Driving from Toronto to Vancouver
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Next summer, when my parental leave overlaps with my wife's summer off (she's a teacher), we're planning on taking a trip to the West Coast.
No planes, for raisins.
We'll be doing the drive from Toronto to Vancouver, BC, staying there a while, then driving back. Traditionally, the drive would be going North first to get around the Great Lakes, then taking the Trans-Canada highway all the way. From what I understand, there is a lot of nothing along that route.
Google also says it's possible to dip down into the States. The route would go through Michigan, touch Indiana and Illinois, cross Wisconsin and Minnesota, then cut straight across North Dakota and Montana, finally crawling up Washington to get back into Canada in BC.
I've never taken either of these routes. I was in Minneapolis once on business, but otherwise have never driven further West than Detroit.
Has anyone taken either of these routes before? Anything interesting along the way? Or any side-trips worth taking for a day or so to see something interesting just off the beaten path?
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The States route would let you murder a lot more hookers.
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@Lorne-Kates Depending on how far down you want to drop, Yellowstone is pretty amazing. Glacier National Park too.
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The States route faces the same issue as the Canadian route: A lot of nothin' for several hours. The only issue is that going south through the states results in delaying the inevitable of the boring drive through North Dakota, Montana, and Eastern Washington. However, when you drive through mountains, there are some nice sights, and Seattle isn't too bad of a place to stop if you want to make a long journey.
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@Lathun said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
The States route would let you murder a lot more hookers.
And transport them across state lines! Woo hoo!
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@Lorne-Kates said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
From what I understand, there is a lot of nothing along that route.
The area from around where you are to the Rockies is a lot of mostly nothing. The area round the Great Lakes just doesn't have a vast amount of differences in elevation, and from the Mississippi valley up to the Rockies is basically one gigantic fairly even slope. There's not nothing nothing, but it's still not great. (Strictly it's landscape on a grand scale, but it is on a scale that is rather hard to spot at ground level.)
Once you get about an hour or so's drive west of Calgary, things get much more interesting as you reach the Rockies. Banff is in a dangerously scenic part of the world, and the area from there across to Vancouver is also really attractive; it's where my brother went on his honeymoon. Vancouver itself is also very nice IIRC, with the mountains on the far side of the inlet.
The Cascades look awesome too if you're going further south, but I've only ever seen them from the air.
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So just for fun I did a route on Google Maps, and I realized I suck completely at Geography. The fastest route is to go through the states, and here's some suggestions of cities to visit along the slightly longer route (42 hours vs 41)
- Duluth, MN: It's an okay sized town, I personally like to go there on vacation, the bigger brewery there is pretty good (coincidentially, this route goes a block from my house, maybe if you take my advice you could bring me a growler from there?). Fun fact: It's the worlds furthest inland seaport.
- Bismarck, ND: Just say you've been there. Really, that's all there is to say, maybe swing by Fargo?
- Redmond, WA: Go visit the Microsoft visitor's center
- Seattle: Catch a fish at the market, go see space needle, drink any coffee except Starbucks, then go to the 'original' Starbucks location and get coffee.
- Everett, WA: If you're interested you can go see one of the big Boeing factories, they offer tours.
The thing about this route is that it avoids some of the bigger cities like Chicago and Minneapolis. If you're going through in the summer, be wary of tons of highway work. I swear to god, every time I went to Duluth from Kansas City Minneapolis was being worked on.
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@theBread Spending even 10 seconds in Seattle would make all that worthwhile.
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@theBread said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
Directions here
I like how Google shows traffic accidents on the butt-end of a 40 hour drive. Seriously Google? Maybe I-90 highway maintenance ain't perfect, but I think we can clear an accident in less than 40 hours.
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@blakeyrat said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@theBread Spending even 10 seconds in Seattle would make all that worthwhile
It is tempting. I might even do the Canada route one way, and the America route the way back.
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@Lorne-Kates said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
I might even do the Canada route one way, and the America route the way back.
That way you could compare your hooker/mile ratios!
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@Luhmann said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
That way you could compare your hooker/mile ratios!
He's going with his wife, so that's a dangerous ratio. Unless she's the one with the ice pick, of course.
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The American route will take you past Greenfield Village, which is a reconstruction of an 18th century American village, including a working blacksmith shop.
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@Luhmann said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
That way you could compare your
hooker/milehooker/kilometre ratios!FTFY
Remember, only the great US of A, Myanmar and Liberia are still using that archaic system
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@Lorne-Kates said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
Has anyone taken either of these routes before?
I haven't done that before but I've lived in Green Bay and drove from there to Minneapolis twice, and up to the UP twice. There's likely to be every bit as much nothing along the way.
If I were making that trip I'd probably hit Mount Rushmore.
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@TimeBandit said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
Remember, only the great US of A, Myanmar and Liberia are still using that archaic system
How many metric countries have put a man on the moon?
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@FrostCat said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
How many metric countries have put a man on the moon?
None, but NASA is metric since 2007
Because, you know, blowing up a $125 millions Mars orbiter is not something you like
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@dkf said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@Luhmann said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
That way you could compare your hooker/mile ratios!
He's going with his wife, so that's a dangerous ratio. Unless she's the one with the ice pick, of course.
The kid's gotta learn about the Birds-Who-Identify-As-Bees eventually.
Filed under: KILLometers
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@TimeBandit said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
None, but NASA is metric since 2007
And we haven't been back since! Coincidence? I think not.
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@FrostCat it's as if NASA suddenly got rational
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Finally doing some fingers-on-Google-Maps planning for the trip. But how times changes.
I was originally, for the trip back, going to swing down into Seattle, then to Iowa for the State Fair, over to Hershey, PA for CHOCOLATE, then decide on some cities to visit from there (Minniapolis? Indianapolis? Chicago? Lots of choices).
And then in the last 5 days:
- Extremely hostile and bigoted policies towards travelers
- Possible military presences in urban centers
- Loss of health care for people-- and defunding of health services-- with a potential Zika outbreak looming in Florida and Texas
- Non-zero chance of a shooting war with Mexico
Jesus fucking Christ. As much as I'd love to tour a few states on experience the culture (and drop some tourist dough), I seriously don't know if it's something I'm 100% comfortable doing, let alone with a family. :/
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In case you decide to brave these savage lands south of the 49th parallel, Indianapolis really has a lot of good kid-friendly stuff to do, to wit:
https://www.childrensmuseum.org/ - largest children's museum on the planet, bitchez!
Indiana State Fair, too - running about the same time as the Iowa one:
http://www.indianastatefair.com/state-fair/Oh, and downtown Indy is compact (almost literally one square mile) and quite walkable, with parks, monuments and plenty of hotels. It ain't no Toronto, but it's decent. You will need a car to get anywhere outside of downtown - no subway here, and the bus system isn't that good - but you can get from one corner of the metro to the other in an hour, tops. Try doing that in Toronto. The Zoo's not far west of downtown, and the local AAA ball club (much cheaper entertainment than the Jays, no doubt) plays downtown:
http://www.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t484
And yes, I live here (almost eighteen years) and I have kids, so AMA.
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@lolwhat said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
Indianapolis
I'm pretty sure I'll be stopping in, if I do the States route. It's so on the way, that it'd take more effort NOT to stop in.
Molly will be-- urr-- about 1.25 years at that point. Not sure if she'd get much out of the kid's museum, but a zoo would be fun for everyone. (I'm assume at that age, she's mostly luggage that eats and enjoys bright lights).
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@Lorne-Kates Heh, good point. She should certainly enjoy the zoo and fair, at least.
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@TimeBandit said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@Luhmann said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
That way you could compare your
hooker/milehooker/kilometre ratios!FTFY
Remember, only the great US of A, Myanmar and Liberia are still using that archaic systemWrong, miles also get used elsewhere.
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@aliceif said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
Wrong, miles also get used elsewhere.
Of course, because we use them for some things in the UK. There's no assed like half-assed!
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@dkf IIRC, it's still a legal requirement for all road signs to be in Imperial. You can put metric if you like, just so long as Imperial's there too.
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@RaceProUK said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@dkf IIRC, it's still a legal requirement for all road signs to be in Imperial. You can put metric if you like, just so long as Imperial's there too.
What does a speed limit sign with both imperial and Metric look like?
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@Lorne-Kates said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
Jesus fucking Christ. As much as I'd love to tour a few states on experience the culture (and drop some tourist dough), I seriously don't know if it's something I'm 100% comfortable doing, let alone with a family.
Sounds like you need this:
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@PleegWat said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@RaceProUK said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@dkf IIRC, it's still a legal requirement for all road signs to be in Imperial. You can put metric if you like, just so long as Imperial's there too.
What does a speed limit sign with both imperial and Metric look like?
There aren't any.
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@RaceProUK yes there are
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@Jaloopa But that's not a UK speed sign.
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@PleegWat said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@RaceProUK said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@dkf IIRC, it's still a legal requirement for all road signs to be in Imperial. You can put metric if you like, just so long as Imperial's there too.
What does a speed limit sign with both imperial and Metric look like?
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@hungrier Imperial, motherfucker! DO YOU USE IT?!?
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@lolwhat Oh, another thing to do near Indy:
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@TimeBandit also england
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@Lorne-Kates said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
No planes, for raisins.
If you're on a government watchlist, just say so.
Also, I imagine that airlines would not want to carry the amount of caustic lime that you would need for a proper vacation.
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More Indy shit to ponder:
I also have it on good authority that https://www.massavetoys.com has an eclectic selection of old-school toys, if you're into that kind of thing.
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@Polygeekery said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@Lorne-Kates said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
No planes, for raisins.
If you're on a government watchlist, just say so.
Well, yes, but that's why I invest in multiple passports for each alias.
Also, I imagine that airlines would not want to carry the amount of caustic lime that you would need for a proper vacation.
Buy local, avoid duty charges.
--
srsly though Heather had some very bad experiences flying as a kid, has phobia of planes. Would need more Xanax than I've looted so far.
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@Lorne-Kates look me up if you come through my area. We can have a few too many drinks and then kill a few too many hookers.
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@Polygeekery said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@Lorne-Kates look me up if you come through my area.
Same here, although I'm still on probation, so I may have to skip the hookers.
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@lolwhat said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
I also have it on good authority that https://www.massavetoys.com has an eclectic selection of old-school toys, if you're into that kind of thing.
Mmm, that's some good Web 3.0 they've got:
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@Polygeekery said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@Lorne-Kates look me up if you come through my area. We can have a few too many drinks and then kill a few too many hookers.
Oh yeah! But lol, there's never "too many" hookers.
(I'll send you a PM)
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@Polygeekery said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@Lorne-Kates said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
(I'll send you a PM)
Fucking homo.
At least it isn't a BM.
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@lolwhat said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@Polygeekery said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@Lorne-Kates said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
(I'll send you a PM)
Fucking homo.
At least it isn't a BM.
He has my address. I would not put it past him.
Fucking homo.
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@Polygeekery said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
@Lorne-Kates said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
(I'll send you a PM)
Fucking homo.
If you saw our PM, you'd Go Gay too. Rrrwar.
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Looks like you'll probably pass me on the wrong side of the lake, or I'd say let's get lunch.
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@Yamikuronue said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
Looks like you'll probably pass me on the wrong side of the lake
Here too! The lake is only a bit bigger ... and salty.
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@Yamikuronue said in Driving from Toronto to Vancouver:
Looks like you'll probably pass me on the wrong side of the lake, or I'd say let's get lunch.
The lake-- the GREAT lake? Probably?
I'm coming from-- actually, Ive just broken my brain because I was looking at Cleveland things and forgot Cleveland and Indianapolis are two different things.
The route is Minneapolis -> Champaign, IL, -> Indianapolis -> Cleveland -> Hershey, PA.
If you plug that into Gaggle Maps, are you on that route?