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
Thursday, July 10, 2008
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.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Day 1
Our first day of the trip. - 760 km done!
We finally left at 8:30 in the morning and arrived in Regina at 5:30. No problems finding a camp spot, and as you can tell, one with internet.
What did we see today? Antelope, pelicans at Brooks, lots of hawks and we had the pleasure of listening to the meadowlarks sing. We also saw 11 Canadian Pacific trains, mainly intermodel ones. Once we arrived at our camp spot and set up our trailer we went to shoot some pictures of an old steam locomotive. Pretty run down but I understand that CP is thinking of restoring it. Just as Leo was finished a security guy came to tell him he was not allowed to take any pictures without permission of the company. Ah well, we already had the pictures.
This one is for the kids - we passed 3 trucks and a pickup pulling a small trailer. This one is for Judy - 3 mosquito bites, you had better work harder and kill some more!
We finally left at 8:30 in the morning and arrived in Regina at 5:30. No problems finding a camp spot, and as you can tell, one with internet.
What did we see today? Antelope, pelicans at Brooks, lots of hawks and we had the pleasure of listening to the meadowlarks sing. We also saw 11 Canadian Pacific trains, mainly intermodel ones. Once we arrived at our camp spot and set up our trailer we went to shoot some pictures of an old steam locomotive. Pretty run down but I understand that CP is thinking of restoring it. Just as Leo was finished a security guy came to tell him he was not allowed to take any pictures without permission of the company. Ah well, we already had the pictures.
This one is for the kids - we passed 3 trucks and a pickup pulling a small trailer. This one is for Judy - 3 mosquito bites, you had better work harder and kill some more!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Hope you will join us!
Hello, hope you will join us on our trip to the Rock. We hope to update this blog often with stories and pictures as we travel to the east coast of Canada. Will you join us!
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