Snap shots

Here are some snapshots from my road trip across the country: Vancouver Island to Ottawa. The trip took 5 days, approx. 45 hours of driving, 4.5k plus kilometers, and one Pete ;)
DAY ONE:

Ferry line up at 5 am

Sun rising as we approach Tsawwassen

Vancouver Island is back there, somewhere

First stop in Hope. Hot and dry

Stop in Kamloops. Also hot and dry

I wasn't able to include any pictures from my other stops from that day. I got pretty frazzled during the drive between Salmon Arm and Banff. Lots of one lane highway + transport truck + construction = craziness. Banff wasn't anything like I remember as a kid; it seemed like one perpetual hotel. The smell of fudge and the sound of the train whistle brought back some memories . . .

Exhausted in Calgary

DAY TWO:

Sunrise in Calgary

Motel in Brandon

Guess I didn't take many pictures this day. Driving through the Alberta badlands and Saskatchewan was pretty good. Boring, but easy because of the two-lane highway and fairly well-maintained pavements. I said goodbye to the mountains as they disappeared in my rearview mirror.

DAY THREE:

Sunrise in Brandon obscured by buildings. Google maps fail first thing in the morning; it was insisting I drive for 2 hours down a gravel/dirt road. Nope, chose the second option, the main HWY1 which would take 1 minute longer.

The "Halfway Tree" between Brandon and Winnipeg.

Stumbled onto one of my old haunts as a young teen in Winnipeg while looking for a pitstop. Dalhousie and Pembina Hwy.

Stop in a town called Ignace

A famous fire observation tower that was moved and rebuilt here.

Robin's Donuts in Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay motel. Large amount of non-universally accessible buildings in Ontario.

Getting excited now cuz the trip is half done. Getting used to being cooped up in my car for hours on end but got a fairly good routine going.

DAY FOUR:

Raining this morning in Thunder Bay

Weird town of Marathon

This was one of the hardest drives: Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie. One lane highways, construction every 10k, and torrential rain beating down from the sky. Drove through a thunderstorm while passing Lake Superior. Scary and awesome.

I noticed this thing in strip malls where there are glass enclosures for no apparent reason; from the parking lot to parking lot.

More heavy rain in Sault Ste. Marie. It was sunny 2 minutes before this.

Getting really excited now knowing that Ottawa was only 8 hours drive away. Getting a little nervous too in case my landlord decided to jam out on me. Was able to sneak in some D&D time cuz I got to the motel at around 5:30 pm.

DAY FIVE:

Leaving for the last leg of my journey.

Arrived at the place with 15 minutes to spare before my landlord. Got turned around multiple times in downtown Ottawa trying to find the place and terrorized locals with my illegal turns.

My little room for the next year.

Saved this ginger beer for 5 days, just for this moment. Here at last :)

Didn't take any pictures this day. I hardly stopped either, I was waaaaay too excited to get to Ottawa. Now that I'm here, I'm learning to adjust to a shared living space and busy student environment. I'm settling in nicely though and spent most of my afternoon today in the National Gallery of Canada. Lots of good stuff there. I also found the Byward market which is a cool market/eatery area. I'm only 5 blocks from the Visual Arts building at the University of Ottawa. I think I'm going to enjoy it here :)