Full Day In Forillon

We started the day with an awe-inspiring kayak tour along the coast to visit the largest Seal colony in the area. Just amazing. Thanks to it being an unusually calm sunny day the seals were mostly sunning themselves on the rocks instead of swimming and I have to estimate that we saw a hundred or more. I even saw one jump out of the water. I was so excited I teared up! Then we were graced with a fin whale visit!! No pictures on this camera because I was sure I would drop my phone in the water. Brendan was impressive,  kayaking for 2 hours solo in a sea kayak that turned out to have no working rudder. Kudos.

After that we toured some of the sights of Forillon National Park, including the WWII Fort where they scouted for the german subs that sank supply ships in the St Lawrence.  We took a break at the very nice pool, that's a campground anomaly for us! The pool,  not the taking a break. Ok, both. Then we went for a bike ride from a lighthouse to the Visitors Centre and treated ourselves to our first Quebec Poutine and bubblegum soft serve ice cream.

Tropical storm Elsa is due to blow through tomorrow, which will likely rain out our morning sightseeing plans, and then we drive to our next spot. Brendan looks positively giddy at the idea of a day with no sightseeing or activities!!

Forillon National Park

Arrived in Forillon National Park this afternoon. We're at the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula now.  We did a hike through a small Taiga ecosystem (usually found in Northern Russia) that has flourished right beside a sandy beach - seems random. Then we settled into the campsite and explored around till we found a pebble beach.

We play a game on hikes called Seldom Seen. This might win for most Seldom Seen item on a woodland hike ever...

Making friends with the locals 

Tektonic

Went to a weird geology museum this morning that was heavy on the dramatic presentation- think dark room, fog machine, eerie music at top volume and a creepy backstory with a disembodied voice of a geologist telling you the rocks tell her the past and the future. You had a deck of 6 cards you inserted into machines one at a time that illuminated the shapes in front of you and told you a fact. Like, 1 fact. For a 3 minute commitment to each station. We must be nerds; we all left saying " I guess that was neat, but I didn't learn much"...

Gannets, and Auks and Seals, oh my!

We took a boat ride out around the famous Roche Perce, then continued on out to Ile Bonaventure, home to North America's largest gannet colony. The pictures don't do it justice, I wish I was a poet.  We also saw auks, which looked like hilarious tiny penguins and so many seals on our 9 km hike around the island. My bucket is so full it's overflowing!

Nicest outhouses ever!

Highly recommending Perce as a destination. Mom and Dad, you gotta come here!

Roche Perce!

Life list item completed!!!

Made it to the Roche Perce! We can see it from our camprgound with a beautiful view of the ocean and the Roche (:

We are attempting to navigate in our slow French, but we've had a few hiccups - fun fact - did you know an Iced Coffee at Timmy's in Quebec is called a TimGlace? A kid in the playground caught Harrison off guard on the first day of our trip with a rapid stream of french and he panicked and answered him "No comprende, Senor" 🤣

Sunset Au Bord De La Mer (At The Edge of the Sea, as they call it around here)

Location, location, location. One of my worries about this camping trip was the sites. With availability down to almost zero in Provincial parks,  I have us booked in 90 % private campgrounds which typically have minimal room or privacy. This one is no exception,  but man, what a view, watching the sun set over the St Lawrence...

That's our trailer in the middle, with orange light reflecting off the side of it. Back on the road tomorrow,  to Perce!

Submarine Onondoga

Toured the inside of a submarine,  so amazing. Neat handheld audio guides let you get a tour without the extra body of a tour guide. Learned so much, like that I never want to be a submariner!

Rimouski

Our campground is on La Route Verte bike path, so instead of driving the 18km to todays destination we biked! It was lovely,  until we started biking into the steady wind. I thought my thighs had died. 

Bic National Park

Looking for seals. Unsuccessfully. We eventually saw 1 in the distance at lunchtime.

Rock scrambling! Our favourite!!

The whole park smelled like wildflowers. Very surreal. It looked like Gros Morne in Newfoundland mixed with PEI, smelled like a florist and sounded like the Laurentians, with Chickadees blasting their songs. Like nowhere we've ever been.

Arrived in Rimouski

Our first 3 nights are here in Rimouski. We're at a nice camprground with a  spectacular view of the sunset over the St. Lawrence. I realized it's writing the pithy text to go with pictures that takes me an eternity so this may be a mostly visual blig this trip...

Uh oh...

So, things just got real. We usually get 11 L per 100 km. Towing the trailer doesn't usually bother the truck much, but between going highway speeds, a windy day and Rob claiming I have the trailer more loaded down than usual, it's sucking back an unfortunate 29.3 L/100km. As if that's not painful enough, we just refilled outside Quebec City for $1.34 a L. At this rate, we might switch to putting cheap Quebec beer in the tank instead of gas. I'm glad this is the longest day of driving...

Getting To Go To Gaspe!

July 2, 

Well, we're going somewhere,  doing something!  After a year of Covid uncertainty and cancellations, I'm a little gunshy about committing to much more, but hopefully this is a glorious kick off to 3 weeks in Maritime Quebec!

We pulled out of the driveway at 5:32, to the sweet sounds of "On The Road Again". Can't lie, I cried a little. We've spent the first few hours of the long 8 and a half hour drive listening to Stuart McLean Postcards From Canada stories. Feels like heaven.