Are we there yet?

Our spot outside Quebec City

We made it to Quebec City with little trouble. Except we don't read french and all the traffic signs are in french!?!? It’s not nearly as big as Toronto with its 2.6 million people. It’s kind of strange because all the people are concentrated in the cities and then there are these vast open spaces with no one or very few people. Just like in Michigan and Illinois, there is a lot of agricultural area, lots of fields of corn. We skirted Montreal so don’t really know what that is like but it’s just slightly smaller than Toronto. 

I want one of these swings - so relaxing with a cup of tea.

We wanted to spend two nights in Quebec so we could visit Old Quebec but come to find out we had arrived (Thursday) just before THE busiest weekend of the year for the Quebec Province. We tried to get a second night at the RV park – and a beautiful park it was – but they were completely booked. We seem to have a knack for untimely arrivals. Unbeknownst to us June 24 ^th is La Fete Nationale or St. Jean-the-Baptiste Day and IS the largest celebration of the year in this province. Go figure!  So I guess Old Quebec will have to be added to the “places we’d like to return to someday”. We are getting quite a list of those. I was also hoping for 2 days in one spot just to relax. We have been traveling between 200 and 300 miles a day. I know we just sit here but it’s exhausting setting up “camp” and then putting everything away again in less than 12 hours to move on to the next place. But we have reservations in Nova Scotia for the 27th so we have to keep moving. We have spent the night in a different spot every night for the last 7 days and covered over 2000 miles since leaving Arkansas.

Watch for moose!

Quebec is reminding us a lot of British Columbia but flatter. BC has more mountains but the never-ending highway and endless stretches of trees is the same. Jade even commented on seeing mountains again! There are also mosquitoes. It actually reminds me a lot of Alaska. They even have the moose-warning signs along the road. I'd love to see a moose. You'd think after 47 years in Alaska I'd have seen enough moose, but it's been so long - would be fun to see one again. The road runs parallel to the  St. Lawrence River. This is the major seaway providing ships access to the Great Lakes area. There are also patches of lupines along the road just like Alaska. What I’ve noticed is the Canadians seem to be a cleaner people than Americans. You don’t see nearly the amount of trash everywhere that you see in the US. At Walmart, you have to pay for the plastic bags -.05 a piece; this encourages folks to use those reusable, fabric-type bags. Nice!  We should do that in the US – don’t ban the plastic bags, make it more cost effective to use the others.

The weather has been fabulous, 60s at night, 80s during the day. Sleeping with the windows open and getting those fresh outdoor breezes is delicious! We crossed into New Brunswick on Friday and spent the night in a little spot called Riverside RV park in Edmondston, NB. A little town of about 21,000 folks it’s right along Transcanadian Highway 2, an amazingly smooth, wide ribbon of road in the middle of the wilderness. We are grateful after some of the crappy roads we’ve been on up until now. Up again bright an early as we headed southeast into Fredericton which is

Our campsite on the St. John river.

centrally located in New Brunswick and is the capital of NB. Hwy 2 runs right along the US/Canadian Border – within spitting distance practically. My phone, which we have on roaming, didn’t know where it was for a while probably from conflicting signals. We’ve also discovered that there is such a thing as the Atlantic time zone. It’s two hours later than Texas and includes Bermuda, places like St. Croix, and the eastern side of South America. Who knew? So we’ve aged an extra 2 hours on this trip. Glad we get them back on the reverse – lol!

I love my kayak!

Finally, we have gotten to spend two nights in one place. It’s a lovely RV park on the banks of the St. John River and an excellent spot for kayaking. Jeff woke me up this morning because he knows I like the tranquility of early mornings. I wasn’t thrilled initially but once I got moving I was so thankful. I took my cup of tea with me and spent 2 glorious hours paddling around on mirror smooth water. There are tiny islands within the river and I could paddle between all of them. The river is so slow-moving that it’s like being on a lake. I saw 5 deer, a river otter, and lots of ducks with babies in tow. I need to look them up to find out what kind they are.  Just as I was heading back some nut with his power boat headed out and ended the quiet and stillness. Good thing Jeff woke me up early.

We’ve just come back from playing at the waterpark here. Mya is practicing her clarinet and Jade is acquiring more dragons on her game she’s been playing. Think we’ll go out to dinner tonight. Tomorrow is a 300+ mile day but we will be in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where we will stay for 3 days. We are so blessed to be able to do this. There is an added benefit to our new RV besides the full size fridge and the fireplace. I don't think the girls like their bunkbeds as much and so they have been up front with us as we travel down the road and it's made for a lot more fun family time together and more conversation. Jade spends a lot of time riding up front with Jeff and they haven't been sleeping in as late as they have in the past.  It's wonderful! Jade is also getting better with Otis. She really has not like having him because he is so hyper but she's is learning to work with him and train him and now even volunteers to walk him on occasion. Yay!

Jade setting fashion trends at the pool.

We are off to dinner. We treat ourselves to dinner out every once in a while. Otis will have to stay in his kennel for a bit. We have 323 miles to go tomorrow so it will be an early morning. Sweet dreams all.

Otis stressing out on the drive.