Detroit, MI

I’ve been to over half the American states, but it wasn’t until Detroit when I finally understood America. It’s industriousness. I was driving leisurely along the I-94 in a construction zone when I was passed by two trucks each carrying three columns of ladder frame chassis piled on top of Read more…

2023 Canadian Auto Show

The 50th anniversary of the Canadian International Auto Show exhibited over 1,000 vehicles with a focus on battery-electric and hybrid-electric powertrains. Unfortunately, it was more focused on consumer sales than an exhibition on engineering prowess. While manufacturers were proud to show off safety features on stage, there was no information Read more…

Flint, MI

Flint. Yes, that Flint. But before it became globally famous for not having a clean drinking water supply, it was the mother of America’s early car industry until the Great Depression. The First National Bank of Flint financed the files of Chevrolet, Dort, and Monroe. Charles Nash (president of Buick Read more…

Sydney, NS

Sydney is the largest city on Cape Breton Island in the north of Nova Scotia. Its industry began from coal mining in the eighteenth century by the French, who also built the Louisbourg Fortress. The steel industry developed two centuries later and was the city’s bastion of economic activity until Read more…

St. Peters, NS

The native Mi’kmaq people used the isthmus as a transit point between the Atlantic Ocean and Bras d’Or Lake (they obviously didn’t call it that thousands of years ago) as it was only a kilometre long. Their lightweight canoes could easily be carried on their shoulders and brought from the Read more…

University of Moncton

The University of Moncton serves the francophone Acadian community in New Brunswick. It was the first and still is the largest francophone university in Atlantic Canada. As such, it is the birthplace of the reawakening of Acadian nationalism in the 1960s and is the world’s premier repository of Acadian records. Read more…

Peggys Cove, NS

When I planned my trip to Atlantic Canada, I didn’t think I was going to end up in Nova Scotia, I only planned as far as New Brunswick because Nova Scotia wasn’t fully open for discretionary travel yet. A couple of days before my departure date, Nova Scotia finally opened Read more…

Lunenburg, NS

Lunenburg is one of the oldest cities in Canada and was home to the schooner Bluenose, featured on some Canadian coinage. It is also one of only two UNESCO communities on the continent, the other one being Quebec City. It is the best conserved British-style colonial settlement on the continent Read more…