Spectacular!!!

Alright everyone , this will be my final blog post, and yet only my second post. Today is the first day after cycling across the country , unfortunately Matti had his flight at 4:30 so,he really did not have a chance to do much.

Today started with Matti and myself going Velma's for Toutons, which is a fried bread that is covered in molasses or syrup for breakfast. Mayo , the cool guy we are staying with, said that is one of the foods that Newfoundland is famous for and it was delicious.

Afterwards Matti did who knows what( read his blog post, maybe it fill you in?!), and I cycled to Cape spear which apparently is the most eastern point in Canada, as well as north America. It was just over 15 km away but the path had some big and really steep hills which was a pain, but it was well worth it in the end.

Newfoundland is also famous for their cod, so for lunch I went to their best fish and chips place which is duke of Duckworths. They easily were the best fish and chips I had on this trip, though this is only the 3rd time I have had fish and chips.

Sadly I was suppose to go whale watching but it was canceled because of the weather :(  Instead I went to the Newfoundland and Labrador heritage shop where I got my my souvenir for Newfoundland. In every province I have brought a souvenir back to remind of them. In Newfoundland I got a 50 cent coin from Newfoundland before they were part of Canada, so it says Newfoundland instead of Canada.

This trip has been spectacular, a lot of great times and amazing memories. I know I haven't not posted very much to the blog but if you would like to see pictures or hear some stories, I would be glad to talk to anyone about whatever you're interested in or curious about. I appreciate all the support and encouragement and I will see you when I return.

George St Bested Me

So we're done. Done! DONE!

Whaaaaat!? This is crazy!

We cycled about 130 km from Argentia to St John's, our final destination, in about 6 hours. Newfoundland is beyond gorgeous. It was a tough and hilly day, mostly against the wind, but as my friend Ethan put it, "Newfoundland is the perfect end credits" to our journey. As we cycled in to St John's we were met with green rolling hills that were hosts to boulders and glimmering lakes scattered throughout. It really was breathtaking.

We got to Mayo's place around 6:30 pm, quickly showered and went out for our final meal together. We found a place that served excellent Newfie cod, and possibly the best soup I'd ever had: a succulent spicy crab chowder. Lordy was it good.

Finally, we celebrated our accomplishment with Mayo and another surfer he was hosting, Bobbie, on George St. (a street that's famously crammed with bars). We attended a "Screech In" which made us honorary Newfies. It came complete with a certificate that I shall proudly mount on my bedroom wall.

The ceremony involved a charismatic Newfie fisherman official with a really thick accent. He spoke really fast and led us in some traditional Newfie chants and songs before having us all "kiss the cod", eat some balogna, repeat an oath and take a shot of screech rum.

We then hopped from bar to bar with our new Newfie friends and drank like true east coasters. All the bars on George St seem to try and out-compete one another and so there were fantastic deals to be had. Many places had three drinks for $5. The beer here is great. Mayo's friend Matt bought us both celebratory beers from Quidi Vidi brewery. The beer is called 1892 and commemorates the year of the great fire in St John's. It's a great beer - probably ranks number four or so on the list of best Canadian beers.

We then waddled home and I wrote a really bizarre "post-George St." letter to Mayo. I read it this morning to much confusion. I can only imagine how confused Mayo must have been.

All in all, it was a great final night. I'm now off to the airport and should arrive home by 9:15 pm tonight. Thank you so much for reading, and for your amazing support. It means a lot to both John and myself.

Stay tuned for a final post by John either later today or tomorrow. Lucky bastard is going whale watching. We'll also be posting a best of/worst of list, and a page of stats in the coming weeks.

Thanks again for all your support.

Matti + George St. = This

Newfies LOVE Long Dick's

The end.

140 Km Left

It's almost done. We're drifting closer to shore with each passing second - closer to the end. As we sail along the shore of Newfoundland into Argentina, I'm put into a pensive state, and find I'm already reflecting nostalgically upon the trip which isn't yet done. I can't wait for whatever is next.

This Boat is Stupid

Yeah it is.

We're delayed.

Stupid ferry.

It's okay though because it's pretty radical in here. We'll be able to sleep on a couch somewhere rather easily I'd imagine.

The ride should last about 14 hours so we should arrive in Argentia by about 10:30 am tomorrow. Hopefully we'll get to St. John's at a decent time, as I'd very much like to check out George St. It's only about 140 km so it shouldn't be too bad.

We're about 140 km from the end, yet I feel as if this is just the beginning.

The Cabot Trail

We left rather late today to check out the Cabot Trail. On our way there we stopped in a small town called Englishtown which was, fittingly enough, home to at least one English lady. This particular English lady worked at a small restaurant and whipped up some poutine for me to eat on this authentic English double decker bus. What a cool town!

We then took a ferry across the river to the Cabot Trail. The ferry ride was honestly about a minute long. I think the total distance was about the length of two ferries end to end. Why they don't just have a bridge is beyond me. It's probably because the ferry fare is the only thing that brings money into the town (aside from the double decker restaurant of course). It would take them five minutes to make a bridge.

We didn't really cycle much of the trail but what we saw was indeed quite beautiful. It's a shame we don't have time to do the whole thing but I'm sure I'll be back here again some time before I die.

When we got to the B&B, we walked town to a water hole under a small bridge and I had a swim. This upset the troll who demanded I leave at once. I begrudgingly obliged. It was far too cold anyways. It was refreshing, but cold. It was probably full of troll pee (I hear their pee is cold).

We cooked our own dinner for the first time today. Boy, we're such grownups! The cool dudes with funky mustaches who run the B&B let us use their kitchen and even offered us some expired parmesan cheese to go with our pasta sauce. It was actually awesome.I obviously had to add hot peppers to the dish.

Tomorrow... well, tomorrow we'll be catching a ferry to our final freaking province. Our final, freaking, province. Newfoundland here we come!

It's North Sydney

Hi.

We cycled about 155 km to North Sydney today. It was extremely hilly for the first half of the day, and there was a very light spray of rain for the first two hours. Fortunately, it didn't linger, and disappeared completely.

It was yet another scenic day. I'd even say it ranked somewhere in the top five in terms of Canadian dazzle. There were many fishing boats as we cycled along the coast, which really helped to highlight the charm of Cape Breton. I'm actually rather glad the day was quite grey - I feel like our time out east wouldn't quite be as authentic without some cloud.

We got to our host's place rather late. He's this super cool farmer who owns one of the biggest chicken farms in Nova Scotia. He had this really intricate and detailed mural painted in his garage that was inspired by the song Somewhere Down the Crazy River. It's littered with references to the song. Can you spot them?

Cape Breton and the Fiddler

We woke up today slightly nervous about the rain. As we ate breakfast, our lovely host, Jane, boiled us some eggs for the road. She seemed to live quite the adventurous life. Her and her husband work on cruise ships, and are very well traveled. It seems like quite the ideal job.

We made way to Port Hawkesbury and hoped that we'd have a place to stay when we got there. Steve (our host in Charlottetown) has grandparents that live here and so he tried contacting them for us so that we could stay with them. Unfortunately, they weren't able to host us and so we scrambled for a place to stay.

Initially, it didn't seem like we'd have a place because all the motels and B&Bs were either way too expensive our had no vacancy. I called back a B&B that John had tried earlier, but this time asked instead if we could give them money to camp outside and use their shower. The lady told us to come by and that she'd try and make something work. She offered us a room across the street from the actual B&B that they usually don't rent out. The owners apparently don't think it's up to standard. We found it perfectly charming - it had a kitchen, a washroom, everything we needed. We gave her $20 under the table so that she could pay the cleaning lady to clean it without the owners ever knowing it was occupied. She was super nice and sympathetic.

It was supposed to rain and thunder shower all day today but we only encountered about forty five minutes of light rain. We lucked out again.

After a quick shower at the B&B (I was covered in dirt from John's tire which splashed me quite a bit) I made my way down to a fiddle performance by a guy called Ashley MacIsaac. Every Sunday night in Port Hawkesbury, they have a free concert by the water. This guy was absolutely masterful I'm his workings. His speed blew me away. I'm very glad to have caught it.

It really feels East Coasty here on Cape Breton Island. We're right by the ocean and there are lots of fishing boats and beautiful cliffs. I'm sad it's all almost over.

Nova Scotia and Where's Matti?

We are so close now. I'm back in less than a week, and we only have five more days left of cycling. This is nuts!

We started the day by cycling 60 km to the ferry port at Woods Island PEI. We rode the ferry for about an hour and a half to Pictou (pronounced pict-oh), Nova Scotia and from there cycled to a place called Trenton which is a small town that's home to Canada's first steel mill. ISN'T THAT FASCINATING?!?!!!!!111

The lady whom we're staying with tonight had a late night last night so because we got here rather late, went to bed soon after we arrived. She showed us to a cool little cabin in the woods with no electricity and... uh... what appears to be blood on sections of the wooden walls? Is it blood? It has to be blood. Oh, em, gee...

Before we got here we had dinner at a restaurant called the Dine and Dash which was incidentally the most tempted I've ever been to dine and dash at a restaurant. To dine and dash at the Dine and Dash seems like it would be a pretty sweet accomplishment. Unfortunately, the waitress was too nice to warrant that, and you know...the whole ethics thing. I am ethical at times. Shh!

It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow, but I'll bet it doesn't.

Where's Matti?!

Bitter Sweet Golfing

So I got up really early this morning to make my 11:10 am tee time at Crowbush Golf Course on the north eastern coast of PEI. It's apparently the best course to golf here in PEI and has hosted several golf championships. It's understandable - it is a really beautiful course, it's just darn expensive.

I had to cycle 40 km to get there which means I had to leave around 8:30 am so that there was some buffer time just in case winds were bad or the terrain was hilly. I was paired with these two outstanding players. One was an elderly gent who was a course member, and the other was his friend from the states. I think they resented the fact that I used a pull cart instead of a golf cart (which would have been an extra $40 on top of the $185 I spent on the green fee and club rentals). As a result, the round went rather slow. Towards the end  of the round, they had me hop on the back of the car while they pulled the pull cart along side. Weee!

The course itself is stunning - it's right on the water with amazing views of the sea. When I was done the day, Gavin (the elderly gent who was a member) tried to get them to refund some of my money. He's a well known and well liked member, and so I cautiously hoped that his authority would hold some sway. Sadly, they didn't give me any money back, but instead offered me a free Crowbush hat when Gavin told them that I'd cycled all the way from Vancouver just to play golf at Crowbush. I appreciated him stretching the truth, but alas I don't ever wear baseball caps. I may give it to my dad if he stops beating me someday. Unbelievable right? Even at 25, my dad still beats me. Dad, if you're reading, stop beating me and you get a cool baseball cap from Crowbush.

I cycled back to Charlottetown and met John and Steve at a restaurant downtown. I ordered a beer while they had dinner. We each ordered PEI oysters which had surprisingly little taste. They just look so freaking unappetizing. Seriously, who in their right mind thought, hmm, yes... this looks absolutely edible and delicious. Let's slurp it down our throats... ? I'll never have an oyster ever again simply because they look atrocious. It's kind of like Celine Dion - I simply can't stand her because of the way she looks when she sings. She's a great singer, sure, but her singing face is just awful.

.

In other news: John updated the blog! I'm excited to read his post.

(diclosure: my father only beats me at golf)

Better late than never!

    Yep, that's right I am finally doing a blog post! Today myself and Matti split up and explored Charlottetown in our own ways. He got up early and went to play golf and the rest of his day is a mystery to me, so I guess you have to read his blog post to find out what he did. 
     I began my day by visiting st.Dunstan's Basilica. It is arguably the most beautiful church in Charlottetown, and the most famous. After st.Dunstan's Basilica I walked around Charlottetown and explored the many cool little shops they have. If you have not been to Charlottetown you would not know how nuts they are about Anne of Green Gables, she is everywhere. They have an Anne of Green Gables store , as well as an Anne of Green Gables chocolate shop and I visited both. At one of the shops I visited I bought lobster flavoured potato chips, but when we ate them they didn't really have any kind of a lobstery taste to them but they were alright.
       Charlottetown is apparently considered the birthplace of confederation( At least they consider it the birthplace) so I decided to go to Founder's hall to get a history lesson on events that lead up to it and what happened after confederation, it was rather informative and probably far more interesting than a round of golf.
       The next " touristy" thing I did, was go on a boat tour of the island. It was great and really showcased the beauty of Charlottetown and P.E.I. I really love all the red. The dirt and the sand is red in P.E.I and is one of the reasons why P.E.I is so great.

       There were a bunch of random facts I learnt today that blew my mind. P.E.I up until about 5 years did not have any cans, they would only have bottles for all their drinks, so P.E.I had drinks that were not normally bottled, in bottles. P.E.I had to make a special request to exporters of those drinks. Raspberry cordial is a famous soda in P.E.I and I learnt that it was mentioned in the Anne of Green Gables book but didn't actually exist when the book was written, it was made by someone after they read the book. There are a lot of Japanese tourists here and the reason why there are so many looking for Anne of Green Gables as if the book was non fictional  is because in Japan they use the book to help students in school learn English. P.E.I is nicknamed Spud island for obvious reasons. Alright , maybe those random facts weren't mind blasting but they were cool...... Well I thought they were cool.  If you disagree go read Matti's blog, he writes far lamer stuff than I do.

      Charlottetown has been arguably my favourite city so far, if not, it is definitely top 5. Stay tuned I will make one more final Blog post before I return home!!!!!

Cows Creamery Tour

We took a tour of Cows Creamery today in PEI which according to Reader's Digest has Canada's best ice cream (they weren't shy about emphasizing this point). They have locations all over the country including Niagra on the Lake, Banff, and Halifax, but are based here in PEI. The tour itself was mediocre because they weren't actually making ice cream at the time. They showed us factory videos instead. Each moovie was full of really awful puns. I'm not milking this, they were udderly terrible. That being said, the ice cream truly is remarkably rich and delicious.

John and I then split up and explored Charlottetown individually. I met a couple cyclists who were also doing the cross Canada thing. They told me that they started May 17th - a whole month before us! They've been taking their time and really exploring each place they go. It makes me wish we had more time and money to spare so that we could do the same. When I cycle the United Kingdom next summer, I'll be sure to take my sweet time.

Tonight we're staying with a gent named Steve. We really didn't think we'd have a place to stay tonight until late in the morning when Steve responded affirmatively. There were many Couch Surfing hosts in PEI but I guess they were all booked up because nobody responded to our plea. PEI is absolutely full of tourists this time of year, so they were probably all hosting surfers already. We're so lucky that Steve responded - he actually had plans to go to Halifax this weekend but they fell through. Unlucky Steve; lucky us. 

Tomorrow I'm golfing at this place called Crowbush which is one of the top courses in Canada. I'm extremely excited, but also sad that I have to cycle 40 km just to get there. Since I'm a single, I'll probably be paired with a group of really good players who planned their entire vacation around this golfing destination. My suckiness will probably ruin their vacation, but I really can't care - look at the beauty:

I wanted to go kayaking today but nobody in Charlottetown rents kayaks. Weird. Maybe tomorrow I'll find a place near the golf course where I can splurge even more money to go kayaking before I cycle back to Charlottetown. 

Prince Edward Island

Yay! We're finally out of that cursed province!

We cycled about 95 km from Moncton to the Confederation Bridge, and because bicycles are banned from the bridge, we had to shuttle over on a bus. We then made our way to Summerside, a town that comes highly recommended to us.

We immediately felt a different vibe in PEI. It just seems like a very independent, easy going place. I like it here.

We went to a nice restaurant for dinner that sat right by the ocean in Summerside. I had a local beer called Island Red Ale but it was only good, not great. It almost tasted too watery or something.

We had local PEI mussles as our appetizer. While they look absolutely disgusting, they're actually pretty freaking good when dipped in butter. It was a first for me and I was pleasantly surprised.

We are now at another bed and breakfast that was pretty hard to find. Google maps really screwed up this time. The owners were skeptical when we told them we were cycling across the country.

Tomorrow I hope to kayak, and the next day I really hope to be able to play a round of golf. We'll see...

Monkeys in Moncton and a Crash and Dehydration and...

Actually no, sorry. No monkeys in Moncton. I just used that headline to grab your attention and it worked. I rock!

Today we cycled around 175 kilometers from Fredericton to Moncton, New Bruinswick. Despite the incessant hills, we cycled pretty fast. At one point, I crashed and landed on my elbow and knee. We were just starting back up from a quick pee break, and I was looking down to check if my zippers were done up properly, and John (who was just in front) hit his breaks. I crashed into the back of his bike and fell pretty hard. My bike made some sad bike sounds for a little while after that, but they eventually went away. Hopefully it doesn`t implode on me in the next coming days. That would be... quantum-physicsy...? I dunno.

On we cycled from there. About 100 km in to the day, we finished off our water. There was nowhere to stop to refill. Just our luck - the one day we really need water there`s nothing. There were no streams, no lakes, no gas stations. We didn`t find water until we were about 25 km from Moncton in a place called Salisbury. When we finally downed some water it was like drinking liquid gold, except not as scaldingly hot and heavy. I had the biggest, most delicious slushy of my life. I then stumbled over to the Subway where I tried a lobster sub. It was yummy. They`re made from 100% real lobster meat (they`d better be, the darn things are expensive!).

Finally we made to Moncton and had some dinner. At a nearby pub I tried my first beer from New Bruinswick which was both extremely bitter (it was an Indian Pale Ale [IPA]) called Picaroons Yippy IPA. GET IT!? I actually love the name. I learned that IPAs are really bitter because when the British were first importing them from India, they hopped it quite strongly. The added hops acted as a preservative so that they could still have good drinkin` back home. Kinda cool. Good beer. Number 5 or so on my list of best Canadian Beers. I bought a six pack for our hosts tonight that was also from a local microbrewery. It is called Pump House Special Old Bitter and is also up there. Mircrobreweries always produce excellent beer.

Tomorrow we`re in freaking PEI. Oh god am I hyped! Golf? Yes please. Better book tomorrow morning!

Kiss me Tamara, I miss you. 

Hallucinating Polar Bears

We started the day with a trip to the Potato World museum which actually ended up being pretty cool. Did you know that potatoes originate from Peru and Bolivia and were exported to Europe by explorers in the 1500s? At the end of the tour we had strawberry banana potato smoothies that were pretty good. The fries were even better (but mostly because of their seasoning).

About 20 km after we set out for Fredericton I got yet another freaking flat. We soon discovered that the pump was lost and were at a loss for what to do. Since it was a holiday, no stores were open. John cycled a coupe km into a nearby town for help and fortunately found a cattle farmer named Wayne who drove us to his farm and helped us out. It was ingenious what he did: his pump didn't fit my valve so he cut the top off the plastic protective hat of my valve and somehow connected his pump to that. I was shocked that it worked.

After that we cycled another 25 km and I got ANOTHER flat. With no tubes left and no hand pump, I cussed loudly before calling CAA to see if they could help. There was no other option. Their website said they had a service for cyclists too, but when I called them they told me that they didn't... Okay whatever. They put us in touch with a towing company that finally picked us up and took us about 17 km back to a town called Woodstock. The driver called his friend who works at the cycle shop. It was closed for the holiday, but the owner agreed to open it up to help us out. Awesome. We were so grateful.

So with a new tire and tubes we were on or way. I'm pretty sure it's been my tire that's been acting up so much, but it's all just speculation. We really have no clue why the tubes keep blowing. Hopefully I'll be fine now.

On we cycled for what felt like an eternity. We cycled those same 17 km over again, and at one point I was so burnt out I actually mistook a rock for a polar bear. I was so confused.

Anyways, when we finally made it to Fredericton it was about 10 pm. It was dark and dangerous because we couldn't see the road. If there was a big rock (which there sometimes are), we'd be screwed if we'd hit it. We're couch surfing yet again with a cool guy named Adam. I'm exhausted and ready for sleep. Sorry for the grammar and flow of this post, I just really don't care tonight.

They Offered Us Beer by Throwing it at Us

Screw this day, seriously. It may very well have been the toughest yet. If it wasn't the toughest it was definitely the most annoying. Cycling through the Appalachians with 35 km/hr direct headwinds the entire 140 km was brutal. Today was quite tough mentally too. We had to pedal hard DOWN hills. Not cool, Mr. Wind...not cool.

When we were about 30 km from our destination (Florenceville), some punk and his friends passed by us on four wheelers, gave us the finger and attempted to throw beer at us. They then waited at the top of the hill we were climbing so that when we got close, they could stir up a cloud of dust in for us to eat. I didn't really get too angry, but I actually felt very sad for this kid and his drunk friends. New Brunswick, I expected better from you. Nah, actually one aberration doesn't really impact my opinion of the place. Everybody else is really friendly (of course - it's Canada).

Florenceville is the home of McCain and some crazy potato museum we plan on checking out tomorrow. Hopefully it's awesome.

The hotel we're at has a pool. I was really looking forward to a refreshing swim but when I checked it out it looked so depressing I felt as if I'd break into tears if I went in. The floors were heavily cracked and it was very grimy and empty. It was probably filled with the tears of it's victims.

Fredericton here we come! Let's have better conditions tomorrow, please.

Little Gnomes Slashing Tires

Dominique biked with us to the Trans-Canada this morning before bidding us farewell. The day was rather hilly, but at least there was no wind to slow us down.

Halfway through the day we saw road signs telling us of a place a called St. Louis du Ha! Ha! It was a coupe kilometers away and so we had to check it out.

To or dismay, St. Louis du Ha! Ha! was devoid of anything that would make anybody smile, let alone laugh. There were no clowns, there was no circus. There were no little people, no comedians, and no joke shops. There was no laughing gas, and no dead baby jokes. The streets were not very charming, and the place lacked vibrancy. The people didn't even smile. What a downer. Maybe the name is meant to be ironic.

We went through several tires today. John had the initial flat, and as we were pumping up the tube, the valve broke and started leaking air.

A little while later, I got another flat. Immediately after I changed it, John got yet another flat. I'm convinced that little gnomes are slashing our tires while our backs are turned and giggling gleefully back to their homes in the bush where we can't see them.
If you're reading, leave us alone gnomes.

Finally we made it to New Brunswick,the first province I've never been before. There was a time change right at the border and we're now an hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Edmunston (the city we're staying in tonight) is having some sort of festival and so is quite packed downtown. We tried to find a motel but it none had vacancy so we're camping instead. Yay.

Now I'm about to watch Dumb and Dumber and eat BBQ Crispers. So excited. My calve hurts. Hopefully it gets better. It hurts a fair amount. I hope Teddy isn't dead.

I'll Miss You Quebec

Oh Quebec, how I'll miss you. You're a beautiful province that radiates charm.

I stopped at a fromagerie today and bought some delicious smoked sheep cheese. Fromageries are apparently too cool for John so he abstained from joining me. John abstains from cool things like wineries and fromageries, which is his loss.

We cycled onward about 40 kilometers and stopped in another small town on the Saint Laurence. The café almost felt European and the servers offered me bread to go with my delicious cheese. The coffee was extremely strong . I left three place feeling really good.

Unfortunately the winds switched directions as we cycled onward from that small town. They slowed us down drastically and hampered our styles. We were only about forty kilometers out at that point so it wasn't so bad.

We're with a gentleman named Dominique tonight who is a vet with a very affectionate cat. He is also as cyclist and has amassed over 4000 km of cycling this year alone. The guy is sixty! Amazing! He also lives on a street called Saint Dominique, and our last host in Quebec City was named Dominique. Dominique overload! My head feels like it's about to Dominique!

The house we're in is the biggest yet. It's a beautiful 125 year old mansion. I'm expecting to see a ghost tonight and if I don't I'll punch a hippo... a house hippo.

Enjoy the thoroughly mediocre pictures.

Moo Moo Montmagny

Yo yo, check it check it...

We is in Montmagny today and it be trippin fo real, yo. Like, John be so fly and like, I be so happy to be here.

...sorry. Enough of that...

We started the day of by rolling our bikes up to the Old Quebec area because my tire was flat and we need to get it checked out. I've had several flats in the past couple weeks and up until today it was a mystery as to why. As we explored downtown Quebec a little further the guy from the bike shoppe determined that there was a tiny piece of glass hidden in the tire.

John for some reason wanted a coin that reflected the spirit of Quebec somehow, and so we spent much of the early afternoon bouncing from store to store trying to find one. Nobody had any, except for a cigar store that sold an official coin set that commemorated the 400th anniversary of Quebec. It was something like $40 for about $5 worth of coins and John opted to not but them. Good call.

Quebec has an interesting law where you can only buy tobacco if the bill adds up to $10 before tax. It's meant to discourage smoking - especially amongst youngsters who may not have much money to burn. Heck, it discouraged me out of a purchase because I only wanted a single cheap cigar. I don't know what I think of this law...

After retrieving my fixed bike, we cycled down to the ferry and rode it to the other side of the river. We then cycled about 65 km (if that) to Montmagny. The ride today was definitely on my list of top five most scenic days so far. We were right by the river for most of the day, and were pretty high up. The weather was beautiful, and the Appalachian mountains rose steadily higher on the other side. At the foot of the mountains were fields of golden wheat with little red barns plastered throughout. No pictures, only memories.

Quebec City

This is such an awesome city.

For our forth and final consecutive day of couch surfing, we're staying with a very sweet young woman who was kind enough to show us around downtown, and to give us tips about what we could do tomorrow before we leave. The distance is really short, so we can leave a little later if we'd like. My bike keeps getting flats for whatever reason. I'm going to have to investigate the cause tomorrow.

For dinner we went to a delicious restaurant called The Hobbit. I was hoping we'd be served by little people, but there were none to be found (maybe they worked the kitchen). The portions did however seem to be for little people. Alas the food was excellent so we cannot complain much.

After a short walk down Old Quebec so that John could find souvenirs, we made our way to this unique section of highway overpass that served as the stage for a dazzling Cirque du Solei performance. It was quite special and I was amazed that it was completely free. If this is what Cirque du Solei is like for free then I can only imagine how splendiferous a paid show would be. Crazy.

Well, good evening. You win for reading this blog. You win gold.

- John

(just kidding it's Matti, silly)