As a certified travel agent, international airline employee, researcher, writer, teacher and photographer for four decades, travel, whether for pleasure or business, has always been an important and integral part of my life. Some 400 trips to all parts of the world, by road, rail, sea and air, involved both worldly and exotic destinations. This article focuses on those in Canada, whose coverage spanned all 14 provinces and territories.
Labrador:
Spanning 500,000 square miles between the Atlantic Ocean and Hudson Bay in northeastern Canada, Labrador stretched further east than any other part of the North American continent. Its geological base, formed by the ancient Laurentian Shield, was created by internal upheaval, glaciation, and erosion, and is believed to resemble the surface before life began on the planet. Considered the last frontier of Canada and the world, it was sparsely populated and virtually unexplored.
Although some places might be considered “attractions” in the traditional travel sense of the word, such as the Labrador Heritage Museum, Labrador Military Museum, and 5 Wing Goose Bay, “attractions” consisted of those that made life easier on this end. North. location, specifically the Floating Plane Base and natural topography, such as Grand Lake and the Mealy Mountains, seen from a high view on the North West River.
Road access was provided by the 530-kilometer gravel-surfaced Trans Labrador Highway that ran between Goose Bay and Labrador City. The First Nation’s population and the first’s rustic atmosphere were reflected respectively in shops, such as Drumdance Art and Crafts, and restaurants like Trappers Cabin, in which diners grilled their own steaks.
Newfoundland:
Newfoundland, part of Labrador province, was crossed end-to-end in a westerly direction from St. John’s to Clarenville, Gander and Rocky Harbor, exceeding 700 kilometers and several days later followed by a return.
Its various landmarks included the Terra Nova National Park, the North Atlantic Aviation Museum, the Silent Witness Memorial, a tranquil park dedicated to the memory of the 256 who lost their lives on December 12, 1985 in an Arrow crash. Air Super DC-8, and Gros Morne National Park, where a long hike preceded a boat cruise through the 15-kilometer-long Western Brook fjord and pond.
Gander International Airport played an important role in the early days of piston aircraft as a refueling stop, as these aircraft lacked sufficient range to fly between North America and Europe, and its Gander Hotel on site, where countless passengers were staying regularly, it reflected an even earlier situation. era of aviation with its Alcock and Brown restaurant, named after the two British pilots who made their transatlantic crossing in 1919
The Cape Spear National Historic Site marked the easternmost point of North America.
New Scotland:
Nova Scotia, accessed through Halifax, was characterized by the city’s boardwalk lined with shops, restaurants, and museums, beginning at the Halifax Casino and the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site.
Old Lunenburg was one of only two urban communities in North America designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Peggy’s Cove, on a rocky outcrop on the east shore of St. Margarets Bay, was the location of the Peggys Point Lighthouse and provided a wonderful lunch of fresh fried shrimp at their restaurant.
Important tourist visits were made on the island of Cape Bretton. A tour of the 185-mile Cabot Trail, located in northern Victoria and Inverness counties and looping around the tip of the island, offered magnificent views of Cape Breton Highlands and the Atlantic, beginning in Baddeck, which a in turn it was the location of the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.
The Fortress of Louisbourg, another National Historic Site of Canada, was the location of a reconstruction room of an 18th century French fortress.
Prince Edward Island:
Prince Edward Island, accessed via Charlottetown, was synonymous with the House of Anne of Green Cables in Cavendish.
The verdant forest of New Brunswick on the Bay of Fundy offered a chance to get a taste of local life on St. John through Kings Square and Prince William Street, another National Historic Site.
Quebec:
Quebec represented French-speaking Canada. In Vieux-Montreal (Old Montreal), historical sights, dinners and cakes were enjoyed, preceded by a pass through the Olympic Park.
Quebec City, whose symbol seemed to be the Chateau Frontenac, was the only walled city in North America.
Various meals enjoyed in its bistros with European reminiscences. A fiery fall ascent of his Mount-Ste Annie chairlift was a highlight.
Ontario:
Ontario, a metropolis of skyscrapers, offered attractions like the CN Tower. A walk around Lake Ontario, to spend the night in St. Catharines, previews of Niagara Falls and participation in its many attractions and related attractions. A ferry trip to Toronto Island was followed by a quadricycle negotiation of its dedicated pedestrian and bicycle trails. On another occasion, a research trip involved an overnight stay in Sault Ste. Marie.
Ottawa, the Canadian seat of government, included tours of Parliament Hill on the south bank of the Ottawa River, and the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum, the Canadian equivalent of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
Manitoba:
Although Manitoba was accessed through Winnipeg and offered tourism opportunities at its Forks National Historic Site, it offered both natural and exotic locations, in addition to the Hudson Bay Company stone fur trade strong in Lower Fort Garry. Riding Mountain National Park, for example, was explored with a drive along its narrow dirt roads that served as arteries through the ubiquitous tall, slender white-bark birch and poplar trees that opened out onto grasslands and Bison Mountain Range, and a Clear Lake boat cruise was like gliding over a blue mirror.
Churchill, considered the polar bear capital of the world and located in the extreme north of the province, was a reservoir in sub-arctic Canada. A tundra buggy expedition, in a specially constructed vehicle internally provided with an oven and externally offering an observation deck for observing wildlife, traversed the treeless tundra to the shores of Hudson Bay, encountering caribou from the forest, snow geese and polar bears themselves. who, ironically, viewed the tundra buggy with the same curiosity as its inhabitants.
A subsequent zodiac tour of the Churchill River provided opportunities for beluga whale watching.
Other sights included the Visitor Center at Churchill Railroad Station, literally the end of the line for VIA Rail Canada’s Manitoba boreal forest and the track running through the tundra. Shopping at this near-top-of-the-world outpost was done at places like the Arctic Trading Company, and the main courses at dinner appropriately featured Arctic trout.
Saskatchewan:
Neighboring Saskatchewan, with its main portals of Regina and Saskatoon, offered sighting similarities and one notable difference. A trip down the dirt road that penetrates Prince Albert National Park, for example, revealed unspoiled views, while the access and infrastructure of the area could be studied at the Western Development Museum. But a stay at Moose Jaw’s Temple Gardens Mineral Spa Resort provided peace for the soul and elegant cuisine for the body, and an accompanied tour of its Moose Jaw Tunnels, an extensive system excavated in 1908 and used by Chinese immigrants and during the ban, revealed the city’s “underground” purpose.
Alberta:
Calgary and Edmonton served as the thresholds of the Canadian Rockies, offering endless views of towering snow-capped mountains, a visit to Banff National Park, a tram ascent of Mount Sulfur on the Banff Gondola, and the brilliant blue jewel of the lake. Louise. The cursory study of paleontology, as evidenced by the dinosaur skeleton outside the Royal Tyrrell Museum, was introduced at Drumheller.
British Columbia:
Several stays at Vancouver’s Pan Pacific Hotel, part of the cruise terminal from which the Alaska Inside Passage itineraries were launched, became the base for British Columbia sightseeing that included Capilano Suspension Bridge Park , Grouse Mountain and Skyride, and a ferry and a helicopter. return from Victoria on Vancouver Island. The latter, showing its British colonial past, included attractions such as Butchart Gardens and its Victorian architecture, and afternoon tea was still practiced.
A trip to Whistler, one of the largest ski resorts in North America, not only offered the expected skiing, but also snowshoeing, sledding and ski jumping were offered at its Olympic Park, home of the Olympic Games in Vancouver Winter 2010. Its chalet-style pedestrian village at the base of the Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains provided modern overnight accommodations, and lunch was enjoyed after an aerial tram ride to the top.
Arctic and sub-arctic Canada was experienced in three territories, which, spanning the country from east to west, included Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and the Yukon.
Nunavut:
The first, located on Baffin Island and served by Iqaluit, reeked of life in a remote outpost. Located above the tree line, it offered few paths and led neither in nor out. Their community center looked like a self contained module of Moon Base Alpha. And it was one of the few “cities” with regular flights to Greenland.
Northwest Territories:
Yellowknife, the largest population center in the Northwest Territories on the Mackenzie River and itself above the 60th parallel, was marked by seaplanes that served as air arteries to its remote communities and caribou served at the Wildcat Café with cabins of logs, although the more traditional fare was available in more modern hotels and restaurants.
Buffalo Airways, with its fleet of antiquated Douglas DC-3s, Curtiss C-46 Commandos, Douglas DC-4 and Lockheed Electras, was the mainstay of supply for the other communities in the area.
Norman Wells expanded rapidly due to its oil deposits.
And Inuvik, above the Arctic Circle, is accessed via the Dempster gravel road, which connects the area with Dawson City in the Yukon and facilitates a day trip, by rental truck, to Detah, which requires a short ferry crossing on the Arctic Red River. reach.
Yukon:
The Yukon provided an extensive and multifaceted travel experience. In Whitehorse, its largest city, it included a stay at a hotel with Klondike Gold Rush decor; visits to the Old Church Museum, the now-stationary SS Klondike, the largest of the 250 sternwheelers that have plowed the Yukon River and a Canadian National Historic Site. Other attractions included the Yukon Transportation Museum, the Yukon Beringia Interpretation Center (Beringia was the subcontinent of the last Ice Age), and the Whitehorse Fish Ladder. A ride on the Copper Belt Mining Railroad, the Whitehorse Waterfront Trolley, and a boat cruise to Miles Canyon on the Yukon River served as attractions and modes of transportation, and a performance by the Frantic Follies Vaudeville Revue cemented the gold rush experience.
Side trips included those to Haines Junction, where a stay at the Raven Hotel, owned and run by Germans who prepared daily breakfast and cooked each individual dinner, and Kluane National Park, a sub-arctic wilderness reserve.
A drive up the Alaska Highway, past Carcross, led to the US border and Skagway, Alaska for a ride on the famous White Pass and the Yukon Route Railroad.
