Montreal, Quebec Information

• Longitude: 73° 35' W
• Latitude: 45° 30' N
• Population: 1,620,000
• Population Density: 4,438.7/km²
• Landforms: The Gaspé Peninsula juts into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the East. The Saint Lawrence River Valley is a fertile agricultural region, producing dairy products, fruit, vegetables, maple sugar (Quebec is the world's largest producer), and livestock
• Climate: varies a lot over the year. The city is known for its cold winters, but its summers are hot and generally sunny, with occasional muggy days. May and October are arguably the pleasantest months for outdoor activities and walking. Evenings will often remain a little chilly except on the hottest days.It begins to snow in late November and, while quickly removed from roads and sidewalks, snow piles up everywhere else and remains part of the landscape until it begins to retreat sometime in mid-March. Average temperatures vary from -13° to 5°C in January to 18°-27°C in July.
• Ecozone: Mixedwood Plains Ecozone
• Closes National Park:  A few kilometers from Montréal, is the Parc national des Îles-de-Boucherville. This park offers green spaces, channels teeming with life and waterside trails.
•Industries: include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway,
• Tourism: A visit to Montreal can be exciting and fun. Montreal Five most important attractions are: The Montreal Casino, The Underground City, Notre-Dame Basilica, Mount Royal, The Olympic Stadium and environs. Major museums are: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Musée d'art contemporain, Canadian Centre for Architecture

Going from Hopedale to Montreal, Quebec.

It was a 2 day trip from Hopedale, to get to Montreal, Quebec. We stayed in a hotel for a night and drove all next day and night. Once we got to Montreal we stayed with my great uncle who lives there. It was pretty late when we got there so we went to bed, but the next day we all went exploring through the city. My brother, Melanie and myself were dropped off at “The Underground City” it had the biggest shopping mall I’ve ever seen. The three of us went to so many stores, and saw so many different attractions there that we didn’t know when to stop. Meanwhile, my uncle had taken my parents to see “The Montreal Casino”, I didn’t really know anything about it but my mom told me that it was huge, my parents didn’t really gamble but there was a really good restaurant there.

The next day drove up to the Parc national des Îles-de-Boucherville National Park, it was just a few kilometers from Montreal so we decided to look around. There were amazing waterside trails, every few steps you saw a little bit more of nature. There were animals and other hikers, there even thought it was cold. There was a little diner there that we stopped at for lunch and through the window was so a group of deer. We tried to find them after lunch too but they were gone. After, we continued our walk, a few hours later we were back at our uncles house. Before we left we saw the “Notre-Dame Basilica”, it was beautiful. We stayed and looked around for a bit but it was finally time to go. We dropped my uncle off, said goodbye, and we were off.

Hopedale, Newfoundland Information

·       Latitude: 55°27'00.000" N

·       Longitude: 60°13'00.000" W

·       Population: Approximately 625 people

·       Population Density: 157.9/km²

·       Landforms: It is marked by several large bays that are open to the sea. Along with the large bays, community of Hopedale is surrounded by a rugged landscape with an elevation of approximately 10 meters. Much of the landscape consists of uplands with rolling smooth hills. This, and the fact that the ground is frozen during most of the year, makes the land unsuitable for growing crops. The hills consist mostly of pine trees whose needles help protect them from the extreme cold during the winter. Along the shores and edges of the bays, large jagged rocks, as well as mosses, are common.

·       Climate: Hopedale experiences a maritime climate that is characterized by cool temperatures in summer and very cold in winter with significant precipitation in both winter and summer. The temperature range is approximately 27EC while the annual precipitation is around 800 millimeters, which is distributed quite evenly throughout the year.

·       Ecozone: Taiga Shield

·       Closest National Park: Torngat Mountains National Park is a Canadian national park, located on the Labrador Peninsula at the northern tip of Newfoundland and Labrador.

·       Industries: Manufacturing (5%), Educational services (17%), Business services (5%), Retail trade (7%), Agriculture, fishing and other resource-based industries (12%), Construction (10%), Other services (29%)

·       Tourism: Hopedale Mission National Historic Site/Agvituk Historical Society. The main attractions are the 200 year old plus buildings that are standing until this day. The church is in use as well as a museum that holds a variety of artifacts. Hopedale also has community events, festivals, picnics and BBQ’s in celebration of Canada day.  In addition to the many stores Hopedale also has a gift shop called “D. J. Gift Shop” they sell local handmade Inuit crafts, souvenirs and gifts for all occasions.

The beginning of our trip, starting in Hopedale, Newfoundland.

Today was the first day of our “cross country road trip”. My parents had planned this a few weeks ago when we decided to visit some family up in Newfoundland. So, after the hugs and goodbyes we were finally off. It was the five of us in a pretty cramped minivan, my mom, dad, Brother Simon, his fiancée Melanie and I to be exact.

So, we spent a couple days in Hopedale visiting some tourist areas, we saw some really old looking buildings that were still in use that were called The Hopedale Mission National Historic Site/Agvituk Historical Society. There were also a few celebrations considering it was the holidays. Our family wanted to visit a national park that was called “Torngat Mountains National Park”, it was the closest one to us but considering that my mom had to be back at work in 3 weeks we decided it was too far a drive up north and we wanted to see more of the Canada. I read about it online though, I read that it has beautiful mountains and a river that you can go canoeing in. Where we were, was pretty nice too, there were several bays of water around us and a lot of hills. I also saw a lot of jagged rocks everywhere.

Before we left we visited a nice restaurant that sold fish and chips. I don’t think it was from around here though, seeing as nobodies allowed catching cod anymore. We also visited a gift shop called “D.J. gift shop” it sold some really unique things, such as handmade Inuit crafts and they had a lot of souvenirs. Simon got sick and wanted to go back to the hotel we were staying at. So, my parents left him there and my mom, dad, Melanie and I decided we weren’t going to leave until the next day, so Simon could feel better. To pass the time we went to a museum that had a lot of interesting artifacts. After Simon was feeling better we decided to continue with our trip.