Northeast '06                                             September, p.1


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Monday, September 11

An important day for Americans.  09/11/01 was five years ago.  Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when you found out?  How has America changed, and have you changed because of it?

 

 

 

 

 

Ed's mom was 86 on Friday the 8th, and we celebrated despite the death of Frank two weeks earlier.  She has 6 living brothers and sisters, and several of them and their spouses met at a local restaurant to wish her and her sister Mary (birthday this week) a happy birthday.  We were also able to bring a couple of bottles of Frank's wine to drink at the restaurant.  The pictures:  mom and Mimi;  Martin, Mary, mom and Emile; and mom.

 

 

 

 

 

On this Monday afternoon, we headed off to northern Quebec as planned earlier, but postponed.  By the end of the day, we had taken Autoroute 20 to Sorel, took the ferry across the St. Lawrence river, then headed north on Hwy 138 (Hwy 138 rides the western coast of the St. Lawrence, while Hwy 132 follows the eastern coast) to a rest area north of Trois Rivieres near the village of Champlain.   This rest area (see picture) had a good view of the river, with bathrooms and a water source for our camper.   We met and talked with a 15-year old boy who was interested in our travels.  He lived about a 20-minute bike ride away, and he hadn't traveled much himself, except he went to Boston last year.

 

 

 

Tuesday, September 12 

 

Up the road was the city of Quebec.  We turned off the highway, and parked where we could easily walk up the hill and through the ramparts to the old city.  The old buildings were very interesting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at the mural on the left.  That is actualy a painting on the flat side of a four-story building !

 

 

 

 

 

We found ourselves near the Chateau Frontenac hotel about 11 am, and decided to take in a breakfast at a sidewalk cafe across the street from the hotel.  Tourists!  But, if you have been reading this journal, you know we are not city people, so we did not stay long.

Back to the river...

 

 

The St. Lawrence is wide here, and gets wider as we go further north.  It's a beautiful river, wide as a lake.  Up Hwy 138 again, we decided to take Hwy 362 at Baie St. Paul, as the latter was closer to the river.  Well, closer we found out, but still at some elevation from the river.  Earlier, at an information center, we were told that an interesting side trip was to St. Joseph de la Rive, a small village.  She neglected to mention, however, that to get there, you have to descend first a 11%, then an 18% grade!  Both ways... down and up.  No more trips to the small villages on the coast... we returned to Hwy 138 at La Malbaie.  There is a large hotel there, the Manoir Richelieu, with an accompanying casino.  We were hoping to spend the night there in the parking lot compliments of the casino, as there is usually free parking at casinos for RV's, but no dice!  (Sorry for the pun) 

We traveled a little further up 138 to a pull-out near a beautiful and colorful small lake close to Point aux Quilles.   Better than the casino parking lot!

 

 

 

 

 


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