Month: August 2023

We woke up a bit later, filled up with the free breakfast provided by the hotel, packed up, and began the long drive back home.

We made it home by 7pm, and had some quick Chinese takeout, and unpacked and cleaned up the car. I immediately changed the oil the next day.

The fridge and instantpot made great roadtrip companions. We also made good use of the portable hot water kettle for coffee every morning! Since we stayed at hotels every evening this time, I didn’t use the 1000w inverter at all. The only situation I encountered was the rear springs were sagging almost 2 inches relative to the front of the vehicle. It hasn’t been changed for over 10 years, so I’m not really surprised. I also caught a slight leak on the oil pressure sensor switch behind the oil filter. This is a known issue with this engine, and luckily, the leak wasn’t too intense, so I’m not in a rush to get this resolved. Since it isn’t urgent, I will be ordering parts and replacing them some time in the fall before winter hits. Overall, I think the roadtrip was quite a success, even with such an old vehicle. I wouldn’t hesitate to do this again next year. I just wish it was a manual instead!

Here are the performance metrics of the vehicle

Total Date	2023-08-12 to 2023-08-17
KM Traveled	2120
KM/L	12.3482677477226
MPG Converted (mixed)	29.40062832
Fuel Consumed (L)	171.684
Fuel Total Cost (Canadian Pesos)	$298.32
$/KM	$0.14

Overall, the fuel performance the Accord didn’t do as well as the roadtrip to Vancouver for two primary reasons. First, we drove with 4 people in the car instead of two, along with a lot more luggage than normal. We also stopped and drove a lot more city driving than highway with more variations in elevation, especially in Montreal. At the end, I’m still quite pleased with the performance, and the vehicle never exceeded my estimated budget for transportation.

We drove from Montreal to Quebec today. It wasn’t a very difficult drive, but I think after a few days of non-stop driving, everybody is starting to get a little tired and homesick. Luckily, this is our final day.

Our first stop at Quebec City was Quartier du Petit Champlain, a small Commercial zone where you can walk up and down a pedestrian walkway over cobblestone roads. I got a bit of a European vibe to things. It was very nice and refreshing here. We ate a late lunch at a sidewalk restaurant close by. Parking was a nightmare around here, because it is such a popular tourist destination.

Afterwards, we went straight to Chateau Frontenac. And it suddenly started to rain hard.

The rain eventually let up, and we explored around the area a bit more. Then Mom wanted some ice cream, so we went straight to a nearby Costco for some ice cream bars, Apple cider, and hotdogs for a late dinner.

We will most likely sleep in a bit later tomorrow, and make the long 8 hour drive back to Toronto with minimal stops.

What an adventure today was! We drove to St Viateur for bagels, a 24 hour bagel shop. Even now, it still baffles me that they have a market where offering just fresh bagels 24 hours a day is a sustainable business model. They’ve been in business since 1957, so they must be doing something right! We purchase the bagels, and drove to Mount Royal to consume them at the picnic benches by the parking lot there. I actually brought with me a bagel knife, plates, and a large tub of cream cheese from Toronto. My brother had an accident with the bagel knife, and cut his finger, so we packed everything up right away, rushed to a local WalMart for some bandages, and a new case of water.

Right afterwards, we all drove back to Mount Royale, to scale the top of the mountain.

I drove everyone to Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal to see the cane Shrine. It was a very big church. I was too tired, so I just stayed in the car to take a nap for a bit.

Afterwards, I drove my brother to a local coffee roaster to pick up a pack of local beans. He actually took his coffee kit with him from back home. We brewed a cup of fresh coffee that night. It was quite good. It had a very nice chocolatey flavor to it, with hints of berries that lingers. I really liked it!

In the past, I was always told to go to Schwartz for their Montreal smoked meats. I was very disappointed after lining up for a long time for some over-priced sandwich in some dingy cafe that apparently hasn’t been renovated since 1988! So yeah, I never went back. This time, I was told on good authority that Lester’s was a hidden gem that the locals go to for proper smoked meat. So that is where I went. The nice guy behind the counter actually recommended that I purchase just 1 lb of smoked meats, and half a loaf of bread instead of buying several pre-made sandwiches, to save money. I actually upped the 1 lb, to 1.5 pounds, and consumed the whole amount at a local park. Everybody was very satisfied with the food, and I don’t think I would think twice about visiting this restaurant for future visits! I actually got everything as a takeout, and ate at a park that was actually a block away!

Since the bagel shop was literally a block away from the smoked meat shop, we purchased another dozen bagels from them for the roadtrip to Quebec City the next day that afternoon. Can you believe that they were busier than they were that morning?!

For the final destination of the Montreal leg of this road trip, I decided to try and explore a part of the RESO underground city. Unfortunately, everybody was super tired, and wasn’t up to walking too much, so we had to cut the trip short, and drove back to the hotel.

I will definitely be visiting the RESO again when I come back in the future. I will be dedicating more time to explore by myself.

So far, everybody has been quite impressed with my gourmet choices and suggestions in Montreal. I am a little apprehensive about tomorrow, since I only spent a very small amount of time in Quebec city, and I actually never had a proper meal in a restaurant there. But we seemed to have filled our itinerary, so I hope everything goes smoothly just like the past few days without too much hiccup.

Woke up relatively early, ate breakfast at some random greasy spoon in an industrial park of all places. Not knocking it, it was good food for good value. It was actually cheaper and much more satisfying than your typical McD meal. The proprietor of the restaurant was very nice and polite.

While driving to Montreal, we stopped somewhere in between for a pee stop. I saw a random military tank just parked out in a field!

Drove straight to Chinatown for my fav meal, at Amigos. Parking was for 20 for several hours, not bad, but still kinda pricey. Luckily everything was within walking distance.

Did the usual touristy stuff. Walked up and down Old Montreal. Then walked towards Then to the Old Port. It was very lively at this time of year, even for a Monday afternoon. I wish Toronto would have something like that some day, in my lifetime!

We briefly drove to Olympic Stadium. What a disappointment that place is. The place is so run down, and the surrounding neighborhood feels so sketchy.

Afterwards, I drove to the residences of Habitat 67. We snuck in, and took pictures all around. Then got kicked out by the security guard. My brother, the engineer, did NOT have much good things to say about their architecture design.

After getting kicked out, we drove straight next door to the Casino. I think this is the first time I have ever been to the Casino during the day. It looks so nice outside, without all the artificial LED lights all around. I also saw some guy who drove a super clean EK Civic! Too bad it was an automatic!

By then, we were all quite peckish. I wanted to go try proper Montreal style Poutine. So after some quick research, I discover the best place for authentic Poutine was at La Banquise. So after paying for street parking, I walked towards the restaurant only to be greeted with this.

We decided to get takeout instead and consume it at the hotel afterwards. I found some random park benches set up on the street next to the restaurant, and we decided to eat it there instead. We all agreed that the poutine was definitely worth the lineup!

I purchased two grand sized poutines, one traditional, and one Elvis style. It was enough to feed FOUR grown adults. We actually struggled to finish consuming the last few pieces left over!

After that, I booked a hotel about 30 minutes away from central downtown. I’ve had several friends in the past who had their vehicles vandalized while parking in Montreal. I don’t want to be the next victim. It was actually a nice clean facility, for not a lot of money.

Anyway, big final day tomorrow in Montreal. Then it is Quebec City proper! Come back tomorrow for the next installment!

Woke up really really early at 7AM to start driving to the Parliament building. I scheduled two different tours, one at 9:40, and one at 10:40 for the Senate and the House of Commons tours. Unfortunately, the main building is still under construction, until 2031, (your tax dollars at work!) so the tour was not as interesting as before. I really enjoyed being in the Library in the past. Because of potential terrorist activities in the past, both tours resulted us in going through some heavy duty airport like security. They apparently took great interest in inspecting my brothers flashlight both times.

The Centennial flame still looked amazing. Because we were there so early, we practically had the whole site to ourselves. The weather was very sunny, so it made life a lot easier.

We watched the Rideau Canal Locks in use, where some boats were being transported. That was kinda neat to watch.

Afterwards, we went to the Royal Mint. I was told on good authority that they had a massive bar of gold (that is heavily guarded) where we were invited to lift, hold, and take pictures with. Unfortunately, the security guard was not there today, so they placed the bar of gold away, and replaced it with a bar of silver.

We were supposed to go to Byward Market yesterday, but the rain delayed that. We walked there today, since it was very close to the Parliament building, and had a quick lunch. It was amazing seeing so much people just walking around. I love the energy that place had.

Right after lunch, we went to Chinatown. Man, compared to the Byward Market, this place was so dead! Even the Toronto Chinatown had more action than this. I took a picture of the 牌樓 (Pai Fang), it actually looked quite nice.

Another destination I wanted to hit yesterday was Dow’s Lake park, but the rain held us back, so we went today. Mom just took a lawnchair, and slept under the shade as we explored the park. The first time I visited this park was several months ago during Tulip Fest.

Our final destination was at Remic Rapids Park. The Balanced Rock sculptures were kinda neat. I remember seeing similar sculptures in Nova Scotia, but this one seems more extreme! They actually roped things off to protect it from vandalism. I hope it works, but I highly doubt it. Unfortunately, it started raining again. Did take some nice pictures, but didn’t stay too long.

And that would conclude our Ottawa trip. The next time I update this blog, I will most likely be updating you from Montreal.

Good night.

Started driving at 8AM. Uneventful, except for crazy rain during parts of the trip. Stopped at the Big Apple, purchased an apple pie, and shortly after that, visited the Giant Toonie. I only stopped briefly at the Giant Toonie, because of the rain. So now, I’ve visited the Big Nickle (in Sudbury), the big Dime (in Lunenberg), and the Giant Toonie (in Campbellford). Just a few more trips, and I think I will get all the Canadian coins! Because of the way the trip was routed, I decided to just drive highway 7 all the way into Ottawa this time. Reminder, don’t do this next time. Single lane highway, max 80km/hr whereas 401 was a lot faster, with more lanes. However, I think it helped me a bit this time, because it allowed me to drive a bit slower because of the rain.

Made it to Ottawa at roughly 4PM. I wanted to go to Byward Market and Dow’s lake park today, but the rain held me back. Instead, I just drove back to the dorm facilities and unpacked, rested, and made dinner (with my instantpot) I guess I will fit that part into tomorrow. I hope it doesn’t rain!

The rain let up a bit in the evening, so I decided to go to the local Casino. It was very small! I think they’re in the process of building a newer and bigger facility next door. The facility was very clean and nice, nothing to complain about, but just didn’t feel very special. It was still better than Halifax imho, since it had plenty of free parking 24/7. Yeah, I’m still bitter.

It was a saturday evening! Where was everybody? Why is the parking lot so empty?

Anyway, big day tomorrow. Hope the weather co-operates.

Yeah. I’m driving again. This time it’s with friends and family members in a 16 year old Honda Accord! The car is all prepped and packed, and I will be driving at 8AM EST, roughly 5 hours from now. You must be wondering why I am here still updating my blog when I really should be sleeping. Some dumbass friend decided to WhatsApp me at 2AM. Fuck you Miko!

The InstantPot and minifridge will be with me again. It’s going to be an interesting trip. This is probably my first roadtrip where all my hotel plans have already been booked! In the past, I’ve always just winged it, or preferably, just slept in the car. But I’m not driving solo this time, so things will be very different.

First stop is to Ottawa, so only a few hours of driving. If I do get tired, I’ll just pass the reigns onto my brother while I catch some beauty sleep in the car.

Oh, and I’m not usually a country music fan, but for some reason this blog entry reminded me of this song.

you know the drill