We woke up early to get in line for the ferry. When we got to the car we were surprised to see the humidity reading. 100.2%....IT GOES OVER 100!!?!?!?! Wow.
After going through the toll gates and parking the car in the hold we headed up to the deck to see what could be seen. It was pretty cool, wet out and the wind was starting to pick up so we went back down to see what the cafeteria was offering. Soon after the ferry set sail and we settled down for was seemed like a pretty boring day ahead of us.
Soon though we hit the open water and it started to look like this would be a trip we would like to forget.
The fog got to the point where you could not see more than about 200 metres beyond the boat. IT seems like the chance of seeing any whales in the distance was going to be zero. This kept up all day and did not let up so if we were going to find some entertainment it would not be outside.
As we hit the open ocean the pitching, rolling and heaving of the ship began to take it's toll. I did not feel nachious at all but I did feel ill and uncomfortable. As the hours rolled on the boredom and sickness got to us and we tried just laying down for a while. That helped a lot and made things bearable but still boring.
If I could have slept it would have been better but I just could not sleep in these conditions.
This experience did give me some insight into the plight of those who would have been immigrating from Europe a century ago or soldiers heading off to the world wars. Those ocean trips must have been terrible for some people.
Luckily the trip took less time than we expected but this also meant that we arrived at 1:30 in the morning. It took about an hour to dock and disembark and then we needed to look for a place for the night. All of the towns around the dock were small so we decided to brave the poorly lit and very foggy roads to get to St. Johns which was about 150 km away.
It was slow going at times but we eventually rolled into a hotel around 3:30 and got some much needed sleep.
We had made it all the way east, now we can take things easy for a bit and enjoy the sights.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Halifax and Cape Breton Island
With no chance of drying out our stuff in the 100% humidity and continuing drizzle we wring out our gear as best we can and pack up. We stop for breakfast in a small place in the town of Alma right next to the park and then we head off for Nova Scotia.
We have to take a round about way by going up to Moncton and then across to the border.
We passed by a few sights on the way but we decided to come to these on the way back though in hopes of finding better weather in a few weeks.
We hit the border and stocked up on maps and pamphlets and then headed for Halifax.
A few hours later and we found ourselves in Halifax but with no idea where the hotels were hiding. Thanks to a kind local who saw we were in trouble and directed us to where we could find the hotel strip.
We got a hotel and found ourselves having to do some house keeping. Laundry got done and we tried to dry out some things from the night before.
The next day we visited the Halifax Citadel national monument which is the old fort that the city was built around. It was a cool place. It's hard to see how anyone could get into it using only the technology of the 1800's.
There were many old cannons and they had several examples of the newer muzzle and breech loaded rifled canons.
We stopped at a seaside park and finally got to be at the real ocean. It was amazing to find shells of sea urchins with their spikes still on them and there were so many clam and snail shells. A big wave sent some water flying and I found out just how salty the sea is. Pretty salty!
We then left the city made a long run to Cape Breton island where we stayed the night just past the causeway that bridges the strait.
In the morning we headed to North Sydney to get a hotel so we could be ready for our 7:30 ferry ride. We got there around noon and then headed out to the Cabot trail to kill time for the afternoon. Part of this trip put us over a mountain that went from sea level to 240 meters and then down again. We used this opportunity to watch how the pressure sensor would read as we went up and down. At sea level we were reading about 101800 pascals and at the top of the mountain it went all the way down to 98700, a 3100 pascal difference.
The Cabot trail is a nice scenic drive that heads though the coastal valleys. Later if the weather improves we will take this route all the way to the Cape Breton Highlands national park and camp there.
Tonight we sleep early. Little did we know how much we would need this sleep...
We have to take a round about way by going up to Moncton and then across to the border.
We passed by a few sights on the way but we decided to come to these on the way back though in hopes of finding better weather in a few weeks.
We hit the border and stocked up on maps and pamphlets and then headed for Halifax.
A few hours later and we found ourselves in Halifax but with no idea where the hotels were hiding. Thanks to a kind local who saw we were in trouble and directed us to where we could find the hotel strip.
We got a hotel and found ourselves having to do some house keeping. Laundry got done and we tried to dry out some things from the night before.
The next day we visited the Halifax Citadel national monument which is the old fort that the city was built around. It was a cool place. It's hard to see how anyone could get into it using only the technology of the 1800's.
There were many old cannons and they had several examples of the newer muzzle and breech loaded rifled canons.
We stopped at a seaside park and finally got to be at the real ocean. It was amazing to find shells of sea urchins with their spikes still on them and there were so many clam and snail shells. A big wave sent some water flying and I found out just how salty the sea is. Pretty salty!
We then left the city made a long run to Cape Breton island where we stayed the night just past the causeway that bridges the strait.
In the morning we headed to North Sydney to get a hotel so we could be ready for our 7:30 ferry ride. We got there around noon and then headed out to the Cabot trail to kill time for the afternoon. Part of this trip put us over a mountain that went from sea level to 240 meters and then down again. We used this opportunity to watch how the pressure sensor would read as we went up and down. At sea level we were reading about 101800 pascals and at the top of the mountain it went all the way down to 98700, a 3100 pascal difference.
The Cabot trail is a nice scenic drive that heads though the coastal valleys. Later if the weather improves we will take this route all the way to the Cape Breton Highlands national park and camp there.
Tonight we sleep early. Little did we know how much we would need this sleep...
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Fundy National Park
This place is Pretty!
It was a short hop from St John to get to the park. Though once we entered it looked about the same as the all the other roads out here, only with stops for trails along the way.
We walked though one which was quite nice and then headed for the visitors center at the other end of the park.
As we got close we could see this giant patch of fog rolling off the ocean and over the forests at the coast. Something to do with the cold ocean currents according to the info board at the lookout. It shows up on the timelapse for that day quite well.
We got to our campsite and found it very nice an fairly bug free. (although later we discovered many bites, the mosquitoes out here must use stealth technology!) We set up camp and then explored the area.
We descended a long path made up mostly of stairs to get down to a nice beach where a river let out. A little bit of exploring and we found the most amazing treasure of the trip.
We stumbled upon a stream coming down the rocks that was forming a cool little waterfall. We were able to climb up it and it was quite a sight to see. We took a lot of pictures there.
From there we climbed the rocks along the coast quite a way down and that was tons of fun.
The light was fading fast and occasional drizzle was dampening our spirits so we headed back to the campsite to make some dinner.
I really messed up the cooking fire though.
I had read lots of books about camping, but I had only once ever gone and that was a long time ago. I forgot a lot of how to build a proper cooking fire so it took like an hour to boil the water.
Next time however I'll be all set as I have the knack of it now.
As we worked on dinner the drizzle got more frequent and it seems that our night was not going to be as comfortable as we would have liked.
We got to bed and I had a lot of trouble sleeping. I could not get to sleep and when I did I had crazy dreams.
"Oh crap, a bear is right beside the tent! It's cutting a hole in the tent with it's claws! It's reaching in! .. and .. Taking my Wallet??? It's Running away with my WALLET!? That bear stole my MONEY!!!! STOP THAT BEAR!!!"
And to top it all off, we awoke to a coating of dew on everything in the tent. We were soaked! Nothing leaked as far as I can tell but when we got to the car and looked at the weather sensor data we saw the reason. 100% humidity.
It was a short hop from St John to get to the park. Though once we entered it looked about the same as the all the other roads out here, only with stops for trails along the way.
We walked though one which was quite nice and then headed for the visitors center at the other end of the park.
As we got close we could see this giant patch of fog rolling off the ocean and over the forests at the coast. Something to do with the cold ocean currents according to the info board at the lookout. It shows up on the timelapse for that day quite well.
We got to our campsite and found it very nice an fairly bug free. (although later we discovered many bites, the mosquitoes out here must use stealth technology!) We set up camp and then explored the area.
We descended a long path made up mostly of stairs to get down to a nice beach where a river let out. A little bit of exploring and we found the most amazing treasure of the trip.
We stumbled upon a stream coming down the rocks that was forming a cool little waterfall. We were able to climb up it and it was quite a sight to see. We took a lot of pictures there.
From there we climbed the rocks along the coast quite a way down and that was tons of fun.
The light was fading fast and occasional drizzle was dampening our spirits so we headed back to the campsite to make some dinner.
I really messed up the cooking fire though.
I had read lots of books about camping, but I had only once ever gone and that was a long time ago. I forgot a lot of how to build a proper cooking fire so it took like an hour to boil the water.
Next time however I'll be all set as I have the knack of it now.
As we worked on dinner the drizzle got more frequent and it seems that our night was not going to be as comfortable as we would have liked.
We got to bed and I had a lot of trouble sleeping. I could not get to sleep and when I did I had crazy dreams.
"Oh crap, a bear is right beside the tent! It's cutting a hole in the tent with it's claws! It's reaching in! .. and .. Taking my Wallet??? It's Running away with my WALLET!? That bear stole my MONEY!!!! STOP THAT BEAR!!!"
And to top it all off, we awoke to a coating of dew on everything in the tent. We were soaked! Nothing leaked as far as I can tell but when we got to the car and looked at the weather sensor data we saw the reason. 100% humidity.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
St. John
This morning we had an epic breakfast.
We discovered this place called Mikes which is an Italian themed family restaurant. They are all over Quebec and a few places out east and all I can say is WOW. The breakfast menu is amazing.
I had a Frittata which is like an omelet only baked in a unique dish. John had a Breakfast Pizza which he said was really good. I can only imagine what the rest of the menu is like but I will find out soon.
Sadly the only one in Ontario is in Timmins it seems. When this trip is over I'm going to have to seriously look at opening a location in the GTA. I'd be raking in the money if I did.
After we had stuffed ourselves we left for St. John and the Bay of Fundy coast.
We reached there quit quickly and soon found ourselves lost in the maze of twisty turney streets that you get when you build a city at the mouth of a river and on cliffs of every shape and size.
Somehow we got to a lookout that was right on a beach so we headed down to see the sea.
The amount of distance the tides will move the water was quite something. By the rocks on the shoreline we could tell that the water would go up at least 3 metres from where it was when we got there which seemed to be pretty close to low tide. The distance down the beach looked to be something like 10 or 20 metres.
I looked in every tide pool I could see but sadly there were no interesting sea creatures.
We found a hotel and crashed for a few hours and then went out to explore the city a bit more.
We found a little park out on a peninsula that let you drive through a forest which was really cool. The foot paths take you through a charming forest and then out onto the rocks.
There was a lookout where they claimed that seals would frequent the rocks below but sadly none were to be seen. The biggest animal we have seen so far was a rabbit!
Hopefully our next stop, Fundy National Park, will reveal it's animal life to us.
We discovered this place called Mikes which is an Italian themed family restaurant. They are all over Quebec and a few places out east and all I can say is WOW. The breakfast menu is amazing.
I had a Frittata which is like an omelet only baked in a unique dish. John had a Breakfast Pizza which he said was really good. I can only imagine what the rest of the menu is like but I will find out soon.
Sadly the only one in Ontario is in Timmins it seems. When this trip is over I'm going to have to seriously look at opening a location in the GTA. I'd be raking in the money if I did.
After we had stuffed ourselves we left for St. John and the Bay of Fundy coast.
We reached there quit quickly and soon found ourselves lost in the maze of twisty turney streets that you get when you build a city at the mouth of a river and on cliffs of every shape and size.
Somehow we got to a lookout that was right on a beach so we headed down to see the sea.
The amount of distance the tides will move the water was quite something. By the rocks on the shoreline we could tell that the water would go up at least 3 metres from where it was when we got there which seemed to be pretty close to low tide. The distance down the beach looked to be something like 10 or 20 metres.
I looked in every tide pool I could see but sadly there were no interesting sea creatures.
We found a hotel and crashed for a few hours and then went out to explore the city a bit more.
We found a little park out on a peninsula that let you drive through a forest which was really cool. The foot paths take you through a charming forest and then out onto the rocks.
There was a lookout where they claimed that seals would frequent the rocks below but sadly none were to be seen. The biggest animal we have seen so far was a rabbit!
Hopefully our next stop, Fundy National Park, will reveal it's animal life to us.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Bienvenue a Nouveau Brunswick!
We really didn't spend much time in Quebec, So I figure I should start with New Brunswick. First point of interest, there's a surprisingly large French population here. For those of you out there interested in learning/practicing French, the North-West region is a good place to try, without the pressure that comes with a majority French population. My French couldn't even stand up to "Yes, I'd like fries with that". Still, I got two sentences in before my ignorance became apparent. I feel justified in earning a B in French class... Was it ten years ago? Damn, that's old.
Still, today's all about New Brunswick, probably one of the lesser-known provinces of the country. Countryside is pretty beautiful. Lots of deep rivers, lots of forested hills and fairly good roads. Also, it's not a very large distance between cities. We stopped at Grand Falls, when we pretty much stumbled upon the falls. After a good photo session (I got to use the big kid's camera for a while!), we hopped the highway to Fredericton, and were there in around two hours.
Not all is rosy in this province however, and the main problem I've encountered is a big one. None of the cities here are well planned. Between waterfalls and their feeding rivers going through the middle of town, or the ridiculous hills that prevent straight and proper planning, getting around in any of cities in the area is a nuisance. Grand Falls wasn't too much of a problem, though there were only two bridges (one of which was out of town) to navigate around. Fredericton has pretty much the same problem, except complicated by a highway system that plows through the town and skews even satellite-guided navigation.
But feet and knees below all else is Saint John. Not only is there few bridges over the bay it's built around, the hills around the city are also very rugged. There is no way to go straight from one place to another, without going around a few bends, and one or two steep grades. In one case, while trying to find a place to eat, on Lancaster street, we found out that the address apparently doesn't exist, although there are TWO Lancaster Streets, running parallel to each other, only two or three streets apart. Even locals appear exasperated with the confusing streets in the city. In addition, all the construction is causing even more headaches, though I expect that'll be gone by the time any readers will visit.
If you can stay out of the cities, however, the natural environment is right keen. If you can find the right beach, you could probably enjoy a couple days of relaxation (the first beach we found was rocky and had lots of sticky clay under the sand, one we found later was much better). We're going to find a place to stick it out in the wilderness of a park soon, and we'll see how that turns out. I'm willing to bet that a day out of the cities will leave me with a very favorable impression of the province before we move on.
Still, today's all about New Brunswick, probably one of the lesser-known provinces of the country. Countryside is pretty beautiful. Lots of deep rivers, lots of forested hills and fairly good roads. Also, it's not a very large distance between cities. We stopped at Grand Falls, when we pretty much stumbled upon the falls. After a good photo session (I got to use the big kid's camera for a while!), we hopped the highway to Fredericton, and were there in around two hours.
Not all is rosy in this province however, and the main problem I've encountered is a big one. None of the cities here are well planned. Between waterfalls and their feeding rivers going through the middle of town, or the ridiculous hills that prevent straight and proper planning, getting around in any of cities in the area is a nuisance. Grand Falls wasn't too much of a problem, though there were only two bridges (one of which was out of town) to navigate around. Fredericton has pretty much the same problem, except complicated by a highway system that plows through the town and skews even satellite-guided navigation.
But feet and knees below all else is Saint John. Not only is there few bridges over the bay it's built around, the hills around the city are also very rugged. There is no way to go straight from one place to another, without going around a few bends, and one or two steep grades. In one case, while trying to find a place to eat, on Lancaster street, we found out that the address apparently doesn't exist, although there are TWO Lancaster Streets, running parallel to each other, only two or three streets apart. Even locals appear exasperated with the confusing streets in the city. In addition, all the construction is causing even more headaches, though I expect that'll be gone by the time any readers will visit.
If you can stay out of the cities, however, the natural environment is right keen. If you can find the right beach, you could probably enjoy a couple days of relaxation (the first beach we found was rocky and had lots of sticky clay under the sand, one we found later was much better). We're going to find a place to stick it out in the wilderness of a park soon, and we'll see how that turns out. I'm willing to bet that a day out of the cities will leave me with a very favorable impression of the province before we move on.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Into Quebec and Beyond
On Monday we left Kingston and started on our way to Quebec.
Not too long after we had started I noticed the sign for the Thousand Islands Parkway which I knew ran right along the St. Lawrence River so I decided to take that for a while to see the sights and then get back on the 401 later.
It turned out to be a very good detour.
There were a series of rest stops/lookouts along the way and we stopped at one a were greeted with just spectacular views. I have posted a bunch of pictures in my gallery so please be sure to check them out.
But the most amazing thing was just how clean the water was! Now anyone in Essex country where I'm from knows that the water is awful all around it. There is not one place where you can see much more than a few inches down. Here, which is supposed to be down stream from all of that mess, the water looks amazingly clean. Like water is supposed to look.
The other amazing thing was just how rocky it got here. It's really cool to see real terrain.
as we got back on the 401 and got closer to Quebec though the rocks petered out and it was back to the flat lands of Essex county all over again.
We headed for Montreal and got stuck in traffic for a while but eventually got through it and continued on to Quebec city.
Now I should note here that we are going to do more in Quebec when we come back on our way west.
Once we got deeper in the terrain returned and we got to see some cool low rolling mountains.
We got to Quebec city and set down for the night but not without a bit of work to figure out the streets here.
The next day we headed out over the bridge and to the east side of the St Lawrence and continued North to get to New Brunswick. The top end of the Appalachian mountain range grew closer and higher to our right and then we turned toward them towards the Provincial border.
The gentle peaks and valleys hid many rivers of all shapes and sizes and we were constantly being surprised by the sights around each twist and turn.
In many places they have cut though the hills to even out the grade and you can see a lot of interesting rock layers. There was an amazing amount of variation in the rocks that make up these mountains. It's like being back in Geology class.
We finally got to the New Brunswick border and loaded up with pamphlets at the information center.
And then we hit an RCMP road block.
They seemed to be looking in cars to make sure there was nobody hidden in them. They must have been after someone in particular as they only just peaked in mine and let me on through.
We followed the St John river route on down to Grand Falls where we were surprised to see that our road led us right to the visitor's center. These were nice and we took a lot of pictures and some video as well.
We had diner and looked for a hotel but did not see much, so we decided to continue on to Fredricton.
Little did we know of the adventure that would await us.
We got to Fredericton and right away got turned around on the streets. After a few laps we found out way to a road with a few hotels on it. It seems however that there was some sort of event and many were full. We wandered around for a bit and finally found a motel just before sunset. With great relief we went to bed. We would plan the next days route tomorrow.
Not too long after we had started I noticed the sign for the Thousand Islands Parkway which I knew ran right along the St. Lawrence River so I decided to take that for a while to see the sights and then get back on the 401 later.
It turned out to be a very good detour.
There were a series of rest stops/lookouts along the way and we stopped at one a were greeted with just spectacular views. I have posted a bunch of pictures in my gallery so please be sure to check them out.
But the most amazing thing was just how clean the water was! Now anyone in Essex country where I'm from knows that the water is awful all around it. There is not one place where you can see much more than a few inches down. Here, which is supposed to be down stream from all of that mess, the water looks amazingly clean. Like water is supposed to look.
The other amazing thing was just how rocky it got here. It's really cool to see real terrain.
as we got back on the 401 and got closer to Quebec though the rocks petered out and it was back to the flat lands of Essex county all over again.
We headed for Montreal and got stuck in traffic for a while but eventually got through it and continued on to Quebec city.
Now I should note here that we are going to do more in Quebec when we come back on our way west.
Once we got deeper in the terrain returned and we got to see some cool low rolling mountains.
We got to Quebec city and set down for the night but not without a bit of work to figure out the streets here.
The next day we headed out over the bridge and to the east side of the St Lawrence and continued North to get to New Brunswick. The top end of the Appalachian mountain range grew closer and higher to our right and then we turned toward them towards the Provincial border.
The gentle peaks and valleys hid many rivers of all shapes and sizes and we were constantly being surprised by the sights around each twist and turn.
In many places they have cut though the hills to even out the grade and you can see a lot of interesting rock layers. There was an amazing amount of variation in the rocks that make up these mountains. It's like being back in Geology class.
We finally got to the New Brunswick border and loaded up with pamphlets at the information center.
And then we hit an RCMP road block.
They seemed to be looking in cars to make sure there was nobody hidden in them. They must have been after someone in particular as they only just peaked in mine and let me on through.
We followed the St John river route on down to Grand Falls where we were surprised to see that our road led us right to the visitor's center. These were nice and we took a lot of pictures and some video as well.
We had diner and looked for a hotel but did not see much, so we decided to continue on to Fredricton.
Little did we know of the adventure that would await us.
We got to Fredericton and right away got turned around on the streets. After a few laps we found out way to a road with a few hotels on it. It seems however that there was some sort of event and many were full. We wandered around for a bit and finally found a motel just before sunset. With great relief we went to bed. We would plan the next days route tomorrow.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
The First Leg
After a lot of rushing about to get everything packed an in the car I left Saturday morning and headed to Tilbury to pick up my partner in crime John.
We repacked the car and stuffed all of his things in and even seem to have room to spare.
We then headed off to Toronto, stopping on the way to try and see a few friends of mine. When we go to Toronto we stopped at John's sister's place to stay the night and hang out with friends before we began the real first leg of our journey.
On Sunday afternoon we headed off to new territory; Belleville and Kingston.
Since we had got a late start we got to Belleville in the late afternoon. It's a really nice little city and we got some great pictures from the top of the bridge they have over the bay.
We decided to keep moving on before stopping for the night so by dinner time we headed off again.
We got to Kingston in the evening and we saw some interesting things as we drove through like the Penitentiary and then stopped for the night.
I started to convert some of the pictures from our first day of travel into a test timelapse movie (that you can now see on the left) but had to wrestle with the software for a bit to get it to all come together. While the video converted and uploaded we got some dinner.
We had dinner at the Denny's attached to the hotel and had a deep philosophical conversation about the nature of the Universe. We also talked about why Dr. Who is awesome and Daleks the scariest sci-fi monsters of them all. Does our nerdyness know no bounds?
Next we plow through Quebec to get to the East as fast as possible.
We repacked the car and stuffed all of his things in and even seem to have room to spare.
We then headed off to Toronto, stopping on the way to try and see a few friends of mine. When we go to Toronto we stopped at John's sister's place to stay the night and hang out with friends before we began the real first leg of our journey.
On Sunday afternoon we headed off to new territory; Belleville and Kingston.
Since we had got a late start we got to Belleville in the late afternoon. It's a really nice little city and we got some great pictures from the top of the bridge they have over the bay.
We decided to keep moving on before stopping for the night so by dinner time we headed off again.
We got to Kingston in the evening and we saw some interesting things as we drove through like the Penitentiary and then stopped for the night.
I started to convert some of the pictures from our first day of travel into a test timelapse movie (that you can now see on the left) but had to wrestle with the software for a bit to get it to all come together. While the video converted and uploaded we got some dinner.
We had dinner at the Denny's attached to the hotel and had a deep philosophical conversation about the nature of the Universe. We also talked about why Dr. Who is awesome and Daleks the scariest sci-fi monsters of them all. Does our nerdyness know no bounds?
Next we plow through Quebec to get to the East as fast as possible.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Heading out
I've never really travelled that much before, especially out of province, so when the opportunity arose, I took it. It helps that just about everyone I talk to was pushing me to go along. Mark was pleasant enough to let me come along, so it looks like I'll be operating in an assisting role on the trip. Not that I know a lot about the equipment we're using, or the tech he's put in the car. Or how to use the data we're collecting. Or really have any skills to contribute to the effort.
I guess that really only leaves high-risk henching jobs. Thankfully, government health care ought to cover any damages up to (but not including) bionic prosthetics. I think I need to join the military or something for those.
Still, I'm eager to learn, and see what we've got out in this country. Not having seen much past the surprisingly flat great lakes basin area, I'm pretty excited. We've got just about any sort of landscape here, if we look hard enough, and most of it won't be flat. Even the oceans ought to be all wavy, or something. I dunno, I haven't been there yet. That's why I'm going.
That's about it from me. First few days are probably all going to be getting used to equipment, and trying to figure out what we'll be doing with our time. Lots of pictures, a few video clips here and there, raw travel data obtained from various sensory devices. How we'll turn them all into a coherent and entertaining travel story remains to be seen, though experimentation and experience should have us assembling quality works in no time at all. Failing that, I've got enough low-brow, cheap laugh material to hold us over for at least three weeks. Barring massive equipment failure, the show will go on!
I guess that really only leaves high-risk henching jobs. Thankfully, government health care ought to cover any damages up to (but not including) bionic prosthetics. I think I need to join the military or something for those.
Still, I'm eager to learn, and see what we've got out in this country. Not having seen much past the surprisingly flat great lakes basin area, I'm pretty excited. We've got just about any sort of landscape here, if we look hard enough, and most of it won't be flat. Even the oceans ought to be all wavy, or something. I dunno, I haven't been there yet. That's why I'm going.
That's about it from me. First few days are probably all going to be getting used to equipment, and trying to figure out what we'll be doing with our time. Lots of pictures, a few video clips here and there, raw travel data obtained from various sensory devices. How we'll turn them all into a coherent and entertaining travel story remains to be seen, though experimentation and experience should have us assembling quality works in no time at all. Failing that, I've got enough low-brow, cheap laugh material to hold us over for at least three weeks. Barring massive equipment failure, the show will go on!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Taking the Long Way Around
Last fall, after a round of layoffs at my workplace, I decided that the job I was in was just never going to take off. I felt that it was time to look for something new and I would start looking in the spring. As it happens I ended up being canned as well in January! It was a good thing as I had some family issues that I needed to take care of anyway. In the end it seems that a whole bunch of circumstances came together to pave the way for something interesting.
At the very beginning I got the idea that I should use the time between jobs to take an extended vacation that I would not otherwise be able to do. Somehow the idea that I should drive across Canada came into my head. "What a cool adventure!" I though, so I jumped on to Google maps to see where I should go. After about an hour of rolling across the maps and satellite imagery I had a route plan and some interesting ideas that sprouted in my head along the way.
Now I have not done a lot of traveling at all in my life. I had never even seen Canada outside of my home province of Ontario and where I live is not an all that interesting place to be.
I decided that I wanted to see All of Canada. Everything that I could get to by car anyway. Since I live in Windsor, which is practically the southern most place in Canada, I had a good starting point from which to start out.
I decided that I would go all the way out East through all of the Maritimes to the Atlantic coast. From there I would head back through Ontario and then on out to the Prairies.
Way up North would not be possible as there are no roads, but I could at least get to the Yukon. I decided to go North West though the prairies to get up to there. From the Yukon I could then head down through BC and take the ferry to Vancouver Island to get to the Pacific coast.
I could then take the southern route back across the prairies without backtracking over too many places I had been. This route will take me through every province and one of the territories. Not a bad grand tour!
Now being the technical person that I am, I wanted to do something to make the trip more interesting since I had some time before the summer to prepare for the trip. I had been planning to add a computer to the car for a while now ever since I removed the broken radio. So I finally got to work and built a PC that would replace the radio and provide some more features as well.
I came up with a special idea to add a web cam pointing out the front window and to have it take a time lapse movie of the whole trip. I had never seen it done before for such a long trip so I decided this would be an important thing to try.
Of course I added GPS to this computer and it will log my path for the whole trip but one more idea came to mind as well. Spark Fun sells some cool components like their Weather board so I decided to add it in to have a log of the pressure, humidity and temperature of where we went for the whole trip. It should be interesting to see the pressure drop as we head up into the mountains. I hope that at the end of the trip I'll have some really interesting data.
I'll post another article with the technical details of what I did for all the geeks out there who love that stuff as much as I do.
Tomorrow a friend and I shall set out on a trip of some 20000 Km. It should be quite the adventure and I hope to share some of the highlights of this trip with my friends and family though this blog. Please check back regularly as I hope to have lots of pictures, videos and stories to share!
Tomorrow we hit the open road! Wish us luck!
Mark :D
At the very beginning I got the idea that I should use the time between jobs to take an extended vacation that I would not otherwise be able to do. Somehow the idea that I should drive across Canada came into my head. "What a cool adventure!" I though, so I jumped on to Google maps to see where I should go. After about an hour of rolling across the maps and satellite imagery I had a route plan and some interesting ideas that sprouted in my head along the way.
Now I have not done a lot of traveling at all in my life. I had never even seen Canada outside of my home province of Ontario and where I live is not an all that interesting place to be.
I decided that I wanted to see All of Canada. Everything that I could get to by car anyway. Since I live in Windsor, which is practically the southern most place in Canada, I had a good starting point from which to start out.
I decided that I would go all the way out East through all of the Maritimes to the Atlantic coast. From there I would head back through Ontario and then on out to the Prairies.
Way up North would not be possible as there are no roads, but I could at least get to the Yukon. I decided to go North West though the prairies to get up to there. From the Yukon I could then head down through BC and take the ferry to Vancouver Island to get to the Pacific coast.
I could then take the southern route back across the prairies without backtracking over too many places I had been. This route will take me through every province and one of the territories. Not a bad grand tour!
Now being the technical person that I am, I wanted to do something to make the trip more interesting since I had some time before the summer to prepare for the trip. I had been planning to add a computer to the car for a while now ever since I removed the broken radio. So I finally got to work and built a PC that would replace the radio and provide some more features as well.
I came up with a special idea to add a web cam pointing out the front window and to have it take a time lapse movie of the whole trip. I had never seen it done before for such a long trip so I decided this would be an important thing to try.
Of course I added GPS to this computer and it will log my path for the whole trip but one more idea came to mind as well. Spark Fun sells some cool components like their Weather board so I decided to add it in to have a log of the pressure, humidity and temperature of where we went for the whole trip. It should be interesting to see the pressure drop as we head up into the mountains. I hope that at the end of the trip I'll have some really interesting data.
I'll post another article with the technical details of what I did for all the geeks out there who love that stuff as much as I do.
Tomorrow a friend and I shall set out on a trip of some 20000 Km. It should be quite the adventure and I hope to share some of the highlights of this trip with my friends and family though this blog. Please check back regularly as I hope to have lots of pictures, videos and stories to share!
Tomorrow we hit the open road! Wish us luck!
Mark :D
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