What A Difference A Day Makes!

Today dawned bright and sunny although cold. It was about 6C (43F) when I went for my walk.

Since it was a nice day we decided to head out for Jacques Cartier Park which is north of the city. As we drove north it got cloudy and as we got into the mountains there wasn’t much colour as the trees are mostly evergreens. We were going into the park but there was a long lineup so decided it wasn’t worthwhile since the sun had left us so we decided to head east of the city again. We went through Ste Anne de Beaupre and then headed northeast on Hwy 360 for a while. We went through some little towns and obviously quite a few ski hills in the area. We saw a sign for Sept Chutes so drove there and were told it would be $19.72 for the two of us. Since we had no idea what to expect we decided not to go in.

We met up again with Hwy 138 so headed west again and came upon Canyon Ste Anne which Gordon had read about somewhere. We decided to spend the $19.00 to see what was there. It was very pretty with a beautiful falls complete with rainbow, beautiful scenery and not an over abundance of people even though it was a Saturday. There are a lot of stairs so we got our exercise. Two of the bridges over the falls are suspension bridges. I went out part way on the high one, then changed my mind with kids running back and forth and the bridge swaying, it didn’t seem like something I wanted to do. To get to the lower bridge you go down 187 steps. There’s no other way back than to climb those 187 steps so we got our exercise too! All in all, I think we got our money’s worth there.

On our way back we stopped again at Ste Anne de Beaupre and took some more shots of the shrine.

We left around 10:00 a.m. and got home about 6:00 p.m. so it was a long day and we’re both pooped!

Since this is the last day of the month, here are September’s expenses:

1. Campground Fees - $672.30
2. Groceries - $351.07
3. Laundry - $28.00
4. Wine/Spirits - $41.90
5. Entertainment - $43.15
6. Snacks - $8.52
7. Eating Out - $75.60
8. Fuel for Truck - $368.25
9. Propane - $21.20
10. RV/Truck Repair/Service - $109.00
11. Misc - $854.17
12. Insurance - $1203.30
13. Internet/TV - $53.57
14. Phones - $107.85
15. Medical/Dental - $221.22
16. Gifts - $34.20
17. Total - $4193.30

Campground Fees weren’t bad even though we were using weekly or daily this month rather than monthly as we’ve been doing most of the summer.

Misc was high this month as we made a few purchases like the tripod for the TV dish and the satellite finder, the chair massager, the new hard drive and card for PDA, We also purchased our US travel insurance which is why the insurance category is so high.

RV/Truck Repair/Service is actually the plates for the truck.

They didn’t charge us for internet again this month so that will be double next month.

So even with paying over $1100.00 for our travel insurance for the winter, we didn’t do too badly this month.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Today I woke up to rain on the roof, lots of rain, so no walk. No walk all day. No going outside all day.

It poured all day. No let ups. The campground is starting to look like a lake. I feel like we’re back in the west last winter.

The photo was taken from the living room window so you can see raindrops on the window and the water in the campground.

This morning we had some sun, not bright sun but since I was expecting rain it was great. It was 11C (52F) compared to the low single digits C (40sF) it’s been for the last few days.

It turned into a beautiful day so I sat outside from about 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Lots of RVs started pulling in early this afternoon and I met some people from Ohio who are here to visit the Old City and then heading back to Ohio through Maine. They had just come from the Maritimes. It started to cloud over mid-afternoon. Too bad we were too tired to do any sightseeing today as tomorrow sounds like a write-off!

I haven’t done a ‘view from my lawnchair’ for a while so here it is!

I’m also tired of dreaming up titles for my blogs so today’s doesn’t have one.

We 'Ferried' to Old Quebec

This morning was bright, sunny and cold. Gordon left to go and take photos at dawn. His plan was to go to the Old City on the ferry but instead he just went to the Terrace (park overlooking the St. Lawrence and Old Quebec) and took his photos from there. I went on my walk but there wasn’t anything interesting around to look at as most of the RV’s have gone.

We went into town to get groceries this morning and after putting them away with the sun shining, I sat outside and read for a while. After we had naps, we decided to go into Old Quebec for a while so we took the ferry over and went our separate ways as Gordon wanted to take photos and I wanted to take a tour of the shops. There were still lots of people around even though the cruise ship was gone. The weather was beautiful and it was warmer today than it has been in some time. We stayed for about 2 ½ hours then took the 6:30 p.m. ferry back.

Shown are a couple of photos of Chateau Frontenac. The one taken from the ferry shows the wall that surrounds Old Quebec.

We Play Tourist!

This morning when I woke up I heard pouring rain on the roof so I stayed in bed until 8:30 a.m. I think I could have slept all day but I got up and went for a walk around the new campground. The rain had stopped by then. There are people here from all over, 2 from California, 2 from North Carolina, 1 from Florida and 1 from Tennessee. There is also 1 each from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and Nova Scotia as well as 3 from m Ontario. I was quite surprised. People must be up here to see the autumn leaves.

Me standing in front of mural featuring prominent people in Quebec City's history

One of the streets in Old Quebec

Late this morning we decided to go into Quebec City. I thought we would take the ferry but we were on our way west on Hwy 20 in the truck when I realized we were driving instead. We found a place to park on the street and walked around Old Quebec and took some photos. Old Quebec is a really interesting place with cobblestone streets and lots of quaint buildings and little shops. Quebec's Old Town (Vieux-Québec) is the only North American fortified city north of Mexico whose walls still exist. There were lots of people there and we wondered why until we looked down at the St. Lawrence River and there was the Queen Elizabeth II sitting majestically in the harbour.

QEII in the harbour

Gate to Old Quebec

Ceiling in Ste Anne de Beaupre Basilica

Another ceiling in Ste Anne de Beaupre

Ste Anne de Beaupre Basilica

Front doors to the Basilica

After we left Old Quebec we drove around in circles for a while trying to get east of the city to go to Ste. Anne de Beaupre to visit the Shrine of Ste. Anne de Beaupre. Saint Anne is proclaimed patroness of the province of Québec and is also supposed to be that grandmother of Jesus. The present Basilica was built in 1923 after a fire destroyed the fourth church. The first one was built in 1658. This is a beautiful church. I would say it’s even nicer than Winchester Cathedral in Winchester, England. I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. We spent some time at Ste Anne de Beaupre, took photos inside and out and then headed west to go home but stopped at Montmorency Falls on the way. We went in at the base of the falls and took some photos, looked at the prices for the cable car, decided not to take it (I’m not much for heights anyway) so drove to the top of the Falls and walked along the walkway. Gordon walked part way over the bridge that goes over the top of the falls but I declined. While there we had a really pretty rainbow.

Montmorency Falls

Gordon waving to me from the bridge over Montmorency Falls

Rainbow over the Falls

We started to head home about 4:30 p.m. thinking we were probably going to get tied up in rush hour traffic but it wasn’t bad even going south on Hwy 73 and we arrived home around 5:30 p.m.

It’s been a long day but we saw a lot!

Now Near Levis, Quebec

Our site at Camping Transit

Photos I took this morning on my walk

This morning when I got up it was cold but bright and sunny. I went for a little walk around the park and looked at the beautiful views over Lac St-Augustin. It really is a beautiful setting, just too bad us techno folks can’t do without our communications gear. After breakfast both of us walked up to the office and got our refund for the rest of the week, then back and packed up. We left Camping Juneau shortly after 10:00 a.m. and with very little traffic on Hwy 73 proceeded to cross the St. Lawrence and arrived at Camping Transit within ½ hr or so. We were set up by about 12:30 p.m. complete with internet and TV so we’re here for a week at least. The good thing about this campground is that it’s $99.00 plus tax for a week. There are no scenic views but it’s a nice clean open campground with a nice laundry room.

Thanks to Carolyn for putting us in touch with this campground.

I got the laundry and vacuuming done and made a pot of stew. It’s supposed to rain tonight and except for this morning, its been mostly cloudy with some sunny breaks. Sure hope it’s a nice week. We’ve got a lot to see here!

We’re hoping to take a side trip to the Gaspé so will probably stay a couple of days there. It will be different to stay in a motel for a change. We were in the Gaspé in 1994 and wanted to go back so since we’re so close we may as well go. This is something we wouldn’t have been able to do with Bib.

We Arrived in Quebec City

We left Ottawa Municipal Campground at 8:15 a.m. Sunday morning, crossed the border into Quebec at 9:55 a.m. and were through the worst of Montreal around 11:00 a.m. We arrived at Camping Juneau near Quebec City at about 1:45 p.m. We checked in but it didn’t look like the site she had allotted to us would access the internet so she said she had one down by the lake and we should be able to get internet there as it was south-facing. NOT! This was a tight squeeze and not easy to get into but Gordon did a good job backing into it. He tried to site in the internet satellite but there was no way, just too many trees. We were mostly set up at this point however back to the office we went and told her that we couldn’t get our internet signal so she suggested other sites but the place is surrounded by trees so I asked her if she would refund our money and she said she would. We told her we would stay tonight and look for another campground. It’s really too bad as the view is very pretty from our back window which overlooks Lac St-Augustin. I would say that next to Double M in Lindsay this is the best view we’ve had from right out our back window.

This is our site

This is our view

One of my internet friends who reads my blog had suggested a campground at Levis, QC so off we went in search of it. We found it and Gordon thinks we shouldn’t have any problem accessing the internet and TV satellites from there. It is quite a ways outside of Levis and the only road across the river is under construction and backed up forever but there is a ferry that runs from downtown Levis to Old Quebec so we’ll probably use that to get across the river while we’re here. We’re scheduled to head to Camping Transit tomorrow.

We drove around Levis and found the ferry terminal but were unable to find any open wifi networks to post our location so everyone will have to wait with baited breath for tomorrow.

So no internet tonight and we’re using the aerial for TV and they don’t get CTV so I miss the season premiere of Desperate Housewives! We get CBC and Global in English only. I’m tired anyway so will probably have an early night. I kept waking up last night every hour as I wanted to get up early so we could get on the road early. I did get up at 6:30 a.m. which is why we got away so early today.