69℉ at 4:00am and raining hard
Thursday, September 8, 2016
It rained hard all day and night. The internet at this campground has been very spotty, and if you want more than an hour you have to pay $10/device. It’s a very nice campground, well-maintained, clean with nice hiking trails and close to Tadoussac. They just need to improve the WIFI. I continue to have trouble with my Mac connecting to some WIFI’s. There is something a few networks do that my Mac doesn’t like. I have looked at all the settings and read on the net, but I can’t figure it out.
It was a good day to watch one of the movies we bought in Dolbeau, “Dark Places “ with Charlize Theron. It’s a captivating movie, but we only watched half, saving the other half for later. By 10:30 I was stir crazy, so we decided to drive north to Les Escoumins and have lunch at the restaurant Lillian drives out of her way to go to, Pecherie Manicouagan. How truckers drive these roads in good conditions is a wonder to me, but in fog and heavy rain, they just keep zooming along. Even without the trailer, I was driving slow. Of course the scenery makes you slow down on this stretch. Beautiful lake followed beautiful lake. Martha was drooling to kayak any one of them, but Lac Jimmy seemed the prettiest. The clouds were so low, they hung across the mountains. I love that look.
First stop was a Boulangerie (bakery) by the airport in Grandes-Bergeronnes the “chatty guy” had told Martha about. He also said there was a great whale-watching area behind the airport. The Boulangerie was cute and the lady was very nice, speaking good English. We loaded up with a small pizza with bacon, caramelized onion and sharp Canadian cheddar, some sweet rolls for breakfast and a loaf of bread, shaped like a butt (pain d’fesses). Then we drove behind the airport to a beautiful park with picnic tables lining the water’s edge, surely a great place to watch whales, but we didn’t see anything.
We took a turn too soon into Les Escoumins and ended up exploring the town down to the Ferry that takes will take you across the St. Lawrence to Trois-Pistoles. This part of town is native Innu, and we need to come back and explore. Finally arriving at the restaurant, we ordered a glass of wine while studying the extensive seafood menu. So hard to choose! I chose a seafood lasagne with a Ceasar’s salad while Martha ordered clam chowder and smoked salmon. It was reasonably busy for a rainy day, just a bit past tourist season. The service was good and the food was excellent. With windows all around, we enjoyed looking across the bay at the small town. Rt. 138 goes right through town. There is a pretty good-sized Marche (market), so we would have to come back tomorrow.
Stopping back in Tadoussac, we found a beautiful view of the harbor from the top of the mountain. We decided on desert at the Gelateria. A very nice young lady named Majorie helped us. There was no one else in the shop, so we struck up a conversation as she asked where we were traveling and where we were from. We said we couldn’t decide on where to go next – to continue northeast, to cross the St. Lawrence or to go back to pick up Haute Gorge National Park. She used to work at Haute-Gorge and she loves the park. Otherwise she said she hadn’t traveled northeast much, or across the St. Lawrence. Really! I was thinking she just lives in this little town and never leaves. Many people are like that and are perfectly happy with it. It certainly is a beautiful place. Then she told us about going to Chiapas, Mexico and spending two months in the mountains, going to California and New York State and planning a trip now to Peru! We had a great conversation about all these places until more customers came in and we said our goodbyes.