#the bag of concrete mix: we recommend if you're using more than one bag you use a mixer

[captainjonnitkessler]

I am lazy in a very specific way wherein mixing 1600 pounds of concrete by hand seems like less of a hassle than just renting a concrete mixer would have been.

[blorbologist]

maggie! my sister and I are planning a road trip to canada this summer so as a canadian, anything you recommend doing, any absolute must sees?

!!! Oooh, have fun!

I can only really give concrete recommendations for Quebec and southern Ontario, and the later with less than a year of experience - so if you're headed to the prairies or BC I'm not much help.

For Québec:

If you stick to Montreal and the touristy areas, you lively won't need all that much French! Usually people clock that you're a tourist and will switch to English if they can. Less likely the farther you get from Montreal and the Townships.

Goes without saying, try a good poutine (There’s an invisible S in there, we pronounce it more like.. poutsine lmao)! Don't get it from a big chain except maybe Belle Province or Poutineville, the very best I've had have usually been from lil cantines. If they’re not using fresh cheese curds don't trust em.

Also Beaver Tails (a fried pastry brand). Usually have lil kiosks near events and sinfully good. My brother and I go bonkers for them.

In Montreal proper, I'd recommend a walk on Mt.Royal! I forget if the inside skating rink at Atwater is still available this time of year, but might be worth looking into. Vieux Montréal is a nice place to romp around, especially around the canals and the Atwater market. Avoid driving in and around MTL it's a living hell, move around by bus or metro(subway) if you can, you can get day passes easy enough. St.Catherine and Mt.Royal streets usually have fun stores and restaurants to poke around in, and the gay village is great! I'm pretty sure most amusement parks in the USA are bigger than La Ronde, so don't waste your time with it.

Zoo de Granby is one I went to a lot as a child and they do great conservation work and have beautiful exhibits + a fun water park! Bromont is great for winter fun, but wrong time of year, and their water park can be hit or miss.

Both Bromont and Sutton are great for hiking (I have good memories of getting up to a lake on Mt.Sutton just as the mist revealed it, so cool). Apparently so is Owl's Head, but I've only skii'd there. Bromont is expensive and the cops are real sticklers, Sutton is a lot smaller and personally I think more cute and chill.

Lac Brome/Lake Brome is just about the most anglophone place in the province outside of Montreal! You can do a lot of kayaking, boating and even just driving around the lake is nice. It is a tourist town with its businesses catered towards Montrealers weekending there, so everything is closed Mon/Tues but open over weekends. Just a very cute and anglophone town.

Memphremagog / Magog is both an okay town and a really great lake, bigger than Lac Brome if you'd rather get on the water there. Also fun local myths of a lake monster >:3c

If you like murder mysteries, Louise Penny based many locations in her series off of areas in the Townships - such as Brome Lake Books('s old location) and Abbey St.Benoit (which has great cheese). There are maps to help her fans run around and see the locations irl!

Due to the dairy industry there's a lot of great cheese and icecream in general. Coaticook has great icecream and a cool gorge (my ex lived there), but it’s very French so you might have trouble.

A personal highlight: drive up the St.Lawrence. it's gorgeous, sometimes there are whales, and just. Amazingly beautiful. Fuckoff cold water tho.

There are a ton if beautiful national parks in Quebec; Bic is a highlight personally.

For southern Ontario:

Niagara Falls is a mixed bag: the falls themselves are incredible, absolutely awe inspiring (I remember getting to my hotel room after and writing in a frenzy - the MIST from them hits you SEVERAL HUNDRED METERS AWAY). BUT the area around them are a tourist trap, overpriced and iffy.

I haven't run around Toronto much beyond getting lost going to n from the airport, but I've heard decent enough things?

Iirc there might be more Freedom Convoy bullshit going on in Ottawa, so keep an eye on the news if it's on your bucket list.

Also have heard p good things about the national parks, almost went camping with the other grads before schedule conflicts popped up.

Haven't done much due to gradschool unfortunately :c

I also know that Alberta has an incredible dinosaur museum with some amazing specimens, and Dinosaur Provincial Park is teaming with big fossils (almost went on a dig there but Covid happened).

Hope some of this helped!