Les Escoumins : No Beluga's for you

RV is finally fixed - only took 5 days, but we are able to continue on our way. Picked up some supplies and did some needed laundry and will be heading out of Quebec City in the morning.

Left Quebec City Saturday heading for Les Escoumins to hopefully see some Beluga whales. On the Route de la Novelle France, we pass the Montmorency Falls which are very visible from the road, but we did not bother to stop as they are nothing like Niagara. Parking is also expensive, but we do admire them from the highway as we drive by.

We are taking the scenic route, so we pass many old building and churches in the small villages. Our first stop is at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, a religious pilgrimage shrine. The church is spectacular, huge and clean stone with a breathtaking entrance complete with gold doors. The ceiling is at least 100 ft high and incredibly detailed. A service is underway, so exploring and picture taking was not encouraged. Inside the entrance, two huge pillars are filled with crutches, canes, walkers etc of the "healed" and both side hallways contain numerous confessionals, some in use. Outside next to the gift shop is a booth than you can get your souvenirs blessed by a priest dressed in white robes. A very different but nice stop.

The Charlevoix region is next -  a narrow highway full of hills with huge descents of up to 15% grades, so steep the road disappears as you approach the descent. By the time we reach the end, I'm convinced that the engineer used to design rollercoaster rides. Aside from that, it's a pleasant drive thru very picturesque villages filled with quaint churches, lots of old heritage brick building and cemeteries. Unfortunately, it's impossible to pull off and take any pictures. We take a ferry across the Saguenay river mouth to Tadoussac that runs 24h a day before making our final stop of the day at Cap-de-Bon-Desir Interpretation and Observation Centre. We arrive just in time to view a couple of Minke whales from the shoreline, as well as numerous harbor dolphins before we have to leave. The whales are so close we can see their blowholes.

We overnight across from the town of Les Escoumins on a peninsula of land that juts out into the river with a dozen other RVs all parked along the road enjoying the beach and the beautiful view of the town across the water.

Our second day is spent whale watching.  We take a cruise out into the Saguenay Marine park where the waters are protected from casual boating.  Our zodiac is full with 30 people and a naturalist.  we are lucky to see some minke whales, porpoises, seals, as well as some humpbacks.  The humpbacks are breathtaking when they flip up the tail as they dive.  Unfortunately, we do not see any belugas, but apparently, there are only about 900 of these left in the wild today.  We spend some more time again whale watching from the rocks at the interpretation center and see more minke whales. Back to our beach campsite for another night of free camping.

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Quebec City : Waiting and waiting for parts!!

Four days have passed and we are still here in Quebec City.  We waited Monday for an appointment to be seen at the repair shop.  We then spent Monday evening and most of Tuesday trying to use up all our propane to empty the tank.  Man, that generator is loud!  We had to turn it off at night to get some rest.  It turns out the valve is defective caused by someone's shoddy work before we purchased the RV.  Today we are waiting for the parts to arrive and be installed - fingers crossed!  We have spent our time in the parking lot of the repair shop where we have power and water, but it is very noisy with highways all around. We have done a little biking and some shopping and watched lots of movies... and put together a video of our travels so far.

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Quebec City : Propane is a Pain

It's time to say goodbye to Montreal and start heading for Quebec City.  We don't want to arrive there till Friday night, so we decide to stop at Trois Rivieres for the night at a Tourist Information Center. We take the scenic Chemin de Roy which is the first road built in North America (1731-1737).  Our first stop is Forges du Saint Maurice, the first ironworks company in Canada.  It was established in Canada in 1730 as an industrial village with the sole purpose of producing pig iron to export back to France. The 500 inhabitants of the village consisted of a few skilled ironworkers for the forge and a lot of support staff and their families. One of the most important and very labor intensive tasks was the production of charcoal.  This required harvesting wood, (a worker was expected to produce 10,000 cords a year!!), cut it to a precise length, stack it in a precise way, cover it with leaves and dirt, then slowly let it burn for 6 weeks while monitoring and preventing it from catching fire. For the 150 years this company stayed in business, besides producing pig iron, they also produced pots, iron tools, eating utensils, cannons and cannon balls.  What they were most known for was making wood burning kitchen stoves. The company finally shut down due to a lack of skilled workers.

We arrive at our final destination - the tourist info center - and spend a pleasant night in the parking lot.

Woke up this morning to the realization that we are almost out of propane and will need to find some before the end of the day. We continue along the Chemin du Roy passing through many little villages, each with its own beautiful church.  The nicest was the one in Saint-Anne-de-la-Perade. Our final stop of the day is at a sugar shack in Saint-Augustin-De-Desmaures, where they harvest the sap of the maple trees and make very yummy snacks, as well as other maple products. Hot maple sugar is poured over ice to harden, then you use a stick and wrap up the maple syrup YUM!!

It's mid-afternoon and we still are looking for propane. Fortunately, we spot an RV campsite and, after checking in with them, head across the street where we discover that we have a problem with our propane tank and it won't fill properly. That needs to be fixed! So for the next couple of hours, we go from one recommended place to the next in Quebec City trying to get our problem solved. Everyone is very helpful, if a little sketchy, At one point our RV is surrounded by propane cylinders with a gentleman banging on the tank trying to unstick the propane valve, but unable to fix the problem. At our last stop, the mechanic says he can fix it, but not till Monday, we shall see how that turns out. We finally make it to our camping spot here in Quebec City - an abandoned zoo. It is now a park-and-ride and RVs are welcome to park here.  Its a short bus ride to Old Quebec City.

 

Old Quebec City consists of two parts, a lower part as well as an upper part that is enclosed by a wall.  The streets are very narrow with some cobblestones.  The buildings are very old and quaint, very European looking.  We feel like we are in France almost.  The whole city, upper and lower, is achingly picturesque at every turn.  

We take a guided tour of the Citadel, a star-shaped fortress high on the hill that actually never came under attack.  The tour also includes the second home of the Governor General of Canada with elegant meeting rooms and ballrooms.  We spend two days wandering old streets past churches, old forts, and historic buildings, as well as sampling poutine, crepes, and delicious chocolate dipped cones.  The chocolate dipped cones are soft serve vanilla, chocolate, or raspberry ice cream dipped in flavored white chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate - divine.  This is a business that could take off in Victoria! We have walked many miles up and down hills, as well as some very steep stairs so we can afford the calories.  

One staircase is called Escalier Casse-Cour or break-neck stairs!  We also walk along Rue Sous le Cap, which is supposed to be the narrowest street in North America, as well as being very old.  Because the road is so narrow, there are overhead walkways to access dwellings as the doorways would intrude too much into the roadway.  We watch two men try unsuccessfully to deliver a chest along a narrow passageway into a home.  Entertaining as this was, the rain was starting so we left for the old zoo.  

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