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!

  • bradmont@lemmy.caOP
    3·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • Pxtl@lemmy.caEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      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.

      • bradmont@lemmy.caOP
        2·
        1 year ago

        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 :)

    • BasiliskEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      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.