Into The Great Wide Open

We got an early start south back into the states into Buffalo, NY. The border crossing took about 25 minutes.  We made our way to the Rock and Roll music hall of fame in Cleveland.  There was a live band playing outside that I’m assuming is a daily occurrence.  The band wasn’t all that good, the lead singer’s voice was pretty pitchy and off key.  We enjoyed seeing all of the instruments of our favorite bands, the clothing, and the videos.  After spending about 2 1/2 hours, we were hungry and found a brewery on the river to grab a meal and refreshment.  We then needed to fuel up before making our way south a little further since it was only around 4pm.  At the gas station a friendly ex police officer warned about the danger of Cleveland saying the day before someone was gunned down at a gas station.  He made it clear that he had protection and even lifted his shirt to show his gun in his pants.  I wasn’t alarmed, but it did solidify our plans ...

 We left Kingston thinking we would go into Toronto and possible stay the night there, but the wildfire smoke was really strong and it was also raining pretty hard so we decide to bypass and head straight to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.  Overlander sent us to some free parking that was hard to come by and this also turned into our spot to stay the night.  We were a little confused on where to walk to the falls, but found our way after getting pretty wet in the rain.  The falls were quite spectacular.  The viewing point was literally right where the falls went over the edge and it was pretty exhilarating to watch the water race over the edge down such a long drop.  We decided to retreat from the rain to the Table Rock restaurant which had an amazing view of the falls.  The food was very expensive and we weren’t all that hungry so we just grabbed a drink and enjoyed the view as we attempted to dry off.  By time we were finished the rain had s...

After leaving Quebec we had planned on staying in Montreal the next night, but after driving into the city we weren’t feeling like we wanted to try and figure out another large city that wasn’t as cool as Quebec.  We headed southwest further to a smaller community named Kingston in New Brunswick.  We arrived on July 1st which is Canada Day, the same as our 4th of July.  The spot we found on Overlander had a nice bathroom, was right on Lake Ontario, and had a plug which I plugged our UPS battery and also the van into to bring up the charge since we decided to stay 2 nights.  We walked down to the park where the fireworks were going to be let off and first went to a place that was a $20 cover that included a drink with chips and salsa (Pace).  We sat down and waited to see if they could come up with a table for us to sit at.  After waiting for 20 minutes we changed venues to a place that wasn’t as crowded and didn’t have a cover charge.  It was a good fi...

 Maverick “the van” arrived in Quebec City in the afternoon.  We both were eager to get out an explore.  It was a little challenging reading the signs being they were in French and a lot of people here speak French. It was fun trying to figure it all out.  Bryan found a spot in a parking lot where you could park for up to 24 hours.  I believe it was $10 for the night.  Unfortunately it was raining, but that didn’t stop us from getting out.  We ventured onto a cute little street that looks exactly like what you’d see in Europe.  All the cafes were packed with tourists and the windows had cute shutters and were opened to the outside. Bryan picked out our dinner spot “Ninkasi” We both ordered their local beer and split a plate of nachos.  The nachos were a tad different from the US.  I swear they mix marina sauce in w/their salsa and used a different kind of cheese. They were delicious though and I might have to try making them this way whe...

 We arrived early at our hotel that Bryan had booked.  We both were exhausted from the lack of sleep we had the night before.  The hotel had its own laundry room and I took advantage of getting all the laundry done.  While the clothes were washing/drying we walked over to an “entertainment” center right next door.  We were thinking about bowling, but we laughed at the size of the bowling balls and the pins were not the same as the US.  I guess they call it - 5 Pin, so maybe it’s not even considered bowling.  We were not sure where to eat dinner and headed to Costco.  Bryan had his first poutine.  Fries covered in gravy with cheese curds on top.  I thought they were disgusting and Bryan wasn’t a fan either, but he still can’t taste ;). We settled in for the night and got a great nights rest.  Woke up in the morning and gave Gus a bath.  We were all clean and ready to head to Quebec City. 

 We headed up to Cape Breton based on a local’s advice we had met in a provincial park before Halifax.  This would be the furthest east we could make it on this trip without a ferry.  Based on a route we won’t be following exactly Google maps says we are 3,900 miles away from home.  I chose a counterclockwise route for the Cabot Trail based on finishing the loop with the best scenery.  The drive was long (around 6 hours), but the scenery made it worth it.  We were ready to be done driving so we turned to the trusty Overlander app and found what I think may have been our best spot ever.  Meat Cove.  Had to look up where the name came from and apparently it’s from hunter’s who used to dress their animals there in its early history. Despite seeing sun for quite a bit of the day, the rain was coming down pretty hard as we sought our spot about 15 miles off the highway which included about a 5 mile dirt road at the end.  The spot was a pretty narr...