EASTERN CANADA TRIP 2015
Over the years, we have been able to do a fair amount of
traveling from our home in British Columbia. We have been to the US many times, to Florida, California, Hawaii,
and of course, nearby Washington and Oregon. We spent a week in Puerto Rico, visited St
Thomas and were married in Jamaica. We visited Haiti a number of times. But it
wasn’t until Darlene’s health created issues with being able to get insurance coverage that we took a serious look at other options. A eureka
moment, we could travel in Canada to places we’ve never been!
Neither of us had ever been beyond Montreal to the east or
to the Maritimes. The question then became not if but when to go? Spring and
early summer was out as I was working for the Abbotsford International Airshow then. Winter was never an
option. So that left the fall. School is back in, most tourists have gone home
or back to work and hey, what about October and the fall colours? So why not go
then and try to cram four provinces into two weeks? We decided that we can do
this. Brochures and maps were ordered from Quebec City, New Brunswick, PEI and
Nova Scotia in August and the planning got underway. A stop at the thrift shop
for a “new” suitcase and we were all set.
We started by booking the flights to and from Montreal and
motels both there and Quebec City as well as a rental car with unlimited mileage for two weeks. The
rest, we’d do on the fly.
I spent a month brushing up on my French for our time in Quebec
– that was a complete waste of time. Parisian French and the Quebec version
bear little relationship to each other and when the latter is spoken at a rate
of 125 words per minute with gusts to 175, well………..
We caught a late Air Canada flight out of Vancouver on
October 5th arriving in Montreal around 1 am on the 6th.
We were traveling on Aeroplan points so didn’t have a lot of choices of flight
times but can’t complain too much as the cost was just the airport fees and
taxes
We overnighted at the Best Western in Dorval and left for
Quebec City in our rented Hyundai Sonata. I promptly took a wrong turn (this became a theme oft repeated) and
ended up on Highway 40 headed for Trois-Rivières instead of the Trans-Canada Highway
south of the St Laurence River. However, this didn’t change the destination, just the
routing, so not really any problem.
The next day, we booked a tour of the city on an open topped
double decker bus and had an excellent if somewhat breezy ride around much of
the old city. This gave us a good overview of the points of interest and we
picked the sites that we wanted to see more of later.
Porte St Louis, Quebec City, built in 1880 |
Chateau Laurier, Quebec City |
On Saturday, we had an easy drive from Woodstock to Moncton,
getting there by noon. We checked into our 3rd Best Western and got
directions to The Hopewell Rocks on the
Bay of Fundy. It was a pretty 40 minute drive on secondary roads from
Moncton to the park. The Bay of Fundy tide, which can be up to 46 feet was out
and this gave us the opportunity to explore the rocks from the ocean floor. A
truly spectacular attraction and a great photo op.Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick at low tide |
The next day, on Sunday morning we headed for PEI via the
Confederation Bridge. This 13 km bridge is tolled but you only pay when leaving
the island. We checked in for two nights and after a short driving tour of the
city, we went for dinner at "Lobster on the Wharf " where I had, what else - lobster! Delicious!
On Monday morning we drove north to a provincial park with
long sand dunes facing the Gulf of St Lawrence. It was cool and grey and just a
few people walking on the sand. I dipped my shoe in the water so that I could say I did. We
drove back to town via farm roads past potato fields with the reddest soil we
had ever seen. A road construction site, red soil; a garden, red soil
everywhere. Back in Charlottetown, we
spent an hour at the Confederation Museum, an interactive display with video
screens and head sets. A quiet dinner, laundry and then to bed.
Off the island on Tuesday, by way of the bridge again and 20
minutes and $45, we were back in Nova Scotia, headed for Port Hawkesbury on
Cape Breton Island.
Fall Colours in new Brunswick |
On Wednesday morning after breakfast at the local A&W,
we headed back towards Baddeck and started a clockwise drive around Cape
Breton Island. We drove the circuit in about 5 ½ hours making numerous stops for
pictures of lighthouses, fishing boats and the incredible autumn colours.
The island is very mountainous and the road seems to have as
many curves as the “Road to Hana” on Maui. A local later told us that she gets
sick every time she drives there. As it was late in the season, a number of the
tourist oriented businesses were closed but that did not impact our trip. Cape
Breton is glorious.
By this time, we were getting more than a little tired of
restaurant meals and Darlene located a “Co-Op” grocery store where we picked up
some premade cold dinners and fruit and spent the evening in our room watching
TV.
It’s now Thursday and we are once again on the road, this
time working our way generally towards Montreal. But first we have a stop
planned back in Moncton to see if we can find the “Magnetic Hill” and a covered
bridge. We eventually found both. The magnetic hill is on the edge of the
grounds of a huge theme park which was closed for the season. However, the
public still has access to the illusion and indeed, that is what it is. We
tried it both frontwards and backwards and either way, the car rolled up
the hill!
The Budd Bridge on the Cocagne River, NB built in 1913 |
Friday and back in the car and headed for Riviere-du-Loup in
Quebec, we made a detour side trip off the main road to Edmundson to get a
sense of back country New Brunswick. Lots of farm land and well maintained century
homes. Good roads and beautiful scenery.
We arrived in Riviere-du-Loup to the 5th of 6
Best Western Hotels on this trip to find a newish facility that didn’t seem
quite sure that it wanted to be a Best Western. Very high end décor but little
reference to the corporate plan. The complimentary breakfast wasn’t. In fact,
it cost us $25 to buy the restaurant ‘pass’ when we could have eaten for less a-la-carte.
I complained but doubt that anyone cared.
On the road again (country & western song?) to Montreal
on Route 20 south of the St Laurence. Light rain turned to light snow but not
sticking. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop on the highway where there was
about an inch of snow on the grass.
Took some pictures just in case we don’t
see any this winter. Quebec’s poor
highway signage bit us again. The signs for the tunnel under the river were
once again too close to the turn to permit a safe exit. So we kept going east
and finally getting across on an old steel road and rail bridge. That put us
downtown with a myriad of twists and turns through construction sites and
one-way streets and finally on to a freeway going north and west to Dorval.
Aaargh!
October 16 snow fall |
Well since driving in Montreal is so much fun, let’s take
the bus tomorrow. That way we don’t have to worry about getting lost or about
finding parking, right?
Getting the bus meant taking the hotel
shuttle back to the airport and buying $10 day passes on the #747 express bus.
Done. On the ½ hour ride down town we couldn’t see too much due to the seating
arrangement and the heavily tinted windows. We got off at the end of the line
and started walking down St Catherine’s Street.
Hmm, this end looks a lot like Vancouver’s downtown eastside. After a couple of blocks and a meeting of the minds, we moved down to the other main street where it was slightly less interesting. No strip joints, bars, SRO’s or shelters. But it was cold. Very cold as the wind blasted around the towers. After several blocks of this, enhanced by noise from the heavy construction, we sought shelter and solace in a Tim Horton’s. After a restroom and hot chocolate break, we determined that we weren’t dressed appropriately and were no longer interested in what downtown Montreal looked like. We just wanted to get back to our warm hotel and the sooner the better.
Hmm, this end looks a lot like Vancouver’s downtown eastside. After a couple of blocks and a meeting of the minds, we moved down to the other main street where it was slightly less interesting. No strip joints, bars, SRO’s or shelters. But it was cold. Very cold as the wind blasted around the towers. After several blocks of this, enhanced by noise from the heavy construction, we sought shelter and solace in a Tim Horton’s. After a restroom and hot chocolate break, we determined that we weren’t dressed appropriately and were no longer interested in what downtown Montreal looked like. We just wanted to get back to our warm hotel and the sooner the better.
While on the bus, we had spotted a Walmart near the hotel
and figured that is was a good idea to drive there on Monday morning. So after
getting directions, we set off. We drove around and around and around till
lunch time with no success.
After lunch, I got on Google Maps and printed off the
directions figuring that might be more successful. After all, I am a pilot and
am supposed to know that kind of stuff, right?
Guess what, we finally found the place and could have walked
there except for the three freeways in the way. In the interest of full
disclosure, it did take two more tries. An early dinner in the mall and back to
the motel to watch the election returns and the less said about that, the better.
Tuesday morning and it’s time to pack for home, return the
rental car and see what shopping and edible delights that may be awaiting us in
the airport terminal. After all, our flight doesn’t leave till 6:30 so we have most of
the day to ……
Paid the parking fees and we were done.