We had a good time in Ottawa: visiting family, and doing a bit of shopping. During this leg of the trip, we crossed our 2000km mark.

I was also informed that the Sir John Carling building, where I spent about a third of my career, has been demolished.

After refueling and finding propane, we are ready for the next leg.

We are currently near the 1000 Islands.  We have visited here many times and are forgoing the boat tour opportunity

We will head towards the other Prince Edward Island to see what it has to offer at this time of year.

Then we will continue to follow the Explorer’s route,staying off the 401 as the road close to the water may offer more surprises.

Check back later to see what we have found.

Guy

Cindy and I both have family in Ottawa. So we are spending the weekend here for some R & R. There is another R&R: replace and reload tablet. The cracked screen on my old one is interfering with my productivity.

So here is a recap of the last 2 days.

From Québec City we went East on the north shore. After a brief stop at Chutes Montmorency, we visited a bee museum and proceeded to Sainte Anne de Beaupré. This is a very ornate Church and well worth the side trip from Québec.

On Saturday, we climbed the 282 steps to the top of the Oratoire Saint Joseph in Montreal.

Monday, we are back on the trail, following the St Lawrence towards the Great lakes.

We took the road through the mountains because it was shorter than the coastal route. We had torrential downpours in the windiest and steepest part of the road. It was an adventure.  Consequently, we found one of those HALTES to rest up for today.

Great sightseeing today as well. We stopped at. Manoir Rochard just West of Matane.

This appears to be worth visiting, closed for the season.

IN Sainte Flavie we saw a cute memorial to the tidal storm of December 2005 that destroyed several houses.

More later after i get my broken tablet screen fixed

On our drive around Gaspé, we see several “halte municipale”. These rest stops vary in shape and size. Some have playgrounds, some have pools, while others also have free RV dump stations.

Today also marks our first 1000 km of our road trip.

We also visited an authentic general store in. Cap d’espoir.  This is a wonderful restoration of the family’s 1928 store.  It is full of artifacts and history of the fishing village.

For $10, you get a guided tour that is easily worth twice that. In case you are wondering, the two brothers speak a fair English.

Of course, when we rounded the point, we paused to look at rocher percé. It is bigger than I imagined from the pictures.

Tune in tomorrow, for another snippet from our trip.

Guy

We are going from one island to the other on opposite sides of the country.

If anyone is tailgating, this is what they will see.

They will also get a web site to visit to say they saw us on the road.

Today we left New Brunswick and gained an hour as we start our trek around Gaspésie.  Pulled up near Chandler for the night after an unsuccessful attempt to find a fossil hunting expedition.

Tomorrow we see the hole in the rock.

Guy

Today we headed up the East Coast of New Brunswick. Just before Tracadie, we saw a lifesize Heron made of driftwood. “Stop and turn around” Cindy said.

This guy is an artist. He had dozens of sculptures, some humongous.  In his back yard was more driftwood than I have ever seen in one place.

We worked our way up to Caraquet. Just West of town, we saw a nice park behind a big stone church.  There was a food stand and plenty of huge sea art.  Cindy got some good pictures which may show up on her hats and hospitalitea blog soon.

We also picked a theme for our trip. I should have pictures tomorrow.

Guy

We got a late start to getting on the road, but we made it off the Island. Torn between the 70 mile yard sale and our excursion, we reluctantly headed for the bridge.

We drove down main street in Shediac.  We saw the big chicken and the big lobster at the visitor centre.

Then we followed the coast North and found a lady selling seaglass art from her home.

We pulled up in Miramichi for the night.  Heading up towards Bathurst tomorrow….

Guy

Yes I know, I am dedicated to writing about life on Prince Edward Island.  However, We are about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime, going around the block so to speak around Canada and the USA.

In Canada we will follow this route:

In the USA, we will follow this route:

We will be leaving shortly and have about 500 planned stops along the way.

Armchair travellers are welcome to follow us on our trip:  We will blog when we find time enough to slow down and find some free Internet.  I also invite you to suggest some stops that are not too far off our route.  We want to be sure to get to Haida Gwaii before the snow flies.

Keep checking back; our adventure begins in just a few days.

Guy