Day 3 and our van needs some fuel. There are a lot of reservations in this area with cheap fuel for all – $1.39/litre today.
The next stop was at the French River Visitor Centre where we hiked to the Recollet Falls where the deer flies warmly welcomed us and extracted their ounces of blood. It was extremely hot and humid but the 1.5 km hike was definitely worth it. We had fun taking pictures.
After our hike we visited the museum and learned about the importance of the French River in the fur trade and the rivalry between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company which later merged into one company.
We asked the very friendly museum staff for recommendations for a campground to stay for the night and they told us about Chutes Provincial Park. Chutes gets it name from the chutes that were built to help move logs over waterfalls.
The park has a lovely swimming area in the pool at the base of the waterfall with currents which we took advantage of.
Early breakfast with 2 eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast at Stacked was a Canada Day Weekend delight. Now we were fuelled and ready to go. The first stop was at the Art Barn, 8 kms away. This used to be a dairy farm and the barn now sells crafts created by local artisans. The owner of this 50 acre property also allows campers to stay overnight for a donation. Maybe on the way back…
We continued on north on Hwy 400 to Parry Sound were we enjoyed the Canada Day festival that was happening – Ribfest, artisan booths, log sawing. One of the artisans was from Düsseldorf in Germany. We walked to the harbour and ate a huge ice cream while sitting in Muskoka chairs watching the floatplanes taking off.
We continued our drive not knowing where we would stay for the night and came across Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park which happened to have two sites left. What a beautiful small campground, right at a bay with fabulous swimming opportunities. We talked to quite a number of people and Ruth fell in love with an American Bulldog. Martin talked to the park warden for a while and learned all about the training they undergo and why they need bullet proof vests.
After a long, enjoyable swim in warm water and dinner, it was time for Duolingo in the van.
After rushing to get everything ready and the van packed, we left left at 4PM on our way to Midland, ON. Traffic wasn’t bad at all, considering it is a long weekend, but there was an accident on the 400 which closed the highway and resulted a in detour. The detour was scenic, but we were happy when we were back on the highway. And, yes, our first night was at a Walmart. Needless to say, we bought some traditional items – chocolate, Pringles – and a Despicable Me DVD that was in a clearance bin for $5. The traditional T-shirt purchase has been postponed for a future visit.
The plan for today was to drive up to Lac L’Achigan where Martin spent his youth at their cottage and go for a swim. There is a municipal beach there, but unfortunately there are now signs that declare that it is only for residents of St. Hippolyte and that proof of residency may be demanded. We didn’t swim, but it was a nice detour into this beautiful area of the Laurentians.
Without further delay we drove to Montebello were we will be spending the next two nights.
We again left for Montreal after a long morning and visited the Bank of Montreal Museum where we learned of Canada’s first bank, its founders and history. The bank was founded by nine Montreal businessmen in 1817. The bank rapidly expanded to various other cities and had interests in the US, particularly New York and Chicago.
The Bank of Montreal was also instrumental in unifying Canada’s currency and printed the bank notes for some time.
Since it was a hot day we thought a cool movie would be refreshing and fun. The Science Center has an IMAX theatre and here we saw a 3D movie entitled Super Dogs on the extraordinary skills and talents of dogs used for search and rescue and therapy. Too bad our super dog, Pepsi, couldn’t join us.
After the movie we strolled through Montreal a while and took the shuttle back to our campground.
We had a comfortable lazy morning before taking the river shuttle back to Montreal. We had planned to see a number of museums but ran into a historic skills, trade, food and drink festival right in Old Montreal. Here we saw blacksmiths and wood turners demonstrating their crafts, various traditional foods and drinks to try, and for young people snowshoe racing. If you were so inclined you could get a short lesson on swordsmanship and then try fencing.
There was not much time to visit many museums so we picked an exhibition by Yoko Ono at the Foundation Phi pour l’art contemporain, a fabulous gallery that offers free admission to all their exhibitions. Yoko Ono’s exhibition was interactive and many pieces dealt with abuse and family.
A video showed a performance of her sitting motionless on the stage and having members of the audience cut pieces of clothing off her body. It was entitled Cut Piece and gave the impression of a victim being abused.
It was too late to visit another gallery so we went for an early dinner and then headed back to our campground on the river shuttle and enjoyed the beautiful evening light.
It was an early morning and we took the first shuttle to Montreal to have a second breakfast with our friend Jean of Camtec Photo. He suggested we visit the Jean Talon Farmer’s Market and a short Metro (subway) ride later we were there. The market is huge and has everything from seafood to vegetables to apples and berries. Corn is in season and we each enjoyed two corn on the cobs followed by a couple of cheese curds. A big basket of wild blueberries had to come as well and will provide us with vitamins and anti-oxidants for the next couple of days.
We took the Metro back to Place Des Arts where we returned to the design and fashion show to see a truly amazing dance performance featuring 12 dancers. Lots of “don’t try this at home” stuff.
While we had a short rest in some bean bag seats, an all black group of models put on a flash mob performance.
Tired and hungry we had an early dinner at St. Hubert. The chicken dinners are way bigger than those of Swiss Chalet and the half chicken portions we ordered were pretty filling. Outside, two people where playing chess with pieces the size of small children on a huge board in the pedestrian zone.
On our way out of Quebec City we finally found a place that could fill our propane tank which was getting a little low. Montreal was calling so we took highway 20 without any further sightseeing. We arrived in Longueuil just across the river from Montreal where there is a campground at the marina with a nearby river shuttle to Old Montreal.
The river shuttle runs every hour and takes about 30 minutes with one stop at Jean Drapeau Park. Montreal was full of festivals. An Oriental festival was the first we found, right at the port with music, food, crafts and clothing from various countries. We walked through Old Montreal and up St. Laurent Blvd to Schwartz’s to have an early smoked meat dinner. The line outside wasn’t too long but the small restaurant was buzzing inside.
On our way back, we stopped at a design and fashion festival at Place Des Arts and enjoyed all the displays and activities including a dance competition, fashion show and a performance by a great drummer.
Dead tired we took the shuttle back to our campground and enjoyed the Montreal skyline by night.
We enjoyed breakfast outside at our campground by the St. Lawrence River before heading out to Quebec City. We tried to find a propane filling station but were unsuccessful as one closed at 11am and the other didn’t fill automobile tanks.
We found a great parking lot near the abandoned market hall by the marina and walked through the lower part of the city visiting shops and galleries. The city was alive with tourists, colourful decorations, music, and even a costumed interpreter.
Ruth especially like the Swedish embroidery at a crafts cooperative and Martin liked an arts exhibit entitled “Eternal Snow” featuring the bust of Louis XIV trapped in an eternal snowstorm in a snow globe as a reminder of the rigours of Quebec winters.
We then walked up to the upper city towards the Chateau Frontenac where street performers showed their skills and we had lunch at Starbucks with some of Ruth’s gift cards.
We drove along highway 132 to slowly make our way towards Quebec City, not that we necessarily wanted to reach Quebec City today. We stopped early on to enjoy the view of the St. Lawrence river.
A little further on, in Saint-Andre. we visited an exquisite leather shop with purses of various leathers and furs, gloves, belts, etc. Right next door we found a photography gallery and met the very talented young photographer. Her photography wasn’t only available as prints and postcards, but also encased in acrylic as pendants and earrings.
The next town was Kamouraska, a lovely town with Victorian houses and many shops.
One house had unique figures carved out of the stumps on their front yard.
We started our shopping at a smoked fish shop where bought some incredible smoked salmon, moved on to the grocery store for fresh local blueberries and a dried pork sausage infused with red wine.
You would expect to find a chocolate shop in a town like this and we found one. A truffle and ice cream each made us very happy and the ice cream tasted better than the one from Alibaba yesterday, despite it being significantly cheaper.
We visited several more stores, including one selling beautiful pewter oil lamps made in the Laurentians but we resisted the temptation to buy one. The General Store had freshly baked baguettes which shortly became part of our lunch in conjunction with the smoked salmon and a cheese from yesterday’s cheese factory. Yummy!!!
On our way we made a detour to a wharf near Pointe-des-Orignaux which took a bit longer due to construction. We talked to a couple from Ottawa and enjoyed a strong wind and dark clouds. The wharf had a ladder leading down to the water and a fascinating composting toilet using wood chips whose product will be used to fertilize the town’s flower beds in two years.
It began to rain and our focus turned to finding a campground. After passing though several construction sites, we settled on Camping Guilnette near Beaumont. It is a large campground with many seaonal sites with curious trailer additions and a short walkway down to the St. Lawrence river.
