Pitter Patter, Let’s Get At ‘Er!
We find the best poutine in Quebec, the last lobster rolls in PEI, find the only dart board in New Brunswick, and get lost and found in Nova Scotia.
Quebec City - Canada's Oldest City and the Original Poutine!
We're striking out on our anniversary road trip across Canada's maritime provinces: Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. We kick it off in La Belle Province, Quebec! We head to Drummondville to try the Original Poutine at Le Roy Jucep before heading to the Oldest City in North America and Quebec's Capital City, La Ville du Québec. We stay in the cobblestone roads of Lower Quebec, find the oldest pub in Quebec, and have a picnic on the shores of the St. Lawrence river overlooking the beautiful skyline defined by Château Frontenac. Venez avec nous faire un détour dans la belle province!
PEI - Last Lobster Rolls in Canada's Birthplace
This episode we're on island time as we head to Canada's littlest province, Prince Edward Island! We cross Canada's longest bridge to see the red sandstone beaches that put Anne of Green Gables on the map, stuff our faces with the best seafood in the maritimes, and explore Charlottetown where Canada started on the road to becoming its own country. It might be small by Canadian provincial standards, but it makes up for it by being GORGEOUS!
Cape Breton - Best. Autumn. EVER.
You've never seen autumn colours like what Cape Breton sees every Fall! We sheltered from some terrible weather at the warm and friendly Yellow Sidecar Bed and Breakfast where our hosts shared the Irish and Scottish influenced music that forms a big part of the east coast's identity. But the weather didn't keep us inside the whole time and we were rewarded with a gorgeous adventure through the highlands of Cape Breton Island!
Nova Scotia (Part 1) - A Place So Nice We Did it Twice!
This time we're checking out the capital city of Nova Scotia, Halifax, a city so great we've actually made 2 episodes covering our time there. We meet up with one of Mike's old high school buddies who takes us out for a wild Friday night on the town visiting some of the pubs that make Halifax a great party town. Then it's off to Peggy's Cove to see the famous lighthouse before heading back into the city to experience another crazy late-fall Atlantic storm from the warm comfort of our cozy hotel looking out over the great harbour.
Nova Scotia (Part 2) - I'm A Broken Man on a Halifax Pier
We get a little more serious this episode as we start with a visit to The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in the Halifax Harbour where thousands of immigrants and refugees took their first steps into Canada to start their new lives. Mike's dad arrived here from Germany but both our parents came to Canada as immigrants arriving from Hungary, Argentina, Israel, Poland, and Romania. Then we change direction and set a new course to visit the original brewery built by a Scottish immigrant named Alexander Keith, followed by a review of the uniquely Maritime chip flavour: Lobster. We go for our last dinner in Halifax at The Foggy Goggle on one of the foggiest nights we've ever seen, and leave Mike as a broken man on a Halifax pier, the last of Barrett's privateers.
New Brunswick - Ferry Boats, Huge Tides, and the Hunt for Dartboards!
Back in 2005 Mike and some of his best DJ buddies in Montreal went on a road trip to spend a weekend spinning in some after hours clubs in New Brunswick and 13 years later he returns with Tamara on their 2018 anniversary road trip. This episode we're crossing the Bay of Fundy to Saint John on the mighty Fundy Rose to see the largest tidal shift in the world! Did you know that FOUR TIMES the total volume of all the world's rivers COMBINED every single day? The whole bay pretty much empties and refills twice a day and can trap you in precarious places. Madness. Then we go on an obsessive expedition to find a bar where we can play darts.
La Malbaie, Quebec - A Haunted Fortress and the World's BEST Poutine?
We discover the world's best, and rarest, poutine on a ferry boat crossing the St. Lawrence seaway and stay at the luxurious, historic Fairmont Manoir Le Richelieu with it's cannons, year-round outdoor pools and hot tubs, and hidden game rooms. Like The Stanley Hotel from The Shining, this old hotel is almost certainly haunted. Allons-y!
Charlevoix, Quebec - Baguettes, Bad Weather, and Best Friends
All good things must come to an end, and our eastern Canadian road trip is no exception. In this final chapter we check out the Charlevoix region that surrounds The Fairmont Le Manoir le Richelieu, a unique region that was made almost half a billion years ago when a meteorite slammed into the Canadian Shield mountain range. Today Charlevoix has beautiful, rolling hills and charming French-Canadian villages, and we drove around until we found the literal end of the road at the end of our trip. And on our drive back home we met up with some friends for one last poutine in Montreal but not without an uphill battle through the worst winter weather that we encountered on our entire trip!
