The Flat Mark Twins have been packed away in their envelope, ready for delivery to Mrs. Schmidt so they can be returned to Real Mark. They have had a long trip to Canada and are taking a well-deserved rest.
The Flat Mark Twins have travelled to five provinces and flown more than 10,600 kilometres (6,600 miles), not including all the driving around Vancouver Island, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec. In all, they travelled to British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick—five of the 10 Canadian provinces (and we have three territories as well).
Here is a pictorial journal of the second half of their vacation with Susie in Canada.

Susie’s sister Lori shares her university graduation day with the Flat Mark Twins. Lori graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a nursing degree.

The whole reason Susie and her Mom travelled to the east coast of Canada was to attend Susie’s sister Lori’s university graduation in Fredericton, New Brunswick, about two hours away from where Lori lives in Amherst, Nova Scotia. It was a joyous day for our family.

Welcome to Tatamagouche, NS (short for Nova Scotia)! Lori and Susie both knit so we went on a trip to a yarn store in Tatamagouche.

The east coast of Canada, also known as the Maritimes, has some really interesting place names. I’m told many of them are based on aboriginal names.

A really big Adirondack chair in front of the Tatamagouche Creamery.

They have some amusing tourist attractions too, like this giant chair. They also have a train station and a train that have been converted into a hotel. People actually sleep in the train cars.

We found some yarn—and the sheep that provided the wool—at Lismore Sheep Farm.

The Joggins Fossil Centre. The Joggins Fossil Cliffs are a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.

One of the things Susie has always wanted to do is visit the Joggins Fossil Cliffs, which has a lot of really cool fossils that are 300 million years old.

The Flat Mark Twins find a fossil! It is most likely a Cordaite leaf.

The beach at Joggins, where many fossils have been uncovered, is on the Bay of Fundy. When the tide comes in, it comes in really fast. The sand is red in this area. If we found fossils we were told we had to leave them on the beach.

Age of Sails is located at Port Greville, Nova Scotia. More than 700 sailing ships were built in this area from 1812 to 1927.

A sign showing that we were travelling on the Bay of Fundy shore.

Soon it was time to leave the Maritimes. We got onto a plane in Moncton and flew to Montreal, Quebec, where we waited for another plane to go to Ottawa, Ontario.

Moe’s in the Montreal Airport is supposed to have some of the best smoked meat sandwiches in the city. Montreal is known for its smoked meat.

We spent an afternoon at the Byward Market, a famous shopping and eating district in Ottawa. Here is Susie by a Canadian flag.

While we were in Byward Market, we had lunch with some friends who were excited to learn about the Flat Stanley Project. The woman second from left was Susie’s Brownie leader when she was a girl.

Ottawa is considered Canada’s capital city. The Parliament Buildings are where the federal government operates. We took a special trip to the Parliament Buildings with the Flat Mark Twins.

Parliament Buildings

The clock tower at Parliament Hill.

The Centennial Flame burns all the time on Parliament Hill. It was first lit on January 1, 1967 to celebrate Canada’s 100th birthday. It’s called an eternal flame.

While in Ottawa, Susie enjoyed a super fun day with her cousins and her Mom, which took them to Wakefield, Quebec and the MacKenzie King Estate. Unfortunately, the Flat Mark Twins had jumped out of her backpack while playing in the middle of the night, and they missed the trip! So Susie and her Mom made a special trip back to Quebec, just for the twins.

Susie’s Mom with the Flat Mark Twins in Gatineau, across the bridge from Ottawa in Quebec.

The Flat Mark Twins in front of the Canadian Museum of History, a beautiful museum in Gatineau, Quebec, located across the Ottawa River behind the Parliament Buildings. It is one of Susie’s favourite museums in the country.

All too soon it was time to go back home to Vancouver. The suitcases were packed, and Susie made doubly sure that the Flat Mark Twins were safely in her backpack for the trip home.

We flew home from Ottawa to Vancouver in a Boeing 767 airplane, built in Washington State.

The Flat Mark Twins and Susie had one more adventure before they were packed away. We went flying in a Cessna 421 twin engine airplane at Qualicum Airport on Vancouver Island. Susie’s husband flew the plane and Susie was the co-pilot. The Flat Mark Twins came along for the ride.

Flying in a Cessna 421 twin engine plane over Qualicum Beach, B.C. on Vancouver Island.

Thank you, Real Mark, for sharing the Flat Mark Twins with me. I can hardly wait for the next Flat project!

Look who we found! Susie now owns a copy of the Flat Stanley book.