Canada

We spent a fun-filled, educational and interesting day at the Grist Mill and Gardens in Keremeos, British Columbia.

The historic flour mill was built in 1877 by Barrington Price and was restored in the 1980s. It now serves as a living-history museum--it's the only mill in British Columbia that still has its original grinding machinery!

Ever since I read Evangeline, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem about the exiled French Acadians, I've wanted to visit Acadian Historical Village near Caraquet in northeastern New Brunswick.

As my husband, Johnnie, and I drove through the Canadian Rockies in southeastern British Columbia, each turn in the road brought a breathtaking view more spectacular than the last. We thought it couldn't get any better--until we pulled our fifth-wheel into Kimberley, a cozy little Bavarian town.

Everything is bigger in Texas, it's said. But on a recent 6-week camping trip in New Brunswick, we found the Lone Star State has nothing on this scenic Maritime Province.

We first got the big idea when a gigantic stainless steel salmon welcomed us in Campbellton, located on Highway 134 along New Brunswick's northern coast. At 27 feet tall, we agreed that "Restigouche Sam", as he's known (Restigouche is the name of the region), is a keeper! He reminds everyone about Campbellton's annual summer Salmon Festival--and yes, it's a big one.

Until I saw chocolate potato cake on a hotel menu while visiting Prince Edward Island, I'd never heard of such a dessert, much less tasted it.

But after savoring the moist and somewhat nubby cake topped with a hard chocolate glaze, I had to know what in the world inspired such a delicious dessert. And locals soon pointed me in the direction of O'Leary and the PEI Potato Museum, home of the world's largest collection of potato artifacts.

HECLA ISLAND on Lake Winnipeg, in the province of Manitoba, is a paradise set amid the unspoiled splendor of Hecla/Grindstone Provincial Park.

Icelandic farmers, who immigrated here after the Mt. Hekla volcano eruption destroyed their homes in Iceland, settled the island in the mid-1870s. The restored century-old fishing village of Hecla looks just as it did in the 1870s.

Folks in Durham, Ontario are so eager to get going in spring that they host an annual Herb Fair dedicated to herbs, flowers, vegetables and garden-related crafts. Browsing the booths in Town Hall Park, along the sparkling Saugeen River. means lots of sniffing, touching, tasting and questioning. I was glad I'd brought baskets to haul my purchases back to the car.

While driving through scenic southwestern Ontario, we ran across the majestic Italianate-style Cottonwood Mansion near Selkirk.

We stopped and enjoyed touring the 15-room mansion, built in 1870. The tour is great because visitors can walk around in all of the rooms.

We felt the fabric on the bedspreads, pushed aside lace curtains, and admired some original furnishings in the parlor. I even saw a vintage sewing machine like the one my grandmother used!

I'd always heard that Quebec's Eastern Townships region is very beautiful. Even so, its charming village of North Hatley, sort of a French version of New England, exceeded my expectations on a recent trip.

While vacationing in Edmonton, Alberta's provincial capital I spent a day exploring nearby attractions like the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village. This living-history museum, with 30 authentic buildings, is unlike any we've ever visited. The interpreters portray real people of the era, vividly depicting Ukrainian immigrant life in eastern rural Alberta from about 1892 to 1930.

While exploring Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island, my wife, Bev, and I found the picturesque village of Baddeck. It's so lovely that telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell chose it for his summer home and burial site.

If you like honey as much as I do, I highly recommend that you make a beeline for the Beeton Honey and Garden Festival, nestled in the rolling hills of Ontario's New Tecumseth high country.

If you ever imagined yourself speeding through town on a shiny red fire engine, you'll enjoy the Canadian Fire Fighters Museum in Port Hope, Ontario.

The Mennonite Heritage Village Museum in Steinbach, Manitoba offers an intriguing look at the life of early Mennonite settlers.

Rock hounds will "dig" unearthing sparkly souvenirs like the ones my husband and I found at a small amethyst mine in lovely northern Ontario.

The Thunder Bay area is well known for its amethyst deposits. A clerk at a local rock shop directed us to the Blue Points Amethyst Mine in Pearl. We drove down a dirt road and found owner Lyndon Swanson, who was about to start drilling.

Last summer, my husband, Allan, and I ran across Bridal Veil Falls Provincial Park in southern British Columbia--a perfect place to take a break.

Spectacular Bridal Veil Falls, the sixth-highest waterfall in Canada, tumbles 197 feet over the smooth rock face of Mount Cheam. We enjoyed a 15-minute walk through lush greenery to the viewing platform at the base of the falls. Watch your step--it can be slippery.

For a unique adventure, I highly recommend a walk in the treetops in the Haliburton Forest and Wild Life Preserve, a private 50,000-acre park in central Ontario's Haliburton Highlands.

Carved from granite for a railroad line, this system of tunnels and bridges--planned by brilliant engineer Andrew McCulloch--pierces the heart of the 300-foot-deep Coquihalla River gorge.

Time and tide wait for no man, Ben Franklin once said. We found powerful proof of that adage at Hopewell Rocks park near the town of Hopewell Cape in New Brunswick.

In west-central Alberta's cattle country, we found PaSu Farm, a sheep farm featuring fine dining in an unusual barn-turned-restaurant.

Owners Patrick and Sue Crocquet de Rosemond, who hail from South Africa, serve a sumptuous Sunday buffet. Along with the freshest lamb around, it also featured chicken, roast beef and seafood.

Late fall or early spring is a great time to drive through spectacular Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park of Canada, located in east-central British Columbia. My husband, Bob, and I find that the park's traffic greatly diminishes during these seasons.

On a stopover during a scenic train trip through Agawa Canyon Park in northern Ontario, we took a hike on the Talus Trail to 175-foot Black Beaver Falls.

During a trip to Nova Scotia, we visited the Port-Royal National Historic Site, a living-history attraction near Annapolis Royal.

The site re-creates the French settlement established here by fur trappers in 1605; it was one of the earliest colonies in North America. The settlement was rebuilt using exact measurements from famous explorer Samuel de Champlain's drawings and writings.

If you're a Native American history buff, visit the Gespeg Micmac Interpretation Site on Quebec's scenic Gaspe Peninsula. Located near rugged Forillon National Park, this reconstructed Micmac village features authentic birch structures--wigwams, a sweat house and a meeting lodge.

Roland, a little village in south-central Manitoba, puts on a whopper of a pumpkin fair every fall. It's among my favorites.

The Roland Pumpkin Fair--and a huge pumpkin sculpture at the edge of town (above)--honor native Edgar Van Wyck, famous for growing gargantuan pumpkins, including a world-record giant. I'm just glad I don't have to carve the monsters that win the weigh-offs--the 2003 winner weighed an astonishing 1,009 pounds!

A vivid history lesson awaits inside the Fortress of Louisbourg, where King Louis XV still reigns.

As we entered the impressive Dauphin Gate at the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island, the guards abruptly stopped us, suspecting we were spies.

Many generations ago, my ancestors landed on Grosse Isle, an immigrant station in the St. Lawrence River, east of Quebec City.

Everyone knows about Niagara Falls,but few have heard about its beautiful northern neighbor, Niagara-on-the-Lake. It's described as the prettiest village in Ontario, and with good reason.

For a truly unique getaway, try rubbing shoulders with the polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba--the "Polar Bear Capital of the World".

One of the most memorable attractions I saw on Prince Edward Island was the Prince Edward Island Preserve Company in New Glasgow. Kilt-clad owner Bruce MacNaughton greeted our group when we arrived. Through a large window inside, I watched workers make his company's signature low-sugar fruit-laden preserves. Fortunately, test samples help you decide which ones to buy!

The Frank Slide Interpretive Centre in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta took me about as close to the awesome fury of an avalanche as I'd ever want to be.

I'd planned just a brief stop. But I got caught up in the gripping story of the 90-second rock slide that dumped nearly 90 million tons of Turtle Mountain limestone on the sleeping town of Frank in 1903, killing about 70 of its 600 residents.

Until I saw chocolate potato cake on a hotel menu while visiting Prince Edward Island, I'd never heard of such a dessert, much less tasted it.