Blog Post No. 18 – Quebec Westbound

We entered Quebec for the second time just after noon on Saturday August 17, by crossing a bridge from Campbellton, New Brunswick.  We were now two full days behind our rough schedule, and could have made up some of that time by continuing north to the St. Lawrence River somewhere east of Quebec City.  However, I really wanted to see the Gaspe Peninsula, so we turned east (the direction opposite to home), and followed the north shore of Baie des Chaleurs to Perce Rock, which was quite impressive.  I was surprised by how developed the peninsula is, at least in a narrow strip along the shoreline.  From Perce Rock we continued north through the town of Gaspe and got a campsite at Forillon National Park, on the south shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Gaspe Peninsula, South Side

 

 

 

Percé Rock area

On Sunday morning we went down to the beach near the campground for a while.  We then finally turned west towards Victoria - we were in eastern Quebec, a long way from home with only 2 weeks to get there, with several things and places that we still wanted to see.  We stopped only for lunch in a rest area along the coast and for gas in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, before ending up at a municipal campground in Saint-Fabien, just west of Rimouski.  It was a pretty uneventful day overall.

Beach at Forillon National Park

Gaspe Peninsula, North Side

Near Rimouski

Saint-Fabien

Monday August 19 (day 59 of our trip) turned out to be somewhat more eventful.  We continued west, and crossed the St. Lawrence River to the north shore at Quebec City, to avoid having to do it in Montreal where traffic might be more congested.  We didn't stop in Quebec City, but did leave the freeway and follow the old highway along the river between Donnacona (where we bought gas) and Portneuf (where we bought vegetables from a roadside stand and had lunch).  From there we headed to greater Montreal, following the directions on our GPS to very efficiently get us through the network of freeways to a Wal-Mart in Laval, where Rhonda had gotten confirmation by phone that we could spend the night.  We then drove a little more, and parked in a safe-looking neighbourhood within walking distance of a subway station.  We took the subway downtown, and walked around Old Montreal (a very vibrant and “happening” place, even on a Monday evening), and had dinner at one of the many sidewalk cafes in the area.  The subway then very efficiently got us back to the station a short walk from our vehicle, and we drove back to the Wal-Mart by 10:30, ready to crash for the night.  It was then that things started to fall apart.  No sooner had we parked the vehicle than a security guard informed us that this mall was not Wal-Mart property, and we had to leave.  So we followed our GPS to another Wal-Mart about 15 minutes away, and got the same story.  This guard was a lot less friendly, and didn’t even want us to sit in the parking lot for a few minutes to look at a map and figure out what to do next.  It was now getting late (probably too late to find a commercial campground), and we were getting low on gas.  We decided to head for the nearest Wal-Mart in Ontario, which was in Cornwall, but changed our mind once we started driving.  By a convoluted process too painful to describe in detail, involving a Wal-Mart in eastern Ontario that didn't exist, another one that was small and didn't look very RV-friendly, and a GPS that sent us in an endless circle between two freeway exits in Ottawa, we ended up at a Wal-Mart in Kanata (an Ottawa suburb) at 2:30 AM on Tuesday.  By then Salty and I were the only ones awake, and it didn't take us long to crash.

Old Montreal

 

Blog Post No. 17 – Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick Part III

Late in the afternoon on Tuesday August 13 we drove onto Prince Edward Island by way of the spectacular Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick.  As arranged, we drove to a mall in Cornwall, where we were met by my cousin Janet and her husband Shane, and we followed them to the home of Shane’s parents (David and Edie) right on the water, where they were vacationing along with their three boys.  After parking the RV in the driveway and hooking up the electricity we went inside for drinks followed by a huge lobster feast.  Later the kids played while the adults played cards (the men beat the women!).

Lobster Feast

 

On Wednesday we were served a wonderful breakfast, then Shane drove me into town to get a much-needed haircut.  Then all of us except David and Edie (who went golfing) and Salty (who stayed outside the RV) piled into Shane and Janet’s rented seven-passenger vehicle and drove into Charlottetown, where we enjoyed a number of sights, including some of the older homes, Province House (where the first meeting that led to the formation of Canada took place, and still the sight of the PEI legislature), some shops, and the Basilica, followed by lunch at a waterfront restaurant.  We then watched part of a Miq’maw pow-wow and checked out the associated market stalls before returning to the house, where we worked on a broken RV closet door followed by dinner (more lobster!).

Inside Province House

With Sir John A. MacDonald, Charlottetown

Lunch in Charlottetown

 

After another wonderful breakfast on Thursday August 15 we re-installed the RV closet door and then we all left the house in two vehicles (Rhonda rode with all of the other adults and the three boys came in the RV with me and the girls), and drove first to a local farm market for some fresh fruit and vegetables.  We then drove to Dalvay Beach in Prince Edward Island National Park on the north side of the island, where we toured a mansion that is now a hotel.  We continued west to North Rustico where we walked on the beach and a pier, then continued to Cavendish Beach (also part of the national park), where we had lunch and the kids played in the shallow water, but the waves were too high for swimming or using the skim boards, and the wind was blowing the sand around.  Our island hosts left us in the late afternoon, and we drove a short distance to the campground within the national park, where we were able to get a site reasonably near the beach, and had dinner and did laundry.  I saw a large fox while walking out to the gatehouse to get some change for the laundry.

At the mansion at Dalvay Beach

 

North Rustico.  Note the famous red sand of PEI

 

At Cavendish Beach

 

On Friday August 16 we hung out at the campsite for a while and the girls went to the beach briefly, in order to complete yet another National Park Explorer Challenge.  We then went to the Green Gables site in the national park before driving east to a beach near New London where the kids collected some of the famous PEI red sand.  We then headed south to Borden where we went to some shops, then crossed the Confederation Bridge ($44.50 toll going this direction, free coming onto the Island) back into New Brunswick. 

 

 

At Green Gables, Cavendish

PEI countryside, Confederation Bridge in the distance

At Borden, PEI side of Confederation Bridge

Once back in New Brunswick, we turned north and drove to Shediac, where Rhonda’s great-grandfather was born, then went down to a pier to walk around and look (unsuccessfully) for fresh lobster (although I did buy a silly bird/wind chime). Back in town we had lobster subs at SubWay, and bought some groceries, then continued north to Bathurst, where we stayed for the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot.  The following morning we had our standard McDonalds breakfast, then drove north to Campbellton (just south of the Quebec border) where we got gas and also went to a charity car wash that was going on.  The others also went shopping briefly, and may have bought a book or something, and I went to a bank.

Shediac

Blog Post No. 16 - Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Part 2

On Thursday August 8 we had a buffet breakfast on the ferry, which got into North Sydney on Cape Breton Island about 11:00 A.M.  At that point we had to decide whether to go to Cape Breton Highlands National Park and drive the Cabot Trail or go to the Fortress at Louisbourg, as it was apparent that we couldn’t do both.  We felt that we needed more information so we decided to look for a tourist information centre but couldn’t find one, and ended up getting closer and closer to Louisbourg, so that’s where we went.  It turned out that 2013 is the 300^th anniversary of the founding of the fortress in 1713 and there was lots to see and do – we could have easily spent more time there than the 3 ½ hours that we had, but we were also tired after a poor sleep the night before.  We camped at an RV park right in the town of Louisbourg that was adjacent to a laundromat, which was important after a few nights without that capability.  After dinner the girls put on a movie and Rhonda and I walked into town in for a little “away from kids” time.  We couldn’t find an open pub or restaurant, but there was a show featuring traditional Cape Breton music and comedy on at the local playhouse, and we caught the second half of that show and then walked back to our campground with some people from the Montreal area that had also been at the show.



 
 
 

 

            

 

300th Anniversary of the Fortress of Louisbourg

            

Live Show in Louisbourg

Friday August 9 turned out to be just a driving day, with minimal sightseeing.  It started raining as we were packing up, so we drove down to the locks at St. Peters (where there is a short canal from the ocean up to Lake Bras d’Or in the middle of Cape Breton Island) for lunch.  We then continued south across the Canso causeway onto the Nova Scotia mainland, and on to Antigonish and down past Sherbrooke to our campsite right by the river in Sheet Harbour.  By then the rain had stopped, but things were still very wet and the sky was still dark and threatening.  We had a late dinner and may have watched part of a movie before bed - as I write this some 11 days later I can’t quite recall.

There was heavy rain and wind overnight on Friday, but the rain had stopped by the time we got up Saturday morning (neither bright nor early).  We left the campsite at noon, bought some smoked fish about 15 minutes down the road, and got about an hour away from Sheet Harbour when Rhonda’s cell phone rang – it was the manager of the campground at Sheet Harbour, indicating that somebody had found her purse up by the washrooms.  She’s certain she never took it there, and all we can think of is that it fell out of the vehicle when I was using the dump station beside the washrooms.  Anyway, we went back to get it, and got caught in traffic behind a parade that was part of a local festival that was going on. We then headed south again.  By then it was quite a nice day, so we made a side trip out to Taylor Head Beach for a late lunch on the beach.  It was a nice beach, with only a handful of other people there.  Continuing south to Halifax, we arrived at the Citadel just as it was closing at 6:00 PM.  We hung out on the grassy hillside there for a while, then drove past the provincial legislature but couldn’t find a place to park in the area.  So we headed south to Hubbards, on St. Margaret’s Bay, where we stopped for the night in a nice but rather busy RV park.

Taylor Head Beach

 

 

Legislature - Halifax

 

The Citadel - Halifax

 

Sunday Aug. 11 was another warm sunny day.  In the morning we went to the beach next to the campground for a while, then returned to pack and head south.  We continued down the east coast of Nova Scotia, and stopped at a market in Mahone Bay for a while.  Continuing south to Lunenburg, we came upon a music festival but could find no place to park, so we turned inland through Bridgewater to Kejimkujik National Park where we stopped for a while before continuing across to Digby.  We bought scallops at a local store before continuing to the Digby Campground where we stayed for the night and had our scallop dinner (except for Lyndsay, who doesn’t like seafood and therefore misses out on all kinds of good food – I can’t remember what she had to eat.

Hubbards Beach, St. Margaret's Bay

Lunenburg

Kejimkujik National Park

 

 

Monday August 12 was another warm/hot day.  The girls went swimming in pool at the campground in morning, and then we left and went into Digby to check out the shops along Water Street as well as the restaurant overlooking the water where we had enjoyed a scallop dinner 11 years ago.  We then continued to Annapolis Royal, where we toured both Fort Anne and Port Royal National Historic Parks, and continued north to the Kentville area.  In Upper Canard we found a cemetery full of Eatons (Rhonda’s grandmother was an Eaton) that Rhonda’s cousin Linda had told us about, and then we continued to Wolfville to see Acadia University as well as Rhonda’s great-grandparents and her grandmother’s house.  After that, we went to Grand Pre National Historic Site, which was closed, but the grounds were open and we saw the statues of Evangeline (the fictional Acadian deportee immortalized in Longfellow’s poem) as well as Longfellow himself.  I really wanted to see this, as it commemorates a part of Canadian history that is not particularly pretty, when the peaceful Acadians were deported from Nova Scotia in 1747 for fear they might side with the French in one of many British-French wars that took place in those years.  Finally, we continued north to a campsite near the head of the Bay of Fundy (in Walton), not arriving until about 9:00 PM.  We had a late dinner, and then watched some shooting stars.

Digby

 

Tapestries at Fort Anne illustrating the history of Fort Anne and Port Royal

At Fort Anne

At Port Royal

 

The house where Rhonda's grandmother was raised, Wolfville

Evangeline statue

 

On Tuesday morning the sun came up and we realized what a spectacular location we were at.  Our campsite was on a grassy hillside overlooking the Bay of Fundy, and the tide was going out.  The previous night the owner had mentioned that the tide range here was 57 feet, but this is a number that is hard to put into perspective until you see it.  Before breakfast we went down to the beach, and walked out for what seemed like close to 700 m, and still didn’t reach the edge of the water (later, after eating and packing up and just before we left, we noted that the water had gone a lot further out).

 

On the beach at Walton

We didn’t leave camp until close to 1:00 PM (we wished we could have stayed longer), and then drove north to Truro, west to New Brunswick and north again to the Confederation Bridge that leads to Prince Edward Island.  Our time in New Brunswick this time around was brief, stopping only for gas and at the south side of the Confederation Bridge to take some pictures, while dodging the voracious mosquitoes.

Confederation Bridge - New Brunswick side