Road trip thread... - Page 4 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

tvp2003 · 07-22-2011, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

Leaving on Wednesday! Going to be a different experience.
I've never driven more than 5-6 hours away.

Good luck, and be safe!

Oh, and definitely let us know how it goes!

starseed · 07-22-2011, 10:40 AM

I absolutely love road trips. My favourite road trip was the one I took solo around the great lakes at the age of 21 (two summers ago). I went from Calgary to Minot ND, through Weyburn and Estevan SK. When crossing the border, the border guards pulled me aside for an intense interview... they pulled out everything from my wallet and asked me very detailed questions. When I told them that I was going to Toronto, they asked why I was going there. I told them that I was going for the pride festival. Later on, as the border officer escorted me to my freshly searched car, he asked me what I meant by 'pride'. I immediately started to internally freak out because I thought all this time they thought I was a white supremacist... but I did quickly clarify that I meant gay pride. I cringed for the rest of the drive to Minot. Minot was going through some state fair at the time, and I was not aware of this. Most of the hotels in the area were booked solid. Luckily I found one hotel near the downtown area that had one room left, but it was a handicap access room. This turned out to be awesome because I did not have to carry my luggage very far.
From there I drove to Minneapolis, and stayed at a hotel near the Mall of America. I took in some scenes around Minny, and checked out the Mall. I just found the whole experience of discovering a city on my own to be quite exhilerating.
From there I went to Chicago. In Wisconsin, I decided to randomly pull over into this small town called Osseo. They have a norweigan cafe, so I decided to eat there. I chatted with this older lady who was either the owner or manager of the place. Apparently that place was known for it's pies which had won national competitions. I had the same pie my swedish grandmother would always make, Strawberry Rhubarb... and it was just as good. I stayed in Chicago with some friends, and they gave me a tour of the city. I loved their gothic buildings, and the general feel of their downtown. Millenium Park was also pretty neat to see with the cloud gateway (the big bean).
From there I went through to Toronto. I bypassed Detroit and crossed over the border at Sarnia. I made a pitstop in Strathroy before continuing on. Toronto was amazing fun. I think tears came to my eye when I saw the CN tower lit up in gay pride colours. It was such in incredible feeling to see the town embrace pride. I don't think I stopped smiling while I was there. The parade was so cool to see too, especially seeing a whole bunch of politicians that I had never seen in person before. There was even a contingent from the Ontario PC party. I checked out a lot of places in T.O., including Kensington market, AGO, and China town around spadina.
I had time enough to push on to Ottawa, but I decided to start heading back home through the northern route.
I got as far as the northern shore of Lake Superior on the first day. I pulled over and slept in my car. There were fireworks going off for Canada Day at some town, and I think I saw fireflies outside my car.
The next day I checked out the Terry Fox memorial, then went into Thunderbay for breakfast. I think that was the day I drove for more than 18 hours and got to near the Saskatchewan/Alberta border. When I pulled over to sleep, the sky was filled with stars, but a thunderstorm was off in the distance. A few hours later I woke up and headed home. When I got to Medicine Hat, I hit a nasty storm. It was raining so hard that I had to go 40 on the transcanada. A bolt of lightning hit just off the road ahead of me and scared the #### out of me.
I have done a few other big road trips. When I was 19, I went to California down through MT, ID, UT, and AZ. The canyons in UT and AZ were amazing to see. There was one moment in a desert near Flagstaff that I will never forget. The sky went bright pink for a couple minutes at dusk. The entire landscape looked amazing. I will never forget that feeling.
I have also driven from here to Tofino with my sisters. The drive from Port Alberni to Ucluelet was the second most frightening experience of my life. It was pouring rain so hard that my wipers just could not keep up, and I think I was even driving through waterfalls at some points. The roads were extremely narrow and winding around mountains on cliffs, and semis were coming at me unexpectedly... but it was worth it to see the rainforest and the massive trees. I went there again a couple years later and had the best sushi I have ever had in Tofino.
The most frightening experience of my life happened on a road trip to see my Aunt in southern Ontario. My sister was driving my parents truck while we were on our way home when a semi pushed us into the shoulder and we lost control and rolled the truck a few times into the ditch. This happened near Maple Creek SK, where I think it was the next summer that the highway responsible was swallowed up by water.
Next summer I am thinking of doing a road trip around Alberta and into BC to introduce some British folk to western Canada. The same British folk who introduced their country to me a couple weeks ago!

starseed · 07-22-2011, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Nice thread idea, must've missed this the first time around.

When I first turned 21 me & 2 buddies did a month long road trip in August where we went from Calgary east all the way to Montreal, then down the eastern seaboard to NYC & all the way to DC, cut through Tennessee & down to N'awlins, then west through Texas up through Arizona to Vegas, then west to LA and up the coast all the way to Vancouver, & finally back home. 34 days, 15,000km's. And the best time of my whole dang life to this point.

Wow. That must have been incredible. I was planning something similar on a smaller scale this year, but I went to England/Ireland/Scotland and France instead. I fully intend to drive through every Canadian province and US state before I am 40. I am 1/3 of the way there!

Mass_nerder · 07-22-2011, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatWhiteEbola

Please write about your experience, I want to do this trip. How long are you going to take?

We figure it's going to take 4-5 days of driving.
My girlfriend has a good friend in Montreal, so we might end up spending a day there.

Sainters7 · 07-23-2011, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starseed

Wow. That must have been incredible. I was planning something similar on a smaller scale this year, but I went to England/Ireland/Scotland and France instead. I fully intend to drive through every Canadian province and US state before I am 40. I am 1/3 of the way there!

Oh yeah it was definitely a good time. So many stories from that trip. I think everyone needs to go to New Orleans at least once in their life, what a crazy city. I didn't even feel like I was in the States anymore when I was there, definitely has its own culture.

And out of the 16 states we went through, surprisingly my favourite was Tennessee. You can't go anywhere without getting into at least a 10min convo with someone, everyone's so friendly. And the fact that literally every rural convenience store we went to in that state was painted bright orange for the Vols (some even had a giant, white T painted on the walls) was so awesome and hilarious. Great state.

bradster57 · 07-23-2011, 11:32 PM

Just finished a Vegas road trip and back on the I-15. Love that stretch after Great Falls, through the mountains in Montana, the valleys in Utah, and the deserts in Arizona and Nevada. Also funny to see the temperature climb 10 degrees as you pass into the Mojave.

Sainters7 · 07-24-2011, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

Leaving on Wednesday! Going to be a different experience.
I've never driven more than 5-6 hours away.

Noob question, but how are you guys posting those pics? Want to post mine but I can't figure out how to copy it from Google Maps. Thanks

Mass_nerder · 07-30-2011, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Noob question, but how are you guys posting those pics? Want to post mine but I can't figure out how to copy it from Google Maps. Thanks

I just took a screen shot and clipped it in paint.
There might be an easier way, but it worked fine for me.

Mass_nerder · 07-30-2011, 09:58 PM

For anyone that cares to read, we're 2 days into the trip to Halifax.
We're in St Paul, MN tonight. Insane lighting storm right now...I guess because it's been 30+ degrees for the past few days.
The drive has been going quite well.
We drove from Calgary to Estevan Saskatchewan on the first day. On the way we ran into some flooding, including an area not too far away from Estevan where the water was over the road and we had to drive though.
Today was spent getting through North Dakota; talk about a boring place! Thankfully the speed limit was 75mph (120km/hr), so we were able to get into Minnesota fairly quickly.
Tomorrow we're travelling through Wisconsin (unfortunately not going to see Milwaukee), Illinois where we will be skirting Chicago, and into Michigan, where we'll be staying for the night.
I have pictures, but I don't feel like posting them from the road, so I'll upload them when we get to Halifax.

gargamel · 07-31-2011, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

For anyone that cares to read, we're 2 days into the trip to Halifax.
We're in St Paul, MN tonight. Insane lighting storm right now...I guess because it's been 30+ degrees for the past few days.
The drive has been going quite well.
We drove from Calgary to Estevan Saskatchewan on the first day. On the way we ran into some flooding, including an area not too far away from Estevan where the water was over the road and we had to drive though.
Today was spent getting through North Dakota; talk about a boring place! Thankfully the speed limit was 75mph (120km/hr), so we were able to get into Minnesota fairly quickly.
Tomorrow we're travelling through Wisconsin (unfortunately not going to see Milwaukee), Illinois where we will be skirting Chicago, and into Michigan, where we'll be staying for the night.
I have pictures, but I don't feel like posting them from the road, so I'll upload them when we get to Halifax.

There's nothing unfortunate about that. Madison is worth a visit if you have time, but Milwaukee is not a nice city.

SeeBass · 07-31-2011, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yasa

That looks incredibly fun. I wish I had friends that could take a good 20 days off work. Solo road trip for me!

Did that same trip last year. It was during July and it was HOT!

SeeBass · 07-31-2011, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yasa

Bump!

So I'm heading to Kelowna tomorrow and then Vancouver on Sunday. I've only driven to Vancouver once and it was at night, so do any of you have any suggestions for interesting places to stop, or good food between Kelowna and Van?

There is a great BBQ place in Golden.

Best I have had in Canada.

cgy2london · 07-31-2011, 02:37 PM

going to Billings next saturday for the PBR. anyone know anything about boozing there? please pm if so. thanks!

Mass_nerder · 07-31-2011, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gargamel

There's nothing unfortunate about that. Madison is worth a visit if you have time, but Milwaukee is not a nice city.

Hahaha, the more cities I see, the better.
Just passed through Madison though.

cgy2london · 08-01-2011, 11:22 AM

avoide the casino in milwaukee

Mazrim · 08-03-2011, 11:11 AM

This is the road trip I'll be doing next week. Nothing insane or far away, but very scenic aside from the first leg! (Spoiler Tagged for big image)

Spoiler!

Not gonna rush it or anything. Going to stop at lots of places, camp a few times, take in the sights. Should be relaxing! I love BC.

calgaryrocks · 08-03-2011, 11:16 AM

^that looks like a great little trip!
I have been thinking about doing something like that, as I have never driven to Jasper and want to go. the problem with driving to Jasper is coming back, you pretty much either go the same way, drive a longer distance to Edmonton or even longer through BC. I would probably choose BC because there is lots of area I haven't seen there either. I would probably do highway 5 to Kamloops then back though. it's alot of driving for one person, but it would be beautiful

Mazrim · 08-03-2011, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by calgaryrocks

^that looks like a great little trip!
I have been thinking about doing something like that, as I have never driven to Jasper and want to go. the problem with driving to Jasper is coming back, you pretty much either go the same way, drive a longer distance to Edmonton or even longer through BC. I would probably choose BC because there is lots of area I haven't seen there either. I would probably do highway 5 to Kamloops then back though. it's alot of driving for one person, but it would be beautiful

The nice thing about the Jasper trip is that the Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93) is pretty much the most beautiful drive you'll ever do, so doing it twice to make a round trip isn't even a bad thing. I've driven from Jasper to Banff before, and I have no qualms about doing it yet again on this road trip. Going to Highway 5 though gives you a chance to see Mt. Robson and Berg lake, which are amazing.

tvp2003 · 08-27-2011, 09:48 PM

Thought I would bump this -- last weekend before the Labour Day long weekend

Due to our infant daughter, the furthest we got away was a trip to Spokane. She was NOT a happy camper on the way out, but fortunately, it was a much more enjoyable drive coming back.

Any other experiences to share from this past summer?