WELCOME TO MY CANADA TRIP

This section of my web page deals with my 1999 trip to Canada (with a couple of days in New England thrown in for good measure).  Why did I go to Canada?  Well, as with most things in my life, that's a long story.

Shortly after I arrived back from England in 1998, my friends with whom I'd visit were reassigned back to the States.  While their reassignment was not unexpected, it was still a sad occasion for all of us.  We'd had such fun touring Great Britain with them that the thought of going back there without them just didn't seem right. 

While Great Britain was off the list of places to visit, the impressions I had gathered on my trips there had a strong influence over where I wanted to go in 1999.  I was looking to go to somewhere that had a European flavor to the spot.  Three potential candidates emerged.  The first was the Portugal/Spain/France trip that I'd considered in 1998.  However, this option quickly disappeared under the same logistic issues that had scuttled it the year before.

Another option was to visit our friends that use to live in England.  They are now living in Pensacola, Florida.  They had a rather ambitious plan of visiting New Orleans and then travelling to a couple of islands in the Caribbean within a two and a half-week period.  This option had appeal to me because I've always wanted to visit Barbados.  Additionally, I had visited New Orleans in 1996 and thought it was great.  The trip would allow me to spend time with these friends, as well as satisfy the "European flavor" factor.  Ultimately though, this plan fell through.  The main reason why it fell apart was that my friends began schooling assignments that would limit the amount of time which they could devote to travel.  But, the other reason why the trip fell through was that the time when we were planning to take it fell during hurricane season.  Considering my luck at being present when events happen (Atlanta during the Olympic bombing in 1996, England during the mourning for Princess Diana in 1997, Northern Ireland just before the Omagh bombing in 1998), I didn't want to press my luck and be in a place where a hurricane could hit. 

The final option was to go to Montreal and Quebec.  I've been wanting to visit these places for some time; but, have always had other options to explore.  This time, though, it seemed like the perfect place to visit.  The French quality of Quebec would satisfy the "European flavor" criteria.  Plus, the American dollar was very strong against the Canadian dollar, meaning the trip would be relatively cheap.  Finally, the trip would afford me the chance to see ice hockey, which has become a new passion of mine.  As I said before, it seemed like a perfect fit.  Once I had decided, I got tickets for Tom Marihart (my usual traveling companion) and myself.  After a bit of schedule adjusting, we were ready to go.

The format of these pages is similar to the one that I used for the 1998 trip.  I have a daily diary, which details the places where we stayed and ate.  Or, if a particular site is of interest, I have provided a write-up with my impressions of those places.  The books I used as reference for planning this trip were the Lonely Planet Canada Guide (6^th Ed.) and the Lonely Planet New England Guide (1^st Ed.).  However, I thought these books were not as comprehensive (particularly in listing accommodations) as Lonely Planet books on Great Britain and Ireland.  So, I supplemented them with Canada: The Rough Guide (3^rd Ed.)and Frommer's Montreal & Quebec City Guide (9^th Ed.).  These books seemed to fill in the holes that I thought existed in the Lonely Planet Guides.