All posts filed under: roadtrip

Canadian Rockies: The Ultimate Road Trip [Part 2]

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Part 2 of Kittie and Samiha’s Rockies experience in Canada!  Here’s Part 1 in case you missed it. Rockies Heli Canada We also made a stop and did a helicopter ride over the mountains with Rockies Heli Canada! It was a 20-minute ride called the “6 Glaciers Tour” and was simply breathtaking. The views were incredible and it feels completely different when you’re up at over 9,000 ft! We flew over 6 different glaciers and through the valleys, but also over the Cline River. The road you see below there is the David Thompson Hwy, which is another incredible drive that takes you to Edmonton, instead of Banff. Off the David Thompson Hwy and along the Cline River, we stopped near the Kootenay Plains and had a little picnic. It was the perfect spot and gave us a moment to sit, relax and enjoy the surrounding scenery. Banff Banff is home to the famous Lake Louise, but rarely do people talk about Moraine Lake, which is just a few minutes drive away. Both are beautiful …

Canadian Rockies: The Ultimate Road Trip [Part 1]

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Today I have a special guest post from fellow Excapers Kittie and Samiha!  If you enjoyed my previous post on my Yosemite trip, you’ll love what these two travelers have in store for you on their Rockies experience! Living in Canada, we’ve all heard about the Rockies, but few of us rarely get the chance to see them in person. Until you’re there, you wouldn’t believe the grandeur of it all. You feel like a tiny speck in the universe against the backdrops of these gorgeous and majestic mountains. We took the ultimate road trip through the towering mountains of British Columbia and Alberta, accumulating in: +2,500 km (+32 hrs) of driving, 8 cup noodles, 1 heli-tour, 0 grizzly bears, 10 lakes and probably over 100 mountains. Squamish & Whistler Our first stop was driving up through the popular Sea-to-Sky Highway to Squamish and Whistler, BC to visit the Sea-to-Sky Gondola and Whistler Village’s PEAK 2 PEAK gondola. It was a test of acrophobia (fear of heights) that day, but the views were definitely worth every bit! …

Quebec City – Canada’s own Paris

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As I was preparing to recap my recent weekend trip to Quebec City, I stumbled upon Huffington Post’s recent article entitled “Quebec City: A Closer Pick Than Paris.”  I couldn’t agree more.  Although not nearly not the same scale as the capital of France, Quebec City has its own unique charm and is much cleaner than it’s European counterpart.  It offers some spectacular views of the St.Lawrence river and a taste of it’s French roots in Old Quebec. I literally felt like I wasn’t in Canada anymore.  We were welcomed with stunning views after a short walk up from the Plains of Abraham where Britain won its battle over France.   The European style architecture adds such character to the city, especially the iconic Chateau Frontenac which was previously the residence of British Colonial Governors and now converted into a grand Fairmont Hotel and currently a National Historical site in Canada. You can take a scenic ferry ride across the St. Lawrence river to capture the beautiful skyline with the Frontenac for just a few …

Boston: Exploring Harvard and finding the best lobster roll

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We started the day off with a nice jog around Jamaica Pond which was very close to the neighborhood we were staying in – Jamaica Plains.  I would describe JP as divided into two parts – The Ghetto and the Hipster hood.  The Ghetto is pretty run down and sketchy while the other side is lined with cute little shops and home to quite a wealthy looking group of folks.  I just remember seeing huge mansion size houses near Jamaica Pond when we were jogging.  By the way, its not really a ‘pond’ one lap around the body of water is about 2.5km.  After getting a good sweat we stopped by one of the indie cafes in the neighborhood called 7 Pond Coffee Bar to grab a well deserved Americano and croissant. The cafe was actually one of the most clever and well thought out spaced I’ve seen.  The scafe is tiny, but the way it was designed maximized every square foot.  The photo here doesn’t do it justice… the quality of the interior design was …

Pittsburg and Ohio: Baseball and Stumbling upon one Hell of a Waffle House

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Our last full day stop at Pittsburg was a rather spontaneous one.  We actually didn’t have anything planned at all.  Whilst doing some impromptu research on the city, we thought maybe we’d check out the Carnegie Science Center there.  Unfortunately… Pittsburg’s plethora of confusing and winding roads took us on a detour which pushed our time back a bit.  So instead we drove aimlessly around looking for a place to settle for dinner… got lost… and stumbled upon this amazing view of the city.  There, we met a couple of locals and asked them what to check out.  With the recommendation of eating on Market street, we were off.   Market street is essentially a square with a bunch of restaurants and this cool glass castle-like building.  After days of eating greasy American food, we were feeling like Asian cuisine.  On the particular day we were in Pittsburg, there must have been some sort of Anime or Comic convention going on because people were dressed up like cartoons all around the street.  We saw Lightning from FF13 and …

West Virginia – Exploring the depths of a Bat Cave

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Heading up north back to Toronto, we stopped by West Virginia to check out Organ Cave – one of the oldest and largest caves on the East Coast of the States.  It was a hiding place for over 1,100 Confederate soldiers for three years and a mining operation for extracting minerals such as saltpeter for the American Civil war. I arrived totally underdressed and was sent back to get some sneakers on and warm clothes… Thank god I listened to our guide because it was freezing inside the dungeons cavities of the giant cave.   All sorts of cool creatures inhabit the cave including bats!  I’ve never seen one in real life and these guys were hibernating so we got a pretty close up look at them.  Some of the bats have a coat ing of frost on their body because the heat from their body freezes over from the cool temperatures of the cave!  We also learned that, unfortunately, because of changes in the ecosystem thousands of bats are dying each year 😦  Our guide …

Seafood in South Carolina

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Charleston was my favorite city by far from our road trip.  It had a very Californian feel with its palm trees, warm dry breezes, and an active community.  All the beaches, restaurants, and points of interest we wanted to hit up were within driving distance of one another which was brilliant.  Our first stop was breakfast at Hominy Grill.  We found this place online as it was starred in several food networks and was highly rated – for a good reason too.  The place is extremely clean and beautifully decorated that gave it a perfect summer brunch venue feel.   We opted to sit outdoors since it was such a gorgeous day.  Their breakfast menu is a modest one-pager with Southern classics like Shrimp & Grits, Biscuits, and waffles.  I went straight for the grits.  K went with a spinach and feta omelet with taters.  This being the first time I’ve ever tried grits, I was blown away by how much flavor was packed into what seemingly looked like plain porridge.  It was delicious!!!  In …

Lounging in Myrtle Beach

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It was a gruesome 8hr drive from Washington to South Carolina, but the prospect of sand and sun waiting for us in Myrtle Beach was more than enough to keep us motivated on the road.  In just a few short days we managed to escape surprise snow attacks and the bitter cold in Toronto to Mrytle Beach.  Waking up to this view was glorious. First thing we did was grab a coffee and go on a nice long walk along the endless stretch of beach   We had plans to fish along this pier, but we were too knocked out from our long drive to wake up at the crack of dawn. Still a very nice pier though.  Great view!         Fish Tacos and a juicy burger for lunch (Mmmm). Played a few rounds of mini put…this was my first time and I found it highly entertaining Cooling off an intense game with some ice cream 😉  Then a quick pizza for dinner at Broadway at the Beach which is a large …

In the American Capital

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Our next stop after Baltimore was a brief layover in Washington.  We were very impressed by how cleanly and organized the city was.    The Union Station was huge… almost as nice as New York’s Grand Central. Our objective was to check out the White House… but instead we ended up at the Capitol Building which we thought was the White House… Folks, there are a lot of white buildings in Washington.   Then I found the Securities & Exchange Commission!!  For some reason I was really excited… as a finance major, I only read about this in textbooks and suddenly I get the see the physical building where all the action takes place.   On the topic of nerdy things…  One of the best things about Washington is that they boast an impressive collection of museums… for free!  I hopped on Google and saw that the Museum of Natural History as one of the most popular and highest ranked. I had a serious case of deja vu as I entered the museum.  I realize …