Saul and Chelsia: Over the Moon and Back: The True North

After much coordination to get the dates/times together, we headed off with my family to what’s dubbed the “True North.” We piled into the car with Luna and Fibi (my parent’s dogs) and headed for the Canadian border.

Our first stop was in Montreal. We didn’t have too much time there, but what we saw was pretty awesome. There’s a cute downtown and everything was in French. Good thing Addie was super down to practice her high school French or else we would’ve had a pretty difficult time.

The next morning we hopped in the car and made the 12-hour journey to Lac Matagami. Matagami sits at the very beginning of the James Bay Highway. James Bay Highway is a very long and seemingly dangerous highway as it’s something like 381km before there’s even a gas stop. Yikes. We set up camp at Lac Matagami Campground. Now usually I’m not huge on camping but this time we did it right. We had a three-bedroom tent, air mattresses, propane stove and lots of other goodies that lend to comfortable camping. Minus the howling coyotes and/or wolves, I had the best camping sleep I’ve ever had.

The next day we wanted to head even further into the “True North” so we set off down the James Bay Highway. We only saw about five other cars over an eight-hour period (it was that empty). We visited the Cathedral of the Aurora Borealis and some crazy rapids. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the Aurora Borealis but it was still beautiful nonetheless. Our second night was even nicer than the first night at Lac Matagami campground as we didn’t have any rain.

We made our way back down South towards the Adirondack’s (which was our final stop where we were meeting my Aunt’s/Uncle’s). On the way we made another pit stop at Grand Remous, which had a beautiful park-like campground, and Lac Phillipe where my Dad camped as a kid with my Oma and Opa.

After four nights in Canada it was back to the good ol US of A. The Adirondack Mountains are a beautiful mountain range in Upstate NY that are home to Lake Placid and one of the previous Winter Olympics. We spent five nights camping at Buck Pond with my Aunt Paulia, Uncle Frank, their dog Rudy and my Uncle Rick, Aunt Elisa, and their dog Chula.

Buck Pond had some FABULOUS camping. The campground was gorgeous and maintained with hot showers and flush toilets. We spent our time eating, taking walks, swimming, drinking beer and just spending quality time with family. Our camping experience was so positive in fact, that we’ve decided we actually enjoy it and are thinking about going for my birthday this coming year. It was so incredibly relaxing to be without the noise, cell phone interruption and the other things that remind you that you’re still in the real world.

-C