Travel in Canada

Now that we've visited all 50 states, I thought it would be interesting to see how many Canadian provinces and territories our family has visited. In 2014, we took a family trip across eastern Canada, spending a few days in Toronto, Ontario and then continuing via train to Montreal and Quebec City, Quebec. We boarded a cruise ship in Quebec City and sailed to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and then Sydney and Halifax, Nova Scotia. That trip was incredible. During multiple cruises to Alaska, we have spent time in Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, both fantastic cities. I've loved every minute I've spent in Canada. 

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Of the ten provinces in Canada, we have been to five. We have not been to any of the three territories, although we've been less than 50 miles from the border to the Yukon during visits to Skagway. I'd actually planned to visit during our July 2022 cruise, but the ship ended up skipping Skagway due to a rockslide. 

I don't know if we'll ever make it to all three Canadian territories (we haven't even been to most of the US territories), but I'm fairly confident we will visit the five remaining provinces eventually. St. John, NB and St. John's, NL are both accessible by cruise ship. Or, when we make it to Augusta, Maine, New Brunswick is only a three hour drive from there.  

I want to visit Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba by train. We had a wonderful experience riding the clean, safe, and convenient Via Rail a decade ago and immediately started talking about seeing more of Canada by train. 

I'd like to start our vacation in Winnipeg and head west from there. Unfortunately, we can't fly nonstop to Winnipeg. (I hate layovers, but I'll just have to deal with it.) In Winnipeg, my top priorities are the Manitoba Museum and the Royal Canadian Mint. After 3 or 4 days, we'd head west on the train on a 13-hour journey to Saskatoon. This itinerary is pretty close to how we'd spend our time. Then onward to Edmonton, a 10-hour train ride, where we'd spend a few days. From there, I could see us continuing on the train to Jasper and then Vancouver (nonstop flight home for the win!). Or, more likely, we'd rent a car and head south to Calgary and Banff. I'm imagining this trip to be sometime between May to October. I'm perfectly content spending my winters in California and letting Canada have their winters all to themselves.