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In the Heart of Quebec
Tuesday, 8th July: 7200 km - 7600 km - Plein Bois to Quebec City
Got
off to a leisurely start this morning, as it is a relatively short
drive to Quebec City, skirting Montreal.
As close as I got to Montreal
One nice thing about the drive is
that there are ample rest stops along the 401 in Quebec. Me and my
pooch had a Subway picnic lunch at one of them.
I am staying in a
Comfort Inn in Quebec City, just east of the downtown and right on the river.
Unfortunately, there is a major freeway between me and the river, and I
have yet to find a way across.
Went to eat at a local restaurant chain
last evening. It was the Normandin chain, and seemed to be a family
oriented restaurant. I thought I might get a typical French dinner. It
turned out to be rather like a Denny's, specializing in Pizza and BBQ
chicken. So I ended up with quart de poulet roti et pomme frites - a
quarter roast chicken and French fries. At least the fries were
French!
Wednesday, July 9th: Quebec City
Wah! It had to happen, but
wah!!!! It is raining! Wah, again!!!! I suppose I can't really
complain, though, because it is the first real wet day since I started
travelling, over a month ago. I had planned to do a walking tour of the
Old City, but it has pissed down most of the morning, along with some
rather spectacular thunder and lightning.
I took refuge in the Museum
of Civilization, which has as its current feature a "Gold of the
Americas" exhibit. It traces gold from Pre-Columbian times to today.One
very impressive display houses eight real ingots of gold and a
one-of-kind coin the size of a drink tray with a face value of one
million dollars.
I left Buddy in the car in a parking lot opposite the
museum, and went back every half-hour to walk and air her, but when the
thunder and lightning started, I had to pack up and head back to the
motel. Thunder terrifies her, like most dogs.
In between downpours, I
did manage to get a shot of my faithful friend with the Chateau
Frontenac in the background.
An inelegant pose!
- Posted By Ted to CanadianGay Blogspot at 7/09/2008 10:54:00 AM
The Old City
Wednesday, July 9th (Continued)
One frightening thing about the Museum
of Civilization which I forgot to mention: It was absolutely jammed
full with tadpoles - not the kind you find in the swamp, but the
two-legged kind, 5, 6, and 7 year-old Frogs. Every day camp in the
province must have brought their little charges to the museum on this
rainy day. I estimate there were probably 2,000 of them, mostly too
young to be interested in the exhibits for long.
Yesterday, I also
criticized the food. Today I want to make up for that. I went to
another local chain called Casa Grecque, and it more than made up for
my disappointment at Normandin. The food was excellent, plentiful, and
at reasonable rates. It also had lots of very hot - and probably gay -
waiters. In fact, I am sure I saw the 30-ish Maitre D' around the pool
at Plein Bois last Saturday and Sunday.
Thursday, July 11th: The Old
City
The boardwalk and Chateau Frontenac
Today the rain held off long enough for us to explore the Upper
City and admire the buildings and the views. Nearly never made it,
though, because TomTom doesn't seem to speak French very well. It
insists on telling me to make a turn where there is no place to turn,
even directing me into a one-way street the wrong way.
Buddy really
liked the boardwalk along the crest of the mount. She had all sorts of
admirers and made all sorts of friends, even though she is starting to
looking kind of dowdy from lack of a good grooming.
Buddy and a tadpole on the boardwalk
By the way, if you
are going to Charlottetown, PEI, and need your dog groomed, don't
bother with Barb's All Breed Grooming. The owner was downright snarly
with me when I tried to make a booking for next week. She must have
been taking lessons from the female dogs she grooms.
By noon, both my
little friend and I were exhausted with climbing all those stairs in
all those twisty little streets, and headed back to the motel for a nap.
- Posted By Ted to CanadianGay Blogspot at 7/10/2008 12:03:00 PM
Two Suppers
Thursday, July 10th (Continued)
I gave Normandin a second chance
tonight, because I felt like pizza. I'm glad I did. I chose to try
their new seafood pizza. All their pizzas are thin crust, just how I
like them. Your dinner plate is warmed over a candle, on a special
rack, and when it is time to eat, your pizza, on a metal plate, is
placed on the same warming rack.
The pizza was shrimp, mussels,
imitation crab, smoked salmon, and scallops in a sort of tomato-cream
sauce, and topped with cheese. It was soooo rich - and soooo delicious.
The waitress dropped some little containers of butter on the table as
well. I had to ask her what the were for. They were to spread on the
left-over pzza crusts. I didn't have any left-over crusts!
Friday, July
11th: 7600 km - 7970 km - Quebec, QC to Edmundston, NB
A nice day for
driving. I thought I would be back to English-speaking territory by
now, but northern New Brunswick is almost totally French-speaking,
although everyone seems to be fluently bilingual.
There is a sports bar
and grill in the hotel/motel I am staying in and I lucked out by
dropping in to eat on a Friday night. I had already ordered my meal of
BBQ ribs and salad from the menu before anyone thought to tell me that
Friday nights is free "finger food" - although most of the offerings
were not exactly "fingery." Among the offerings were what appeared to
be chili, several types of pizza, and my favorites: a sort of Coquille
St. Jacques (scallops in a cheesy sauce) and, yum yum, fresh steamed
mussels.
Ever better when they are free!
I just took a small taste of the scallops, because it was too
like last night's meal, but I pigged out on the free steamed mussels. I
did leave enough room, however, for my ribs and salad.
Tomorrow, it's
on to Saint John, and my first look at the Canadian Atlantic. (I have
seen it before from England, coastal Europe, and New York and Florida)
- Posted By Ted to CanadianGay Blogspot at 7/11/2008 02:59:00 PM
The Other Side!
Saturday, 12th July: 7970 km - 8350 km - Edmundston, NB to Saint John,
NB
We have reached the Atlantic! My faithful steed, my Dodge Caravan SE,
nicknamed Roo (Registration plate: CANGUY pronounced "Kangy"-roo. Get
it? This was not an accident. I am Australian, you know!), along with
TomTom, my navigator, has delivered me and Buddy to the other side of
the continent.
We got our feet and paws wet in the Atlantic near Saint
John, New Brunswick this afternoon. Buddy loved the beach and galloped
along it. Unfortunately, the beach was mostly a red mud. Now I have to
figure out how to bath her!
A couple of Atlantic lobsters
This is not the farthest east we are going,
but it does call for some sort of celebration. Hope I can find a hottie
tonight!
- Posted By Ted to CanadianGay Blogspot at 7/12/2008 12:36:00 PM
If It's Sunday, It Must Be Fundy
Sunday, 13th July: Saint John, NB
I didn't realize when I posted
yesterday's photo that it was not, strictly speaking, the Atlantic, but
the Bay of Fundy. However, I still consider myself as having reached
the east coast.
Today was a sight-seeing day: Downtown Saint John and
Harbour Area, the Reversing Falls, and the Irving Nature Park, where my
pooch and I took a 1 km each way walk along a deserted beach. We both
need the exercise.
Irving Nature Park on the Bay of Fundy
I also came across a group which I have been playing
highway leapfrog with for 3 or 4 days. It consists of eight full-sized
customized Greyhound-type buses, each carrying two people (although I
think there might be a mother-in-law as an extra passenger in one).
Each air-conditioned bus is pulling at least a four-passenger car,
although two are towing mini-vans, and one is towing a full-sized
pick-up, which in turn is carrying a full-sized motorbike.
This caravan
of 16 or 17 people is from Illinois, and is doing a circle tour of
Quebec and Atlantic Canada before heading back into the States through
Maine.
When they pull into a rest stop, they take up all the available
room allotted to truckers. Talk about gas-gobblers! It's not OPEC
causing our higher oil prices. It is this one group of tourists!
- Posted By Ted to CanadianGay Blogspot at 7/13/2008 09:27:00 AM
Co-incidence?
Sunday, 13th July (Continued)
For various reasons, I have been having
problems connecting with my dear friend Luc (aka Froggy). He lives in
Hawkesbury, which I eventually by-passed and went on with my travels
without seeing him. I told him I would connect on the way back.
The
other day I tried to book a motel in Hawkesbury, rather than impose on
Luc, who has had a string of people staying with him. Unfortunately,
neither of the two motels would take pets, so I eventually booked a
room in nearby Rigaud (close to Pein Bois Campgrounds) and emailed Luc
that I would drive from there to see him on the 25th and 26th of July. I
got this reply from Luc two days ago:
"On those dates you will be in
Rigaud: I should be at the camping Plein Bois it is the week-end of
X-Mas in July. We always go every Year and since I don't go often. I
promised Alain that week-end I will go. And on that week-end we meet
the others that I don't see because I don't go to the camping as often
anymore. Since the summer started I went only 2 saturday's. So I do my
appearance once in awhile."
I figured that if Luc was going to be at
Plein Bois, I might as well be there also, so yesterday afternoon I
phoned to make a reservation for those two nights. A few minutes ago, I
got this email from Luc:
"That was so funny, we decided yesterday to go
to the camping and I was going to pay for my stay. The guy was talking
to a Ted Wright and it was you. Coincidence or not. That will be great
so will have time to see you at last. If the weather is on ourside What
we can't do on Friday will have supper with you and Buddy and spend
time with you. On Saturday will go have supper with the French guyz.
And will meet after, That was already plan b4. It is always like that
every year."
In case you are having trouble with Luc's fractured
Franglais, what he is saying is that just by chance, he and his bf went
to Plein Bois yesterday and he was in the Plein Bois office paying his
fees. The guy he was talking to was also talking to a Ted Wright on the
phone - me!
What are the odds? Luc 40 miles from home, paying his fees,
and me 4000 miles from home, calling from Saint John, NB, to reserve my
site and pay my fees, both talking to the same guy at the same
time?
Below is a pic of Luc and I camping at Shadow Falls Gay Campround
in 2003, on a group camping trip for my original group, WestCoastGuys.
(Buddy is less than a year old in the pic)
Shadow Falls 2003
- Posted By Ted to CanadianGay Blogspot at 7/13/2008 03:00:00 PM
Allies in Lobsterland
Monday, July 14th: 8350 km - 8730 km - Saint John, NB to Charlottetown,
PEI
Headed east again this morning, to the lands of the lobsters. As you
can see in the pic below, we were lucky to escape being eaten by a
giant one. It is already devouring some other unlucky tourists.
World's Largest Lobster
We did not escape the tricky "information" signs of Shediac, NB, however. I
wanted to piss badly, and the information centres usually have toilets, so I
followed the "? ->" signs. They led me all over town before finally bringing
me to the haunt of the giant lobster.
Bursting for a leak, I asked one of the information
people if they had a washroom. He told me, yes, but they were reserved
for people with special needs. I told him I had a special need: a
special need to piss. He replied that he meant they were for people
with a physical handicap. I told him I have a physical handicap: a
weakened bladder. He finally relented and let me take a much-needed
piss.
Halfway between Shediac and Confederation Bridge, TomTom, the GPS,
decided that there was no new highway 15 East. He decided I needed to
follow the old coast highway. I'm glad he did.
I rounded a bend, and
there in the distance, I could see the marvellous bridge snaking out
into the morning mists. If I had followed 15, I would have missed that
sight.
Confederation Bridge
It was quite an experience to drive across the 12.9 km structure,
too. It is a two-lane highway floating in the air above the ocean. The
return trip for car and driver is $41.40.
- Posted By Ted to CanadianGay Blogspot at 7/14/2008 01:13:00 PM
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