Getting ready for the day, we'll be entering Quebec soon:

Our first gas stop in Quebec. Everything was in French but we figured it all out:

The first part of Quebec was pretty nice. We saw a lot of ATV trails that went off of the road, and to be honest, I was tempted to take a break and follow them, to see just where they went. We continue on, and see some very beautiful scenery leading up to the St. Lawrence River.

I took a few random shots while on the bike:

Shortly after meeting up with the St Lawrence, we come up to a very prominent wall of water. After changing into some wet gear, we ride through a 200 mile long downpour. It felt like it never ended. Between all the French, the bad/asshole drivers (we only experienced this in Quebec), and the rain, we were sick of Quebec pretty quick. We even lost most of the pretty scenery we were getting used to.

Trying to stay dry:

Eventually, the weather dried out before hitting Montreal. Due to some construction coupled with awful traffic, it took us at least an hour to get through the city. It’s a very industrialized city, so there isn’t very much to look at. A lot of graffiti and run down buildings.

We soon enter Ontario, the last Canadian province on our journey. The road transforms itself into more of an American-like interstate, a bit more structured than Quebec’s roads, but nothing really special. The road goes through the Ontario Greenbelt, which is a protected area of wilderness and farmland that prohibits any urban construction. It surrounds the Toronto area, which is one of the most populated areas in the province.

Somewhere in Ontario, the day finally looking dry:

After riding through 60 miles in Ontario, we enter a more city landscape as we pull into Toronto. We were both incredibly impressed with Toronto. I can only describe it as a picture perfect city. Very well built up yet surprisingly clean. Many of the buildings had some creativity in their development, which made the city much more interesting than many others I have ridden through. With all the traffic we saw, the flow was smooth enough to not slow us down at all. Considering we were driving through rush hour, I was more than pleased.

After stopping for gas, we ask a friendly lady at the pump next to us for some directions. She gladly tells us that we can avoid some of the interstate we’ve been riding in by taking a few side streets. We’re both getting hungry so I feel this isn’t a bad idea, we can find a good sandwich shop along the way for a quick bite to eat. After seeing a Subway in a Wal-Mart parking lot, we pull in. The city really is amazing because in a completely filled Wal-Mart parking lot, all the cars we find are relatively new and clean. Toronto is almost getting eerie, seeing such a clean parking lot at a Wal-Mart makes me think we have entered some parallel universe. A rare sight indeed!

We’ve decided to continue on and make our stop for the night in the Niagara Falls area. This means we can wake up and hit the Falls early in the morning to avoid the crowds. Although it would be on a Friday, being Fourth of July means that there will probably be a good amount of people visiting. The trip has worked out well so far, visiting Nova Scotia’s famous Cabot Trail on Canada Day and then making our way to Niagara Falls on the Fourth of July!

The sun has gone for the night and we head down Ontario’s QEW highway in darkness. About an hour later, we find our day’s destination, but make a slight detour to the Falls. We might as well visit it at night too, to see the light display.

Finally, after quickly visiting Niagara Falls, we end our day at a local motel at the Niagara Falls Inn. Vacancy was obviously not a problem as I think we were the only ones there.