C'est magnifique!

Bonjour, notre amis!

We've had a week "practicing" our French. From the post he left, it sounds like we should have had Mike and Rosalind McKinley with us as he exhorted us to brush up on our Francais. We were actually surprised at how little English most Quebecqois know! But it was so much fun to be in Quebec ... it's really like another country, uh ... like being in France.

The mileage:
Buster: Newport, Maine around the Gaspe Peninsula to Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick: 1,440 miles

Total: 3448

Bella (new name for Enclave): 220 miles

Total: 1401 miles

TOTAL BOTH VEHICLES: 4849 miles!

The biggest challenge in this post is going to be selecting which of the gorgeous pictures of the Gaspe Penisula coast to share with you. We had, as you know, planned on this being a trip around the United States, but we realized once we got to Maine, if we were ever going to visit the Maritime Provinces, we should take this opportunity. Gary's parents, Maxine and Warren, had driven around the Quebec peninsula some years ago and Gary recalls their reports of it being wild and beautiful. We both wanted to see it.

Saturday, August 22: We crossed the border at Houlton, Maine, into New Brunswick last Saturday afternoon. We are carrying a shotgun with us, hidden away unloaded with ammunition locked in a special safe we purchased, just in case we ever get stranded into some remote area and actually need something for protection. Gary researched the laws relating to taking a weapon into Canada, filled out the proper paperwork, and disclosed this at the border. Unfortunately, the Canadian immigration folks did not acknowledge that, according to our reported itinerary, we should be in remote enough territory to have concerns about wild animals. So they refused to let us in with the shotgun. We were directed to a gun shop in Houlton, but not before we found that we had locked our only set of car keys in the car. Gary's jeans, we subsequently learned, had a hole in the pocket and his set must have fallen out. Gary said to call OnStar (for our GM Buick Enclave). I got the 800 number from 800 information, called and talked with the operator, and WITHIN 2 MINUTES the care had been unlocked remotely. Amazing!

We drove to the gun shop, only to find it closed. Gary went to a nearby restaurant, got the numbers of a couple of other potential places we might store the shotgun, only one of which answered. The proprietor said he didn't "store" guns, but only did gun repair, etc. We were debating what to do next (? take it to the local police station?), when we drove up the road to turn around and saw a sign on a little shop: "Guns, Ammo." We pulled in there. It turned out to be the same guy Gary had spoken to on the phone, and in person they worked out that Gary could have his shotgun "refurbished" over the next 10 days. (For those of you who may wonder about the necessaity of carrying a shotgun for protection, Gary remembers that Michael Jordan's father was killed while stopping and sleeping for a couple of hours at a rest stop in the rural southern US some years ago.) Also, in retrospect, the Canadian immigration authorities were correct. The Gaspe Peninsula is well populated ... similar to southeastern Minnesota!

So in the space of an hour, two crises were averted; we provided evidence of where the gun had been left to the border patrol, and made our way into New Brunswick, headed for Grand Falls where we spent our first night.

Sunday, August 23:

We made our way on Sunday into Quebec and some beautiful farm country rolling down to the seaway.

Our first night in Quebec was spent at Camping Motel de l'Anse in the town of Rimouski. It is located about 340 km northeast of Quebec City perched right along the St Laurence River/Seaway. It has a beautiful old cathedral, of course, and a long sea walk.

Our campground hosts told us of a delicious restaurant at the local marina, and we continued a series of wonderful lobster and other seafood dinners. The St Laurence "homard" is renowned and it is delicious. The river becomes so wide as northern Quebec slopes away that you really come to believe you are at the seashore ... the seafood, the sea air, the sea scents and the seabirds all convince you.

Monday, August 24: It was a little drizzly and we took the opportunity to do laundry and hang out at the campground. Liz always loves this ... riding her bike, etc., She, of course, met another child .... who didn't speak English. Liz didn't think her main language was French either. But she wasn't at all frustrated by the language impediment .... "we just pointed at things and laughed ..." For some reason Liz didn't think she knew what a bike was!

In the afternoon, it cleared up and we took the most interesting drive. Not very far from the seaway the land becomes very hilly, and further east on the peninsula actually gets mountainous. But the Quebecqois don't seem to notice this as far as road building goes. They just go straight up and straight down ... it really was a roller coaster ride as we moved up and down these gorgeous green hills. We noticed lovely paint jobs on the houses

as well as how much fun they were having making straw decorations in their yards!

Tuesday, August 25:

This was a red letter day because it marked 8 weeks from when Elizabeth had her ears pierced for her 9th birthday on June 30. We removed the studs and she chose these beautiful earrings that she had bought at the Field Museum in Chicago. She had a wonderful time wearing these, though was surprised at how difficult it was to put them in ..... we all remember.

We had planned to get an early start on the day as we knew we had a long 250 km drive along windy and hilly/mountainous coastal road, but when packing up Gary found he didn't have his wallet. He remembered being at the local grocery store the evening before and had been flustered by all the French labeling of food, and finally by the clerk's insistence on putting both his cartons of milk in bags. So, in trying to handle all the bags, he thought he might have left his wallet on the counter. We went back to the store .... and they had it! And everything was intact .... over $300 US, over $150 Canadian, all credit cards and all the wallet evidence of just who he is. We were overwhelmed with relief .... and now his opinion of the Quebec French is way better than of the French French!

We did leave town about 11 o'clock, and still stopped so I could spend about 45 minutes in a beautiful coastal garden: Le Jardin de Metis. It was simply lovely. And I was also able to capture Liz in a GIANT Adirondack chair!

The drive was slow but spectacular capturing first a coastal village, then towering, sheer cliffs, then more villages, etc. We wished we knew more about the geology of how this region was formed. It was wild and wonderful.

It was an exhausting but sight-inspiring day as we rolled into our campground at dusk, about 8:15 pm ATLANTIC coastal daylight time, TWO hours ahead of home in Rochester, MN.


Wednesday, August 26:

We had planned to drive an inland loop at the tip of the Gaspe, but we were too tired and had spent too much time driving the day before(about 8 hours). So we made our way into the town of Gaspe (celebrating 475 years since Gaspe sailed around this peninsula), did some internet cafe work, and had a tasty time at Cafe d'Artiste ranging from buttered pasta to vegetable barley soup to fajitas, lattes, creme brulee cheesecake and Belgian chocolate mousse cake. The little girl and her dad then had some fun on the main drag.

Thursday, August 27

The absolute hero of this day's adventure was Gary League, supported admirably by Buster, honored by a full picture here!

We awakened in the night to the sounds of very high winds, such that Gary closed the left slide of the motor home just to be on the safe side. We started off on our last leg of circumnavigating the Gaspe Peninsula, going from Gaspe to Campbellton, New Brunswick. This coast, along the Atlantic Ocean's Bay of Chaleur was equally magnificent. But the entire day we were slightly apprehensive by the very strong winds ... we estimate up to 50 miles per hour. Gary had difficulty filling the fuel tank as gusts of wind were so strong it would cause pressure surges that would abort the fuel filling mechanism; it was difficult to open the door of the motor home. But Gary kept Buster in his lane the entire day, and we were blessed with remarkable clear skies. We even remarked at how stable we felt in spite of Buster's high profile. See the flag below, the gorgeous coast off Perce, and the very lovely cloud formations we encountered.

Friday, August 28

Another low key day at our campground in Petit Rocher, New Brunswick. We stocked up on some groceries, spent a little time at our campground beach, and learned some stars.

Liz learned how to skip a rock from her dad (a critical skill for a 9 year old, we think) and in the evening they spent some time with a wonderful book given to Liz by my friend/patient Mary Gray: Stikky Night Skies. It's a wonderful book for learning the stars and planets and last night they focused on Orion and Cassiopeia. This is just the kind of thing we hoped we would have time for ... and, it turns out, we do.

Tomorrow we head down toward the Bay of Fundy where they have the highest tides in the world. We will spend the next week seeing Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. Then, we'll spend a week traveling down the coast of Maine including Acadia National Park. It's going great.

A bientot!