Who are we

We are a family of 3 who took a break from our routine. All born in England, we have lived in Scotland since 2002 but from February to the end of July 2011 we were on the road in North America for 6 months. We are Mark (also known as Dad), Rachel (also known as Mum... and a whole bunch of other names... my usual at-home blog is here) and Heather (10/11 years of age during the trip).

Sunday 7 August 2011

Last post?




So, here is a map of the route we took  starting with our arrival in Toronto in February and ending up back there again in July (just over 23,000km). In case some people are just interested in specific parts of the trip here are links to the individual posts:


February 2011

Arriving in Ontario post is here

First days in Canada post is here

Polar bears and more at Toronto zoo post is here

Mall pictures are here and here

Winter weather in Ontario countryside post is here

City day in Toronto is here

Dogsledding near Haliburton, Ontario is here

More Haliburton winter pics are here

Ottawa post is here

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa photos are here

Québec City post is here

March 2011

Some thoughts on Canada and winter are here

More Toronto is here

Niagara is here

And into the USA – Ann Arbor, Michigan is here

Cleveland, Ohio is here

Rochester, New York is here

Vermont is here

Massachusetts – Boston and Concord are right here

Plymouth, Massachusetts and on to Connecticut can be found here

Philadelphia one-dayer is here

April 2011

Our New York City days are here

Our New Jersey weeks are here

From NJ to Washington D.C. is here

Virginia and North Carolina are here

Tornado dodging in Tennessee is here

May 2011

Mississippi and Louisiana are here

Texas fits in here

New Mexico part one is here whilst part two is here

Four Corners, Utah and Arizona are here

Las Vegas/Nevada is here

Californias Hollywood, Beverley Hills and Venice Beach are here

June 2011

Californias LA to Santa Cruz is here

Californias San Francisco is here

Northern California and the redwoods are here

Oregon is in here

Washington state is here

Our USA final observations are here

Then back into Canada – British Columbia part one is here

July 2011

Whistler and the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver are here

Vancouver Island is here

More Vancouver and leaving B.C. is all here

The Rockies in Alberta are on show here

Alberta – Edmonton, Calgary and Drumheller are here

The province of Saskatchewan is here

Manitoba moments are here

Ontario from the western border and back to base is here

And our last fortnight in Ontario (in the heatwave!) is here


Im sure Ill be writing about aspects of the trip for ages (partly here) but for now we can maybe answer the most popular question (so what were your favourite places/highlights?  I cant tell you how many times weve been asked that!). OK, here goes:

h enjoyed Hollywood and visiting all the family (Ontario, Michigan, New Jersey, British Columbia).

Mark especially liked Vermont, D.C., North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Monument Valley in Arizona, Portland in Oregon and Victoria on Vancouver Island (but he liked lots of other places too).

And me? I really did enjoy every second (especially not having to do boring housewife stuff) but I suppose if Im pressed for favourites I liked the American south and south-west (Memphis, New Orleans, Taos). And the sun – Im really missing that already (though h is the exact opposite and probably liked all the winter activities best). Guess well be getting her a dogsled for Xmas (er, not).

And thats all, folks.

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Final fortnight




We're back at home in Scotland now (we arrived back the morning of 30th July). Our last fortnight of the trip was spent mainly seeing all the various family members in the Toronto area, celebrating birthdays (Mark's, Auntie Morag's...) and desperately trying to keep cool in the major heatwave that was going on (lakes, pools ... we got in any water we could because it was very, very hot, and humid). There were lots of BBQs, lots of trips out, lots of good-byes, and Mark even finally got to a baseball game with cousin Mario and Uncle Jim (Toronto Blue Jays vs. Baltimore Orioles – the Blue Jays won). Most of the photos of this period are family shots but there's a few more general ones in this last tiny slideshow:

Last days

Our next (and probably final post on this blog) will be a map of our journey and links to all the individual posts so you can visit the places you're interested in with ease. Everyone keeps asking where we liked best but really, speaking for the adults in the party, I can say that we loved the whole trip – every day, every destination – and we were lucky too because everything worked out well and now here we are back safe and sound. What more could we ask for?