What would you prioritise on a cross-Canada roadtrip with an eight year old?
What would you prioritise on a cross-Canada roadtrip with an eight year old?
Moving from Quebec to the west coast and driving from Quebec City to Vancouver from the 22nd to the 28th. We don't have a huge amount of time for stops, and we definitely want to hit up the Royal Tyrrell museum in Drumheller.
What would you folks suggest as must-see stops along the way? Campsites, lunch stops, places we could spend fifteen minutes or an hour along the way? We'll be visiting a few friends in Winnipeg and either Calgary or Edmonton; there's only about an 80km difference between hitting Ottawa (which my daughter has never seen) vs Abitibi (which neither of us has visited). My current thought is to drive hard at the beginning to get through Ontario and the prairies, and take it a bit slower through the west since there's so much natural beauty to see.
Thanks in advance for ideas!
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Are you going through Toronto or taking the 417 around it? If you're going through TO, hit the Science Centre. It may be your last chance to see it before Ford destroys it - he wants to tear it down and build a smaller version on the waterfront. And there's also the Big Apple which is a fun little pie-shop with a giant apple-painted water-tower in Colbourne. But that route would only make sense if you're going through the USA until like Manitoba or Saskatchewan (in that case: Milennium Park in Chicago, London Children's Museum in Fake London, and Pinery Provincial Park for the best freshwater beach in Canada).
If you're taking the 417 and going North through Ontario, I strongly recommend Science North in Sudbury, which is an amazing science museum your kid will love. There's also the Big Nickel there which is a nickel mine converted into a museum of mining, if you've ever wanted to go down into a mine.
For camping near Sudbury, I recommend Killarney Provincial Park. It's an amazing landscape like nowhere else I've ever been, since it's so rocky - all the foliage like pine trees and wild blueberry bushes are growing out of cracks in rock. Nothing like sliding down giant rocks into the water for a swim. In the Ottawa Valley, Bon Echo park is similarly beautiful rocky landscape. Both these sites were the subject of various paintings by the Group of Seven. Bon Echo is an excellent "my first time in a canoe" camping trip because there's a very short canoe-across-the-lake then hike up to the top of Bon Echo Rock for a nice little bite-sized adventure to an amazing view. But both of these provincial parks may already be fully booked up.
Most of these are afternoon activities, not little "20 minute stops". Honestly, I'd think hard about changing your plans to buy yourself more time if it's at all possible. I mean, when are you ever going to be back in Sudbury if you're moving to Vancouver? You might see Toronto again one day, or Montreal, or Ottawa. But you ain't ever going back to Sudbury, and it's worth a day or two.
Thanks for this! We're definitely giving Toronto a miss, going down there would add a good 10 hours to the drive (we're going through Canada, not the states). We're on the fence about going through Ottawa or crossing the border up near Royn/Temiskaming which would take us way north of Sudbury. My childhood friend who lives in Ottawa just got back to me that he'll be out of town when where there, and I do know some people in Royn. But you do make a good point about enjoying the Canadian Shield while we can. We can't draw the trip out too much because the Mrs is flying with the baby and I don't want to leave her single parenting for too long. But we have left a couple days for sightseeing; Vancouver actually isn't our final destination, but I have family there so we'll stop in and spend a day with them.
Ah, right, I hadn't even thought about going that way around - that's way north of the parts of Ontario I know. But it makes sense - that's also part of the Trans Canada, and it's probably closer to as-the-crow-flies.
Yeah, it's only about 80km shorter than going through Ottawa, so it's pretty close either way, but I guess we'd be less likely to hit traffic up north than in the Capital :)
If you do go up by Témiskaming, you might check out Parc National d'Opémican, which is an old lumber site with historic buildings. It's just outside of the town. There isn't a huge amount there, but it's all brand new and makes a decent place to stop, take in the lake, and get out to move around a bit.
Neat, thanks!