Roadtrip!!! Also, questions from a clueless American visiting Canada.

[x88x]

Ok, so a little background.

Back in January, my job got upgraded from an internship to an actual, real position, along with all the perks that entails (only part-time till I finish my degree, so I don't get quite as many perks, but hey, I take what I can get). One of those perks was these wonderful things called 'Personal Days'. Awesome things personal days; they pay me....to not go to work...whoever came up with these things was a genius. Now, because of an HR mixup, I never actually was getting any personal days until, like, a month or so ago (also wasn't getting sick days, but those I don't really worry about so much). So, about a month ago I got an email saying that it all got fixed, and I had 51 hours of personal leave. That's when it clicked in my head....I could actually, like, take a vacation at some point. I mean, this had honestly not occurred to me before. I mean, taking time off but still getting paid (ie, still being able to pay bills without having to save up to cover them)? That was a completely foreign concept to me. And so I thought...I should do something about this!


So, with that in mind, I started thinking, and decided that I'm gonna take a week or two off next summer and head north.

Back during my Senior year in High School, I had this grand plan of working for a few months after graduation, saving up some money, and then taking a several month roadtrip across the country, maybe even hitting Alaska. Surprise, surprise, guess what didn't happen? Instead I went straight into College, then...not College ...then straight into a job. But I've never forgotten about those plans, and I always wanted to do something like this, so I figured; hey, now I have the time, the money, the means, and nothing keeping me back from doing it, so damn it, I'm gonna do it!

Now, because I'm only gonna do a week or two instead of a few months, I won't be able to have as wide a scope, but I have a few friends up north who I haven't seen in a while, so I figured I'd use that as a starting point, and explore New England. So, with that in mind, here's a rough idea of the route I want to take (I mapped it out, and for a rough idea, it'll be probably around 3000-3500 miles):

Copyright Google Maps 2009

I forget if I have it listed in my profile or not, but I live in Laurel, MD (forgot to mark the starting point on the map..it's near Washington DC).

So, this leads me to a couple questions:
To any Canadians..sorry if this is an incredibly ignorant question, but hey, I am an American, right? I'm supposed to be stupid
Anyways, to any Canadians, I know through the power of the internets, that Quebec Province has an official language of French. Would this pose a problem to someone riding through there (and camping a couple nights) whose French is extremely limited? I plan on brushing up before heading up there, but I'm wondering what to expect..ie, how screwed am I gonna be?

I hadn't thought about passing through Canada originally, but after talking to y4na the other day, I thought; hey, why not! I've never actually been to Canada; I should totally do that! ..and so now I'm gonna have to get a passport. Ah well, that's a good thing to have anyways.

Now for anyone familiar with the general areas that I'll be passing through, do you know of any good parks/etc? I'm hoping to spend most nights either crashing with friends or camping, so I'll be looking for a fair few spots.
I know I want to hit Adirondack State Park, White Mountain National Forest, Acadia National Park, and probably Algonquin Provincial Park. Any comments or thoughts?

I've already packed it away for the night, but tomorrow I'll get a pic of the vehicle I'm gonna be doing this on.

[killergamer]

Stupid and irralivent question but will you be doing this in the winter? If so your nuts. Its hella cold in Canada I hear.

[x88x]

.

So, with that in mind, I started thinking, and decided that I'm gonna take a week or two off next summer and head north.

[killergamer]

Why thank you. I just got done with work and lightly read over that.

[Axis Machine]

You wont have to know french, english is the first language of canada. although in Quebec most people speak french and you could run into some unique cases of course where someone might give you a hard time but that's rare so you shouldn't have any problems. Looking at your map it looks a little like you skim pass toronto. personally if i were taking this trip i wouldn't skip past it. Toronto has the art gallery of ontario, the royal ontario museum, the cn tower, the eaton centre for shopping, casa loma, and the ontario science centre just to name a few tourist spots.

[x88x]

Sweet! That'll make my trip a lot easier. I'll still brush up on my French, but it's good to know I won't have to depend on it.

I'll definitely look into those museums. It might be the only time I'm in the area for quite a while, so definitely worth looking into. Oooh, and Casa Loma looks interesting; I'll definitely have to add that to the list. I love old architecture.

[Bopher]

Depending on you route through New England I could give you some info on MA, NH and ME. I used to live at Loring AFB which was right on the border on the US and Canada. Presque Isle (sp been a while) is a nice area the state park is really nice hiking. Caribou is a nice little town as well. The White River area in NH is really nice to.

[Luke122]

Stupid and irralivent question but will you be doing this in the winter? If so your nuts. Its hella cold in Canada I hear.

[x88x]

Well, I hadn't been planning on hitting MA, but if there's something interesting I won't be too far away. Presque Isle looks interesting, and it's nicely situated along the route I was planning.

My current destinations (in order):

Silver Spring, PA
Dryden, NY (possibly)
Adirondack National Park, NY
Baltimore, VT
White Mountain National Forest, NH
Acadia National Park, ME
Presque Isle, ME
Casa Loma, Canada
Algonquin Provincial Park, Canada
Jackson, MI (I think that's right...)
Cincinnati, OH

I'm thinking I'll probably spend a day or so at most places, unless something interests me more (or less).

[Bopher]

Presque Isle is really nice. I went to Jr high there cause the school on base only went to grade 5. Little town charm I guess. The White Mountains are a really nice area, been camping up there a couple times.