New Brunswick... you sly little devil...

Who knew you were so nice? and French? ( at least parts of you. ) It should have been obvious, crossing the border from Quebec and all... but man. You are one pretty province. And friendly? You bet! We spent a night and part of the day on our first stretch of New Brunswick in Edmonston, just in time for their jazz festival. Our bumbling french gained smiles and assistance, ( Me: " Voulez vous parlez anglais? "  Woman : " Non"....  Me: " how do you say.... 353325? " The lady was very helpful, and when our food order came up she was quick to point out it was ours number. ) Jazz fest was great, ( Polk chop and the other white meat, great blues/jazz band from Maine ) and next we camped out in Grand Sault ( Free camping! Yay! ) for the evening to explore and check out the local culture.

 Thus far, we have slowly been meandering our way down the coast, checking out all the small towns, and generally taking it easy. Our six weeks thus far of nice weather have taken a turn for a few days of rain and thunderstorms, but rain be damned! We're from Vancouver!!! Its like our normal summer!  Had our first official foot dipping into the Atlantic ocean, ( Coast to coast, baby! ) and have discovered a few interesting micro-breweries along the way as well.

 Ensconced in the trees at Point Wolf park in the Bay of Fundy, we decided on a few days of rest before embarking on further explorations of the coast. ( a bit of r & r is a great way to finally rid oneself of a cold... ) Quiet, rainy, and full of enticing trails to meander and hike, we hunkered down with books and music for amusement and plotted out the next few days. ( Side note, there are alot of frogs here at our campsite. And something I increasingly love, is how they chirp merrily away, only to pause at passing cars, people, airplanes.. and then, inevitably, one will chirp, and pause, and chirp again, and then they all begin their chorus over. " Hey! Hey guys! Dangers passed, s' all good! " Rob and I have decided they are either crying out in fear of the dark and lack of flashlights, or they are really terrible first year violinists. )

In an effort to escape the rain/torrential downpours, we decided to escape New Brunswick for the time being, and head to Halifax, Nova Scotia early ( we will be back to New Brunswick to finish our tour there in the next few weeks, ) to beat the rush for the Canada day celebration campspots, as well as to familiarize ourselves with the city for a few days before said celebrations began. ( Free Mother Mother concert and pancake breakfast anyone? )  Needless to say... torrential downpours were not avoided... ( sideways rain and 70 km/hr winds... ) but our first official lobster dinner here was a roaring success.

 Halifax is a great city. Friendly, fun, and easy to find  your way around. One day spent in the city and I have discovered a couple of great little galleries to submit some artwork to, and Rob has managed to wrangle a gig for July 5th. Its this great thing where they have 24 random musicians, and they draw everyones name out of a hat to form 6 different bands. Then they have 24 hours to practice and jam together before the big night where each band performs a 15 minute set!

 Much more exploration to be done before the next blog... so stay tuned for our Canada Day celebrations, Rob's band debut, and any other trouble we can rustle up while we are on the road. ( p.s. - We haven't avoided Quebec, we're going to do that, along with Montreal and Ottowa on our way back through... Just in case you were wondering our agenda... ;)   )

 With love, C, R, and Sir Vanagon.

Toronto and NXNE. ( I'm sorry, I cant hear you... I have confetti in my ears... )

 Ahhhhh.... Toronto. Big, bustling, and beautiful.  We arrived at our friend Laura's driveway on a sunny Tuesday evening, armed with energy and ready for the weeks festivities. NXNE, ( The north by northeast  festival, ) was the one thing we actually had planned in advance for this trip. Five days, sixhundred plus bands, thirty venues. Ready, set, GO!!!

 Lets start at the top with Wednesday. : Shred Kelly, ( Bluegrass and folky guitar riffs had us hopping, ) The Matinee, ( Vintage, chest beating macho rock), and The One Look Donnybrook, ( Blues and grunge, and one of my faves of the night, ) kicked off our whirlwind tour of bands for the week. ( The only trouble we had with the entire festival was that the venues were so spread out , and with so many great bands playing at the same time, it made it difficult to pick and choose who to see. )

Thursday : Awake and beer groggy, we went in search of breakfast, and set about exploring the city. Toronto is very well laid out, a clean , strong grid where once you know the main streets, its easy to find your way  around and discover some of the awsome shopping, restaurants, and architecture this city has to offer. After a brief nap back at Lauras, we were out again for  more bands. The ever talented Sarah MacDougal started off our evening, ( her soulful and folksy musings are a rare treat. If you ever have a chance to catch her show, Do!!! ) , followed by P.S. I love  you, ( Rob's only hipster commentary here: " Knew them when they were a two piece..now that they are a three piece they aren't as good... sigh... " ) and The Men. ( post-hardcore indie. ) We managed to catch a few  other bands inbetween, ends and beginnings of sets, but the names, alas, elude me.

 Friday: Suit shopping, ( Rob- Cuban handsome! ), Zombie shoe shopping, ( Me- Yay!! ), and an awsome mexican food lunch in Kensington market, ( So. Much. Fun. ) complete, another night of music awaits. Brasstronaut! ( Baroque prog filled with orchestral swells, ) Jaron Freeman-Fox and the opposite of everything, ( an excellent surprise find of the evening, " Gogol Bordello meets Zappa ". Bluegrass, indian music, african beats and sea shanties. ) The Coppertone, ( fuzzed out blues rock that had me reminded of early Joan Jett. Very cool band! ), and Plants and Animals!!!! ( A huge highlight of the festival, this band was high on our list of bands to see. Fulll blown indie prog rock. )

Saturday: Rob in his suit, and I in my dress, we hit the town and painted it red. A quick dinner at the Three brewers pub, ( Great beer! Ignore the food. ) we hit up the main stage for Portugal. The man. ( experimental indie rock four piece band- a welcome new discovery... ) and after a 45 minute wait, were blasted into a confetti and balloon filled sky, as the frontman for the Flaming Lips rolled out over the hands and heads of the crowd, in a giant plastic hamster ball no less!!!!, before gracefully rolling back on stage, only to give us a mind blowing, alt- rock performance as only the Flaming Lips can. The crowd was rocking, the alien standing sidestage weaving and bobbing, and the band, as ever, fantastic. For myself, not much can top that... and I think I actually still have confetti in my purse. ( Testament and fond memories of an awsome night. )

Sunday: Breakfast! Picasso! and The Village Idiot! ( The pub. Not us. ) The Picasso exhibit at Toronto's national gallery was well worth the price of admission. Alot of sculptures and a spectacular selection of his work from early to his last  years. Its pretty cool to see how much his work still influences artists today. Lunch at the Village Idiot proved to be both delicious and entertaining, as our waiter, Curtis, was that perfect combination of terse, sarcastic and quite funny. ( his  beer knowledge was also quite impressive!! ) After all that walking around, we headed back to Laura's for some haircutting, beer, and general catch up on the day. Many thankyou's and hugs to Laura, for allowing us to crash in her driveway, and to two of the sweetest little girls we know, Verity and Thora, for making us laugh and sharing  your toys.

 Totally tuckered from Toronto, we head off in the morning light for a place to rest, ( Macleran Island fits the bill, ) and plot our next leg of the journey. ( New Brunswick! )

 Till the next blog.....

 C, R, & Sir Vanagon. xo

Long Point black flies, and Niagara Falls. ( " We don't have an Ontario flag... " )

Ah Long Point. How lovely  you are, with your white sand beaches, friendly chipmunks, and even friendlier black flies.... Seriously. Black flies.... Lay off already!!! Without the chance happening of us arriving at exactly the height of this annoying fly, we would  perhaps still be lazing about at these gorgeous sandy dunes.... but we have a schedule to keep! Off to Niagara!

 Niagara falls, is an adult and small persons wonderland. Aside from the falls themselves, ( spectacular, impressive, and misty, ) the surrounding strip is something not unlike a small stretch of Vegas. Haunted houses, games, restaurants and gift shops galore. But try and find a sticker of Ontario's provincial flag? As we were told by one gentleman at one gift shop... " We don't have a flag. "  .... as in, he didn't think the mighty province of Ontario had its own flag. ( If only you could have seen the look of Rob's utter bemusement at this statement... I had to walk away myself, to keep from laughing out loud. ) Gift shops and games aside, Niagara is beautiful. Somehow not as high as I had imagined it, but really something to see. We took the " Journey behind the falls " tour, where  you get to walk through the tunnels behind the falls and pop out at different viewpoints. ( Exhilerating and drenchingly wet!! Thank god they give you plastic raincoats on the way down! )

 After Niagara's adventures, we took our time driving through Niagara on the lake, toured a couple of wineries, ( and may have stocked  up the wine cellar in doing so.. ;)  ) and once again hit the road...

 Toronto and NXNE, here we go!!!!  Tune into the next blog for our musical musings...

 C & R xo

Ducks, fender benders, and Manitoulin island.

 Neys provincial park, is a secret jem. Nestled on the  shores of Lake Superior, it is home to a gorgeous sandy beach, site of a german officers pow camp from world war 2, and the workplace of one of the nicest park rangers we have had the pleasure of meeting. This particular ranger, also raises ducks. Who follow him around the park. ( Insert adoring baby duck face here. ) Really reccomend this park to anyone travelling through Ontario, and if  you happen to come at the right time of year, you may even get to see clusters of butterflies mating and congregating by the water. ( A sight we won't soon forget. )

Sudbury , Ontario, is home to nickel mining, and sweet old ladies that have a hard time parking their vehicles in McDonalds parking lots...  Luckily for us, a) We were parked, ( and sitting inside haviing a coffee... )  and b) We drive a tank. ( Only damage to our vehicle was the rear plastic bumper came off... since she kept driving into the parking spot when she hit us, her van had alot more damage than ours. )   No harm, no foul, and we got the scoop on minng and Manitoulin island, and also met a very pleasant policeman. ( We were his first B.C. accident. ) Rob was interested in what we thought was perhaps his mace can on his pocket, turns out it was a mini flashlight...

( The officer probably now thinks we use candles in B.C.) Caffine fueled, and accident dealt with, we were off to Manitoulin Island!


 Manitoulin Island, is kind of how I picture Nova Scotia to be.  Quaint, picturesque, full of rolling hills, dotted with trees and farms, and some of the nicest little towns and village settings I've seen yet. ( As I said to  Rob, " How can these people stand it??? Its SO CUTE!!!! ) - And not cute in a bad way. I mean cute in the kind of way you want to put it in your pocket and take it home with you. ( if I had pockets big enough, I would have made off with the whole of Gore bay. ) If  you do get a chance, visit this island. You can get to it by road or ferry, ( we took both! ) and its well worth taking the time out to discover. They even have a couple of wind turbines on the island, to which Rob happily geeked out over. 


 Depending on the time of year you come over to Manitoulin, you may meet up with " four fishin' guys". A retired group of fellows that have been fishing the lakes on the island together for the last 35 years.  All from London, Ontario, they gave us the lowdown on good bars and haunts to visit for music and good people on our travels.  Ferry bound for Tobermory, the adventure continues! Niagra falls and Toronto bound, 

 With love from your travelling hippies, C & R.

Winnipeg fun, and involuntary blood donations in Northern Ontario...

Well, its been and adventurous few days here on the road, we spent three full days in Winnipeg, and got to stay with my cousins Lorraine and Bob for a couple of nights, where we were well fed and entertained, ( Thanks again guys! ) and had a chance to catch up with some family I haven't seen in ages. We toured the Canadian Mint, ( and discovered the backstory as to how we ended up with the loon on the looney... did you know they had a different original design, but lost that stamp for it in the mail??!! ... A one million dollar reward if you happen to find it too... ;)    ) Strolled through the Manitoba museum, ( highly reccomend this one. They have a full replica of the NonSuch there! ) , had excellent breakfast at Stellas, discovered St. Boniface ( and Louis Riel's final resting place, ) and met old friends and  new at Rob's friend Chantelles house. ( Thanks to you too, Chantelle !! )

Phew! After that whirlwind, we continued on to  pause for the night at Whitehawk provincial park, and made our way into Northern Ontario.  ( ... Oh mosquito country.... ) Our first night in Northern Ontario was an adventure into camping in crown land. ( Free camping! Yay! ) We saw turtles, pelicans, beavers, rabbits, and mosquitos.  Oh mosquitos.... backcountry camping without deet or a hazmat suit at this time of  year is a bad idea. Think of us as a 99 cent all you can eat buffet in  Vegas. One thing for sure, those skeeters will be full for weeks.

 Blood transfusion was considered the next day, but a perogie breakfast in Thunder Bay had us right as rain , and we settled in for a mellow evening at Kakabeka falls. ( A beautiful 40 waterfall graces the front of this park, and as well, we discovered a rogue campsite cat!  Does that count as wildlife? ... )

 A note on Lake Superior. It . Is. Stunning. ( And huge. But I don't need to tell you that. ) Ocean blue, with clear sandy beach stretches. Seriously. Wow. ( Or as Rob would say, " Holy Moly!

until the next blog... C &R.