CANADA, here we come! 🇨🇦 (Traveling to New Brunswick)

Canada here we come! For the last couple months, we've been exploring our final seven U.S. states. And while we still have one more left, which we'll be visiting very soon, we're off to Canada for the summer and fall. Canada is one of our favorite places in the world. Over the last five years, we have visited the bright blue lakes and glacial peaks of Alberta, enjoyed the coastal views and mountain scenery on Vancouver Island, driven up the entire province of British Columbia, went for epic hikes and learned tons of history in the Yukon Territory, and saw the Northern Lights and drove all the way to the Arctic Ocean and the Northwest Territories. And we are so excited to spend the next three and a half months visiting a brand new region of Canada for us, the Canadian Maritimes and Newfoundland. And first up, we're heading to the province of New Brunswick. We just finished exploring Boston a couple days ago, and we've since driven six hours to near Millinocket, Maine. We have about an hour and a half drive to the Canadian border and about three hours to the spot we plan to sleep tonight. We're making a quick pit stop to make some breakfast at an overlook of Mount Katahdin, which is the tallest mountain in Maine and the end of the Appalachian Trail. And man, just check out this view! We really want to summit Mount Katahdin, and we almost did a couple years ago, but Kona is not allowed in the park and our van is also too big to visit the park, so it's kind of logistically challenging for us. So we're gonna have to save it for another time and preferably when the weather is a bit clearer than this. The rules for crossing into Canada food-wise is super confusing to us. So basically our rule is don't cross with any eggs, produce or meat and this is all we've got left. So this is breakfast. Last year when we were crossing back into Washington after Alaska, we decided to risk it a bit with some veggies and eggs and after declaring them what you legally have to do, the Border Patrol agent was like, nope. And so we had to pull over, then another Border Patrol agent had to get in the van and search our fridge and he took them away. So we're gonna try to prevent that happening this time. I think one of the top things I'm going to miss about the U.S. is Trader Joe's and this salad, which we sometimes eat every day for a week. Sometimes we're too lazy to convert it to a table. Today is one of those days. Breakfast in bed. All right, only 45 minutes to Canada. So a couple things to know about crossing the U.S. and Canada border. Unlike last summer when we crossed, there are no longer any COVID restrictions. So all you need is your passport and then for us, we also have our Nexus cards, which is kind of like the TSA pre-check of crossing the border. And if you're traveling with a dog, you do need to have their rabies vaccination printed, which we do have. Then also their dog food must be in its original packaging. And they've never really asked us about any dog related things, but we did have a friend who was very intensely questioned by the border patrol about our dog's food. So sometimes they do care. And something specific about this border is that when we cross into Canada, we'll be entering into a new time zone for us, which is Atlantic daylight time, which is an hour ahead of Eastern time. I don't think there's a Nexus line, but there is a campers and trailer one and we don't fit in the other one and the camper and trailer one is empty. So we get the camper and trailer Nexus. We're going to obviously New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland. And then we're leaving for good and definitely early November. Thank you. You too. They let us in. We're in Canada. What was really funny though is that he thought our Nexus cards were two children we had in the back. Kids in the back? No. Oh, sorry. That's funny. He said we looked really young in the photos. I guess he thought we had two children in the back. Not that we're aware of at least. Anybody back there? I always get a little nervous at border crossings. They're always very intimidating and this guy had an especially intimidating mustache. But he did actually ask if we had our dog's paperwork on us. He didn't care to see it, but he just wanted to make sure we had it. So I'm glad we did. But we're back in Canada after about 10 months and I think we know where we need to go. First stop back in Canada obviously has to be Timmy's. There actually was a Tim Hortons in Maine right across the border and apparently Texas is getting Tim Hortons now, which is mega lame, but in this van, we only drink Tim Hortons in Canada. And despite what this looks like, this is coffee. They just put a lot of milk in it. Cheers to our third Canadian province. Taste like Canada. We spent so much time in Canada last year and some of our favorite memories of all time were made in Canada. So, I don't know, as soon as we crossed the border, it just made me feel so happy inside to be back here. And as I sit here drinking my Tim Hortons overlooking a Canadian tire, it kind of feels like we're back home. The Canadian Maritimes consist of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. And New Brunswick is the largest of them all. It is home to mountains, rivers, the coast and the highest heights in the world. And our goal is to experience as much of it as possible during our time here. And first impressions after about an hour into New Brunswick is that it is beautiful. It's like super foresty and very hilly and you just have like views like way off in the distance. It feels very vast and grand up here. Canada is already coming through because we just saw a bear. Oh my gosh, I've been looking for moose because there's so many signs saying moose, moose, moose. We have not seen a single moose, but there was a black bear on the side of the highway. Oh my gosh, that was so cool. I'm so good at spotting them. Yeah, you are. I just I always spot them. I'm just always looking. Always looking. Oh man. I'm so pumped now. Whoa Oh my gosh, holy cow. We have made it to Grand Falls, New Brunswick, which is where we'll be staying tonight. And as you may have figured out from its name, it is named after this epic waterfall that's right in town. This waterfall is 23 meters tall and it is absolutely raging. And to view the falls, there's a few overlooks at the visitor center. You can also zip line across the falls, which looks crazy fun. And there's a short trail that goes around the gorge, which is what we're gonna go do. This place is such a hidden gem. Before researching New Brunswick, we really didn't know much about it. And I think the most famous thing in New Brunswick is the Bay of Fundy, which we will be checking out later. I was just searching on the map trying to figure out where to go first, where to stay, and I found this town on the map. And I clicked it, saw a photo of the waterfall, and I was sold. And I am just so glad that we stopped here. And this pathway is so awesome. There are so many different viewpoints and they're all completely different. There is a campground along the gorge, which the pathway takes you through. And we did consider staying here, but we have a very special place that we want to stay instead. Home sweet Walmart. We ended up driving to Edmonston because the Walmart in Grand Falls was not a super center. And usually that means there's no meat or produce. And we have zero food to eat. And one big perk about van life in general, but also sleeping at Walmart, is that you get to go in, grocery shop, come back out, immediately put all your groceries away in your home because your home's parked in the parking lot. And in our case tonight, cook dinner and go to sleep. One thing that is super cool about Canada is that everything is in English and in French. And New Brunswick is actually the only province in Canada that is officially bilingual, speaking both English and French. And then Quebec just up the road. It's officially a French speaking province. And man, I knew there'd be English and French, but at this Walmart, all the produce was in French. It was so crazy. When I called to see if we could stay overnight, she answered in French, not just bonjour, but like, Thanks for calling Walmart. How can I help you? Something like that. So I was like, uh, can we stay overnight? And they said yes, but it's also super cool walking around in here. Everyone speaks French. Like I'm sure they speak English as well, but they're just speaking French. I feel like I'm in France. This is why you can't bring me to the store when I'm starving because then I'm like, we need potato chips. We never eat potato chips, but this is apparently a Canadian flavor. So we have to try it. All right, let's see what these all dress chips are all about. Apparently, it's a mix of salt and vinegar, ketchup, barbecue, and sour cream and onion chips. I love sour cream and onion, not a ketchup fan. So we'll see. I smell like barbecue a little bit, a little sweet smelling. Also, they smell just like potato chips. Oh, look at that. Smokiness of the barbecue right away. I feel like I only taste barbecue. They're really good. If you blindfolded me and said, what flavor are these? I would 100% say barbecue. The barbecue flavor is overpowering the other flavors. Whoa. I definitely taste the barbecue and the ketchup. They're tangy and sweet. Canadians, I like your move on this one. They're kind of the perfect flavor if you don't know what flavor you want. You can just have them all. I'm just spying on the neighbors and there's at least a dozen vans or RVs staying here. I always like sleeping at Walmart better when there are other people. It just feels like safety in numbers. Yeah, I didn't realize the Walmart in Edmonston would be so hopping. Tonight for dinner, we made burger bowls, which is something we've been making quite often recently. It's basically just a deconstructed hamburger. We've got meat, cheese, and then some potatoes and sometimes we spice it up with some mustard and pickles. It's quick, easy, and super delicious. But we have a few adventures planned while here in New Brunswick. And the reason that we're up in this part of New Brunswick is because it's close to our first stop, which from our research looks to be one of the most beautiful hiking areas in the province. However, the weather does not look too good for the days we're supposed to be there and the trail that we were hoping to backpack isn't fully open yet. So we'll see what happens. And it's really weird to be vlogging at a Walmart. Everyone's staring at me. She's just like in the little nook.