We returned safe and sound from our annual epic road trip on Monday. Here is how the trip unfolded, by the numbers…. Miles driven: 5390.7. We thought about driving around for 10 more miles, but that would have been cheating. States/provinces traversed: 8. In case you’re wondering which ones: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova…
Canada
Who is Saint Louis and Why is He Laughing?
One source of entertainment on a long road trip like this is noticing the interesting place names along the way. You can often get a tiny glimpse of the history of a place based on its name. A few years back I was traveling in New England with a friend from southeast Asia and she was…
Changing of the Guard
We arrived in downtown Ottawa on Sunday just in time to witness the ceremonial changing of the guard on Parliament Hill, a daily occurrence during the summer months. Lots of pomp; lots of circumstance! This was my first visit to Ottawa since 1982 and it was as gorgeous as I remembered.
For the Record
For the record, it is 1000 miles from St. Paul to Ottawa, the beautiful capital city of Canada. That’s 2 very full days of driving. Next stop: Quebec City. Here’s Big Red taking a break underneath the Canadian flag. And of course we made an obligatory stop at Tim Hortons!
Road Trip: St. Paul, MN to St. John’s, Newfoundland
Here it is, the route of this year’s road trip from St. Paul to St. John’s, Newfoundland. We’re hopping into Big Red and driving east until we run out of land; until the next piece of real estate is Iceland (did someone say Iceland?). Our original plan had been to return to the the northern…
Smoke in My Eyes. In Minnesota!
When I lived in Beijing, we often had a weather forecast that was just one word: Smoke! It was usually in the fall, when the peasants in the surrounding provinces of Shandong and Hebei were burning the fields after harvest. The city would be shrouded in smoke, with off-the-charts bad air quality until it rained…