Maritimes here we are!!

First before we go into New Brunswick, I have to admit both Doug and I enjoyed Quebec very much.
The people were more than helpful, and if they did not know a answer, they found someone who did.
What we both found very frustrating was the lack of English on the pamphlets  printed by the government,  We would go to a tourist spot to check it out, the people were more than helpful with our questions, but the signage, and information was always in french and no english to be seen.
This put us off, and so we just kept going on, and not spending anytime in that area, their loss.

We crossed over to New Brunswick and into a town call Campbelltown.  Usually the first thing we do is look for a information building, to see what is there to do, where to go. and where to stay.
We came across a lady who know everything there was about the area, we asked where there was a good place to camp and she said " go to the end of this street, and you can just pull over by the ocean, and camp for free", "also there is a shack that sells the best lobster in New Brunswick", and to top it off, there is music played each night.  OK, let me think, we are so there.  So in we pull, on a dirt road, and there are about 20 different units parked, in all directions, about 5 different shacks selling food and a huge pier right on the ocean. so we spent 2 nights squating for free - Doug loved those prices,
and at the view was beautiful.

This was quiet, handy and most of all free.  Most people we noticed were from Quebec, and Sunday night they all packed up and moved on.  Must be a weekend getaway for them? who knows?

Now I love seafood and Doug does not..... so I have not purchased or ate any seafood since we got close to the coast, but when I saw the shacks with whole cooked lobster, I caved and had to have one.

This is the one that I ate and totally enjoyed every mouthful, much to Doug's distaste, about 2lbs

This is the shack where I got the Lobster, as Shauna would say "what could go wrong?"

This is a 4lb lobster that was for sale, but I could not eat all of that!!  I did also purchase some snow crab legs that were absolutely delicious!! Made me longing for more.

So the next day we decide to travel to the top right hand corner of New Brunswick where there is a famous Lighthouse on Miscou Island.  On the way there we notice this place, that to me, looked like a fish market but it turned out to be a restaurant.  "Steves", so we pull over and met Steve and asked if we could buy a cooked lobster? He said no problem, come with me..... This is his place, of which had lots of cars, busy place.

He showed us to the back of the restaurant and showed us how he keeps his lobsters fresh and to pick one and he would cook it for me.

These are lobster traps that he had lying around, not sure if they are still used or not,

He then showed us a lobster that was absolutely huge, and he said he figured that this lobster was around 50 to 60 years old and he was going to release him by the end of June. Good for him, if a lobster has avoided being trapped for 50 years he deserves to be let free....who's to say this will happen?? not sure, but I would like to think it will.

So I bought another Lobster (2lbs) and some snow crab legs and of course ate it all.....

We then went up to the lighthouse and climbed 96 stairs to the top.  The view was amazing, and we saw a lot of lobster buoys  out in the sea.  They get seals at this point, but not until the middle of July, so we did not see any, still to early.  The lighthouse is still being used, but more computerized than before

Miscou Lighthouse New Brunswick 

This was a display inside the lighthouse

The view was beautiful , but I was not going to the edge at all.

you could see for miles in all directions!

Now, back to our friend Steve, he said after seeing the lighthouse we have to go and see the

"Candy Church" across the bay.  So seeing it was a local who said we have to see it, off we go to find this Candy Church that Steve assured us that it would be open.

Well we found the church.

and it was open like Steven said,  when we went inside - it was the colours of candy's.  Not sure what religion it was?? or why they decorated it with such pastel colours inside??  There was no one around to ask any questions so we just took some pictures and left.

The alter

The entranceway 

The ceiling

The choir loft

Now before I leave this blog today, I have to tell you that we noticed acoss the 7,500 Klms that we have driven that this is common in every province.  If you want to sell a car, truck, RV, or boat,  you just have to park it along side the road and put a a "for sale" sign on it.  Beside Canadian Geese, Crows, and Robins, this parking your vehicles for sale along the road is right across Canada.

We are now in Nova Scotia and Shauna is coming to join us for a couple of weeks, we also have a folk festival at that time so until next week, hope everyone plays safe.

Doug and Judy

Loving the Saint Lawrence Seaway!

Hello from the Seaway:

All over Quebec when ever we mention we would like to see whales, the same answer was "OH, you have to go to Tadoussac", which is on the north side of the Gaspe Peninsula.  One of the things on my bucket list was to see the Beluga Whales in the Saint Lawrence, and the only place is at Tadoussac!
So of course we went to Tadoussac (thanks also to my friend Gaydene).  The drive was beautiful, very hilly, but the scenery was amazing.
Just before you get to the town of Tadoussac, you board a small "free" ferry that takes about 15 minuets to cross a small fjord.

small ferry but is was free and not a very long wait to get on, below is the dock for the ferry.

This is the front of the famous Tadoussac Hotel, where you can sit out on this beautiful lawn and watch whales, amazing place, and very very beautiful.

This is the front lawn and the view!

So we headed to a campsite on the other side of Tadoussac, which some guy that Doug was talking to recommended.  It is set on tiers and with a great view of the Saint Lawrence. We booked a whale watching tour for the next day.

It was a bit pricy, but it was for 3 hours.  When I was looking up whales in the Saint Lawrence, I learned that there are 13 different kinds of whales, that come into the Saint Lawrence, from the biggest being the Blue Whale to the smallest the Belugas and 2 different kinds of porpoises and seals.

We were not even gone more than 2 kms saw a Minke Whale feeding.  In total we saw about 30 whales of 3 different kinds.  We saw Minke Whales, Humpback Whale and Yes!!!! Belugas galore!!!!

Our tour boat

Now, it is really hard to get a picture of these whales, as you never know when they are going to come up for air, and when they do it is only for a few seconds and they are back down again, so I tried my best and this is the results.

This is a Minke Whale.  They do not swim in pods but mostly swim and feed alone. They grow to be 

6  - 8 tons and are 8 m in length

This is the head of a Humpback Whale, which was busy feeding along side the boat for a long time.

They grow to be 11-13 m in length and weigh 25 - 30 tons.

A Minke Whale feeding.  These whales come into the Saint Lawrence to feed as there are plenty of fish for them to feed on.  Their diet is fish and krill.

 Another check off the bucket list!  Beluga Whales !! Amazing !!  There were about 10 of them all around the boat busy eating.  They grow to be about 3 - 4 m in length and weigh 7 - 15 tons.

Doug had never seen whales in the wild, so it was also a check off his bucket list.  We have another Whale watching tour booked for the Bay of Fundy with Shauna in a couple of weeks, so lets hope we see a lot of whales. 

One of the only kinds of whales not found here is the Killer Whale and it is only found in the Pacific Ocean.

All over Quebec there is a style of house that they are know for.  They are built out of wood, bricks and even stones.  They come in all different colours and really are a work of art.  Here are a few I took in a small town as we were passing though.   They all have the huge verandas and windows on the second storey. 

So we have travel over 6000 klms so far, you see some pretty strange things in peoples cars, windows etc.  We went by this house that had a 2 full size horses, and two people with cloths on and tons of other stuff out in his front lawn.  So we made a U-turn and took these pictures of the strange things you can see.  This was all on the same yard!

Can't image how he decorates for Christmas LOL Glad he is not my neighbour.

We are currently camping about 50 feet from the Saint Lawrence, and it is pouring rain.  We are going to start making our way to New Brunswick tomorrow, so hopefully the weather smartens

up and we see some sunshine. We have not gotten out to golf as much as we planned as the weather has either been 30+ or pouring rain, but we are planning to do a bit more if we can.

Take care everyone, e-mail us once in awhile and fill us in on what is happening on your end

jkboorse@hotmail.com      or

dwmeyer52@hotmail.com

Play safe and until next time

Judy and Doug

Bon Jour Quebec!

Hello Everyone!

Doug and I have been busy since the last blog.  Are plan were not to stop or see any big cities and we tried to avoid most of them with the exception of Ottawa and Quebec City.
We spent 2 days touring Ottawa as Doug had never seen the parliament grounds. It was very hot
+30 both days. Ottawa is a great city, clean, friendly and a lot of green space.  It has been either raining or plus 30 on our journey, never a in between.  When we were in Europe we toured a lot on these double decker buses called "Hop On, Hop Off".  They go to almost all of the high lites of the cities and you can get off and get on as many times as you want to in the course of 24 hours, they also have a tour guide pointing out the sights and giving you a bit of the history behind what you are seeing.  They had these buses in both Ottawa and Quebec, so we hopped.
Here are some Pictures from the bus;

Parliament Hill, the roof is made of cooper that has turned green with age.

They are starting to replace some of the roofs, and fix up the outside of the buildings  to get ready for Canada's 150 year birthday in 2017

Inside Parliament Hill, some of the Architecture, beautiful!

Looking good!!!

 Riding on the Double Decker Bus

They have statues everywhere, this one is of Queen Elizabeth upon a horse that the RCMP presented to her.

A statue in honour of Maurice Richard "the Rocket" why they would have a statue for a Montreal

Canadian hockey player in Ottawa we have no idea! 

This is Steven Harpers meek abode over looking the Ottawa River on Sussex Drive

His view of the Ottawa River

We also went on a Canal Cruise of the Rideau Canal.  22 miles of this canal was hand dig by British 'Solders, to stop the Americans if they took control of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
In the winter is is cleared of snow and is one of the longest skating surfaces in Canada, Winnipeg has one longer by 1/2 mile.

Our Cruise of the Rideau Canal

Then we went to the Byward Market, which consists of streets where traffic is blocked off, many outdoor cafes with outside patio's, shops, fresh vegetables & fruit and of course maple syrup are sold

Doug and I enjoyed watching people, having a couple of beers and of course I had fish and chips for dinner!

Right next to Parliament Hill are the locks for the Rideau Canal.  We watched a boat go thru these locks, it takes about 40 minutes from one end to another.  On a average day in the summer 40 - 50 boats will go thru these locks.  The price is determined by how long the boat is.  They still open and close these locks by hand as they did when they were first opened.  You would leave the Ottawa river and carry on to Kingston.

We then moved on to Quebec!  Parle Vous Francais  "NOT"

It was pouring rain, and cold when we hit the boarder.  Everyone of the tourist information centres, were closed as we were trying to find a provincial map to help us. June must not be tourist season?  We finally found a bit of a map at a gas station,  They do not have a whole map of the province, you need to buy a different section of map or area as you travel thru it (each for around $10.00).  We picked a "National Park" (not sure how it can be called a National Park when really it is a Provincial Park).  We picked Oka National Park, which is located directly across the river from Montreal.  Now this park holds over 800 campers.  There were maybe 30 sites taken when we were there.  The cost was over the roof!  It cost us for services $128.31 for 2 nights, with the size of trailer we have, we had no choice but to have services, the sites were small uneven and very narrow.  They charge $7.25 per person -  per night on top of the camping fee,   Because it was pouring rain, we went for a drive up to LaChute where Kevin Lowe was born and raised.  Note to everyone, there is not a statue or street name after him LOL Maybe if he played for the Montreal Canadians there would be LOL

While driving into Oka, we notice for about 2 Kilometres or so small shacks on the Indian Reservation selling cheap Cigarettes.  These shacks are about the size of a small Utility Shed.  We did not stop and see what the price was, but Doug remembers when the Government tried to stop them from selling these cigarettes and brought in the Army.....not sure what happened, but they are still selling cheap cigarettes!!!

So on we went to Quebec City to see the "Old Quebec" that we were told was a must see!

We camped just out side about 12 Km from the city.  We bought a package deal, that they would even pick us up at the campsite.  It was the "Hop On Hop Off" bus tour and a tour of the country side.

We both agreed that we are disappointed with what we saw.  I think we were thinking most of the Old 

Quebec would be preserved and "OLD" but instead, there are old buildings mixed among newer buildings,  The most interesting thing that we saw were 2 Canadian Naval Ships that were in port for 2 days and they were about to leave the day we were there.

There were some beautiful old buildings build over 100 years ago, and the area we were in had lots of shops, outdoor patios, street performers.

The main square, this is the Hotel Frontenace 

Our Bus

Some of the house's

The streets in this area are very narrow, much like in Europe.

Ride anyone??

The second day in Quebec we went on a country tour.  We saw a Chocolate store, bakery,

Saint Anne Basilica, Island of New Orleans and a huge water fall

Montmorency Falls is 272 Ft high ( 98.5 ft. higher than Niagara Falls).  It is not as wide, but taller.

We took a cable car to the top of the water falls and walked across the top.

This is from the suspension bridge at the top of the waterfall. 

This is the cable car we took to get to the top, was about a 5 minute ride. cost $12.00!

This is the Saint Anne Basilica just outside of Quebec City.  It was build in 1923 and finished in 1960's as the original one built burned down.

In side the church, it has tons of stain glass windows and it is beautiful

In Quebec City they seem to have a church on every corner, the tour operator said a lot of these churches are closed, or used as libraries. restaurants etc.  Religion has died off and about 9% of Quebecers go to church on a regular basis.

We are off tomorrow to Tadoussac on the Saint Lawrence Seaway to see Whales, as we have been told by many people this is the place to go.  It is about a 4 hour drive, so tomorrow we are off!

have a good week, and behave yourself everyone

Judy & Doug