O.K., I'm a little behind on these posts. We've been busy!
Sun., Aug. 2, 2009 Lake McGowan, ON to Gatineau, QC
We kept the truck in 4WD and very carefully came down from our lofty site at Lake McGowan, oh yeah, it had started to rain.
We drove into Ottawa. Parliament Hill, the seat of government for Canada, was interesting. Impressive buildings.
Rita had spotted a place called Gatineau National Park about 30 miles NW of Ottawa, so we went to their visitor center (centre?) about 5 minutes before it closed for the day (have you noticed a pattern here?). We were able to secure a site for the night. It was one of those wilderness areas, nothing but nature. We have yet to see a moose while on our trip. Lots of warning signs on the highways but nothing so far.
Monday, Aug. 3, 2009 Gatineau Nat. Pk., QC to Laval, QC
Before leaving Gatineau Park, we drove to most of the lakes in the park. Lake Taylor, Lake Rideau, and Lake Philippe. As we exited the park, we met about 50 cars and campers lined up to get in the gate. We found out that Monday was a Canadian holiday. Did I mention that they love to camp up here?
On the road to Montreal. We arrived at the Laval campground well before dark, yea!
Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009
Today was a downtime day in Laval, QC. With Wi-Fi available, we spent time posting the blog and e-mailing. Also a good day for catching up on laundry. All of the facilities at the CG in Laval were 1st rate. This may be the nicest campground in which we’ve ever stayed. It does cost more, at $43.00 CDN per night.
Around 5:00 p.m. we headed to downtown Montreal to try to see some of the sights. Mistake. It was frustrating trying to negotiate the rush hour traffic in town as well as the Interstate approach. We were trying to get to the theater district to check out some Cirque du Soleil type shows. We finally gave that up and just parked and walked around some. Before it got dark we made our way down to the old waterfront area. The area looked interesting but no parking to be found. We drove back to the campground just as it was getting dark and the rain began.
Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009
We left the Laval C.G. near Montreal around 1:00 p.m. and headed to a local IGA for a few groceries.
Back on the road heading South then East, through Montreal and onward East with a destination of Quebec City, Quebec. Beautiful, open, green fields along the way. This day was longer than most of our previous days, about 150 Miles.
We had a brochure for a campground called De La Joie in Quebec, Quebec. With GPS help, we arrived there around 7:00 p.m. One of the main reasons we picked this campground was that they offered transportation into the old Quebec City. Up to now, we’ve encountered some difficulty navigating our camper through some of crowded city streets (of Toronto & Montreal). So, on Thursday we leave the driving to the locals. We registered for 2 nights.
Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009
At 1:00 P.M. we rode in a shuttle van from our campground into Quebec City. Spent the afternoon just walking around on our own taking pictures. I took 108 pictures for the day. Nothing was in English, so I really don’t know names of buildings, monuments, etc. It’s o.k. We had a great time.
For lunch we found a small deli and bought a chicken salad sandwich and shared it. It was very good, plus we were starving. All the restaurants were expensive, so we passed them by. It was a very good day for people watching. In every park there was a street performer doing various stunts, delighting families.
The van picked us up at 6:30 P.M. returning us to our campsite. That saved us the long walk up the steep hill to our camper. We were both exhausted from the walking, but Rita took the time to prepare red beans and rice for supper.
A most excellent day.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Rita in Old Quebec City, Quebec
2. Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario
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