part one of our north american journey

so...we're a little more than a week into our north american travels. we've traveled about 2,000 miles in our sturdy honda and we're happy to be in good ol' beecher, illinois (lauren's hometown).
the weather has cooperated the whole time...joe and i seem to think that we're bringing the sunny skies with us. anyhoo...here's a few photos/tidbits of our last week...


joe enjoying a good brewski at club sandwich/cafe european on montreal's st catherine's street


a couple hours out of montreal, we just had to make a stop at the brasseurs du temps - a small brewery in ottawa :) it was fantastic and ottawa was prettier than expected. a lot of gothic architecture, including the parliament building


after we left quebec and got on the transcanada through ontario, the drive soon became gorgeous. the only bad thing about driving through canada (and one thing we probably take for granted in the U.S.), is that there are few places to pull off the road to take a break/take pictures. this lake (one among probably hundreds along our route) was off a boat ramp...probably the only place that we could stop to take a break


after one full day of driving through canada with a stop outside of sudbury, ontario, we made it to sault ste. marie and on the bridge back to the U.S. to the upper peninsula (UP) of michigan. within an hour, we saw three great lakes...superior, huron, and michigan


once we got onto our route across the UP, we had to make a stop to make our usual PB&J lunch at a state park rest area. we took a break and hiked down the trail to lake michigan, which, at one of the northernmost points, was gorgeous


we spent ~5 days with my brother paul, his wife melissa, their little girl haley, and their two awesome dogs, hank and suka :) this photo was at a local waterfall near their place in florence, WI. haley was sleeping the whole time but we still managed to get a good family photo of the five of them


paul, joe and i took a little paddle on the brule river. i was a little nervous in a canoe (versus a kayak), but finally got rid of some of my nerves...enough for a photo :)


joe and suka before a short hike through a beautiful hemlock forest. the last time we saw suka (early february), he was ~4 months old and 30 lbs. now...~6 months old and 60 lbs! and still growing (and shedding) like crazy


on our hike through perch lake, haley needed a break :)


on that same hike, we stopped for a quick photo with paul...and with hundreds of black flies!

for the next week we'll be hanging around beecher/chicago, then down south for ~5 days at my parent's "cabin" in southern illinois. starting on mother's day, we'll make the 24 hour drive with my dad to new mexico for some southwest relaxation :)

hope everyone is well! joe and i are loving every minute of this first leg of our journey :)

tallyho!

-lauren and joe