Thunder Bay, Gateway to the West

I'm a little late on this one, but Ontario is frickin' big. Our last drive from Sault Ste Marie took around nine hours to finally get to Thunder Bay. Didn't help that the local animals felt obligated to wander about the road area as we traveled. Pretty, sure, but bumping into a deer on the road did not make things easier. Check the timelapse when it comes out if you don't believe me. It didn't look hurt too bad. It got up pretty quick and limped off into the woods on the other side. Its back left leg was hurting, but we'd slowed down a lot. I doubt we did any permanent damage.

As we stand ready to take our refuge into the west, I feel obligated too look back over where I've been in the east, and detail some of the better and worse places we'd ended up. I'll start from the bottom, because suspense is fun.

Best Places to be in the East:
3: St. John's, NF- While a very confusing drive, due to a very old street layout, and failure to place traffic devices in effective areas, St. John's does seem to have a little something for everybody. Lots of places to walk, a gorgeous coastline, and even a pretty healthy assortment of small shops. Didn't see much of the big corporate names out there. The scenery in the area is unbelievable. Only real concern about the area is the unemployment problem in the province. Finding work would probably be the hardest part of living there.

2: Halifax, NS- I found Halifax to be an amazing city. The layout, while initially confusing, quickly becomes nature within a few hours of being in the city. Despite its age and size, Halifax still manages to keep green areas within most parts of the city. There seems to be a very trendy culture in the area, though I'll admit to only having seen some evidence of it. I just got a really good feeling from here, and it's worth checking out again.

1: Quebec City, QC- Surprised? I sure was. I expected to not like Quebec City. I expected, Like the other eastern cities, a confusing road system complicated by poor traffic control. It was the complete opposite. Much of the city is on a regular road system, with a fairly effective highway system to carry people across the distances. The "Old Town" of Quebec City is not really expected for drivers, but for pedestrians. There is adequate parking near the area, and there is a great deal more you pick up about a city wandering the streets than passing by in a car. Quebec City's history is probably the clearest out of Canada's big cities. Other cities like Toronto have preserved a few historic buildings, and promptly leveled the rest to make way for progress. Quebec City has somehow found a way to preserve entire districts, and bring them close to the modern age, without destroying it. Even failing to know French was not much of a barrier, seeing as much of the population is fairly good with their English as well. I admit to feeling a little embarrassed at my failure to know the language. That proves to be the only barrier to living in Quebec City. During my time in the area, I notice a great deal of "Help Wanted" signs, and there seems to be plenty of places to live. A couple of French classes later, and I could have myself a place to live.

Worst Places to be in the East
3: North Sydney, NS- I don't have much of a beef with this city, but the fact that the only ferries to Newfoundland in this area all come out of here, I expected a bit more. Much of the local shops and businesses were closed, and there was not many options in places to stay. Having to wait for your ferry to come into port in this city can get frustrating, fast. Our attempts to explore the city were curtailed by a couple of VERY bad roads, and the scenery is flat and uninteresting. In the end it's a place you'll be forced to stay at, and dislike every moment of it.

2: Montreal, QC- For the same reason everyone dislikes Montreal. Bad roads and congestion. The glimpse we had of downtown when our highway suddenly dumped us in the middle of town was inspiring. A very modern city with every amenity you could ask for. Just no way to get to it without spending the whole day getting there. We've never actually stopped in Montreal, and yet we can put about seven hours towards just trying to pass through. Think of how bad it would be to actually try to go somewhere in the city. Even with the satellite maps we had, there was no hope. Satellite maps can't tell you which way the one-way streets go. A bad experience all-around.

1: Saint John, NB- Ugh. Roads so bad, even the locals get lost, Roads with the same name running parallel to each other, within a short distance from each other, and the complete inability to get anywhere you want to go. Seriously, even the locals were having fits as we went through the town, and you probably would too. Having to pay to leave the city seemed well worth it, as trying to go back through all of those streets probably would have killed us.

All in all, an enlightening experience. Looking forward to the see what the West has to offer.