Sunday 21 September 2014

Whales and the Walled City

 YES!  We saw Blanche Neige  (Snow White)  the humpback whale cruising in the St. Lawrence River!  Here's the tail (fluke) shot!  It was really fun to show the boys.  We were on a double decker cruising vessel, not the zodiacs, but we got pretty close anyways.  Mind you, it's a one-hour cruise out to the whale feeding sites, half hour putter around for viewing and then another hour back again, but we also got to see 2 fin whales in the distance spouting and a small pod of beluga whales (12 or so) which was amazing!  I was on the upper deck and the boys were with Dave down below falling asleep, so Xavier missed the belugas!  And Dave had the camera ...  Oh, well, the scenery was lovely, but it was very breezy and cold on the water.





 Here's Snow White spouting for us, so cooool!  

 We stayed at a very lovely KOA outside of Quebec City, that had granite and marble countertops in the camper's bathroom.  Seriously glam, it's ranked one of the highest in Canada.  The fixtures were nicer than in our house.  Alas, we were tired of camping by then, so no photos!

We arrived in Quebec City in the morning near the Citadelle for a walk around.  Almost immediately we spotted this little creature.  Is it a ground hog?  Someone help me out ...

 As you'll surely notice, our dear Jackson was in no mood for a 2 hour walkabout the old Ville de Quebec. 



 This is what I want them to remember!   The Chateau Frontenac, the Promenade, the River

 the canons ...


 the wall ...
 the murals and cobblestone streets, the old architecture ....
 the signing of the Quebec Conference on the road to the beginning of Canada ....
 the artists' galleries up and down the alleyways and the horse drawn carriage ...


 but I'm not delusional.   The ice cream is probably all that they will remember!!  LOL  Finally a smile! 






Another compromise:  playing at the playground while I have a last look at the walled city before clocking another 4 hours on the way to Ottawa and a quick overnight visit with the cousins!  



Sunday 7 September 2014

From Newfie to Francais

 Finally some beautiful sunny weather on our last day in Newfoundland.  By now, Dave was speaking like a Newfie and mimicking the accent, driving me crazy.  The boys enjoyed renting this water tricycle to use on the lake at the KOA.  Quite a lovely campground in Gros Morne. 


 A quick stop in Rocky Harbour for Moose Burgers and then we were on our way! 



We were not able to stop overnight in New Brunswick but drove straight on through with only a scenic meander to stretch our legs at Grand Falls.  The rocky canyon was actually quite lovely! 




However, the Falls themselves are completely controlled by dams for power generation, so very little flow was happening at the time of our visit.   I'm sure there's a lovely (or tragic) story that accompanies this photo stop ... but the boys were enjoying jumbo freezies, so we avoided the visitor centre!  There's also a zip line across the gorge, but you have to book ahead. 

 The shadow of our van with the roof rack is pretty cool - thanks to Peter and Becky for allowing us to use it again! 
 Now, we arrived at the campsite we had scouted out online only to find they were not offering tent camping sites this year due to construction on site.  Luckily he recommended another nearby campground, right on the St. Lawrence River near Trois Pistoles.  I definitely had to use my French language skills here in Acadia, but it turned out to be my favourite campsite ever!  Seriously, there's very little that can compete with this one!  I snapped so  many photos as we set up the tent, we just told the boys to wander on the beach.  The tide was so far out that it was perfect for exploring all under our watchful eye.  The campground has benches set up on a grassy area off to the right because *nearly* everyone in the campground comes down to the beach to watch the sunset nightly. 








 Xavier tried to play on these logs that had been "transformed" into a teeter-totter .... but of course, the girls only spoke French, so I think he just smiled and nodded.  25 hours of French class under his belt does not a conversation make!  

What's not to love about a night like this one??  Thank you Quebec!