My Advice on a Road Trip from Ontario to Alberta

Just a few days ago, my boss Tom offered one of my best friends from home, Kristin, a job at another one of his newspapers, in Grimshaw Alberta. She will be moving up here in a couple weeks and will be only three hours away from where I am.

I decided to write her an email about her road trip out here. It's quite entertaining, and I thought I would share it with you... in case you ever decide to drive out here, or, if you're just looking for a good laugh.

Enjoy!



Beware of Winnipeg.
If you plan to stay in winnipeg, which I don't recommend, but if you do, don't go to the north part of the city.

If you look at a map, there is kind of a circle highway around the inner part of the city, so you don't have to go right through the madness of downtown Winnipeg, we went north. Don't do that. Go either through the city, which I alsowouldnt recommend, or through the south part. And if you re planning to stay there, stay in the south. We stayed just on the other side of Winnipeg, but it was expensive and creepy. My coworker is from Manitoba and she said the south and inner part of Winnipeg isn't too bad, but where we were was like the worst part of rexdale, in the north. it was all strip joints. The motels and hotels had strip joints attached and it was so creepy and not well lit


No Vacancy in Medicine Hat.
Also, we had planned to stay in Medicine Hat, AB, but unless you get there really early you re not likely to find a room. We got there around 830 or 9, and we tried 3 hotels/motels and they were all booked. So we had to drive to the next town, which had a sketchy hotel BUT super cheap! lol But now that it's late August, it might not be so bad. When I came, it was in the middle of the summer so there were tons of tourists and stuff. If you don't stay in the cities, there are tons of hotels/motels and there are tons along the highways and stuff. This was the only place we had a hard time finding a hotel. And in Winnipeg, we found lots, but they also had drug deals are strippers outside, so we opted out of those motels/hotels :P

Enjoy Ontario
And we stayed in Wawa, Ontario our first night, at a small motel just before you get to the town of Wawa. It was really cute and very clean. I recommend this place -- you'll see it. It's a good resting place between Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay.

OH thunderbay! When you're coming in on the major highway, and after you pass the turn off for Sleeping Giant Provincial Park (where I rangered once) there will be the Terry Fox monument about a 20 minute drive later, on the right. You have to turn off the highway in order to see it because its up high but its literally 2 minutes off the road. It would be a nice place to have a lunch picnic, especially if you stay at Wawa the night before, you'd be in perfect time for lunch in Thunderbay. And while you're up there, if you look out across the water, you will see Sleeping Giant, and the island looks like a giant sleeping in the water :)

About two hours outside of Thunderbay, You'll see the exit for Quetico Provincial Park / Atikokan, where I rangered in 2007. Think of me when you pass this! And then about three hours later or so, you will see the turn off for Sioux Lookout / Ojibway Provincial Park, where I rangered in 2005. Think of me here, again! And be sure to get photos at the Ontario sign!

Prairie Fun
Keep an eye out for the salt Fields in the prairies, just before you get to Alberta or just after you enter AB. They re so cool. I wish we had stopped. It looks like snow covered Fields! And of course, the oil Fields. They're interesting to see. And..that's about all you'll see throughout the prairies!

Safe travels!
Love you!
Ashley