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I would love to get some help planning an upcoming roadtrip that my friend and I are taking. We plan on driving from Miami, Florida to Edmonton, Alberta and we would love some input on good places to go along the way. We will be driving in a truck and using a truck tent so we plan on camping along the way. We plan on doing this the middle of June. Thanks for your help!
How much time do you have, and what kinds of things are you interested in seeing and doing? Do you prefer state highways or interstates?
Thanks for your reply. We haven't quite decided on an exact time, probably around 1 and 1/2 weeks to 2 weeks. We plan on buying a tent for a truck and camp along the way so some good places to camp would be great.I thought it would be neat to drive along the coast, to see some nice scenery. We have no preference over state highways or interstates. I also would like to find out good locations for hiking and possibly mountain biking. Thanks for your time. I really appreciate it!
Hey, I cant speak for the american side of your trip, but I CAN talk for the canadian bit. If you're coming up the coast then you'll go through British columbia, or if you veer away from the coast and come up through alberta, either way there is some GREAT mountains for hiking and mountain biking... Mount Baker is in washington and only an hour or two from the border and has got GREAT hiking with gorgeous views. If you come through alberta, by the mountains and up that way Banff, Jasper, and Lake Louise have fantastic hiking, mountain biking, and beautiful views... elk walk right through lake louise and they stand on people's front lawns like they own the place... So gorgeous... Edson is a nice cheap little town to stay in, or you can head across to Calgary, see the big city, and then head to edmonton. If you're gonna go to Calgary, which you should, then you HAVE to stop at Pete's Drive Thru, its a little 50's style burger place. REALLY cheap prices for HUGE amounts of REALLY good really tastey food, im not sure where it is but calgary has a website and probably a phone book on line, if not, ask when you get there, people will know about it, its so tastey... im drooling...
From Calgary you can drive straight up to Edmonton. Edmonton has this GORgeous mountain biking trail or hiking, or walking trail in downtown called the River Valley, its huge, and you can take different paths including this HUGE staircase that has like 500 or something stairs, its amazing, the path winds up and around and through so many parks... the best park is Hawrelak park which is this big huge park with all these little BBQ's for everyone to use so bring some hotdogs or corn on the cob and grill it up. Also if you're into shopping you have to go to West Edmonton Mall, its the biggesst mall in canada, it has HUGE shopping and a theme park and a wave pool in it. If you're a student, bring you're student ID and Im sure that you can get discounts in "Galaxy land" or in the wave pool... both are VERY fun and i highly reccomend them. The shopping is pretty good, cause they have so many shops, but because it is the mall sometimes they charge higher prices, so if its a regular clothes store, i would ask for different lacations in edmonton, you might find the clothes a little cheaper. There is also a movie theatre in the mall its HUGE and it has this dragon INSIDE that breathes fire, REAL fire every half hour or so.. I wouldnt go see a movie there just cause its like 15-18 dollars for a friday night movie... id rather go to "Movies 12" which is the dollar theatre in edmonton, in the clareview area of town. Oh ya, theres also some bars and stuff in the mall. There is also a river boat in edmonton, I think there is still, they were talkig of retiring the boat right before I moved away so i dont know if they actually did or not but you can ask around too. Another GREAT place to visit is Whyte ave, its officially 82ave, but everyone calls it Whyte ave. Its this huge long strip of shops in a row all along this one street and up and down some of the side streets, it has so many cool funky shops and little cafes and restaurants and its ablast... wear shorts and a tank top and sunscreen and walking shoes...
When are you going?? cause if you're there in July you can catch Klondike days which is this HUGE carnival or in August is the Fringe festival which is all these plays and skits and street performers as well as the carnival type stuff, also very inexpensive and VERY fun!!
anyhoo, i hope this helps, you're gonna have a great time!
Whatever you do, dont miss Jasper and Banff National Parks on your way to Alberta. Especially the glacier highway between the two parks. During the summer, this 100 km or so trip is probably one of the most scenic drives in Canada.
Big Daddy
If you go through Kentucky, consider campsites at either Mammoth Cave (biggest cave in the world) or Land Between the Lakes (biggest man-made lakes in the world). Both have great campsites (especially LBL) and lots of hiking and stuff to do.
And the best barbecue in the world is found in Owensboro, Ky., on the Ohio River at the Moonlite Inn. Not much in the way of camping around Owensboro, but the Hoosier National Forest is across the river in Indiana.