We made it to Montreal for a second time. Visiting a city that we’ve been to before was exciting because we could remember the fun parts of the city and moved around easily. We stayed at a campground in St. Jerome, northwest of the city, and got to visit with our friend Lynda from Aztec RV Resort (our home in the winter time). We also spent a couple of days with our very good friends Guy and Marcelle and had a wonderful dinner with Janet, Victor, Gayle and Keith, all good friends from Aztec. It’s amazing how many friends we have made over the last couple of years since leaving California.
We went into the city on July 1st, Canada Day and their 150th year celebration, and walked around the Jazz Festival, the Village, shopping at some underground malls and the Old Port area. We had lunch at a wonderful outdoor garden with a live jazz trio playing in the background. The funnest part of the weekend was the AML harbor dinner cruise we took to see the city from the St. Lawrence river and the International Fireworks Competition for the Canadian Celebration. The city has this fireworks competition throughout the month of July. To be honest, the DisneyWorld fireworks could win this competition hands down. We were not disappointed though… it was a very wonderful display!
Quebec City… WOW, what a beautiful Vieux Port area! The shops, restaurants, the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, the Funicular to the port area, all just beautiful and breathtaking. Our first night at the KOA we met a couple that has a friend who is a food critic so we got some great advice for restaurants. We had some “traditional” French cuisine which was very different. We really enjoyed the old world feel of the city. We took a city tour the first night and it was really revealing and inspiring. We also took a tour of The Citadelle, the oldest military building in Canada, a working fort that is home to the only French speaking Musee Royal 22nd Regiment in Canada. We watched their changing of the guard ceremony, especially paying attention to Batisse, their goat mascot. He is a Persian goat descended from the Queen’s private stock of goats. We also went to a beautiful waterfall near Quebec City called the Chute Montmorency.
Our friend Annie from Aztec told us to make sure we went to the Gaspe’ peninsula. The coast was like nothing we have ever seen before… the cliffs, rocks, lighthouses and cute little villages around every bend of the road. We were able to get in some very cool waterfall hikes and a long hike to “Lands End”, the very end of the international Appalachian Trail. We even got to see a black bear in the woods… luckily he was walking away from us. Seeing the Gulf of St. Lawrence River from the huge cliffs was amazing!
Our friend Michael, who is from Moncton, let us know that the Miramichi area in New Brunswick was not to be missed. Seeing the Pierced Rock (Rocher-Perce) on the way here was spectacular… we know that’s a little town we want to come back to. There were many shops we missed! We did a little hike at the French Fort Cove, but we struggled with the mosquitos in the woods that we stopped short. They are fierce out there! We went to several different sections of Miramichi, the downtown, Newcastle, Neguac, Chatham, and Beaubears Island. We made it to Kouchibouguac National Park (try pronouncing that one). We went out on the boardwalk to Kelly’s Beach and soaked up some sun. It was a great day!
As you can see we relied heavily on friends advise and opinions for this part of our trip. We thank you and can’t wait to share the rest of our trip with you all.
Just incredible ! One beautiful sight after another.
Just incredible! Everything’s so green and lush. Quebec is beautiful.
The sights were unbelievable! We loved Quebec City.