We got off late as I was talking to the campground owner, a very nice guy. Like many others, they work the campground all season and then go to Daytona. He likes car racing. He has a ’77 Argosy Airstream he uses for hunting, but he said he wouldn’t hesitate to drive it across Canada. He just bought the camper next to us for $4,500, saying the quality isn’t so good, but he rents it out and will have paid for it by the end of next season.
We stopped in a few scenic places before crossing into New Brunswick. At a Visitor’s Center, we picked up more brochures and talked for a while with the agent. She said, yes, things will be closing down by the end of the weekend, but you can park in K-Marts and church parking lots. On her suggestion we had lunch in Sugarbush Provincial Park. It was warm and beautiful with the leaves in full color, and children feeding the ducks.
Then we got on Rt. 11 and drove hard until 5:30, arriving at a big campground in Caraquet. It was Fermé. Martha called another and a nice lady said to just pick a site and she would see us at 9:00 in the morning. It turned out to be a beautiful campground right on the water. We chose our site and showered. With a beer and glass of wine, we watched the sun set before Martha made a great soup of the mussels and left over trout. We had bought a small fish lasagne from the Poissonerie, which was wonderful.
Martha checked out Kouchibouguac National Park, about four hours away. They close next week. We are at the southern tip of Chaleur Bay now, and want to explore the Acadian Isles while we are here. It’s too bad things are beginning to close. We have been so lucky with the weather, and the forecast for this week is fantastic.
Chaleur Bay is ranked in the top 10 most beautiful bays in the world. Driving the north side of it, I wasn’t so impressed, but today driving the south side of it, I agree. With more farms and little houses sitting on a cliff overlooking the bay with blue waters sparkling in the sun, it was a pleasure to drive.