Over the last few months, I have been working on a list of my favorite places to visit in Harlem for a project called On the Grid. They are a designer's guide to neighborhoods around the city, bringing you closer to Cool one neighborhood shop at a time. I've talked about my love for my neighborhood on several occasions on this blog (see: Where to eat on Harlem's Restaurant Row) so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to curate a list of my must-visit places in West Harlem.

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Converting our minivan into a camper was easy (with Alex’s decades of construction experience) after we found the right design for a foldout bed but the hard part was now planning our trip to eastern Canada to fit in as much as we could in just 10 days from Toronto to Newfoundland, passing through Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia along the way.

In the beginning, we opted to camp at only Provincial or National Parks, but we quickly grew to love the personality of private campsites and their (often) much more accessible locations from the highway. We stuck to driving 5-6 hours a day so we could balance the trip with work commitments (the benefit of telecommunity and working for oneself) and sightseeing. Some nights, we had to set up camp late as we pulled in to our spot after dark. In the mornings, we’d awake to the gamble of what the campsite actually looked like.


While in New Brunswick, we camped in Fundy National Park. While there, we opted for runs through the Coastal trails, ending at the fishing town of Alma for lobster rolls as the prize at the end of the 6 mile workout. After our novice camping skills were fully broken in, we toasted marshmallows over inverse campfires well into the night. In the mornings, we would try to wake before the rest of the campsite and quietly drive off to check out the tidal conditions at Hopewell Rocks.

My main desire of Nova Scotia was the Cabot Trail. I wanted to feel its every twist and turn, to stop at every doting town from Baddeck to Meat Cove, and to taste today’s fresh catch. Going up the west side of Cape Breton, the Cabot Trail can be driven by using right hand turns only. You can drive the Cabot Trail in a day, but if you have the time, stay for a weekend. The highlight of our trip was Captain Mark’s whalewatching boat tour complete with whales that swam right alongside our boat.