Canada by Car | Canada and Me

On April 7, 2008, I fulfilled a lifelong dream. I took six months off from a job I loved and drove across Canada and back.

It began in Tsawwassen where I boarded a ferry to Vancouver Island. After nine days on the West Coast, I returned home, cleaned up and repacked. Then on May 5 I set out again, this time over the Rockies, through Prairies and Canadian Shield to the Maritimes.

But it didn’t end there. After a couple nights drinking on George Street in St. John’s, I headed west again until Peace River, Alberta. There I turned north towards the Northwest Territories and returned home from there after a few days rest in Yellowknife. My final stop was Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, where I took my last photo of the trip.

In total, I spent 81 days on the road covering nearly 33,000 kilometres. I drove down many random roads, spent 40 nights in a tent, seven nights in the back seat of my car and slept in 30 different beds and four couches.

I shot with my Nikon D200, and came home with 4635 photos. After a exhaustive editing process, I’ve selected 81 scenic photos for a Canada by Car gallery to represent each day on the road, and 40 portraits for a Canada and Me gallery — which takes a closer look at my journey through photos, journal entries, blog posts, correspondence with friends and family, and thoughts in hindsight.

These galleries represent my story of my travels. It is Canada, as I saw it.