Tag Archives Tales from the Road — page 9

We could hear the roar and feel the spray as we gazed up at one of Canada’s highest waterfalls, plunging 384 metres over a sheer cliff. Fed by glacial meltwater high above, Takakkaw Falls is the most famous landmark of British Columbia’s Yoho National Park, yet getting there is an easy 10-minute stroll from the […] Read more

Going to school doesn’t immediately spring to mind when thinking about vacations, but hitting the books turned out to be a highlight of recent travels to Antigua, Guatemala. We took Spanish language classes at Proyecto Linguistico Francisco Marroquin (PLFM), a non-profit foundation specializing in teaching Spanish and local Mayan languages. It was a return to […] Read more

It’s getting easier to find the top light displays almost anywhere. Simply do an internet search for Christmas lights and the name of a community and chances are that you’ll find a few pleasant surprises. A useful resource in Saskatchewan is www.sparkletour.ca, which includes maps of 15 communities and addresses and descriptions of Christmas displays […] Read more

Towering snow-capped peaks, magnificent river valleys, picture-perfect waterfalls galore, wandering wildlife and walls of ice dripping from the largest glaciers in the Rockies can all be seen without getting out of the vehicle. National Geographic described the Icefields Parkway as one of the world’s most spectacular driving tours. Fortunately for those of us living in […] Read more

The approach is breathtaking. Travelling across the mostly level farmland near Brooks in southeastern Alberta, we come to a valley rim where the land suddenly drops into a vast expanse of spectacular badlands, the largest anywhere in Canada. The parched land of crumbling slopes, fairy-tale hoodoos and assorted bizarre formations appear in various shades of […] Read more

Massive walls of water thunder over a fault line. Cataracts and rapids twist through a narrow canyon. Most intriguing of all, a rapid-filled spring seems to gush mysteriously from a solid rock wall. The best part is that all of these spectacular natural features are easily accessible along a paved highway following the Grass River […] Read more

L istings of the most scenic drives in North America usually rank the Cabot Trail on Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island near the top. We decided to see what all the fuss is about and discovered a rare place that more than met our expectations. A third of the loop route snakes through Cape Breton […] Read more

Well-crafted photos can provide lasting memories from a summer vacation. Whether you’re embarking on a grand tour to far-flung lands or spending a week at the lake, keeping a few simple techniques in mind can make a big difference to the quality of your photos. There’s a saying that painting is the art of addition, […] Read more

Sitting on the smooth rocky outcropping jutting into the tiny lake, we looked over North Falls pouring out of Otter Lake and framed by brilliant green forest. Behind us, we could hear the roar of another set of rapids emptying into Mountain Lake, the next in the long chain making up the Churchill River. It […] Read more

While we have all seen news coverage of rocket launches, space shuttles and moon landings, visiting the place that made it all happen brings it to life. The Kennedy Space Center sits near Florida’s Atlantic coast, less than an hour’s drive east of Orlando. Even those with only a mild interest in space can’t help […] Read more