O Canada: The Atlantic Provinces

Since returning from Europe at the end of last September, we’ve mostly stayed in Western Canada, completing a series of housesits in the Vancouver area through the new year, broken up with a quick trip to Huatulco, Mexico, and followed by a three-and-a-half-month sit on Gabriola Island. An activity-filled visit from our Netherlands-based grandson, followed by another couple of sits on Salt Spring Island and in West Vancouver, and here we are, ready to get back on the road again.

Keeping with the Canadian theme, we’re heading to an area we haven’t visited for 44 years. We honeymooned in the Atlantic Provinces in 1981, spending about three weeks driving and flying to all four provinces. This time, we’ll be there for almost four months seeing a lot more of this beautiful part of the country (and of France, when we ferry to St. Pierre and Michelon), and experiencing it more deeply (we have two housesits that will give us seven weeks of living in communities rather than just passing through).

When we began planning this trip, we intended to drive across Canada fairly quickly, stopping for a week or so in Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City before making our way up the Gaspé Peninsula and into the Atlantic Provinces from there. But the more we thought about it, especially with Ken’s recent Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis, we came to the conclusion that this amount of driving at each end of the trip would just be too much. With a retooled trip that starts with a flight into Moncton and a rental car from there, we have more time in the area we wanted to focus on and much shorter distances to cover.

So here is the rough plan in map form, though there will be many detours and details that aren’t included. This will take us from mid-June through early October. If you have any must-sees, please let us know!