“I just called a guy to put on his bear suit.” Such is the sense of humor of Derek, our guide tonight to watch black bears in their natural Canadian habitat. We’d been briefed about how this bear viewing was going to go down during our...

I wasn’t nervous until I completed reading the waiver. “Why do you need to know if I have any allergies?” I ask Derek, our guide. “This is so the paramedics know what to give you if you are unconscious in the ambulance.” “Why would I be unconscious in an ambulance?” I may have gotten emphatic here....

“Squirrel! Incoming!” I yelled up at my friend Rachel who called dibs on the loft bed of our tree house. Our cozy cabin perched or hung, or however it magically stayed 20 feet up in the forest’s canopy, impaled on a 40-foot birch (or pine?) tree. Having a squirrel inside your room is...

During my amazing Canadian road trip, I was super lucky to get a hot tip on a goat farm. My friends Rachel and Stephanie and I stopped in at the Chevrier du Nord (Goatherd of the North - gah!) where the Pilote family raises...

“I feel like a Druid, searching for herbs, creating things.” Nathalie Thibault puts what looks like a teeny pinecone in front of me. We’re in the packed Café du Presbytère, a cozy restaurant inside of one Chicoutimi’s several repurposed churches. There are more churches than parishioners in the boroughs of...

Quebec City, and more specifically Vieux-Québec (Old Town Quebec), is a portal direct to historic Europe. It’s classically beautiful, poised, and beguiling. For anyone in North America who dreams of a romantic cobblestoned getaway, but doesn’t want to spend the time or money to get to Europe, Quebec City is your...

Cold air brushed the hairs on my neck. It was New Orleans in February. But I was also standing in front of a haunted one-hundred-year-old French-style hotel. “When the couple reviewed their trip photos, they were stunned to see one that was taken of the two of them inside their hotel room…asleep. The angle was...

Montreal is what I call one of those “lifestyle cities,” like Los Angeles or Milan. It’s not flash-bam “tourists do all of these things NOW!” out of the gate but has neighborhoods packed with art, beauty, history, delicious food, and gorgeous views. Each borough has its own gems for you to discover and...

I needed to get into that detective agency. It’s now gone beyond a simple curiosity to a burning desire. “You ladies looking for some weed?” Lightning cracks and lights up the night, the rain cliché right on cue, as if I’m in a ‘40s pulp fiction novel. The guy in the hoodie does not care how hard the rain...

Montreal, just what was your game? Was it a test in restraint that I failed? Or perhaps it was bid to lure me to stay forever. The city egged me on to eat as much as possible within its easy-going neighborhoods, and I left few menus unturned following that quest. Pretty much to me, Montreal was a giant smorgasbord....