Days 22-24 Quebec City to Rimouski

Map to date

What ? We could figure it out, but it didn't work anyway!

Sunday, July 15th

We left the outskirts of Quebec today and headed for the Gaspe Peninsula. 

 We decided we could not put off getting more gas, so “bit the bullet“ and found a gas station. As if the price alone for the gas wasn’t painful enough, trying to figure out how to work the pump when it was totally in French made it even more painful! ( a kind local gentleman came to help us, and he could not figure it out either. ) The price of gas had gone up about 60 cents gallon since our last fill, raising it now to  $5.05 per gallon.  This is less than we had budgeted, but it still really, really hurts. 

Yike! Talk about "pain at the pump!"

  

Rapeseed for making Canola Oil

Along the way the only thing of interest was the number of huge farms we saw.  Mile after mile of rolling hills of farm land and quite a bit of rapeseed in bright yellow bloom (which is what they make canola oil from).  Rapeseed was once considered a specialty crop in Canada, but now has become a US cash crop as well.  Between the US and Canada 7-10 million tons of canola seed is produced.  80% of the crop is genetically modified, which is why we personally don’t ever use it. 

Now this really something!

We arrived at a really lovely campground and were shown our site at the top of a steep hill which had the most amazing views of the vast St Lawrence River! It was hard to believe we were not looking at an ocean.  Norm and I thought we probably had one of the best sites in the place!  They even had a couple of tee-pees, or a covered wagon to stay in if one desired.  I thought they were really cute (in a rustic-“ I want to have a campfire in the middle of my tent”, sort of way). For some reason Norm did not share my enthusiasm.

Pretty nice view for a "parking lot"

Monday July 16th

Today we had to make the decision whether to drive 45 minutes to a beautiful interior park that had a hike about 10 plus miles long and contained a section with 300 stairs and a huge suspension bridge, or a hike in another park 15 minutes away that had a bike path and hiking trails of various lengths along the rugged coastline.  Gee, let us think a minute.  We had just done the gorge in Quebec, and the 10 mile hike seemed just a little (or a lot) too strenuous for this stage of the trip. What a great choice we made!

Such a gorgeous day! 

Alison loving the view
National Park Du Bic 

We hiked a few miles to a beautiful point where they advertised seals basking in the sun, but they were nowhere in sight.  As we were driving to a trailhead that offered a more challenging hike, we discovered the bike path. It was such a marvelous ride with the temperature about 70 degrees, milky sunshine, and lovely cool breeze. 

The coastline was what we love most about Bar Harbor Maine yet reminded us of New Zealand with its ruggedness. 

We had a picnic at the river’s edge then continued on our 10-12 mile ride.  Not too bad a workout for a couple of old farts!

While checking out the town of Rimouski, Norm and I browsed in local shops purchasing some cheeses, smoked oysters, and pork chops for tomorrow night.  We returned to the campsite, had dinner and enjoyed a spectacular sunset while playing cards before retiring for the night.

The next morning, I (Norm) was chatting with our next door RV neighbor and discovered something interesting about measurements.  In Quebec, your personal weight is expressed in pounds but when you buy something in the store, it is measured in kilos.  Your height is in feet and inches but you drive kilometers to the next destination.  Temperature is measured in centigrade unless you are at the beach – then the temperature of the water is in Fahrenheit.   Not that any of this really matters – because it’s all in French anyway!!!!