"Our Canadian Holiday 2011"

[bsacks05]

Today we (my son and I) left middle Georgia around 0800 and landed at Brandywine, Pennsylvania about 5 hours later. One fuel stop at Luray, VA.

We spent the rest of the day finding our hotel, having a great meal at a local brew pub, and driving around the outskirts of Philly. I lived in this area about 40 years ago when I was but a wee lad so we drove to Spring City to see if the house was still there. It was, and though I was only about four years old at the time, the house and neighborhood looked much the way I remembered. Kinda weird in a flashback/deja vu sort of way. Even talked to the current owner.
Afterwards, we drove to Valley Forge and walked around the historic national park.
Tomorrow my mother is meeting us in Philly for a day of sightseeing and eating!

Our plan is to leave the area Monday AM to fly to Brantford, Ontario and see Niagra Falls and Toronto. Also on the itinerary are Montreal and Quebec. Let's hope the weather will favor our plans.

[bsacks05]

June 18 - 19 Philadelphia

On June 18 we departed Perry, Ga. for Brandywine, Pa. which is about 20 miles outside of downtown Phila. On the way we planned to refuel in New Market, Va. but the SS fuel pump was inop so we got back into the plane and made the short hop over a mountain ridge to Luray, Va. (Home of Luray Caverns) Luray is a great place to stop with very friendly and helpful folks.

After topping off, it was on to Brandywine, Pa. This is another great place for an RV to stop. The helpful staff rented us their airport car for the couple days we were gonna be there.

Some of the sights we took in were: Valley Forge (close to where I used to live 40 years ago), the Simeon Foundation Auto Museum, Philadelphia Art Museum, Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Geno's Steaks and Pat's Steaks in south Philly. My mother met us there from Harrisburg and we had a nice dinner downtown.









June 20 - 22 Brantford, Ontario

We left Brandywine around 10am Monday. Prior to leaving I filed a VFR flight plan and called CANPASS to let them know we were coming into Canada and would be arriving at Brantford, Ontario.

The flight across Pennsylvania was kinda hazy and cloudy but after we cleared the mountains the visibility improved and we were soon over Lake Erie. Midway over the lake we entered Canada. (High fives in the cabin...

Landed at Brantford and called the Canadian border authorities. The official on the other end of my call gave me some kind of entry number and said that was it. We were done. No check of our passports, insurance, papers, etc...Painless.

We spent the next couple days visiting Niagra Falls, Toronto, and the Hamilton Warplane Museum. Our initial impressions of Canada were very good. Everyone we met was cheerful and friendly, and very few billboards along the roads and highways. We didn't see much, if any, litter either.

CONTINUED below......

[RickWoodall]

Glad you enjoyed some of our great country. You are welcome back anytime! Glad you enjoyed it and had good experiences. Big difference on the customs agents hey. One side, over the telephone have a nice day, the other way...scan for dirty bombs. Oh well, just the times we live in. Sounds like a great trip. Next time you fly to Ottawa, land at Rockcliff. Its right downtown on the Ottawa river and has a great aviation museum on the field and Quebec on the other side of the river. Really a nice experience and free overnights with a gas purchase and lots of great private pilots to chat with.

Cheers.

[bsacks05]

Continued...
June 23 - June 25 Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec

The weather in the Toronto area was clear and good for VFR so we departed Brantford for Montreal. The flight past Toronto and over Lake Ontario was beautiful and the Canadian ATC folks were as good as they are in the US. Soon after passing over the lake things started clouding up. I knew we were headed in the same direction as the rain system that passed over us a day before so the decision was made to get on the ground and rent a car.

We were lucky that the nearest airport happened to be Carp, which is about 15 miles outside of Ottawa. After securing the plane and the rental car we proceeded to secure a room at the Comfort Inn. Then it was off to downtown Ottawa, a place which was not on our agenda but turned out to be one of our favorite stops! We visited the war museum and enjoyed it very much. Every Canadian conflict from the 1600s to 2000s is depicted in detail with many fascinating displays and artifacts. After the museum we decided to check out the parliament buildings. Ottawa is a beautiful city and the government buildings are very impressive. Soon after we parked the car we wandered onto Spark Street which is one block from the Parliament. Imagine our surprise and delight when we realized we stumbled into a full blown BBQ festival! Folks were lined up at three large BBQ trailers run by teams from the southern US. $23 bought us a full rack of pork ribs and we joined the rest of the people in the street who were pigging out on the delicious pork and chicken. A Stella-Artois to wash down the ribs and we continued our walking tour of the capitol city. Ottawa rocks and is highly recommended.







June 24

Since the weather was featuring low clouds and rain we decided to drive to Montreal which is about 2.5 hours away. We were listening to the local classic rock radio station on the way in and heard that Robert Plant's Band of Joy was playing in the city that night. How perfect! We had no plans and if there were tickets left, we were gonna see a concert tonight. Another fortunate turn of events! We quickly found a hotel downtown and lined up a pair of tickets which were delivered to the hotel within 30 minutes. I like Montreal already : )

We spent the afternoon exploring the city on foot down by the river. Lotsa restaurants, old buildings, and shopping. Nice. We regrouped back at the hotel then walked to the theater for the show. This was my third time seeing Robert Plant and it was a real treat to see him again with my son, Bruce. His band played a bunch of Zeppelin tunes along with songs from the new album. How much better can this trip get ?! After the show we walked across the street for a post concert burger, then back to the hotel. Montreal nightlife in full swing.





June 25

Quebec is another 2.5 hour drive from Montreal so that is what we did. The weather was a repeat of the previous day so we set the GPS for the Comfort Inn in Quebec. Of course I entered the address wrong and we were getting frustrated as I drove into the downtown historic area. Narrow streets, lotsa people, no parking, lost. We finally found a parking garage at the entrance to the historic old city. Hey! This is where we wanted to be anyway. We will find the hotel later. The next several hours were spent walking around the fortified city. Another fantastic Canadian destination which we enjoyed very much! We were even starting to become comfortable with French! When it was time to find the hotel, I realized my mistake and quickly entered the correct address in the GPS. Lucky for us the route involved a ferry ride across the St. Lawrence! Only 10 bucks. That was a neat experience and we checked into the hotel around 7pm.





June 26 Frederick, MD

Our plan for the day was to get to Frederick, MD which is close to where my father lives in Bethesda. We started from Quebec at 0815. It was a 4.5 hour drive to get back to the airplane at Carp. The sky was finally clearing up and the weather for the trip was easy VFR the whole way. First thing was to inform US customs of our arrival at Niagra Falls International in the US. We landed at KIAG around 4pm and were greeted by an agent who asked for our passports and scanned the RV with a geiger counter. We made small talk about the plane and that was it. Painless, again. After a meal and topping off the tanks, we were airborne again towards KFDK with a friendly tailwind. First order of business though was a photo pass of the falls. The tower controller gave us instructions - climbing 360s to 3500 ft then right traffic around the falls on the scenic unicom. We got some nice pictures. After about 1.5 hours in the air we were setting up to land at KFDK. My father met us at the airport in Frederick and we drove to his place in Bethesda.







June 27-28 Washington, DC

It is an easy ride on the Metro to get to downtown DC and that is what we did for the two days we were there. We had been to DC several times before and I always enjoy visiting the museums. We walked around the Capitol and visited the Air and Space and the American History museums. Two of my favorites.

Towards the end of our visit at the American History museum I saw Dorothy's ruby slippers in a glass case next to Archie and Edith Bunker's chairs. We had been gone about ten days and it was time to get home. There is no place like home...








June 29 Perry, GA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! 46 years old today.
We had breakfast with my father at the Frederick Airport and departed into clear skies for the 3.5 hour flight back to Georgia arriving at 1245.

A VERY successful trip filled with pleasant surprises and a couple twists of fate. Fifteen year old Bruce finally got to see Canada, an obsession of his since 6th grade, and 46 year old Bruce successfully made another international flight and spent some priceless time exploring and learning with his son. Thanks also go to the RV9 which carried us wherever we wanted without a single glitch, again.

[JoeM]

Next time your in Philly skip Pat's & Gino's, they are over rated tourist traps. (no real cheesesteak uses cheez wiz) Find a Hoagie/Steak shop anywhere in the metro area for a real Philly Cheesesteak.

[bsacks05]

I agree about the steaks. We thought Pats looked better but Genos tasted better. They both could not compare to a little place we have in Harrisburg called "Philly Steaks and Subs" however. They are still my faves.

[bsacks05]

Total flying time was 17.4 hours. The hobbs just turned to 601.0 hrs as we were landing at home base. Time for an oil change, condition inspection, and fix a few items, mostly cosmetic, which have been bothering me. Probably won't be doing much flying for the rest of the summer.

[java]

Originally Posted by bsacks05

I agree about the steaks. We thought Pats looked better but Genos tasted better. They both could not compare to a little place we have in Harrisburg called "Philly Steaks and Subs" however. They are still my faves.

I was always more of a Geno's fan myself, though to be honest, most were had at about 2am... and in a state where anything would taste good! .

Glad you enjoyed your trip to Canada. Seems you packed a lot of good stuff in. Come on out West if you have a chance sometime.