Possibly driving across the country in the summer holidays. Tips, ideas, sugges...

[turboturist]

So we are thinking of possibly driving across the country in the summer holidays with 3 of the 4 kids.

I am looking for suggestions of camp grounds or places to stay, things to see, things to do etc etc.

I have my reg 5 weeks off every other month so time would not be an issue.

Let me know if you have any ideas etc. We want to plan a bunch if we can as a guide but we will go with the flow once we start.

Thanks, TT.

[AlladdinSane]

I have a tip: Do it on motorcycles. ;)

[turboturist]

I have a tip: Do it on motorcycles. ;)

lol, it has to be stuff we are actually capable of doing with three kids. There will be an 8 and 9 year old boys and a 15 year old girl when we go.

And we don't own bikes, :)

[faller]

There will be an 8 and 9 year old boys and a 15 year old girl when we go.

Lol, sounds like this is going to be the trip to hell and back.:D

Thats one trip my wife and i really want to take some day. Time is an issue right now and this is one trip we'd want to take our time doing.

[ironwill]

You know BC very well and alberta....Saskatchewan honestly bro, i love the people there, but the scenery is not good unless you go up by Prince albert and North, so i personally drive at night through much of Saskatchewan and Manitoba...Again i love Manitoba and it is home, but boring to drive..Then once you get east of Manitoba, and get to kenora area, i love the drive all the way up through the shores of the Lakes All the way to Sudbury area, and then out across to Quebec, I just stayed at any little spots i could find along the way....Its different with family for sure, but when alone or with CC, we like to not plan where to stop etc...I havent been past Quebec driving yet....BUT....CC and i are most likely transporting our bikes out to the East coast this summer and flying out to meet them at the Harley shop East coast somewhere, and riding back to Alberta, Harley does a fly/ride program where they pick up your bikes crate them transport them and uncrate and shine them up and deliver to you when you arrive......Ive ridden everywhere in Canada except the East coast.....Then to get every state next, ivve got quite a few down, but several to go...
We are going to do an iron butt ride in there, through Saskatchewan and MB...Its 1600 kms in one day, i got 1400 last time in one day and got stalled by snow and ice in the fall....
Good luck and have fun..

[Dryvrgrl]

GRAND BEACH!!! manitoba beaches really are nice... or camp in the whiteshell enroute to Kenora... that's a nice cruise, if you like the outdoors and snakes and camping and woodticks and stuff...

Im more of a Spa Hotel kinda gal, but depending on the dates... Manitoba is known for alot of pretty cool festival stuff!

[daande]

If you make it to ontario you gotta see Toronto (CN Tower) and Niagara Falls

[slick rick]

Hey TT, Georgian Bay is a good place to hang for a day or 2, Wasaga/Balm beach/ collingwood area, would be a fun a good place for kids of that age.. southern ontario type cottaging / camping. Let me know when you're coming down and maybe we can hook up, i'm usually up there for a few weeks in the summer, i got kids your guys age as well.

[turboturist]

CC and i are most likely transporting our bikes out to the East coast this summer and flying out to meet them at the Harley shop East coast somewhere, and riding back to Alberta, Harley does a fly/ride program where they pick up your bikes crate them transport them and uncrate and shine them up and deliver to you when you arrive

Does anyone know if there is anything similar to this with motor homes or vehicles? This would be the best way to go, only having to drive one way.

If we go we will def be going all the way to the east Coast. We have both been as far east as Montreal so there would be no point going unless we are going past that.

[budthespud]

lots of great spots in Nova Scotia. It all depends on how much time you want to spend here . To get a good run of de Mar'tymes B'ye, you'd need at least 2 weeks. I can give ya some idea of the best spots. :fwave

[turboturist]

lots of great spots in Nova Scotia. It all depends on how much time you want to spend here . To get a good run of de Mar'tymes B'ye, you'd need at least 2 weeks. I can give ya some idea of the best spots. :fwave

Sure any ideas are appreciated, keep in mind we would have our kids if we go.

[tiramisu]

The manitoba/saskatchewan drive is a little numbing but if you tie a rope to the steering wheel you can sleep for 13 hours. The east edge and the west edge of manitoba are pretty. The riding mountain area and the peace gardens in the west are worth seeing. lake of the wood in the west is worth seeing.

Fort Churchill is Absolutely worth seeing (i'm a little biased as I was born there) It was always on the royal tour. A train ride is probably the best way to go if you have the time and money.

[turboturist]

Thanks for the help everyone, we decided to save it till the kids are just a bit older and go on a house boat trip this year in the shuswap in the first week of July.

[guym]

Too late for you, but for the future and for others: The Cape Breton scenic route is often mentioned as 1 of the top 10 drives in the WORLD!

[Talo]

We drove from Edmonton to Toronto last year with 2 boys ( 7 and 8 ) and 2 dogs ( boxers ). Great time. Lot's to see so don't rush it.

I would have to look back to see where we stayed , but we always called ahead to book a spot by a few days and made sure we hit it. Summer is busy so it's a good idea to do that.

We did have to spend one night in a Walmart parking lot in Regina ( I think ) because we didn't make it to our spot. If you have 5 weeks then try not to drive more than 6-8 hrs a day and just injoy the ride.

Have fun !

[turboturist]

We drove from Edmonton to Toronto last year with 2 boys ( 7 and 8 ) and 2 dogs ( boxers ). Great time. Lot's to see so don't rush it.

I would have to look back to see where we stayed , but we always called ahead to book a spot by a few days and made sure we hit it. Summer is busy so it's a good idea to do that.

We did have to spend one night in a Walmart parking lot in Regina ( I think ) because we didn't make it to our spot. If you have 5 weeks then try not to drive more than 6-8 hrs a day and just injoy the ride.

Have fun !

Ya if anyone else is interested we looked into starting from Calgary, renting a motor home, ending in Halifax and flying back. That way we had the beds with us, no worries about hotels and we only had to drive the one way with all the boring shit at the beginning rather than flying back east first and having the prairies as the last couple days driving back.

This also would allow for extra time so we could tour around more and less time per day driving.

The companies that we found that had the one way drop are

http://www.cruisecanada.com/
and
http://www.canadream.com/

Both were plus or minus 6k for 17-18 days. That was rental, the drop off fee, and the miles. Cana Dream had a unlimited mileage option but was more expensive to drop off. Cruise Canada's drop off was less but you paid per km. But taking an average the price was about the same.