Farsighted Fly Girl

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a huge fan of Quebec. I love the culture, the beauty and the hidden discoveries of the region. This week, I'll be traveling to The Laurentians, a mountain area just North of Montreal. Mont Tremblant is the main town, just brimming with charm, as you can see above. The region boasts 9,102 lakes, 103 rivers and two sprawling national parks. I'll be visiting the Mont Tremblant International Blues Fest as well as dipping into the Scandinavian outdoor spa in the Red River and exploring an alpine! aquatic! park. Please stay tuned!

In Whitehorse, the capitol city of the Yukon, the Yukon River commands much of the city's focus. Running along the town in untamed waves, it really represents why Whitehorse is called "Wilderness City."  I strolled the boardwalk near the river and was excited to see a musician playing his guitar. He had come from Montreal to play for his cousin's wedding that night. He was practicing by the river and the guitar rhythms seemed to flow at the same pace as the waves. Check out my video to hear a portion of  his soothing tune.

I was prepared to see glaciers and gold during my visit to the Northern Canadian region of the Yukon but I was not prepared to see a desert. In the first of many fascinating surprises that I discovered in the region, the Carcross (Caribou Crossing) desert has been declared the world's smallest desert by the Guinness Book of World  Records. Measuring just one square mile, it looks more like a scenic sandbox than an actual desert but according to Canadian history, 10,000 years ago, this spot was the bottom of a large glacial lake and its connecting sand dunes The retreating glacial ice expanded the dunes,which serve as handy recreation for sand boarders and skiers in the winter. Technically, the climate is too humid to be considered a real desert and the Yukon is actually six degrees south of the Arctic Circle but those facts are just not as fun.

One of the things that I loved about traveling in the Yukon was the vibrant First Nation culture that was visible everywhere. Traditional paintings, sculptures, food and clothing were displayed in every town that I visited but I really enjoyed seeing the totem poles. The one above stands in Whitehorse . This totem pole sits in the middle of CarCross ( Caribou Crossing), surrounded by shops covered in beautiful First Nation symbols. All tribes don't have totem poles but those that lived near forests carved them to represent the tribal nation's history and stories.You can see the intricate detail and work that goes into the carvings. I was tempted to climb them to look at the figures up close, but I didn't. Besides being difficult, it would be highly disrespectful to climb a totem pole. I spotted this teepee on a farm just outside of  Dawson City . It's made with traditional elk skin and wood, with an opening on top for smoke. I really enjoyed connecting wit...

There is no place on Earth like the Yukon. I had no idea what to expect when I visited this striking and unconventional region of Canada and that was probably a good thing because you just have to experience it. Descriptions and expectations just don't measure up. So when I sifted through the hundreds of photos I took of all of my out of this world experiences--glaciers! elk hearts! human toe cocktails! a real caveman!, it was hard to choose a singular image of how to sum up the Yukon. But this pic of a Yukon wedding does a great job of capturing the spirit of the place. This wasn't posed or set up, this is the real wedding party on a vintage fire engine, rolling through the dusty streets of Dawson City. It was actually the first of two wedding parties that I witnessed, the other was on a pickup truck. They waved and invited me to join the reception as they rolled off.  They didn't know who I was, I didn't know who they were but they didn't hesitate to invite me ...

My first glimpse of Quebec City history and culture was the stately Parliament building just outside of Old Quebec. I thought the building looked distinctly French with its Second Empire architecture so I wasn't surprised to learn that it was inspired by the expansion of Paris' Louvre Museum when it was constructed in 1877. I was surprised, however, when I discovered that the Parliament houses a restaurant, Le Parlimentaire, that's open to the public. Anyone can make a reservation and eat with the prime minister if he's in the building. I watched the restaurant's chef pick herbs from the garden and then show visitors what they were used for. With a highly rated restaurant in the province's capitol building and a chef that works with fresh ingredients, it's clear that the French influence in Quebec shows up on every level!

For the first time ever, I will forgo, my first Quebecois love, Montreal and travel to  historic Quebec City. I'll check out the Le Festival de'ete de Quebec  (French hip hop!) as well as the UNESCO Word Heritage Site of Old Quebec City and all its cobblestone and walled charms. My visit is sponsored by  Quebec Tourism so I'll be diving into all aspects of Quebec City history and culture. I expect to be dazzled so stay tuned!

I love the excitement and action of big city travel but I also love the relaxation and natural beauty of beaches. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to discover a beach just five minutes from the bustling streets of downtown Montreal. I caught wind of it as a guide was explaining the city's many parks and he casually mentioned the beach in Parc Jean-Drapeau.  My ears perked up. What's this? A beach nearby? As a certified beach baby, I grabbed my sunscreen and dashed over. A short Metro ride landed me at Parc Jean-Drapeau, which is actually two islands sprawled along the St. Lawrence River. Islands? You know I was excited. And the adventure was just starting because the park boasts tons of other attractions before you can even get to the beach. This pretty strip of tranquility beckoned me to sink my toes into the sand and lounge for hours. It was quiet, with just a few families enjoying the water. Before I located it, I found myself at La Ronde, the amusement park tha...

Montreal overwhelms me. In a good way. For art lovers like me who live for connections with artistic and cultural expressions, Montreal is truly a dreamland. There is absolutely no place you can go in this stylish city where you will not be surrounded by art in some form. Metro stations, sidewalks, buildings, cafes, schools, markets, everywhere you turn, you'll be greeted with visual, musical or performance art. Montreal actually enforces a law that at least 1% of  a building's budget must go to public art. I thought it was just me honing in on every art form but no, Montreal really is covered in art. I find that it's an uplifting feeling to always have art close by. I think that's one of the reason's that Montrealers always seem so good-natured and vibrant. The mural above, was created during Montreal's Mural Fest (There is a fest for everything art-related in Montreal) and drew me in with the vivid colors and trippy designs. This painting lines a w...

It's been three years since I've dipped my feet into the European charm of Montreal. I love the city's dynamic energy and elegant architecture. Of course, I also love the legendary Montreal Jazz Fest, the world's biggest jazz festival. Thanks to Tourisme Que'bec , I'll experience more of the city's gifts, from the also legendary circus arts festival, Montreal Completement Cirque, pictured above, to the museums and bustling neighborhoods. Montreal nightlife is the focus for this trip so I'll be documenting the exciting foodie scene as well as the nightclubs and non-stop festivals. I'm especially excited about pedaling through a night bike tour of the Mount Royal neighborhood and a visit to Bota Bota, the floating spa fashioned from an old ferryboat and boasting sublime views of the St. Lawrence River. So stay tuned for culinary, music and arts posts soon.

The beauty of Quebec's maritime region, the Gaspe' Peninsula, which wraps around the shore of the St. Lawrence River, is quite famous. You hear people rave about it every time the region is mentioned but I still wasn't prepared. Canada is a beautiful, sprawling country in general so I figured the experience would be similar to the other Canadian provinces that I visited. It's not. Gaspe' which means "lands end" in the Mic Mac language, is literally another land, a whole world apart from the other. I was constantly catching my breath at the sheer wonder of the landscape, to the point that I think I stopped breathing many times. Traveling around Gaspe's five provinces was like meeting individual members of a stunning family. Each one more gorgeous than the other. But it wasn't just the beauty, the purity and tranquility of the land seeps through the sea breezes. The people of Gaspe' have lived in the area for generations and the res...

I'm so sorry that's it's been so long since my last post but I was hunkered down writing my book, which was due yesterday. Now that it's at the publisher's, I can get back to my routine, which includes traveling and writing about it. I'll write a post about my book closer to the publication date but I really wanted to look back at all the wonderful places I visited in 2013 before I start my 2014 travels. My travel schedule was really busy last year but these are the places that I loved. Oaxaca, Mexico was one of them, that's Santa Cruz Bay pictured above. The nine bays of Huatulco, Mexico are breathtaking, it was a dicey experience for me to see all of them, since I was in a boat for hours and suffered from seasickness but it was totally worth it. This is the last bay, St. Augustine. I sampled fresh guacamole (they literally went to pick the avocados) in a beach cafe and climbed the top of the hill that overlooks the bay, to the local church. I promi...

Quebec's Gaspe' Peninsula exudes quintessential Quebecois spirit with lots of French-flavored traditions. I spotted this clown on a sunny afternoon at the harbor of the tiny village of Perce'.  Equipped with accordion, stylish hat and shades, she doesn't look like any clown you'd see in the U.S. She crooned French children's songs as kids scurried around, blowing bubbles and playing with balloons.   With the sun playing off the bright blue waves of the sea and a crisp breeze floating over the shore, it felt like a typical cheery day in this charming maritime province.

With TBEX Dublin coming up soon, I've been ruminating on my experience at TBEX Toronto . A lot of bloggers have asked me about whether it's a worthwhile conference and how such a big and buzzy event can be helpful for independent-minded bloggers. In my opinion, it all depends on who you are and where you are in your travel blogging journey. I was a speaker at the very first TBEX , when it was just a gathering of  travel bloggers and writers meeting up in Chicago. Maybe there were a 100 people at that meeting in the Chicago Cultural Center but it seemed more intimate. That was four years ago. TBEX Toronto attracted 1200 attendees. It didn't seem intimate, it didn't seem like just a gathering. It was a BIG EVENT.  There were pre-tours and post tours and parties and speed dating and lots of drama. If you are an introvert and don't deal well with crowds, you probably wouldn't find TBEX that enjoyable. If you don't like the idea of corporate sponsorship or a...