Camping Du Quai

Camping Du Quai

Noel Au Chateau

Our stay here at Camping du Quai has ended up being an interesting one.  First off, there is a Christmas-looking castle located right across the street that we are clueless about.  The ticket booth is all in French and the website doesn't tell you much other than mentioning the Christmas shop.

During our stay here, the castle itself has not been open to the public.  Although, at night, it is all lit up and is really pretty.  The Christmas shop that is located next door is open for business and has tons of cool Christmas items including a cute little gnome - which might make its way back to the states.  They also have a ten-piece set of Matryoshka dolls that are awesome but also have a hefty price tag of $200 (CA) on them.

Strange Fellow Campers

We have also seen some very strange travel trailers (TT's) during our stay.  One evening, while we were sitting outside, we looked over and could make out folks' heads peering above all of the other RV's in the park.  So being curious and all, I got up and walked down the street and to my surprise, it was a hunting sort of thingy!  All I can say is, to each his own!

There have also been a few other TT's that have come and gone over the week that have caught our eye.  A 1987 LeSharo Winnebago that was here for a few days, and a couple of vintage Boler Campers.  Pretty cool!

	1984 Winnebago LeSharo

The Path to the Harbor at Riviere-du-Loup

In the evenings, there is an amazing little hiking/biking path down to the harbor where the whale-watching cruise and ferry to St Simeon leaves.  There is also an ice cream shop, a small restaurant that seems to be very popular, and a big Indian head that I have no idea why it's there.  Regardless, it is a very nice walk and you can even walk out on the sea wall and watch for the beluga whales while eating your ice cream.  Just bring a jacket for when the sun goes down because the temperatures drop quickly around here.

	Yep, that's me way off in the distance
The Mysterious Indian Head	Le Zodiac Cremerie
Le Boucaneux Restaurant

Parc des Chutes in the town of Riviere-Du-Loup

On Wednesday afternoon, we took off into town to check out Parc Des Chutes, aka Falls Park, that was a short drive from the campground.  Come to find out, it offered wonderful hiking trails, multiple footbridges, and a great view of the 108 ft. waterfall. 

There is an old hydro-electric power station located at the falls which has been restored and is currently producing electricity for the town.  We plan on going back again before we leave and walk more of the trails since it was so beautiful.

Moving on

After much debate, we have decided to forfeit our last week here and continue east.  Our next stop will be in the town of Campbellton, New Brunswick that is located along the Restigouche River that flows into Chaleur Bay (Bay of warmth).

Notes from Dennis

The RV park at Riviere-du-Loup was super busy.  Since it was about halfway between Quebec City and the popular national parks to the north, and of course, the nearest park to the Ferry, it saw a lot of in-and-out traffic.  We were also surprised at the sheer number of boondockers!  Anywhere and everywhere we found them parked en masse.

99% of the people around us were speaking French.

The local over-the-air stations were only in French.

The signs were only in French.

Originally, the plan was to visit the old section of Quebec City.  But Riviere-du-Loup was a little too far and the price of diesel is over the top here in Quebec Province.  We skipped visiting the city.  We will have to find a way to reschedule that in the future.

Sunny 80

Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec

 

Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec

Our travels in Canada next took us five hours Northeast, deep into the province of Quebec to Camping Du Quai RV park in the city of Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec. (English: Wolf River)  And when I say deep into Quebec, I really mean french-speaking Canada.  We quickly realized that English is definitely way down on the totem pole as a spoken language.  Parlez vous Anglais?  The answer has been no more than yes!  So, Mr. Social Boy's (D) chatting with our fellow campers has been at a minimum this trip along with us dining out, me shopping, watching tv, or even listening to the radio.  Boohoo and double boo!


About TV here, I had thought the limited tv channels we had at the last park was bad, well right now I would give anything for CBC TV!  (Canada’s national, English Public Broadcasting Network)  In Ontario, we had seven channels and all but one were in English.  However, I do have to admit three of the channels were dedicated to kids but it left us with a couple of options.  Here there are three channels and all are in French.  So no TV because streaming isn't even on the table with the park's wifi and ours is not allowing a connection outside of the US.  On the bright side, at least we are getting a break from all the political stuff going on.  Please let me know if a war breaks out!

I think you get the picture.  We are foreigners in a foreign land here!  For the first time, I am thinking our visit to Canada has not been a good decision and have been leaning heavy on hopping down to Maine next week.  Especially when Dennis spent $15 on ONE can of tobacco.  Insane!  You would think now is a good time for him to consider kicking the habit.  We all might as well toss that thought straight out the window for it ain’t gonna happen.  Our only hope is that we can find an Indian reservation somewhere up here that sells tobacco and not get caught by the local authorities for buying it.  It seems that it's okay for them to sell it to you, but it's illegal for you to buy it.  Huh?!  Or if any of you guys would be so kind as to drive up here and meet us at the border with a stash of tobacco, we would be forever in your debt. (Kidding!)

AML Cruises

After arriving here on Saturday (Samedi), I decided to book us a VIP whale (baleines) watching cruise on the St Lawrence River for Sunday (Dimanche) since the Crosier aux Baleines was just minutes from where we were staying.

With our VIP passes, we - along with a very nice couple from Montreal, and a family of 4 plus a grandpa in tow - were able to board early.

We were escorted to the upper deck and into a special climate controlled viewing area by the captain of the boat.  We kind of felt like we were an attraction on display inside a fishbowl by the way folks would go by and stare at us.  We were provided with sodas, water, coffee, popcorn, brownies, peanuts, and cheese.

Can’t say it was worth the extra $22 per person.  Maybe if there had been wine to go along with the cheese or if it had been freezing cold and raining outside, then Oh yes!

Our fishbowl view from on deck

Yes, our sad whale sighting

Our three-hour cruise started out great!  (And yes the Gilligan's Island theme was playing in my head.)  Right off the bat, we saw several beluga whales in the water and a few grey seals.  But as quickly as they had come up, they also disappeared.  In all, we ended up seeing only one juvenile whale for a few brief seconds, tons of seals, and the belugas.  To say it was a disappointment would be an understatement.  However, I am glad we did go on the cruise for it's better to go and not see anything than to not go and wonder what you might have missed.  No regrets, I say!  We will give it one more try once we reach St.Andrews in late August.  We are on a mission to see a Humpback Whale.

Notes from Dennis
The drive up the banks of the St. Lawrence River was relatively uneventful.  We were in and out of traffic the entire way and the roads were a mix of smooth and suspension-killing awfulness. *rolling eyes*

We left a park that was full of trees and shade and a large personal space in Bainsville, Ontario to arrive at a park that was practically a parking lot with no trees near, and our neighbors are SUPER close once again.  However this park has been relatively bug-free, unlike the last one, we have a nice view, and plenty of sights to explore.

We learned that all of the construction workers in the entire Quebec province are forced to take a two-week vacation at the end of July every year!  This seems crazy as the construction season HAS to be very short up here in the North Country and yet they are going to take a holiday right in the middle of it?  Not sure I understand that mentality.  At any rate, this is creating big traffic for this park.  Lots of RVs spending just one night since this seems to be a halfway point from Montreal to Prince Edward Island.

We are nearing the cusp of another Timezone, Atlantic Timezone!  This means that the Sun is rising at like 5:10 am (ET)!  We will soon move to New Brunswick province which is in the Atlantic Timezone.

July 21- high 71

 

Montreal vs Ottawa

Driving around Montreal and Ottawa

Montreal, Quebec 

I honestly don't know where to begin to describe the roads and traffic in Montreal.  Dennis has renamed Montreal as Constructionville and I have to agree with him for I have never seen so many roads under construction in one city at the same time in my life!  Combining the volume of people that make Montreal their
home with the sheer number of streets under construction, it was by far the worst big city we have driven through to date.  We knew that going into Montreal was going to be a pain due to the traffic signs written in French but we had not anticipated the congestion.  Silly me!

I had read Montreal is the most populated city in Canada so we knew it would be busy.  Busy is an understatement!  And don't get me started on finding your way around the city to visit the "tourist" sites.  There are no signs (or any that we saw) on the freeway to let you know what exit to take or even the general direction.

We ended up driving around for over an hour and yes, found ourselves once again on the totally wrong side of town and starving to boot!  We decided to give Tim Horton's a try mainly because the sign was in English, therefore our thoughts were the menu would be too.

Our first clue that the menu was not in English was when we walked in and had no idea where to place our order.  The sign that should
have read "Order Here" read "Commander Ici"!  Luckily, after looking closer, we realized there were English translations in very small print below the menu board items.

For a minute, I was afraid I was going to have to make the sacrifice and just eat something I could point at in the cases... Donuts!  But instead, I got a grilled cheese sandwich.  Really wished I had gotten the donuts because the sandwich wasn't that great.  For those of you who have no idea what Tim Horton's is, here are a few facts:  It is Canada's largest fast-food restaurant chain that specializes in coffee and pastry items.  It has over 4,846 restaurants in 14 countries with the company's headquarters being in Toronto.  To me, it's a combination of Starbucks, Panera Bread, and Duncan Donuts. No wonder it's so popular.

After a very quick lunch, we finally decided to give it one more try on finding the Notre Dame Basilica.  That's when we found how seriously crowded it was going to be.  After riding down block after block, we finally gave up on finding a parking spot big enough for the truck and settled for a drive-by of the Basilica.  At this point in the journey, we were over Montreal and were ready to get the heck out of dodge.  We have been told by a few locals to come back in 3 to 5 years and the city should be done with construction.  Right!

Ottawa, Quebec

Our drive up to Ottawa was a completely different experience.  Thank God!  We decided to take surface roads the entire way to gawk at the scenery, so it was a very pleasant drive through cornfields and dairy farms.  Once we got to Ottawa, we also found the city very easy to navigate through but, once again, parking the beast was a different story.

 

After cruising around the city we drove around for a bit and followed this bike trail that ran along the Ottawa River miles.  It was very popular and I can understand why.  It would be a beautiful place to ride your bike.

My one regret is that we did not take the time and have lunch at the Aulde Dubliner Pub.  It looked like it was straight out of Dublin, Ireland. We will have to put it on our list of places to revisit.



Well, that is my two cents on two of Canada's largest cities.  A thumbs down for Montreal and two thumbs up for Ottawa!

Notes from Dennis

I have been amazed at the sheer number of square miles that are being farmed up here in the North Country!  Their growing season is super short, compared to the USA, yet they still grow some serious food.

Benjamin, the truck, is a huge hit up here.  Men and boys will gawk at it as we ease by.  Most of them will point at the giant replacement bumper & grill guard hanging off the front.

Diesel up here is $$$!  It is sold by the liter, so when I have 1/8th of a tank left and fill up - about 30 gallons - it is costing us over $100 (US)!  We have to keep this in mind before we blindly jump in the truck to drive 100's of kilometers just to visit one little thing.  :-(

Crossing the Border, Eh?

Well, all of my worries about crossing the border were for naught!  We woke up at 6am on Saturday and quickly showered, ate breakfast, then closed up the 5th wheel and set out to cross the border.

We packed some water for our 6-hour trek Northeast to Bainsville, Ontario.  I normally pack our lunch to eat along the way at a rest stop.  We have found it difficult to find a place to pull into for a quick lunch while hauling this huge rig without it being a little nerve-wracking.  But for this trip, we didn't want to test our luck with getting searched just because of a PB&J or ham and cheese sandwich.

We reached the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge border crossing at 7:40 am.  There were only two cars and a tractor-trailer truck at the gates when we arrived.  That was a sight I was not expecting.  By all that I had read, I had figured we were in for a long wait.  This just goes to show... don't believe everything you read!  Instead of a wait, we were able to drive straight up to an empty window.

I was concerned when we saw the lack of traffic that it was going to be a bad thing.  I had thought that the slow volume of cars would give them more time to be extra careful and search everyone's vehicle but especially those in an RV.  So at this point, I was really stressing out.  Dennis tried to reassure me that we had nothing that would put us in danger of not getting in or being fined $300.  Guess we all know who's the worrier of the two of us.  Hey!  Someone has to!

At the gate, the border control guard asked for our passports and then ask the normal questions: Where are you from?  What brings you to Canada?  How long are you going to be here?  Do you have any firearms?  Do you have family or friends you are visiting while here?

After answering all his questions with short simple answers he then gave us back our passports and said have a nice trip!

All I could think was praise the Lord!  No searches, no delays, no nothing.  I was elated!

I refuse to go down the road of regret over all the things I tossed out of the fridge or my little house plant that we gave away.  I am just going to be thankful.

On our way!

Our travel on the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) was very pleasant.  This is a freeway that runs from Niagara Falls area all the way up to the border of the Quebec province.

This is also Ontario's busiest highway, so once again, after everything that I had read, I was worried about hitting major traffic - ergo, one of the reasons I made D get up at the crack of dawn.  We did hit a few areas that slowed us down but overall it was great.

 

We breezed across the Burlington Skyway bridge and drove past Toronto.  After Toronto, it changes numbers and has a few spots where you have to pay a toll.  We did end up stopping at an ONroute to get diesel and were able to pick up a quick lunch.  Since the line for Tim Hortons was out the door we chose the A&W fast food restaurant.  Dennis got a Beyond meat burger and was in heaven. I, on the other hand, had a fish wrap that was just so-so.  At the end of the day, we had arrived at our campsite way earlier than we had expected.

Notes from Dennis
My biggest worry on move day was getting the RV & Truck safely out of our spot at the campground.  Trees, close RVs, small road, and other camper's vehicles parked along said road made it very tight for something that long.  But in the end, we squeaked thru without having to back up!

I am happy to report that the new bike rack worked much better for us.  The bikes were in no danger of falling off during the entire trip.  Part of that reason might be due to the condition of the roads in the Ontario Province.  They are a dream!

One of the features on my truck that is very cool is that I can switch the computer over to metric vs Imperial.  Since the signs have the speed limit in Km/hour and distances in kilometers, that came in handy.  Right after crossing the border, we saw a giant, American-friendly sign announcing that 100 Km/hour = 60 MPH!  That gave me the ratio of 10 Km = 6 MPH or 5 = 3.   When we see a sign 50 Km/hr, I think 5X6=30!  Close enough and easy peasy.  The actual formula is 1 Km/H = .621371 MPH.

And of course, the temperature up here is shown in Celsius.  Penny looked up an easy way to convert the temperature in your head rather easily:  Let's say you see that it is 20 degrees Celsius.  So the cheat formula would be: 20 x 2 = 40 and then 40 - 4 (the first digit in the previous results) = 36.  Finally, 36 + 30 = 66 degrees Fahrenheit.  The actual formula is: (X°C × 9/5) + 32 = Z Fahrenheit.

The Last Week in the USA

Canada Bound

Next, we head North for our 9-week journey into Canada.  We have decided to get up early on Saturday morning and try our hand at crossing the border at the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge.  I have read it is one of the top 4 busiest places to cross over into Canada from New York.  But Dennis thinks we should get it over with early so we won't be stressed about it all day.  Since he does the driving I guess that's what we'll be doing.  On the 4th of July, we decided to check out Niagara-on-the-Lake and plus it would give us a chance on testing the water going through customs at that check point. We had no problem with just the truck.  I have to admit that I am still very nervous about taking the 5th wheel through.  I have spent hours upon hours this week researching the do's and don't's on what we can carry across in our 5th wheel.  I've seen on youtube where folks have been turned away or fined $300 just because they forgot a apple in the refridge!  So in preparation for the crossing, we have tried to eat or drink as much wine, whiskey, milk, cheese, eggs, fruit, and bread as possible this week.  I think I have gained 5 lbs!

The drive to Niagara-on-the-Lake took us by tons of Wineries! I have never seen so many!  Unfortunately, we did not stop at any of them because I knew I couldn't buy any and tasting without being able to buy is just cruel punishment.  So instead I took notes of some of the ones we passed and will be buying them once we get into Canada.  I figured I could try quite a few of them by the time our 9 weeks are over.  I'll be sure to post the results of my taste tests.

Whirlpool Park

On Tuesday, after D got off work, we decided to check out Whirlpool State Park.  This state park is free.  It has two levels; the river's edge and the street level.  The street level has many scenic overlooks and spectacular views of the Whirlpool and rapids.  This was well worth the trip.  The views were stunning and the trails were great.

From the scenic overlook, we watched folks on the Whirlpool Jet Boat (via Old town Lewiston) and could hear them screaming from all the way up top.  With the way that dude was driving, the boat trip is definitely for thrill-seekers.  There is also a river level via a steep staircase located down the walking trail.  However, when we got to the stairs we found out it was 330 steps down and decided it was just too hot of a day.  So we trekked back up the trail and headed to Walmart in the city of Niagara Falls to pick up a new bike rack I had ordered to replace the one I bought through Amazon.

Fort Niagara and the Erie Canal

On Wednesday, we traveled to the small town of Youngstown to visit Fort Niagara.  The fort did not disappoint.  Hundreds were setting up tents for the 40th annual recreation of the historic siege of 1759 during the French and Indian War.  The event features battles reenactments, siege demonstrations, exhibitions of 18th-century medicine, living conditions in the camp, and musket firing.  Come to find out, this is the largest French and Indian War event in the world!

After visiting the fort, we drove about 30 minutes east to the town of Lockport to check out the Erie Canal lock.  I was hoping to see a boat come through but no such luck.  Since it was dinner time, we decided to find somewhere to eat. We came across this cute and very popular restaurant on the main street and decided to give it a shot.  Our first clue that service might be slow was the fact that they were blocking off the main street as we approached.  Come to find out from our server, the city's 4th of July parade was about to start at 7 pm.  We thought great, dinner AND a parade (well at least I did, seems D isn't a fan of parades).  We had 40 minutes to eat and then step outside and watch the parade. Just our luck, we walked out well over an hour later and caught the very last vehicle and I mean the very last one in the parade.  Oh well, it was still was a fun trip.

Lock 34 Restaurant

Mural on Main street, Lockport, NY

 

Final Thoughts

That pretty much ended our week in Niagara Falls.  I do have to confess that I was very surprised by the actual city of Niagara Falls, NY.  We found it rather sad.  Most of the shops and restaurants are gone, buildings boarded up, and streets were blocked off due to construction.  The only things in the town were the falls, a few parks, and what few things there were to do around the casino.  If you are looking for some touristy things that Americans are used to seeing then you will need to hop over the river into Canada.  It has it all... Ripley's, go-carts, Ferris Wheel, a wax museum, etc..

Here's to making it across the border with all our stuff!

Notes from Dennis:
I find myself late in the evenings - being the night owl that I am - becoming more in tune with the surroundings of each of the parks.  I have noticed that, without exception, at each park that we have been to since this adventure began, one can hear a distant train sounding its horn as it makes it lonely passing through the night.  Trains move the fabric of our lives even while we sleep.  From food to the mail to those must-have products we cannot live without.  What would we do without the trains?  Have you heard your local train lately?