Phase 1 #motherofallroadtrips: Eastern Canada

New York > Eastern Canada > Fort Wayne, IN

22^nd June to 8^th August

The hashtag #motherofallroadtrips is perfect for a 1 year road trip around the US and Canada, don’t you think? You can follow us on social media with that tag.

We’ve road-tripped Ireland, Wales, Bulgaria, Italy/France/Spain and Australia to name a few, but none have been as epic as this.

So we will be splitting these trips up into a series of phases primarily based on location. 

Phase #1 – Eastern Canada:

Picked up our rental car and were on the road by midday. It was not a long drive. We wanted to visit friends just outside Boston so we drove straight through and arrived just in time for dinner. 

We enjoyed hanging out with our friends so much that we decided to stay 2 nights instead of 1. We lay on the beach, ate blueberry pancakes and just loved catching up with them after 2 years. 

Since we had overstayed in Boston we only had 2 days to get to Moncton, New Brunswick. So it was a long drive today only stopping for dinner and a sleep. 

The day started with a border crossing into Canada. It went seamlessly - much easier than flying.

The next few weeks we spent discovering this gorgeous little town in New Brunswick. Our housesitting assignment was the perfect base for discovering beauties like Price Edward Island and Hopewell Rocks, and partaking in the annual RibFest.

  Is Moncton the most underrated city in Eastern Canada?  

Hopewell Rocks at low tide

It took a full day to drive from Moncton to Quebec City. Our original plans were for a stop in the middle, but we were short on time so we pushed through.

Read more about this historic, European-inspired city.

From Quebec to Montreal was an easy drive, but our first order of business was to drop me at the airport. I flew to New York for 5 nights while the family stayed in Montreal and explored the city.

When I returned it was to have dinner with our friends and see Weird Al Yankovich live at Montreal’s Just For Laughs comedy festival. 

Olympic Park – home of the 1976 Olympics

Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral

Montreal to Ottawa was not a long drive either so on the way we stopped at Canada’s largest theme waterpark, Calypso Park, for most of the day. 

We arrived in Montreal just in time for dinner at the magical Fairmont Chateau Laurier. And then spent the next few days discovering this city. I’d love to go back, it was a family favourite.

Read about the many things we squeezed into 3 days in Ottawa. 

Fairmont Chateau Laurier

On the way to Toronto we stopped at the Big Apple. It was… well… big. 

With another housesit under our belts we spent several weeks in Toronto visiting the numerous attractions, enjoying our home at The Beaches, and also fitting in a day trip to Niagara Falls.

Read our mammoth article on 13 things to do in Toronto. 

Finally the day came where we ended our time in Eastern Canada. We packed up our belongings and took the long drive from Toronto to Ann Arbor, MI, which was simply a stopping point between Toronto and Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The border crossing involved a long wait and we were not given a departure stamp in the passports. Later I found out that you have to request one if needed, however the US tracks your border crossings electronically. 

It was a quick 2-hour drive through Michigan, Ohio and into Indiana. That morning we returned our car hire and finished Phase 1 of our #motherofallroadtrips.

Check out what we got up to during Phase 2 of our epic US/Canada road trip.