We are falling behind in our blog, but then we did not do anything too exciting or different during the remaining days of our stay in Louisbourg. Basically it was more of the same. Saturday, day 28, we both went to the Fortress and in the evening we took in the evening performance of the battle of Louisbourg in de natural fog and the artificial fog created by the smoke of the muskets. There was also a firework display but this also went up into the fog.
On Sunday, day 29, Leo went back to the fortress for more pictures and I stayed around the campsite and entertained myself by watching the children perform a Karaoke.
In the evening there was to be a boat parade in the town harbour and fireworks again. Well they sure know how to do a parade here. 1 ‘lighted’ fishing boat went by and a few other boats but nothing was organized. It was like the boat parade we used to have at Sylvan Lake. And the fireworks! Well after waiting for an hour or so we finally heard that they were cancelled. Again this was not a very well organized event by Parks Canada just like the first parade.
Monday, day 30, we packed up to move on again. We stopped at the trailer repair place to have our trailer wheels greased and the oil changed in the car. After that we drove to Baddeck, NS. It just started to rain here so we waited with setting up our trailer and Leo worked on his pictures to be posted. The rain let up a bit just enough for us to set up the trailer and have some supper.
Today, day 31, we visited Baddeck village and went to the Graham Bell museum. We learned a few more things about Mr. Bell, like that he was married to a deaf woman and lived here in Baddeck.
Tomorrow we will be taking the ferry to Newfoundland, leaving at 4 pm in the afternoon arriving about 10:00 that evening. This is the earliest ferry we could book, as all the other days were booked already. We have our campsite booked so we will have no problems finding a spot that night or have to sleep in the van. So far we have not had the use the bed in the van yet.
We also did some planning for our trip on Newfoundland and noticed that there are not a lot of campsites available and also that not all of them will have Internet. You may not find us online as often as we have been because of this. We did this planning in a day room at the campsite where we had to sit to get internet access. We spoke in Dutch all the time to each other, and one of the owners was present and able to listen in to our discussion. We talked of wanting to visit one specific place in Newfoundland which had a funny name and the campground owner would have only understood one word in English of our discussion. That word was `Dildo`. No wonder he looked at us strangely when we walked out!
Pictures of the last few days can be found here.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Day 27 - Louisbourg
Day 27 – Louisbourg
Today I rode my bike to the fortress and around town while Leo spend another day at the Fortress to take some more pictures.
In the evening we both went to the PARADE, and a parade it was. I had heard earlier in the day that the “old fortress” people would come down main street from the left and the “new Louisbourg” people would come from the right and then merge as one for the opening ceremonies at the waterfront site. We were located at where they were to merge. Well first of all there was a heavy fog and it took quite some time before we heard and saw “the parade”. We figured they got lost in the fog, they should have taken their Tom Tom with them. We finally saw a military truck, pulling a canon, emerge from the right with about 10 English military personnel and all the spectators from that part of the parade route. We could drums and bagpipes coming from somewhere but no parade. It took a minute or two before we finally saw the parade come out of the fog walking towards us. After some confusion the ‘parade’ was to move on to the waterfront site as well for a 5-salvo salute to start the celebrations. After this the parade was over and everyone dispersed. The evening entertainment was 4 modern folk singers from Cape Breton, we stayed for the first song but left during the second one as sound was turned up to high to enjoy. Back to our trailer, which was only half a block away from the entertainment stage so we got to hear it all at a most enjoyable sound level.
Leo did his best again to show you the activities at the Fortress for this day. Prominent was a re-enactment of tactical moves made by the French and English forces during the siege, as the former would try to leave the fortress to eliminate one of the latter’s artillery batteries which were pounding the fortifications. More than 1000 amateur “re-enactors” have come to Louisbourg to participate in these re-enactments from all over Canada and the Unites States. These people are history junkies who often make their own uniforms, and buy original weaponry from the era to allow them to go from one such event to another throughout North America. As indicated, the day was generally foggy, but the fog miraculously retreated out to sea for a couple of hours to allow the battle to take place in wonderful sunshine, which was a great blessing to all the photographers present. Leo’s photos for the day are to be found here.
Today I rode my bike to the fortress and around town while Leo spend another day at the Fortress to take some more pictures.
In the evening we both went to the PARADE, and a parade it was. I had heard earlier in the day that the “old fortress” people would come down main street from the left and the “new Louisbourg” people would come from the right and then merge as one for the opening ceremonies at the waterfront site. We were located at where they were to merge. Well first of all there was a heavy fog and it took quite some time before we heard and saw “the parade”. We figured they got lost in the fog, they should have taken their Tom Tom with them. We finally saw a military truck, pulling a canon, emerge from the right with about 10 English military personnel and all the spectators from that part of the parade route. We could drums and bagpipes coming from somewhere but no parade. It took a minute or two before we finally saw the parade come out of the fog walking towards us. After some confusion the ‘parade’ was to move on to the waterfront site as well for a 5-salvo salute to start the celebrations. After this the parade was over and everyone dispersed. The evening entertainment was 4 modern folk singers from Cape Breton, we stayed for the first song but left during the second one as sound was turned up to high to enjoy. Back to our trailer, which was only half a block away from the entertainment stage so we got to hear it all at a most enjoyable sound level.
Leo did his best again to show you the activities at the Fortress for this day. Prominent was a re-enactment of tactical moves made by the French and English forces during the siege, as the former would try to leave the fortress to eliminate one of the latter’s artillery batteries which were pounding the fortifications. More than 1000 amateur “re-enactors” have come to Louisbourg to participate in these re-enactments from all over Canada and the Unites States. These people are history junkies who often make their own uniforms, and buy original weaponry from the era to allow them to go from one such event to another throughout North America. As indicated, the day was generally foggy, but the fog miraculously retreated out to sea for a couple of hours to allow the battle to take place in wonderful sunshine, which was a great blessing to all the photographers present. Leo’s photos for the day are to be found here.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Day 26 - Louisbourg
Day 26 – Louisbourg
Today Leo went to check out the Fortress of Louisbourg for picture taking positions during the festivities happening this weekend.
I stayed behind and went for a walk up to the lighthouse which is across the harbour from the fortress. This was a 4 km walk each way but worth every drop of sweat. Finally I got to see and hear the REAL Atlantic Ocean. I wanted to stay all day and just sit there and listen to the sounds, like the rocks being pulled back by the waves, the waves breaking against the rocks, and just the water moving up and down. The tide was coming in and hitting the rocks and splashing up against them. At times I was there all by myself. But I had to go back as no one knew where I had gone. Leo knew I was going for a walk and so did Jeanne but not where. I will have to go back, by car, and just spend the whole day watching the ocean and I think Leo will want to go there as well to take pictures. We may end up staying here longer after all.
Leo went to the Fortress today for the first time. He was tremendously impressed with both the French accomplishment in building this to begin with during the 17th century, and also with the people who reconstructed a good segment of it from scratch during the late 1950s. He was most unimpressed by the English who totally obliterated this marvelous place a few years after the second seige. There is a tremendous amount to be seen here, and the quality of the reconstruction is outstanding. It truly does provide a very credible glimpse into life at the fortress just prior to the second siege of it in 1758, the 250th anniversary of which is being celebrated this weekend. Unfortunately, Leo lost track of time and was home much later than his wife was expecting, as a result of which he is decidedly in the doghouse at the moment. Only time will tell whether he will be able to work his way out of it before the vacation ends.
Some of the pictures on which he lost track of time can be seen here.
Today Leo went to check out the Fortress of Louisbourg for picture taking positions during the festivities happening this weekend.
I stayed behind and went for a walk up to the lighthouse which is across the harbour from the fortress. This was a 4 km walk each way but worth every drop of sweat. Finally I got to see and hear the REAL Atlantic Ocean. I wanted to stay all day and just sit there and listen to the sounds, like the rocks being pulled back by the waves, the waves breaking against the rocks, and just the water moving up and down. The tide was coming in and hitting the rocks and splashing up against them. At times I was there all by myself. But I had to go back as no one knew where I had gone. Leo knew I was going for a walk and so did Jeanne but not where. I will have to go back, by car, and just spend the whole day watching the ocean and I think Leo will want to go there as well to take pictures. We may end up staying here longer after all.
Leo went to the Fortress today for the first time. He was tremendously impressed with both the French accomplishment in building this to begin with during the 17th century, and also with the people who reconstructed a good segment of it from scratch during the late 1950s. He was most unimpressed by the English who totally obliterated this marvelous place a few years after the second seige. There is a tremendous amount to be seen here, and the quality of the reconstruction is outstanding. It truly does provide a very credible glimpse into life at the fortress just prior to the second siege of it in 1758, the 250th anniversary of which is being celebrated this weekend. Unfortunately, Leo lost track of time and was home much later than his wife was expecting, as a result of which he is decidedly in the doghouse at the moment. Only time will tell whether he will be able to work his way out of it before the vacation ends.
Some of the pictures on which he lost track of time can be seen here.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Day 25 - Travel from Maitland to Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
Day 25 - Travel from Maitland to Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
Again we got up to a cloudy sky and a very light drizzle. I said goodbye to the family of cats (without taking one along unfortunately) and on we went to our next stop.
We had an appointment with a RV refrigeration shop to have our fridge checked out as it was not working and we were doing the icebox-ice routine. This is fine for a couple of days but not for the rest of our trip. Because we wanted to be there early in the day we took the major highways 104 and 105 to get more quickly to Sydney where this repair shop was located. The owner was very nice and had a look at our unit right away and concluded it was not our cooling system (luckily as this is very expensive to fix). After he checked the unit, adjusting some wires and cleaning the propane line we were done. He charged us $50 for an hour of labour for the work done and told us to come back if we encountered more problems. Quite the good Nova Scotia service! And so far so good with the repair
On we went to Louisbourg and there we had some ‘issues’ with our camp spot. We had made reservations about a month ago and had asked for electricity and water. Well the electricity was there but the water we had to fill with a ‘pot or something’ from a tap in between two buildings and thereby top up our trailer tank rather than having an actual water connection. Also we were allocated a spot beside another tent trailer and no way was there enough room for our trailer to be folded out, let alone to get it in the spot allocated. But all ended up well as the lady in the office had misunderstood how to allocate ‘these tent-trailer’ spots. After this was sorted out and we hummed and hawed about it all we decided to set up and stay as no spots are to be had in Louisbourg right now because of the 250th anniversary of the siege of the fortress taking place this year (The Encampment Celebration).
We did a quick tour of town as we needed some groceries now that we had a ‘real’ fridge again.
After supper we did some trip planning, reading and off to bed to get some well deserved rest as we will have a full day again tomorrow. Leo took off to try some pictures of the fishing boats at dusk and wound up B.S.ing with a crew of very friendly crab fishermen getting ready to run out to set their crab traps. His father would have been proud to hear him talk it up with these guys.
He did get some pictures and these can be seen here.
Again we got up to a cloudy sky and a very light drizzle. I said goodbye to the family of cats (without taking one along unfortunately) and on we went to our next stop.
We had an appointment with a RV refrigeration shop to have our fridge checked out as it was not working and we were doing the icebox-ice routine. This is fine for a couple of days but not for the rest of our trip. Because we wanted to be there early in the day we took the major highways 104 and 105 to get more quickly to Sydney where this repair shop was located. The owner was very nice and had a look at our unit right away and concluded it was not our cooling system (luckily as this is very expensive to fix). After he checked the unit, adjusting some wires and cleaning the propane line we were done. He charged us $50 for an hour of labour for the work done and told us to come back if we encountered more problems. Quite the good Nova Scotia service! And so far so good with the repair
On we went to Louisbourg and there we had some ‘issues’ with our camp spot. We had made reservations about a month ago and had asked for electricity and water. Well the electricity was there but the water we had to fill with a ‘pot or something’ from a tap in between two buildings and thereby top up our trailer tank rather than having an actual water connection. Also we were allocated a spot beside another tent trailer and no way was there enough room for our trailer to be folded out, let alone to get it in the spot allocated. But all ended up well as the lady in the office had misunderstood how to allocate ‘these tent-trailer’ spots. After this was sorted out and we hummed and hawed about it all we decided to set up and stay as no spots are to be had in Louisbourg right now because of the 250th anniversary of the siege of the fortress taking place this year (The Encampment Celebration).
We did a quick tour of town as we needed some groceries now that we had a ‘real’ fridge again.
After supper we did some trip planning, reading and off to bed to get some well deserved rest as we will have a full day again tomorrow. Leo took off to try some pictures of the fishing boats at dusk and wound up B.S.ing with a crew of very friendly crab fishermen getting ready to run out to set their crab traps. His father would have been proud to hear him talk it up with these guys.
He did get some pictures and these can be seen here.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Day 24 - Sightseeing around Maitland, Nova Scotia
Day 24 – Sightseeing around Maitland, Nova Scotia
We woke up to a cloudy sky with very light drizzle coming down. As we made plans for our day it stopped raining and we decided to take it a bit easy today and not do too much.
First we went to the local store for some groceries and like many stores they had a gift store but also a Christmas store. We took our time looking around and Leo also took some pictures of the store.
After we went to see Burncoat Head, another park and … lighthouse. We watched a video about the Bay of Fundy ,which gave us more ideas about things we wanted to see and do. After this we went down to the beach and explored it for a while.
Then it was on our next stop, the Fundy tidal bore (wave), which we unfortunately were about half an hour late to see it happen due to conflicting information we received about its timing. We will have to come back here in September to try and catch it then. By the sounds of it it is something you have to see.
The rain had stopped in the meantime so we walked around the town of Maitland for a while to take in the historical houses which are still standing here, many of which are being restored.
This is about what we did today other than feed and play with the local cat, which has 4 cute little, kittens hidden underneath a shed. They are very friendly, however, and will come out to be petted. We will have to work hard tomorrow to resist the urge to take one along, as was done by another camper a day or so ago.
Although the weather was not the greatest Leo did take some pictures, which can be viewed here.
We woke up to a cloudy sky with very light drizzle coming down. As we made plans for our day it stopped raining and we decided to take it a bit easy today and not do too much.
First we went to the local store for some groceries and like many stores they had a gift store but also a Christmas store. We took our time looking around and Leo also took some pictures of the store.
After we went to see Burncoat Head, another park and … lighthouse. We watched a video about the Bay of Fundy ,which gave us more ideas about things we wanted to see and do. After this we went down to the beach and explored it for a while.
Then it was on our next stop, the Fundy tidal bore (wave), which we unfortunately were about half an hour late to see it happen due to conflicting information we received about its timing. We will have to come back here in September to try and catch it then. By the sounds of it it is something you have to see.
The rain had stopped in the meantime so we walked around the town of Maitland for a while to take in the historical houses which are still standing here, many of which are being restored.
This is about what we did today other than feed and play with the local cat, which has 4 cute little, kittens hidden underneath a shed. They are very friendly, however, and will come out to be petted. We will have to work hard tomorrow to resist the urge to take one along, as was done by another camper a day or so ago.
Although the weather was not the greatest Leo did take some pictures, which can be viewed here.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Day 22 & 23 - PEI and travel from PEI to Nova Scotia
Day 22 - The second leg of the East Coastal Tour
Today we finished the rest of the sightseeing tour of the eastern part of PEI. The weather was great with lots of sunshine again. We left at 10 in the morning and did not get back to our trailer until after 8 in the evening.
Lots to see of course with small village harbours, churches and even a heron asking to be photographed in the evening light.
We viewed some lighthouses again, stopped at some harbours to take pictures and for the rest we drove and looked around the country site. Some times a turn off was missed and as the roads are not the widest here we got to see some parts 3 times. In total we drove about 325 km in the 10 hours.
It certainly is a most enjoyable province to visit.
Day 23 – Traveling day from PEI to Maitland, Nova Scotia.
Today it rained all day but we still took a bit of a scenic route along the coast of PEI. Else was so enthralled with the color of the P.E.I. dirt that she wanted to take some home to try her own hand at dyeing fabric with it. As it did rain all day, Leo had to show his spousal devotion by going out in that rain and filling a plastic bag with the stuff. But we have it! And we will cart it along for another 9 weeks throughout the Atlantic provinces before we get it home! This is necessitated by the fact that we will not be returning to PEI on our way back from Newfoundland.
Then it was off again over the Confederation Bridge to Nova Scotia for our next destination of Maitland, Nova Scotia. This bridge cost more than a billion dollars to build and is a toll bridge. But interestingly enough if you go over it to Prince Edward Island, there is no cost. But if you try to get off the island over it you do have to pay. The cost was $41.50 for our car and another $6.50 for the single axle of our tent trailer.
Maitland is a little place located at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy and is also a historic place for its buildings and such. Unless it rains tomorrow we will be doing some exploring here as well and hoping to take in the tidal bore later in the afternoon.
Here a link where you can find some more information on Maitland and its attractions.
www.maitlandns.com/atttractionsandaccommodations.html
Sorry, there are no pictures for Day 23, but the pictures for Day 22 can be found here.
Today we finished the rest of the sightseeing tour of the eastern part of PEI. The weather was great with lots of sunshine again. We left at 10 in the morning and did not get back to our trailer until after 8 in the evening.
Lots to see of course with small village harbours, churches and even a heron asking to be photographed in the evening light.
We viewed some lighthouses again, stopped at some harbours to take pictures and for the rest we drove and looked around the country site. Some times a turn off was missed and as the roads are not the widest here we got to see some parts 3 times. In total we drove about 325 km in the 10 hours.
It certainly is a most enjoyable province to visit.
Day 23 – Traveling day from PEI to Maitland, Nova Scotia.
Today it rained all day but we still took a bit of a scenic route along the coast of PEI. Else was so enthralled with the color of the P.E.I. dirt that she wanted to take some home to try her own hand at dyeing fabric with it. As it did rain all day, Leo had to show his spousal devotion by going out in that rain and filling a plastic bag with the stuff. But we have it! And we will cart it along for another 9 weeks throughout the Atlantic provinces before we get it home! This is necessitated by the fact that we will not be returning to PEI on our way back from Newfoundland.
Then it was off again over the Confederation Bridge to Nova Scotia for our next destination of Maitland, Nova Scotia. This bridge cost more than a billion dollars to build and is a toll bridge. But interestingly enough if you go over it to Prince Edward Island, there is no cost. But if you try to get off the island over it you do have to pay. The cost was $41.50 for our car and another $6.50 for the single axle of our tent trailer.
Maitland is a little place located at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy and is also a historic place for its buildings and such. Unless it rains tomorrow we will be doing some exploring here as well and hoping to take in the tidal bore later in the afternoon.
Here a link where you can find some more information on Maitland and its attractions.
www.maitlandns.com/atttractionsandaccommodations.html
Sorry, there are no pictures for Day 23, but the pictures for Day 22 can be found here.
Day 21 - First leg of the east coast tour of PEI
Day 20 – East coast tour of the island.
After a night of rain we decided to take it slow this morning and update our blog.
Around 1 pm the weather still could not decided what to do so we took a chance and started the first half of our sightseeing tour of the eastern part of the island.
Our first stop was at the old town of Orwell Corner. This is a Provincial Historic park with old buildings in a country like setting, similar to Heritage Park only these buildings in this small village were not restored just preserved. They kept a lovely garden around the general store and had a rope making demonstration in the barn. I found some cats and lovely little kitten I could pet so I had my cat fix for a while again.
It started to rain at this time but we decided to go on and make the best of it. As the day went on the weather started to get better and by late afternoon the sun started to come out again. This, of course, gave beautiful late afternoon light for photos so it was stop, take a picture, and drive on again.
We got back to our trailer around 9 pm, had a bite to eat and then Leo tried to download his pictures. But he had some problems so we went to bed instead to get a well deserved sleep. The difficulties with the pictures were solved next morning and you will find the results for day 21 here.
After a night of rain we decided to take it slow this morning and update our blog.
Around 1 pm the weather still could not decided what to do so we took a chance and started the first half of our sightseeing tour of the eastern part of the island.
Our first stop was at the old town of Orwell Corner. This is a Provincial Historic park with old buildings in a country like setting, similar to Heritage Park only these buildings in this small village were not restored just preserved. They kept a lovely garden around the general store and had a rope making demonstration in the barn. I found some cats and lovely little kitten I could pet so I had my cat fix for a while again.
It started to rain at this time but we decided to go on and make the best of it. As the day went on the weather started to get better and by late afternoon the sun started to come out again. This, of course, gave beautiful late afternoon light for photos so it was stop, take a picture, and drive on again.
We got back to our trailer around 9 pm, had a bite to eat and then Leo tried to download his pictures. But he had some problems so we went to bed instead to get a well deserved sleep. The difficulties with the pictures were solved next morning and you will find the results for day 21 here.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Day 19 & 20 - Cavendish area and Charlottetown
Day 19 – West Coast of Prince Edward Island.
Today we took a sight-seeing tour of Prince County, the western section of PEI. We drove about 360 km and again got a beautiful image of the island, the potato farms, the small harbours, oyster and mussel farms, red beaches, lighthouses and the local hamlets. We left about 10 in the morning and did not get back till 9:30 in the evening. It was another full day with lots of new impressions.
The most memorable impression was Leo being ‘pooped on’ by a pair of common terns, (a small seagull-like bird), as he was getting too close to their nests. They were dive-bombing him and decide to take stronger measures and poop on him. They managed to hit him on his hair, on his shoulder and arm, but most importantly, on his camera!
Lots of people have large Gulf fishing boats in their backyards here just like some people in Alberta may have fibreglass motorboats in their yards. Some people even had 2 in their yards and really rich would have three. Again we saw many more beautiful churches but did notice the riches of the different parts of the island as some churches were beautifully restored or maintained while others were becoming dilapidated
.
On the way back to our campground we also took in the tourist shops along the Cavendish Boardwalk and played souvenir-accumulating tourists for a bit. We tried to capture it all for you in Leo’s photos, which can be found here.
Day 20 – The drive from Cavendish to Charlottetown, PEI.
Today we decided to move on to another part of the province and find a campground around the historic capital city of P.E.I.: Charlottetown. But before we left we went to the Prince Edward Island National Park entrance to upgrade our annual Parks pass to include Historic sites as there are many of these sites on this island like the lighthouses. We also wanted to visit the Anne of Green Gables Park and we were pleasantly surprised that entry to the park was free for pass holders. We already have half our money back of our pass upgrade! Are we Dutch or not! Leo took lots of photos of the park and I plan to make a special Anne of Green Gables photo page when we have a slow day.
On we went then to Charlottetown and our campground. After set up of our trailer and having a bit to eat we went to play tourist once more in Charlottetown. It is a very nice city with lots of historic buildings like Confederation Hall, the place were in 1864 the Fathers of Confederation agreed to form the new nation of Canada. This building is now the Provincial Building and seat of the Province’s government. There were also whole streets full of `traditional-looking` houses, which added to the uniqueness of this town. We took a stroll around the harbour, which again had a boardwalk and a fun petting zoo of ocean creatures for children.
To see what good `tourists` we were take a look of at our photos, which can be found here.
Today we took a sight-seeing tour of Prince County, the western section of PEI. We drove about 360 km and again got a beautiful image of the island, the potato farms, the small harbours, oyster and mussel farms, red beaches, lighthouses and the local hamlets. We left about 10 in the morning and did not get back till 9:30 in the evening. It was another full day with lots of new impressions.
The most memorable impression was Leo being ‘pooped on’ by a pair of common terns, (a small seagull-like bird), as he was getting too close to their nests. They were dive-bombing him and decide to take stronger measures and poop on him. They managed to hit him on his hair, on his shoulder and arm, but most importantly, on his camera!
Lots of people have large Gulf fishing boats in their backyards here just like some people in Alberta may have fibreglass motorboats in their yards. Some people even had 2 in their yards and really rich would have three. Again we saw many more beautiful churches but did notice the riches of the different parts of the island as some churches were beautifully restored or maintained while others were becoming dilapidated
.
On the way back to our campground we also took in the tourist shops along the Cavendish Boardwalk and played souvenir-accumulating tourists for a bit. We tried to capture it all for you in Leo’s photos, which can be found here.
Day 20 – The drive from Cavendish to Charlottetown, PEI.
Today we decided to move on to another part of the province and find a campground around the historic capital city of P.E.I.: Charlottetown. But before we left we went to the Prince Edward Island National Park entrance to upgrade our annual Parks pass to include Historic sites as there are many of these sites on this island like the lighthouses. We also wanted to visit the Anne of Green Gables Park and we were pleasantly surprised that entry to the park was free for pass holders. We already have half our money back of our pass upgrade! Are we Dutch or not! Leo took lots of photos of the park and I plan to make a special Anne of Green Gables photo page when we have a slow day.
On we went then to Charlottetown and our campground. After set up of our trailer and having a bit to eat we went to play tourist once more in Charlottetown. It is a very nice city with lots of historic buildings like Confederation Hall, the place were in 1864 the Fathers of Confederation agreed to form the new nation of Canada. This building is now the Provincial Building and seat of the Province’s government. There were also whole streets full of `traditional-looking` houses, which added to the uniqueness of this town. We took a stroll around the harbour, which again had a boardwalk and a fun petting zoo of ocean creatures for children.
To see what good `tourists` we were take a look of at our photos, which can be found here.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Day 17 & 18, From Fundy National Park to Hopewell Rocks and on to Anne of Green Gables country
Day 17 - From Fundy National Park to Hopewell Rocks.
Today we only travelled for an hour to our next stop the Hopewell Rocks, a New Brunswick Provincial park. We just went in to 'check' it out briefly. Well it took us over 5 hours to do that. The photos will tell you all about the Hopewell Rocks.
While Leo was taking pictures I enjoyed sitting on a bench watching the people. I wound up talking to a Dutch tourist from Enschede who had just arrived from Holland and was starting his 3 week holiday here in New Brunswick. I also talked to a senior lady who told me her situation and a senior man who sounded like he was a walking time bomb the way he described his health.
We went back to our trailer, had supper and then up to the campground office to post our Day 15 & 16 blog. Yes we are running behind a bit.
Photos for this day can be viewed here.
Day 18 - From Hopewell, New Brunswick to Cavendish, PEI
The next leg of our trip was the new province (for us) of Prince Edward Island reached via the most impressively long Confederation bridge. We left at 9 in the morning and arrived at our new camp site at 3:30 in Cavendish, the land of Anne of Green Gables. This was only about a 200 km trip but it still took us 6.5 hours to do because of lots of photo-taking and lots of speed limits through the small towns. It certainly was not due to the speed of Leo's driving, as that is never a factor.
Confederation bridge is certainly a BRIDGE at 12.9 kilometers in length. But again the photos will tell you more. As soon as we got over the bridge into PEI we were hit with tourism. The travel information centre was a very small tourist shopping mall (only small tourists were allowed) and outside there were more tourist stores and then some more. This place seems all aimed at the tourist coming on to the island.
I must say I love PEI. Of all the provinces we drove through so far I think this is the most pleasant one. The countryside, the houses, the roads, every thing is very 'quaint'. Yes I could live here. Just the tourism would get to me after a while.
Our place of stay, the Marco Polo campground. is a very large campground with 521 sites, but very well organized and spacious. They have 2 heated outdoor pools and each area has its own playground for kids. After setting up the trailer and having our lunch ( at 4 in the afternoon) we took off to explore the island. We went along the north coast line which took us to Prince Edward National Park. We stopped at a small beach were you could see the fantastic red colour in the rocks and sand. Again the photos will show these colours much better than me telling. it.
On to the next part of the park: the sand dunes. Here we felt we were back in Holland, going to the beach in Castricum. We parked our car and as we were walking to the seaside the wooden planked pathway was covered with sand, just like it is in Holland. The dunes look just the same, only with sand that was amber in color. There were lots of people but not nearly as many as you would find on a Dutch beach on a beautiful day like today. We got back to our trailer at 9:30 so another full day for us.
Again you can view our photos for this day here.
Today we only travelled for an hour to our next stop the Hopewell Rocks, a New Brunswick Provincial park. We just went in to 'check' it out briefly. Well it took us over 5 hours to do that. The photos will tell you all about the Hopewell Rocks.
While Leo was taking pictures I enjoyed sitting on a bench watching the people. I wound up talking to a Dutch tourist from Enschede who had just arrived from Holland and was starting his 3 week holiday here in New Brunswick. I also talked to a senior lady who told me her situation and a senior man who sounded like he was a walking time bomb the way he described his health.
We went back to our trailer, had supper and then up to the campground office to post our Day 15 & 16 blog. Yes we are running behind a bit.
Photos for this day can be viewed here.
Day 18 - From Hopewell, New Brunswick to Cavendish, PEI
The next leg of our trip was the new province (for us) of Prince Edward Island reached via the most impressively long Confederation bridge. We left at 9 in the morning and arrived at our new camp site at 3:30 in Cavendish, the land of Anne of Green Gables. This was only about a 200 km trip but it still took us 6.5 hours to do because of lots of photo-taking and lots of speed limits through the small towns. It certainly was not due to the speed of Leo's driving, as that is never a factor.
Confederation bridge is certainly a BRIDGE at 12.9 kilometers in length. But again the photos will tell you more. As soon as we got over the bridge into PEI we were hit with tourism. The travel information centre was a very small tourist shopping mall (only small tourists were allowed) and outside there were more tourist stores and then some more. This place seems all aimed at the tourist coming on to the island.
I must say I love PEI. Of all the provinces we drove through so far I think this is the most pleasant one. The countryside, the houses, the roads, every thing is very 'quaint'. Yes I could live here. Just the tourism would get to me after a while.
Our place of stay, the Marco Polo campground. is a very large campground with 521 sites, but very well organized and spacious. They have 2 heated outdoor pools and each area has its own playground for kids. After setting up the trailer and having our lunch ( at 4 in the afternoon) we took off to explore the island. We went along the north coast line which took us to Prince Edward National Park. We stopped at a small beach were you could see the fantastic red colour in the rocks and sand. Again the photos will show these colours much better than me telling. it.
On to the next part of the park: the sand dunes. Here we felt we were back in Holland, going to the beach in Castricum. We parked our car and as we were walking to the seaside the wooden planked pathway was covered with sand, just like it is in Holland. The dunes look just the same, only with sand that was amber in color. There were lots of people but not nearly as many as you would find on a Dutch beach on a beautiful day like today. We got back to our trailer at 9:30 so another full day for us.
Again you can view our photos for this day here.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Day 15 & 16. From Pointe de la Croix, Quebec to Fundy National Park, New Brunswick
Day 15 – From Pointe-de-la Croix to Fundy National Park, New Brunswick.
After posting day 14 to our blog we packed up and left. We started out taking secondary highway 134 along the New Brunswick coast, but it was very slow driving as the villages are stretched out and run into each other, leading speed limits to be imposed all the time.
At Bathurst we decided to take the highway to Moncton. As Leo said, it was like driving between Rocky Mountain House and Nordegg. Same scenery: a nice 2-lane highway with trees on both sides and flowers in the wide ditch.
At Moncton, Leo decided to go on to Fundy National Park,. It was about 3 in the afternoon at that time and we took the risk of not having a camping spot. But we were lucky and got a spot with all 3 services. So just image us hanging over this 4-inch sewer hole to use our third service.
We arrived just passed low tide so the boats were stranded dry and there was lots of beach to play on. We had our very first ice cream of the trip and enjoyed eating it sitting on the rocks in the sunshine watching the tide come in. This does happen fast, at about an inch a minute when at its fastest. About 9:30pm the tide was fully in and we had a quick look to see the difference. Then it was back to our trailer, taking a shower and going to bed.
Leo’s driving record is improving as he passed 6 cars, trucks and vans with trailers today. After a while he decided not to pass anymore as the wind was very strong and was catching our trailer and making it ‘sway’ behind the car. So Kent you now can truly report a ‘speeding van and trailer’ on the highway.
Again a very nice day to write about in our diary.
Day 16 – Photo taking day for Leo, rest day for me.
We awoke to a cloudy sky and the rain started shortly after. And I mean rain. It was coming down really hard, enough to make me stay inside for the day. Leo on the other hand wanted to film the tide going out in the harbour and left anyway. As long as he can keep his camera and himself dry he should be okay he says.
Just some information for our non-Canadian readers of our blog. The tides here, in the Bay of Fundy, are the highest in the world and right here at the park the difference is 12 meters between low and high tide. Further inland it goes up to 14 and 16 meters depending on where you are. This www.pc.gc.ca/fundy is the link to the Bay of Fundy National Park with some more information.
As I am sitting here, nice and dry inside our trailer. I am watching other people getting their trailers ready to leave. I am telling you no raincoat can stand up to this rain and they are all getting soaking wet hooking up their trailers to their trucks and vans. I am glad we are staying another day as the forecast for tomorrow is sunshine again.
This is a good time to take to opportunity to thank all of you for your comments on our blogs and photos. We very much appreciate you making the comments and knowing you are enjoying our efforts.
Photos for last two days can be viewed here.
After posting day 14 to our blog we packed up and left. We started out taking secondary highway 134 along the New Brunswick coast, but it was very slow driving as the villages are stretched out and run into each other, leading speed limits to be imposed all the time.
At Bathurst we decided to take the highway to Moncton. As Leo said, it was like driving between Rocky Mountain House and Nordegg. Same scenery: a nice 2-lane highway with trees on both sides and flowers in the wide ditch.
At Moncton, Leo decided to go on to Fundy National Park,. It was about 3 in the afternoon at that time and we took the risk of not having a camping spot. But we were lucky and got a spot with all 3 services. So just image us hanging over this 4-inch sewer hole to use our third service.
We arrived just passed low tide so the boats were stranded dry and there was lots of beach to play on. We had our very first ice cream of the trip and enjoyed eating it sitting on the rocks in the sunshine watching the tide come in. This does happen fast, at about an inch a minute when at its fastest. About 9:30pm the tide was fully in and we had a quick look to see the difference. Then it was back to our trailer, taking a shower and going to bed.
Leo’s driving record is improving as he passed 6 cars, trucks and vans with trailers today. After a while he decided not to pass anymore as the wind was very strong and was catching our trailer and making it ‘sway’ behind the car. So Kent you now can truly report a ‘speeding van and trailer’ on the highway.
Again a very nice day to write about in our diary.
Day 16 – Photo taking day for Leo, rest day for me.
We awoke to a cloudy sky and the rain started shortly after. And I mean rain. It was coming down really hard, enough to make me stay inside for the day. Leo on the other hand wanted to film the tide going out in the harbour and left anyway. As long as he can keep his camera and himself dry he should be okay he says.
Just some information for our non-Canadian readers of our blog. The tides here, in the Bay of Fundy, are the highest in the world and right here at the park the difference is 12 meters between low and high tide. Further inland it goes up to 14 and 16 meters depending on where you are. This www.pc.gc.ca/fundy is the link to the Bay of Fundy National Park with some more information.
As I am sitting here, nice and dry inside our trailer. I am watching other people getting their trailers ready to leave. I am telling you no raincoat can stand up to this rain and they are all getting soaking wet hooking up their trailers to their trucks and vans. I am glad we are staying another day as the forecast for tomorrow is sunshine again.
This is a good time to take to opportunity to thank all of you for your comments on our blogs and photos. We very much appreciate you making the comments and knowing you are enjoying our efforts.
Photos for last two days can be viewed here.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Day 14 Travel from Gaspe, Quebec to Campbellton, New Brunswick
Today was another day of travel with very nice scenery, bad and good roads, Saturday traffic and lots of motorbikes again. We did not take a lot of stops this time but we did stop at Perce, the Banff of Quebec. Very busy here and lots and lots of souvenir shops. We stopped to take pictures of the church, buy some bread at a Boulangerie and Patisserie which was located in the basement of a house, different but I guess you would have the nice smell of fresh baked bread in your house all the time this way. So far we have enjoyed the patisseries and later we will try the bread.
Leo also wanted to check out the VIA train station. We were very lucky, he told me, as there was a passenger train coming in half an hour or so. He did not think it would be much of a train as the end station was the nonmetropolis of Gaspe. He figured 1 locomotive and may be 1 or 2 passenger cars. What a surprise we got. There were 2 locos, a baggage car and at least 6 or 7 passenger cars including a dome car. Lots of people got off. But like I said Perce is the Banff of Quebec.
The view in Perce is spectacular of the Roche-Perce, and quite a phenomenon to see. There were lots of tour boats that would take you really close to it and also to nearby Bonaventure Island.
Then on we went, enjoying the scenery, to our campingspot. We were given a very nice spot but as we were talking to the owner of the campground the mosquitos were out and about in good numbers. This is during the day and it was fairly warm, but the owner assured us that the mosquitos are really only out at dusk. We did not look forward to seeing them at dusk! But they did get better after we were set up and ready to take a quick trip to New Brunswick.
The place we are staying at is in Pointe-a-la-Croix. The Quebec side of the Baie des Chaleurs and when you cross the bridge you are in Campbellton, New Brunswick.
Leo told me he found a goldmine when he went into the train yards in Campbellton loking for 'pictures'. The goldmine was a set of old Canadian Pacific diesel locomotives being used by the Eastern Railway Company, which have not been seen on the CPR for many years. I guess we all have a different opinion about goldmines.
This little town of Pointe-a-la Croix adjoins to another name Lustiguj which looks like it is mainly inhabited by First Nation people and has street signs are in their lanquage. I noticed it first on the stop signs and later on some other signs. Another first for us.
Our photos for today can be viewed by clicking here
Leo also wanted to check out the VIA train station. We were very lucky, he told me, as there was a passenger train coming in half an hour or so. He did not think it would be much of a train as the end station was the nonmetropolis of Gaspe. He figured 1 locomotive and may be 1 or 2 passenger cars. What a surprise we got. There were 2 locos, a baggage car and at least 6 or 7 passenger cars including a dome car. Lots of people got off. But like I said Perce is the Banff of Quebec.
The view in Perce is spectacular of the Roche-Perce, and quite a phenomenon to see. There were lots of tour boats that would take you really close to it and also to nearby Bonaventure Island.
Then on we went, enjoying the scenery, to our campingspot. We were given a very nice spot but as we were talking to the owner of the campground the mosquitos were out and about in good numbers. This is during the day and it was fairly warm, but the owner assured us that the mosquitos are really only out at dusk. We did not look forward to seeing them at dusk! But they did get better after we were set up and ready to take a quick trip to New Brunswick.
The place we are staying at is in Pointe-a-la-Croix. The Quebec side of the Baie des Chaleurs and when you cross the bridge you are in Campbellton, New Brunswick.
Leo told me he found a goldmine when he went into the train yards in Campbellton loking for 'pictures'. The goldmine was a set of old Canadian Pacific diesel locomotives being used by the Eastern Railway Company, which have not been seen on the CPR for many years. I guess we all have a different opinion about goldmines.
This little town of Pointe-a-la Croix adjoins to another name Lustiguj which looks like it is mainly inhabited by First Nation people and has street signs are in their lanquage. I noticed it first on the stop signs and later on some other signs. Another first for us.
Day 15 will be another travel day and we hope to reach Moncton today.
Our photos for today can be viewed by clicking here
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Day 13 - Gaspe
We spent another day in Gaspe. I stayed at the campsite and did the laundry and cleaned out the trailer a bit. Also I organized all our photos into albums on Picasa.
Leo went out to Park Forillon to take pictures and hike up to the look-out which gives you a 360 degree view. At the top of Mont St. Alban the Parks Service have built a tower which is so high it takes you clear of the tops of the trees to provide an unobstructed perspective. The weather cleared slowly as the day progressed and the view just kept improving. This must be a spectacular vista when the forest is in full fall colour here. Hopefully the pictures of the day will provide an idea of what was to be seen. (And we must retract our earlier comment that Newfoundland can not be seen from the Gaspe peninsula. The 300 meters which the tower has in altitude negate the curvature of the earth which we still presume makes Newfoundland nonvisible from sea level.)
Then followed a trip to the Cap des Rosiers lighthouse, which one could climb for a paltry $2.50 in coin of the realm. Lastly a repeat visit to the Riviere de Renard harbour showed it in sunshine as opposed to the fog of the day before. The private yachts we had seen the day before seemed to be in the harbour for a cross-Atlantic race to La Rochelle in France. There was more than a paltry sum of coin of whatever realm spent on these boats I assure you! Many were many meters long and could withstand a good wave or two.
Our photos can be viewed by clicking here.
Leo went out to Park Forillon to take pictures and hike up to the look-out which gives you a 360 degree view. At the top of Mont St. Alban the Parks Service have built a tower which is so high it takes you clear of the tops of the trees to provide an unobstructed perspective. The weather cleared slowly as the day progressed and the view just kept improving. This must be a spectacular vista when the forest is in full fall colour here. Hopefully the pictures of the day will provide an idea of what was to be seen. (And we must retract our earlier comment that Newfoundland can not be seen from the Gaspe peninsula. The 300 meters which the tower has in altitude negate the curvature of the earth which we still presume makes Newfoundland nonvisible from sea level.)
Then followed a trip to the Cap des Rosiers lighthouse, which one could climb for a paltry $2.50 in coin of the realm. Lastly a repeat visit to the Riviere de Renard harbour showed it in sunshine as opposed to the fog of the day before. The private yachts we had seen the day before seemed to be in the harbour for a cross-Atlantic race to La Rochelle in France. There was more than a paltry sum of coin of whatever realm spent on these boats I assure you! Many were many meters long and could withstand a good wave or two.
Our photos can be viewed by clicking here.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Day 12
After an evening of rain and still some rain early in the morning we woke up to a foggy but dry day. The weather forecast called for cloudy skies with some sun, but a chance of showers and thunderstorms later in the day.
We decided to try it and went to the Forillon National Park. It is quite different from the parks we are used to on the West of course. But it again offered very nice scenery and a lovely drive through some small towns until we hit the 'park' part and there we got to see nature at its best.
We stopped at a small harbour where you could take some whale watching tours, but we did not need to as a whale swam by right in front of us. We also got the see the whale a bit later on our way to our next stop. As one tourist said (a Dutch tourist) 'you don't need to spend money on a whale cruise here'.
Also at this little harbour you could fish for mackerel and there was one fisherman who was catching them one after the other. The best part was, you did not need a licence to fish.
The smells of 'fish' were a pleasure to the nose when walking past stacks of crab nets on the pier.
On to our next stop. A nice 1 hour walk to a look out point where you could see Newfoundland on a nice day (just kidding) but not so today. We had sunshine up to that point but now the clouds were moving in and the wind was blowing hard. Back we went to the car to drive around to the north point of the peninsula and the park.
Here we did not stay too long which was good because as soon as we got back into our car and were driving toward a lighthouse the rain started to come down, and I mean come down. So we made no visit to the lighthouse this time. We just followed our favourite highway 132 west this time until we hit the town of Rivierre de Renard. By then the rain had stopped but there were low clouds.
I saw a little harbour with lots of fishing boats, so we went to visit them and had a 'whale' of a time watching the shrimp and fish being brought in. The photos will show it all of course.
Thereafter it was back to our campsite again in time for supper. As there is a snackbar right at this campsite we had french fries again with our meal. How nice it was to have these and even to have mayonaise to dip them in.
We will be staying another night and day here and hope to do more sight-seeing around this area.
Besides a whale we also saw a fox today, some more seals, lots of flowers and we listened to lots of birds as well.
Again our pictures can viewed at photos for Day 12
We decided to try it and went to the Forillon National Park. It is quite different from the parks we are used to on the West of course. But it again offered very nice scenery and a lovely drive through some small towns until we hit the 'park' part and there we got to see nature at its best.
We stopped at a small harbour where you could take some whale watching tours, but we did not need to as a whale swam by right in front of us. We also got the see the whale a bit later on our way to our next stop. As one tourist said (a Dutch tourist) 'you don't need to spend money on a whale cruise here'.
Also at this little harbour you could fish for mackerel and there was one fisherman who was catching them one after the other. The best part was, you did not need a licence to fish.
The smells of 'fish' were a pleasure to the nose when walking past stacks of crab nets on the pier.
On to our next stop. A nice 1 hour walk to a look out point where you could see Newfoundland on a nice day (just kidding) but not so today. We had sunshine up to that point but now the clouds were moving in and the wind was blowing hard. Back we went to the car to drive around to the north point of the peninsula and the park.
Here we did not stay too long which was good because as soon as we got back into our car and were driving toward a lighthouse the rain started to come down, and I mean come down. So we made no visit to the lighthouse this time. We just followed our favourite highway 132 west this time until we hit the town of Rivierre de Renard. By then the rain had stopped but there were low clouds.
I saw a little harbour with lots of fishing boats, so we went to visit them and had a 'whale' of a time watching the shrimp and fish being brought in. The photos will show it all of course.
Thereafter it was back to our campsite again in time for supper. As there is a snackbar right at this campsite we had french fries again with our meal. How nice it was to have these and even to have mayonaise to dip them in.
We will be staying another night and day here and hope to do more sight-seeing around this area.
Besides a whale we also saw a fox today, some more seals, lots of flowers and we listened to lots of birds as well.
Again our pictures can viewed at photos for Day 12
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Day 8, 9, 10 & 11
Day 8:
We drove from Montreal to Quebec city on this day. It was a most enjoyable drive with lovely scenery of the Eastern Townships. I think it was the most unique Quebec scenery so far with its 'small' farms, the unique style of housing. and the general lay of the land. We particularly enjoyed the small villages with the narrow streets and the churches dominantly placed right in the centre of town.
Once we got to our campsite in St. Nicolais and set up our trailer we took off to visit Quebec City. This was the last day of the 400 year celebration of the city. There were festivities all over town. We told Linda (our digital navigator for this trip) to take us to the centre of town. Well that is where all the celebrations were held so many streets were blocked and we had a few detours to take, but we finally arrived and found parking close to St. Abraham Square, ending up right in the centre of all the activities. Unfortunately we did not have tickets to the performance for that evening, Linda Lemay and Charles Aznavour, but we did tremendously enjoy all the other free performances and went back to our trailer tired but very satisfied with the day.
There will be a change in the blog from now one. Our pictures will be uploaded to our Picasa albums with a link for each day in our daily blog, rather than appearing in a growing list of images at the end of the blog.
Leo did reasonably well in his driving today. He passed 3 highway construction vehicles, one truck and one tractor.
The pictures for today can be found at photos for Day 8
Day 9:
This is were we start our first day on the way to the Gaspe peninsula and drove along the St. Lawrence River. We took secondary Highway 132 again so we could enjoy the small townships. We have followed this highway the entire distance from Montreal and plan to take it all the way around the Gaspe and into New Brunswick. We had a few delays with road repairs but other than that the drive was good. We made good time to our next stop even with Leo taken pictures.
We arrived at our next campsite, Ste Luce around 3:30 pm and were met by the most friendly camp hostess. She showed us to our spot and told us it was a very nice comfortable site where we could put our table in the shade of a tree and would be close to the bathrooms. We must have looked yellow around the eyes to her to lead her to place us so close to the bathrooms.
But we did enjoy her hospitality even though the campground did not have internet. Once we set up the camper we went for a nice walk along the beach and back.
After supper we did some reading until bed time and had another night's good sleep.
It was another good day for Leo. He passed three cars no less, one truck and one tractor. Two other tractors would have been passed by him as well, but they saw him coming and turned off the road before he could quite pass them. They must have been worried about being teased by their neighbours about being passed by that crazy Calgarian. Leo also passed a garbage truck today. True, it was on stop and go runs to pick up garbage, but at the point at which he passed it it had not quite come to a stop so Leo insisted it counted as a pass. Had it been stopped he would not have been able to count it so he is glad that he accelerated so that he did just pull by before the truck came to a complete stop.
Today's pictures can be found at photos for Day 9
Day 10:
Today Leo wanted to take a rest day. I guess work and all the driving finally caught up to him. We stayed in our trailer pretty well all day as it rained most of the day. Good thing we both like reading. Leo worked on his pictures and got them all sorted out and backed-up so they are safely stored away now.
Leo did not pass any vehicles today.
Day 11:
Today we got up early and moved on along highway 132 to the Gaspe. We started out with dry weather but about half way through we ended up in the clouds and rain. Again a very nice drive and lots to see. Personally I found the drive from Montreal to Quebec city nicer.
We arrived at our campsite around 3:30 pm and this time we have internet. We plan on staying here an extra night so we can do some sight seeing around the bay.
Leo was too busy looking a the scenery to count traffic he passed. But there must have been dozens of them!
The pictures for today can be found at photos for Day 11.
We drove from Montreal to Quebec city on this day. It was a most enjoyable drive with lovely scenery of the Eastern Townships. I think it was the most unique Quebec scenery so far with its 'small' farms, the unique style of housing. and the general lay of the land. We particularly enjoyed the small villages with the narrow streets and the churches dominantly placed right in the centre of town.
Once we got to our campsite in St. Nicolais and set up our trailer we took off to visit Quebec City. This was the last day of the 400 year celebration of the city. There were festivities all over town. We told Linda (our digital navigator for this trip) to take us to the centre of town. Well that is where all the celebrations were held so many streets were blocked and we had a few detours to take, but we finally arrived and found parking close to St. Abraham Square, ending up right in the centre of all the activities. Unfortunately we did not have tickets to the performance for that evening, Linda Lemay and Charles Aznavour, but we did tremendously enjoy all the other free performances and went back to our trailer tired but very satisfied with the day.
There will be a change in the blog from now one. Our pictures will be uploaded to our Picasa albums with a link for each day in our daily blog, rather than appearing in a growing list of images at the end of the blog.
Leo did reasonably well in his driving today. He passed 3 highway construction vehicles, one truck and one tractor.
The pictures for today can be found at photos for Day 8
Day 9:
This is were we start our first day on the way to the Gaspe peninsula and drove along the St. Lawrence River. We took secondary Highway 132 again so we could enjoy the small townships. We have followed this highway the entire distance from Montreal and plan to take it all the way around the Gaspe and into New Brunswick. We had a few delays with road repairs but other than that the drive was good. We made good time to our next stop even with Leo taken pictures.
We arrived at our next campsite, Ste Luce around 3:30 pm and were met by the most friendly camp hostess. She showed us to our spot and told us it was a very nice comfortable site where we could put our table in the shade of a tree and would be close to the bathrooms. We must have looked yellow around the eyes to her to lead her to place us so close to the bathrooms.
But we did enjoy her hospitality even though the campground did not have internet. Once we set up the camper we went for a nice walk along the beach and back.
After supper we did some reading until bed time and had another night's good sleep.
It was another good day for Leo. He passed three cars no less, one truck and one tractor. Two other tractors would have been passed by him as well, but they saw him coming and turned off the road before he could quite pass them. They must have been worried about being teased by their neighbours about being passed by that crazy Calgarian. Leo also passed a garbage truck today. True, it was on stop and go runs to pick up garbage, but at the point at which he passed it it had not quite come to a stop so Leo insisted it counted as a pass. Had it been stopped he would not have been able to count it so he is glad that he accelerated so that he did just pull by before the truck came to a complete stop.
Today's pictures can be found at photos for Day 9
Day 10:
Today Leo wanted to take a rest day. I guess work and all the driving finally caught up to him. We stayed in our trailer pretty well all day as it rained most of the day. Good thing we both like reading. Leo worked on his pictures and got them all sorted out and backed-up so they are safely stored away now.
Leo did not pass any vehicles today.
Day 11:
Today we got up early and moved on along highway 132 to the Gaspe. We started out with dry weather but about half way through we ended up in the clouds and rain. Again a very nice drive and lots to see. Personally I found the drive from Montreal to Quebec city nicer.
We arrived at our campsite around 3:30 pm and this time we have internet. We plan on staying here an extra night so we can do some sight seeing around the bay.
Leo was too busy looking a the scenery to count traffic he passed. But there must have been dozens of them!
The pictures for today can be found at photos for Day 11.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Day 5, 6 & 7
Pictures of days 5, 6 and 7 can again be seen at the bottom of all the blogs.
Day 5:
Today we travelled from just before Sault St. Marie to Pembroke. We are still in Ontario and this will be our 3rd day travelling this province just to get across it. You do not realize how big the country is until you do this trip.
We did a lot of driving today but did stop in Sudbury to visit the `big Nickel` at which place Leo discovered that the trailer hitch was not locked and we had just driven 260 km with it this way. Luckily nothing happened, but now Leo does the outside of the trailer and I do the inside.
After Sudbury we drove on to our campground, one with no internet this time. This campsite had 112 sites of which perhaps 20 were taken, while another camper who comes here yearly told us that in previous years it was always full.
We then did some shopping and went to bed early to be ready to rise again with the birds.
Leo's driving started off very well when he passed a grader only 20 km into the day's trip, but he passed nothing else for the remaining 660 km. Ah well, beggars can't be choosers.
Day 6:
We got up early again and left our campsite in Pembroke around 7:30 to go to Ottawa to spend the day in this beautiful city. We went to the Museum of Civilization for the afternoon. It took us 5 hours just to walk through the basic exhibits. It sure is a fantastic place and worth another visit next time we are here. I am sure you will enjoy the pictures Leo took of the museum.
After supper we went to the Parliament buildings and walked around the grounds. Leo did his wonders with photography again and got lots of looks from passers-by as he was taking his pictures from on high using his camera mounted on a fishing pole. Hopefully the strange looks were worth it.
Afterwards we went back to our campground and to bed to get up early again the next morning.
Today Leo got totally skunked in his driving, but please don`t bring this up with him when you see him next because he will still be upset about it. All he passed was an Amish-style buggy behind a trotting horse along the highway shoulder. His kind wife offered to allow him to count this for the day, but his pride would not let him.,
Day 7:
Today is Saturday, and was another beautiful day when it comes to the weather: sunshiny and hot. We drove from just east of Ottawa through Montreal (with the biggest city traffic since we left Calgary) to our camp site in St. Philippe. After we got lost and found our way again we parked our campmobile and went to Exporail (the Canadian Railway Museum) in St. Constant to look at trains, and more trains, and then again more trains.
Leo just loves Montreal driving! Positively loves it! Within the 120 km he drove in Quebec on the freeways approaching Montreal, and skirting its southern edge, he passed two motorhomes, two trucks and 34 cars! He even stopped counting the cars because he needed to concentrate on the traffic! Staying in the centre lane does pay its dividends here.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Day 4
Day 4:
This was our day to follow the shores of Lake Superior on and off. This is superbly beautiful scenery. The road is cut through the granite of the Canadian Shield in places, producing strikingly colourful deep salmon-coloured rock cuts. In other places the rock is a deep purple or pinkish. The views of the lake come and go but are usually spectacular, punctuated by various headlands and islands. To top it off the CP Rail track is visible in many places for those few who care about such things.
The travel was interrupted on a number of occasions by road construction, but that did not detract from a wonderful day. The weather started out cloudish, then cleared and ended the day with mist rolling in from the lake as we neared the city of Sault Ste. Marie. We are camped just before the city and will move past it tomorrow.
The highlight of the day was a visit to the Winnie the Pooh shrine in White River from which town the original Winnie black bear was sent to the London Zoo to be immortalized in the writings of A.A. Milne. A close second was the wildlife we saw: two black bears who are likely distant relatives of that original Winnie and our first moose.
(For those still following the adventures of Leo’s driving, he cheated today. He usually drives at the speed limit, but that is only 90 km/hr here in Ontario. So he drove 95 instead in an effort to improve his passing rate. But he still only passed 2 cars in 780 km of driving. He did, however, pass a tractor and a backhoe during that stretch in a desperate attempt to get some more points.)
This was our day to follow the shores of Lake Superior on and off. This is superbly beautiful scenery. The road is cut through the granite of the Canadian Shield in places, producing strikingly colourful deep salmon-coloured rock cuts. In other places the rock is a deep purple or pinkish. The views of the lake come and go but are usually spectacular, punctuated by various headlands and islands. To top it off the CP Rail track is visible in many places for those few who care about such things.
The travel was interrupted on a number of occasions by road construction, but that did not detract from a wonderful day. The weather started out cloudish, then cleared and ended the day with mist rolling in from the lake as we neared the city of Sault Ste. Marie. We are camped just before the city and will move past it tomorrow.
The highlight of the day was a visit to the Winnie the Pooh shrine in White River from which town the original Winnie black bear was sent to the London Zoo to be immortalized in the writings of A.A. Milne. A close second was the wildlife we saw: two black bears who are likely distant relatives of that original Winnie and our first moose.
(For those still following the adventures of Leo’s driving, he cheated today. He usually drives at the speed limit, but that is only 90 km/hr here in Ontario. So he drove 95 instead in an effort to improve his passing rate. But he still only passed 2 cars in 780 km of driving. He did, however, pass a tractor and a backhoe during that stretch in a desperate attempt to get some more points.)
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Day 2 & 3
Here we are. 2 days later and already in Ontario. Our camp spot tonight is Kakabeka Falls, a place where you can find the most beautiful fall. Leo thinks these are the second best waterfalls, after Niagara Falls, that he has ever seen.
Day 2:
But first some more about yesterday. From Regina we left Highway 1 and travelled some scenic secondary roads. Saskatchewan is not flat, Erik. It has hills and valleys and lakes, and some flat parts,too. It is a pleasure to travel through, with lots of very nice scenery.
After driving 550 km we arrived at Portage la Prairie at the end of our second day of beautiful scenery and nice weather. We ended up in a campground where I got trapped inside my trailer while Leo went out to take some pictures of trains. The reason for my entrapment was the swarms of mosquitoes. We did not have enough hands, feet, fingers or toes to kill the beasts attacking us.
(Oh yes, Leo passed 1 truck, and 1 pick-up pulling a trailer on day 2.)
Day 3:
We got up early and were on the road at 5:30 Alberta time to escape the pesky creatures. Then we spent the next 100 km swatting the stinging pests in the car. They just were everywhere.
We drove through the Canadian Shield and we saw millions of flowers along the road.
After 770 km of Manitoba and Ontario we arrived at Kakabeka Falls, our destination for today. Tomorrow we will travel more of Ontario.
(And not to forget, in the 770 km of driving today Leo passed 2 trucks, 1 van and 1 car, which is passing roughly 1 vehicle every 200 km!)
View the pictures of our trip so far below. Each picture is worth a thousand words.
Day 2:
But first some more about yesterday. From Regina we left Highway 1 and travelled some scenic secondary roads. Saskatchewan is not flat, Erik. It has hills and valleys and lakes, and some flat parts,too. It is a pleasure to travel through, with lots of very nice scenery.
After driving 550 km we arrived at Portage la Prairie at the end of our second day of beautiful scenery and nice weather. We ended up in a campground where I got trapped inside my trailer while Leo went out to take some pictures of trains. The reason for my entrapment was the swarms of mosquitoes. We did not have enough hands, feet, fingers or toes to kill the beasts attacking us.
(Oh yes, Leo passed 1 truck, and 1 pick-up pulling a trailer on day 2.)
Day 3:
We got up early and were on the road at 5:30 Alberta time to escape the pesky creatures. Then we spent the next 100 km swatting the stinging pests in the car. They just were everywhere.
We drove through the Canadian Shield and we saw millions of flowers along the road.
After 770 km of Manitoba and Ontario we arrived at Kakabeka Falls, our destination for today. Tomorrow we will travel more of Ontario.
(And not to forget, in the 770 km of driving today Leo passed 2 trucks, 1 van and 1 car, which is passing roughly 1 vehicle every 200 km!)
View the pictures of our trip so far below. Each picture is worth a thousand words.
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