Gaspe Peninsula - Rocks and Birds

As we continued traveling around the Gaspe (which means Land’s End) Peninsula, we were amazed at the beautiful sites that appeared around almost every corner. Each one seemed to be better than the previous. Located on the south side of the St. Lawrence, this peninsula, with its rugged but breathtaking landform, is the continuation of the Appalachian range. The head of the Gaspe Peninsula constitutes the end of the Appalachians, and contains a large quantity of fauna and flora. Here the land joins with the sea and from this union are born pebble beaches, dizzing cliffs, small coves and fine sand beaches. For as far as the eye can see, there is only water – the tide goes out, comes in and creates rolling surf and waves.
While driving along, we spied the La Martre Lighthouse which was built in 1906 and remains operational. As we had mentioned previously each lighthouse prism is unique to itself, so the ships will know their exact location by the light they see coming from the lighthouse. La Martre lighthouse signals four short lights and one long one. Soon after leaving, we found a lovely spot by the side of the road and figured it was meant for us to spend the night there. We pulled over and had a beautiful view of the St. Lawrence and we were able to see the lighthouse work once it became dark. We stopped about noon and just relaxed, watched the water and listened to the waves.

The next morning, we headed out to the towns of Gaspe and Perce. We had decided to take an interior road instead of the coastal one we had been on, figuring we’d see farmland and meadows. What a mistake! It was a hilly, curvy road right through and over the Chic Choc Mountains. The grades were 14-16% and we were barely climbing up some of them. Once we got to Gaspe, we decided that we’d rather spend our time in Perce as there was nothing of real interest to us in Gaspe. So we drove a little further and stayed at the Camping Tete d’Indien about 20 miles from Perce. The campground was small but the staff was very helpful and sold us tickets for the Bonaventure Island boat trip as well as made reservations for us to have a wonderful seafood dinner at a very quaint restaurant. We sat at the table right behind the old stove and I have to say, it was an eating extravaganza! We had reservations (the only way you could get in) at 6:30. I had a whole steamed lobster (approximately 2 lbs.) and George had Cod. With that, we each had a seafood bisque that was to die for! Then our main dinner entre came. After eating that, we were served a chef's salad. By this time, we were absolutely stuffed, but it was time for dessert and coffee. They had apple pie, sugar pie, strawberry shortcake, strawberries and fresh fruit and cheesecake. We could hardly waddle out of the restaurant. There was absolutely no rush. In fact, they didn't finish serving us and get us our bill until 8:45 p.m. That would never happen in the states. It was a bit pricey but what a dining experience!

The campground we stayed at got its name from a rock resembling the profile of an Indian. Notice the face in the middle of the picture? Legend says “white men came from Europe on a great ship, kidnapped a young Indian girl and took her back to their country far away. Ever since, her lover tirelessly awaits the return of his beloved, with his back to the sea and sorrow in his eyes, his gaze fixed on the cliffs.”

Once we set up, we drove into Perce and looked around for a while, found where we could park the truck without having to pay, for the boat trip tomorrow, and looked over the dock where we would be boarding the boat. We also took some pictures of the Perce Rock and both of us walked in the St. Lawrence Gulf. It’s about the coldest water I think I’ve ever been in!
The next day we drove into Perce, parked the truck and walked to the dock. The boatride would go all the way around the Perce (pierced) Rock which is an impressive monolith that is one of the most photographed sites in North America. It is made of limestone and the arch is 20 meters in diameter. On our way to Bonaventure Island, we saw thousands of Northern Gannets nesting on the ledges of the cliffs. They, are delightfully animated and colorful birds, and share their spot with seals splashing about in the lower waters. The highpoint of our visit to this 4 square kilometer rocky land fashioned by the sea, was the sight of 250,000 Northern Gannets nesting on the island. These Gannets return to the same nesting site each year. Both partners help build the nest using algae, feathers, flotsam and grass. We noticed that many of the Gannets raised their heads with their beaks pointed at the sky. We soon learned that before taking off, the Gannet raises its bill skyward for a few seconds and fills its air cells located in its neck to absorb the shock of the dive. Then taking a deep breath, it releases a hoarse cry and takes flight. These little creatures fascinated us for quite some time. Babies had been hatched and mothers were protecting them from danger. The babies were fuzzy, like newborn chicks, and had black beaks instead of the grey color on the adults.

The boat tour was $25.00 per person and took about an hour and a half to go around Perce Rock and then travel around Bonaventure Island and back to the dock. You could get off at Bonaventure and pay an additional $3.50 each to hike any or all of the four trails on the island. We hiked two of them, which was approximately 4.5 miles – plenty for us since a good deal of the hike was uphill. We were both pooped by the time we returned to the dock and caught the ship back across the Bay. Included in the price of the tour was the Discovery Museum which gave us a great deal of information regarding the settlement of Perce. In the 17th century, Perce was to become the pride of fishing in the Gaspe Peninsula. 400-600 European fisherman would gather each summer to catch Cod. Under the English regime, experienced Cod fisherman set up permanent instead of seasonal stations along the St. Lawrence Gulf run by well organized fish trading companies. The crews of the cod trading vessels were no longer equal to the task and laborers were hired from as far as Quebec City. The fisherman would set out to sea before dawn, while at the packing shed, others performed specialized tasks to process the fish. Throughout the season, the workers would prepare dried cod (summer fishing), green cod (fall fishing) and cod liver oil for foreign markets. At the dawn of the 20th century, the era of great fisheries came to an end. In the calm serenity of Perce, Bonadventure Island, and Perce Rock, a new era was about to come to life. While the first cruises around Bonaventure Island were getting under way, painters, photographers, poets and novelists, naturalists, and other passionate visitors from home and abroad were discovering the area and tourism began to flourish!

Well, this was definitely a full day and tomorrow we will continue our trip around Gaspe Peninsula. McKenzie says she is bored and it is time to get back on the road. We will see the Bay area as well as the Valley area before we head into New Brunswick. I’m sure we’ll find new and different things to enjoy so stop back by the blog whenever you can. We miss and love all of you and hope you are enjoying this trip as much as we are. See you soon!

Woodcarvers, Lighthouses and Sinking Ships!!

We awoke to rain and wind on the morning we had scheduled to head out of Old Quebec, but fortunately by the time we were underway, the weather had improved a bit. We have decided we wanted to take Route 132 which is the coastal highway around the Gaspesie Pennisula.

Approximately 85 kilometers down the road, we stopped at the little town of St. Jean Port Jolie where the long main street accommodates the galleries of the region’s most popular woodcarvers. We walked along the road and visited most of the galleries.

While there were some very unique carvings, most of them were quite expensive. We did run across a park that had some very unusual carvings. Everything was written in French so we had no idea what it was but McKenzie really enjoyed playing "crazy dog" and running around the carvings pulling me behind while holding on to her leash.

We did enjoy one gallery in particular though. The artist was Noel Guay and he had been carving since 1957. His specialty was wildlife and had we had a place to put it, we would have certainly bought one of his pieces. His son, Mario has been mastering the art for 30 years and also does a fantastic job. After spending several hours looking, we headed down the road a bit further and found a nice large spot by the highway where we could drycamp for the night. One of the things we noticed about this area is that there are fields and fields of mustard. It is so yellow that it almost hurts your eyes to look at it. Two other couples from Quebec joined us and since one of them spoke a bit of English, we had a nice conversation. They had been on a two week holiday going around the peninsula and were now heading back home.

The next morning brought more drizzly rain and wind and the temperature dropped dramatically. We decided it was time to get out our coats once we arrived at the Pointe-au-Pere lighthouse, overlooking the St. Lawrence River. Although there are approximately 16 lighthouses along the Pennisula, Pointe-au-Pere is the most photographed and well known. We walked the 128 steps (and believe me, I counted every one of them!) up to the top of the lighthouse. Even though it was very overcast, the view out over the St. Lawrence was beautiful. We learned that each lighthouse has its own method of lighting which tells the ships where they are and which lighthouse is sending out the light. We also learned that we definitely wouldn’t have wanted to be a lighthouse keeper, even though they were given a house to live in plus their wages. Their jobs were long and dangerous, especially when it came to washing the outside of the windows of the lighthouse, as they were expected to do once a month. Looking down on the sites from the top of the lighthouse, there is no way you would have had me hanging out washing windows!

Lighthouses have become a thing of the past now since GPS has taken over. It’s sad, but I guess that is progress. Anyway, we were glad to get a close up view of this one.

In addition to the lighthouse information, we found out something additional. We all know about the Titanic, but we were totally unaware of the second most tragic ocean liner wreckage in history – the Empress of Ireland!
Taking advantage of the wave of immigration, the Canadian Pacific Railway began building twin ocean liners measuring 167 meters in length to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 1904: the Empress of Britain and the Empress of Ireland.

Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company built the Empress of Ireland with 7,000 workers in 14 months. After being launched on January 27, 1906, the Empress of Ireland embarked on her maiden voyage from Quebec to Liverpool on June 29, 1906. After the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the number of safety boats aboard the Empress of Ireland was increased from 20 to 40. On the morning of May 28, 1914, as before every departure, safety exercises including launching of the life boats, fire fighting, and closing the water tight doors were carried out in less than 3 minutes. Putting each of the lifeboats in the water required 10 members of the crew. Aboard ship, for the six day voyage from Quebec to Liverpool were 420 crew members and 1057 passengers, including more than 200 former employees of a Detroit automotive factory.

The crew cast off at 4:27 p.m. on May 28, 1914. As the ocean liner prepared to carry out her 192nd crossing of the Atlantic, the passengers aboard took their places. Captain Henry George Kendall was on his first voyage in command of the Empress of Ireland. At the time, ships greater than 30 meters were required to have the assistance of a pilot to navigate on the St. Lawrence. As he had done for 8 years, Adelard Bernier guided the ship for the 157 miles separating Quebec and Pointe-au-Pere, where he was then dropped off.

Through the fog at a distance of some hundred meters, the crew of the Empress saw the bow of the Storstad heading directly toward them. Collision seemed inevitable. At 1:55 a.m., the Storstad rammed the Empress and then immediately backed off. Several passengers heard the initial sound and felt a shock that some thought to be that of the ship mooring to a wharf. The enormous hole some 4 meters in width and 14 meters in height created by the Storstad allowed a huge quantity of water to enter several decks at the same time. The Storstad penetrated the ship so deeply that it damaged the water tight bulkhead separating the two huge boiler rooms. These were flooded in less than 2 minutes. About 270,000 litres of water per second were pouring into the rooms. The fires in the furnaces were doused causing the pressure in the boilers to decrease such that the ship lost its capacity to maneuver.

As soon as the alarm was sounded, the crew members assigned to manually close the water tight doors proceeded to their stations. The water had already flooded several passageways. The listing of the ocean liner prevented the crew from activating the closing mechanisms on the starboard doors. Crewmembers already at their stations tried to lower lifeboats into the water but the weight of the lifeboats (2 tons), the complexity of the maneuver, and the angle of the ship made launching the lifeboats impossible. Only 5 of 21 starboard lifeboats were lowered.

Ronald Ferguson, the chief telegraphist, sent an SOS stating that the ship was listing badly at 1:56 and again at 2:04 a.m. As the listing worsened, (the inclination of the ship was greater than 60 degrees) the passengers were thrown into total darkness and found it increasingly difficult to reach the decks. The water already flooding most of the 2nd and 3rd class cabins on the starboard side, condemned hundreds to their death. Others fell into the icy water or were hit with moving objects. Captain Kendall, still at his command, was thrown overboard, but miraculously survived.

The Storstad launched their boats at 2:08 a.m. and started picking up survivors. The pilot boat, Eureka, arrived at the scene of the tragedy 45 minutes after the shipwreck, followed by another boat. At 6:00 a.m., the two boats unloaded their survivors at the wharf of Rimouski. Shortly after, the Storstad set sail for Montreal where it arrived on May 31. Upon docking at the wharf of the Dominion Coal Company, the ship unloaded its coal and was seized for inquiry by Court Order from the Admirality Court of Quebec. The inquiry commission concluded that Officer Alfred Toftenes, commander of the Storstad that night, was guilty of negligence. He had changed the course of his ship in the fog. As to Captain Kendall, he was let off with blame for having stopped his vessel in the fog for 8 minutes while trying to determine which way to move.

In mid June, the Canadian Pacific, under pressure from the families, ordered a search for the bodies. By the end of July, just over 250 had been recovered. Divers removed the safe on August 20th along with 212 silver ingots with a value of $1,099,000 at that time.

On September 15, 1914, the diving work on the wreck seized. World War I had begun and the tragedy of the Empress of Ireland was forgotten! The ship had sank in 14 minutes, with only 465 survivors!!

We were quite moved by this story and totally unaware of it before coming here. We’ll be heading on down the road tomorrow and hopefully find other interesting things to share with you. Til then, enjoy life and take care of one another.

Bonjour Quebec City!

Only two days in Quebec and we’ve learned to speak French!!! Well, not really, but we have learned to point a lot. Actually, we were kind of prepared to not like Quebec City. We had heard the usual about the unfriendliness of the folks here and the fact that they would only speak French, but we found all that to be untrue. Most of the people we met in Quebec City were very friendly and those that could speak English did so when they found out we were from the States. They were extremely helpful and we were very pleased with our visit.

On its 400th anniversary, “the cradle of the French presence in North America” opened its door to the world. Artists, performances and magical encounters take center stage in this once-in-a-lifetime get-together. The City of Quebec was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain and is also known as the cradle of French Civilization in North America. It is the capital of Quebec and seat of the National Assembly. Quebec City has a population of 638,000 of which 95% are French speaking. It is the largest province in Canada and one of the safest regions in North America.

We stayed at Au Sous-Bois campground, about 15 miles outside the city. We were able to drive our truck to the Aquarium, about 7 miles away and then catch a bus into town. The bus cost $2.00 per person and was good for as many rides as you wished during the day. We got off at the Ferry and began exploring Old Quebec City.

It was very beautiful and reminded me of what I thought you would see in Paris. Many small cobblestone streets with shops and outdoor cafes on both sides and lots of flowers.

After walking around for a while, we decided to have an Italian Buffet at one of the outdoor cafes. The food was very good and fortified us for the walking which we would be doing for the rest of the day. The celebrated hotel, Chateau Frontenac, is one of the most photographed spots in old Quebec City.

On top of the Museum of Civilization is a rooftop garden aptly named the Visionaries Garden. It is a garden for everyone that reflects the cycle of life: it is born, blooms, and shares its riches before returning to the earth. Vegetables, herbs and flowers are in abundance along this tiered garden high up above the buildings. It also includes a “talking well”. From the depths of the well, children speak to us about their lives, their fears and their hopes while pictures float at the bottom depicting day and night time images.

Located along side the Louise Basin is Espace 400 which is the official headquarters of the 400th anniversary celebrations. Here the grain silos are located which will act as the backdrop for the astonishing Image Mill, the largest outdoor architectural projection ever created. The grain silos are used as an enormous screen on which to project striking images from the history of Quebec. This project took three years to develop and two months to set up. Though it was cold and windy, George and I were amazed at the technology for this light and sound show, and glad that we braved the weather to experience it.


Right next to Espace 400 is the Ephemeral Gardens. Eleven avant-garde gardens were created by artists and architects from Quebec, Canada, the First Nations, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom using minerals, plants, sounds and smells.

Located on Cap Diamant, the Citadelle constitutes the eastern flank of Quebec’s fortifications and is known as the Gibraltar of America. Construction of the Citadelle began in 1820 and lasted more than 30 years. It is star shaped and is an active military base. It has a changing of the guard but since we had just seen the one at the Legislative building in Ottawa, we didn’t stay for this one. Looking down from the Citadel you can see the broad boardwalk that flows through the lower town.

All in all, we were very pleased with our visit to Quebec City. The bus service was excellent and the city was very quaint and different from anything we had seen previously. It is well worth a visit. George especially enjoyed lounging around with Mr. Moose.

We are now heading to the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec and will be there for at least a week. From there, we will be entering New Brunswick. We’re not sure what to expect once again on this adventure as we will be hugging the coastline, but at the first opportunity, we’ll update the blog so you can share our trip with us. Til then, stay healthy and happy

Montreal and "Smoked Meat" Sandwiches

We pulled into Camping Alouette RV Park, located about 15 miles from Montreal. We will stay here three nights and had already decided that since Montreal is such a huge city, we would take a Gray Line bus tour to view the city. We chose this park because the bus will pick up in the park and take you down to the Gray Line station. The tour was about $41.00 per person (senior rates) and it was well worth it! We were picked up at 8:30 a.m. and would return to the park around 4:30 p.m.

Montreal has a population of approximately 3,800,000 people within a 55 kilometer distance. The French colonists were the first to arrive in Montreal, followed by the English, the Scottish and the Irish. Today, 80 distinct ethnic communities are represented in its population. It boasts a rather large underground pedestrian network which appears to just be one continuous mall, leading you by any kind of store you can imagine and almost any type of fast food spot. It definitely makes Houston’s underground look pretty pitiful by comparison. George is trying to decide which direction we need to go in the underground tunnel.

One of the first stops on the tour was Notre Dame Basilica.

A stone church was built between 1672 and 1683. It was located right in the middle of Notre-Dame Street. By 1800, many parishioners had to listen to mass in the square in front of the chapel because it was no longer large enough to accommodate everyone. The west tower, called Perseverance, was the first of the twin towers to be constructed. It was completed in 1841 and houses the great bell, which weighs 10,900 kg. A 10 bell carillon is housed in Temperance, the second tower, which was completed in 1843. The magnificent interior is sculpted in wood. Paintings, sculptures and stained glass windows illustrate biblical passages as well as 350 years of parish history. The organ has four keyboards, 99 stops and approximately 7,000 pipes.
Old Montreal allows you to wander down narrow, winding streets dating back to the origins of the French colony. There are many splendid buildings from the 1700’s and some of the most remarkable 19th century Victorian commercial buildings in North America. This charming historical setting has some superb public squares, five history museums, over thirty art galleries and numerous boutiques and sidewalk cafes.

Our tour also took us by the Biodome which recreates four of the finest ecosystems of the Americas, complete with plants, animals by the thousands, cliffs and waterways, and even the climate itself. A tour of the Biodome covers the lush, humid and hot tropical forest; the Laurentian Forest, where beavers, otters and lynx are waiting; the St. Lawrence Marine Ecosystem, with a basin of 2.5 million litres of salt water and which is home to an astounding variety of birdlife and underwater fauna; and finally, a visit to the two Poles with a chance to admire penguins and auks at the same time.

The Biodome stands in the shadows of the Montreal Tower at Olympic Park. Built for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games, the Olympic Stadium is the park’s centerpiece. It is topped by the tallest inclined tower in the world, Montreal Tower. After riding in a cable car up the incline, the Observatory provides a view on a clear day of up to 80 kilometers in every direction.

Mount Royal Park is affectionately referred to as “the Mountain” by locals and has become the preferred viewing spot for nature lovers, bird watchers and sports enthusiasts. The numerous paths and superb lookout points offer hours of recreation. Though we had a cloudy day, you could still see quite a bit of Montreal from the top of the park.

The same architect who designed Central Park in New York also designed Mount Royal. There are beautiful flower gardens throughout the park. Also, found on the slopes of Mount Royal are two of the city’s oldest cemeteries, Mount Royal which covers 165 acres and Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery which is Canada’s largest cemetery. Since 1854, more than 900,000 people have been buried there. Nearby on the parks outskirts, are the campuses of two universities as well as Saint Joseph’s Oratory which welcomes pilgrims annually. It is one of the world’s most visited shrines. The basilica’s huge dome reaches 97 meters and is second only in height to Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The shrine, devoted to Saint Joseph consists of a primitive chapel, a votive chapel, a crypt and a basilica large enough to accommodate 10,000 worshippers.
The road leading up to Mount Royal allows interesting views of homes costing upwards of a million dollars.

When the bus brought us back to the station, we decided to go to Dunn’s which was recommended by a lady who was born in Montreal. They make a sandwich called “smoked meat”, which we would probably call a Reuben in the States. A lady sat down next to us who was from Montreal and had been to Dunn’s many times. She told us how to order the sandwich and to have them exchange the fries for poutine fries (fries with a brown gravy and cheese curds). It was very delicious! We had had poutine fries out at the desert this year when Wally and Sam had made them for one of the happy hours. Then the lady said we couldn’t leave without having a piece of the Dunn’s special cheesecake! By the time we left, we could hardly waddle out! But it was delicious and we have now been thoroughly indoctrinated to French Canadian food.

Though the day was cloudy and rainy, we enjoyed the tour thoroughly and were very thankful that we did not have to drive ourselves into the city. After a full day of riding around and walking, we decided that we’d take a day off to catch up on some housekeeping items and relax before heading off to our last city, Old Quebec.

We’ve found the Province of Quebec to be a real challenge. Everything is written in French and that is most all that is spoken here. Many of the tourism employees will speak English but a lot of the residents either can’t or won’t speak English. The grocery stores are quite frustrating as all the aisles are labeled in French and we found ourselves going up and down all the aisles to look for the items we wanted. We’ve also found that things are getting more expensive the farther east we go in Canada. I think we will definitely be ready to start slowing down and taking life a little easier after our next few day in Old Quebec. We have decided to drive around the coastal road of Quebec to Perce and then on down to New Brunswick. We’re not sure what we will encounter, but we thought it would be a lovely drive and are looking forward to getting away from the cities. Of the three cities we have visited so far, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, - Ottawa is our most favorite. It is definitely the smaller of the three and has a nice mix of old and new. All signs are in both English and French and the Rideau Canal is a very beautiful walking, running, and biking trail. Large boats come down the canal, park and spend the evening in Ottawa.And of course, we loved the Beaver Tails which are whole wheat pastries stretched to the shape of a beaver’s tail and float cooked on Canola or Soya oil. They are served piping hot and topped with your choice of several delectable toppings such as cinnamon and sugar, chocolate, nuts, etc.

We’ll be looking forward to our next city visit in Old Quebec in the next few days so we hope you will join us. By the way, does anybody speak French????