update from big apple

have made it to the east coast via canada! this must be about day 17 of the trip. have been camping (with the exception of one hotel stay when we were rained out), had a couple of rough nights sleeping in the car but mostly its been really good. currently staying in sarah's family friend's fancy condo on long beach NY. its literally right on the beach, spent today there and in the heated outdoor pool (while not watching world cup footie). have been in to the city one day and walked around some sights including chrysler building (very cool art deco), empire state (it is tall but not otherwise attractive), times square (horrible really - just like picadilly circus), and grand central station (beautiful). probably going to see the statue of liberty, soho, greenwich village, and some museums tomo. in the near future we will be heading to stay with friends in upstate NY (on a farm), then up back to canada to see montreal, quebec, and ottawa. after that will be around maine, vermont, boston etc. might try to be in NY city for independance day celebrations, which should be a big deal in patriotic america i suppose.

canada was pretty cool. we had to rush the last bit through ontario a bit (and decided to skip toronto - will visit another time) as we needed to meet people in NY. ontario was surprisingly beautiful - the landscape pretty much changed instantly over the manitoba border - apart from the the great lakes (Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario) it has numerous small lakes and also tons of rocky formations for some reason. the landscape through saskatchewan and manitoba was not unpleasant, but extremely flat and it is fair to say somewhat boring after the umpteenth mile. the rockies (alberta) were pretty stunning although we had mixed weather and they would be more impressive with winter snow.

lake louise was probably the highlight of the trip so far. the lake and glacier behind it are truly beautiful, but the best thing was walking a 14km round trip up towards the glacier and away from the tourist crowds. weather changed right when we were at the top and we got soaked on the return but all part of the fun.

niagra was fun. what surprised me most was that the falls are literally right by a city on both the canadian and US sides. was expecting it to be more natural setting. but it actually looked cool seeing a city directly behind the huge river and falls. i guess i expected it to be bigger (well, its one of those things you have heard about since childhood), but it is a really cool horseshoe shape. of course there are tourists everywhere and tacky shops etc, which i could only stomach for limited time.

in terms of wildlife the sightings have been excellent if somewhat rodent-biased! have seen a bear (ran in front of car), deer on roadside, many marmots (both hoary and yellow-bellied!), pelicans, a turtle, a beaver, rabbits (bred and wild), many prairie dogs (kinda cute rodently things), a porcupine, and lotsa chipmunks and squirrels. no moose yet which is disappointing - apparently they are huge and also quite dangerous.

ok will post now and hopefully update with some more details tomo or next day...

btw if anyone needs to contact me i have a temporary cellie number in the US: +1 2067084370, otherwise while in canada my number is still +1 6049022800.