family and I reached Montreal located at 47°14N and 84°39W. I thought Halifax had a huge population and population density compared to St. Catharines, but Montreal makes St.Catharines look like a very small village! Montreal is the second largest city in Canada, with a population of 3,365,571 and a population density of 854/km². Only Toronto has a greater population and population density.Unlike Halifax, we decided to take a tour by ourselves instead of with a tour company.Montreal is a bilingual city, but we decided to take a tour of mainly french areas, so most of the landmarks and key industries were in french. Luckily for my family, my dad is fluent in french, so he was like our tour guide while we embarked through Montreal. We began by seeing Musee de Beaux-Arts, which my dad translated to be the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The museum is one of Canada's most famous museums, and it has wide collection of old and new international and Canadian exhibits. There is also another part of the building across the street that people can reach from the underground gallery that connects the two sites. Next, we went to Oratoire Saint-Joseph, which in english means St. Joseph's Oratory. St.Joseph's Oratory, is a basilica built in honor of St. Joseph, Canada's patron saint. This experience was breathtaking for my whole family, even though we are not very religious people. After a quick snack of croissants, we decided to climb up the 764 ft mountain of Mont Royal. Climbing up the mountain was hard work, but it was totally worth it for the view. From the top, I had a great view of Montreal and at the top there was a recreational centre where I played soccer with a few locals from Montreal. Afterwards, my family and I had walked down the mountain andwe headed over to Lemeac Cafe Bistrot. The food and service were excellent at Lemeac Cafe Bistrot. I would highly recommend eating there if you were looking for a place to eat in Montreal.

When we had arrived at our hotel, which was just north of Montreal, I noticed that the landscape and climate were both VERY different than Halifax . Our hotel was a small eccentric log cabin style hotel, located in an area with a high density of deciduous and coniferous trees .When I looked out of the window in my bedroom, I saw endless amounts of trees. In the forest, I saw a couple of moose, a few beavers, foxes and I thought I saw a black bear.Montreal is located in the Mixedwood Plains ecozone, so the climate near Montreal, summers are mild and relatively long with 20ºC as the average and the winters are very short with an average of -7ºC. The average annual precipitation ranges from 100 to 400 mm per year, which is less than Halifax. Also, the soil is very good for farming in Montreal. The Mixedwood Plains ecozone is one of the only spots in Canada, where the soil is good enough to farm. Although, little vegetation is near Montreal, since the land is already developed with buildings.

View of Montreal from Mont Royal at Night

Today was our last day in le ville de Montréal, so we decided to visit mom's friend Anna from university, who lives in an apartment in an area called Westmount. We arrived at Anna's apartment, and my mom and Anna talked for hours about how their lives had changed since they last saw each other at university, while my dad and I watched TV. While I was watching, I was eavsesdropping on their conversation. I learned alot about what people do for a living in Montreal. The three largest industries in Montreal are business services, manufacturing and retail. Nearly half of the citzens living in Montreal are in the business services and sales. For Anna, she was personally in the aerospace industry for Bombardier Aerospace. Montreal is one of the largest aerospace centres in North America. Also, I learned what Anna enjoys so much about Montreal. She loves the atmosphere, the cold winters festivals, camping in of La Mauricie National Park of Canada, which is 200km away from Montreal, and she loves going to the Bell Centre to watch the Montreal Canadians play. After my mom had said good-bye to Anna, we left Montreal. I wanted to stay and climb up Mont Royal again, but I couldn't. I left wondering what I will do when we reach our next destination of Sudbury.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Halifax

Summer is finally here! This year my family and I decided to go on a roadtrip across Canada. On the first day of my summer vacation, I packed my bags and we started to drive to Halifax. After a long drive we finally reached Halifax, which is located at 44°38'N and 63 °35'W.When I first arrived in Halifax, I was amazed about how different it was from my hometown of St.Catharines. To start off with, Halifax has a greater population and population density than St. Catharines, with a total population of 372,858 and a population density of 67.9/km². It makes St. Catharines look like a village! By the time we checked into our hotel, it was late in the evening. We decided to spend our first night on a tourism boat to see the beautiful scenic view of the city from the Halifax harbour. We arrived at Halifax Harbour and got on our boat. Halifax harbour is a huge harbour that separates Halifax from Dartmouth and it's very important to Halifax. The city of Halifax was built around the Halifax harbour and most people in Halifax make their living from fishing in the Halifax harbour. From our boat, I had a great view of Halifax. Halifax is located in the Halifax Peninsula and off the coast of Halifax is the Halifax Harbour. From the boat, I could see Downtown Halifax,farms near the coast where the soil is richer and I also caught a glimpse of Kejimkujik National Park, which is the nearest national park to Halifax. On the boat, I was freezing cold because I was just wearing my T-shirt and shorts. Halifax is in the Atlantic Maritime ecozone, so they have very cool summers and winters and lots of precipitation. The yearly amount of precipitation for Halifax is 1474mm. So I learned by lesson that night, to always bring a spare sweater, especially in an Atlantic Maritime ecozone.

When I woke up the next day, I looked and out my window and saw fog looming over the Halifax harbour. This is common in Halifax since it is located near where the Warm Gulf current and the Labrador current meet. When the two currents meet, generally fog appears.After a huge breakfast, my family and I decided to take a tour of the city. During the tour, I was able to see the major industries and landmarks in Halifax. Halifax Harbour is the hotspot for fishing in Halifax and most people in Halifax do fishing for a living. People fish various types of fish, such as shellfish, cod, herring, shrimp, haddock, crab and redfish. Also, Halifax is one of two towns in Nova Scoatia where there is a major manufacturing site in the city. Many items are manufactured in Halfiax, such as processed food, paper and paper products, transportation equipment, wood products, and iron and steel. Also, I saw many landmarks exclusively to Halifax. To start off with, I saw the Citadel National Historic Site, which is a Miltary Museum and learned many new facts about Canada's miltary and had a great view of downtown Halifax. Next, I saw the beautiful Halifax Gardens, which was inspired by Queen Victoria herself. Additionally, I saw the H.M.C.S Sackville, which was a memorial for World War 2 soliders and I saw the historic site of Pier 21 and paid tribute to all of the Immigrants who arrived at Pier 21 a long time ago. If you were to take a tour of Halifax, I recommend that you would see the Citadel National Historic Site because it shows a great detail of Canada's Miltary experience and it is exculsive to Halifax. After the tour, my family and I decided to go to a restaurant named the 5 Fishermen.The restaurant served seafood, and I have never had seafood before in my lifetime, but after eating at that restaurant, I fell in love with seafood! Sadly, after that day was over, I had to leave Halifax. I left Halifax knowing that I made the most out of my visit there.