Halifax 2015

My friends and I had this crazy idea to drive out to Halifax to visit a friend, so that's what we did over the Easter long weekend. Mind you, it's a 17 hour drive one-way, so a good chunk of our five and a half days was spent in the car. We did a bit of exploring in Montreal, Quebec City and Hartland (home of the world's longest covered bridge), and then crammed even more sights in once we were on Nova Scotian soil.

The highlight for me was Blomidon Provincial Park:


The East Coast received an impressive amount of snow this winter and the evidence was everywhere – snowbanks that were as tall as I, potholes riddling the streets, etc. To get down to the beach, we had to carefully climb down narrow stairs that were still packed with snow (lest we slip and break out neck). It was cold, foggy and snowy, yet the weather seemed fitting for this East Coast setting. Imagine looming cliffs with waterfalls, tides receding over the red sandstone, no one on the beach but us – it was magical.

The weekend was also filled with food (so much food): smoked meat sandwiches, turkey with all the trimmings, a full-on lobster meal and a homestyle Quebecois lunch. However, this was my favourite:


Montreal is known for its bagels and they are best fresh out of the wood-burning oven, still steaming hot when you tear into them. They're so good that we went to St-Viateur twice and were so excited the second time that we forgot to pay for parking and got a ticket. These bagels cost an extra $53 and they were worth it.