Monday 29 July 2013

July 27 -29 Gaspe, Forillon National Park & Perce

On our trip around the Gaspe we stayed at Camp Annie which although about a block from the beach was connected to a restaurant and motel which was on the beach.

This lighthouse at Cap-des-Rosiers is apparently the tallest lighthouse in Canada

We toured Forillon National Park, The park seems to be divided into a few different sections. This is from the North section.

On several rock faces there were lots of birds in their nests

At the South section we hiked to Cap-Gaspe (the farthest point east). On the hike we came across this porcupine munching on the leaves.

This is the view at lands end

The next day after leaving Gaspe we travelled to Perce where you find Perce Rock. A very picturesque community even with the rain fog.
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Friday 26 July 2013

July 23 - 25 Quebec City

Had a great 2 days in Quebec City.

The first day we made a trip to the Ile dOrleans as we had heard about this from several people. The Island a short distance from Quebec City is as it was years ago all strip farms and today has many many venders selling items made on the island from wine to chocolate to arts and crafts to fruits and vegetables.




Following that we went to Montmercy Falls, which are higher than Niagara Falls and you can either hide up to the top in a gondola or climb the many stairs up the right side. As it was late in the day we took the ride up and walked down.
 View towards Quebec City
 The next day was spent in Quebec City, we had camped over on the Levis side so it was natural to take the ferry across as a pedestrian for our day.

 Chateau Frontenac taken on our return ferry ride.

Tuesday 23 July 2013

July 21 - 22 Montreal

We camped at Longueuil, right across from Montreal. This was our view the first night.

Inside Notre Dame Cathedral

The art area in Old Montreal


The view from the top of the clock tower looking down at the piers in Old Montreal


Sunday 21 July 2013

July 17 - 20 Ottawa

We spent 4 very enjoyable days in Ottawa staying at my cousin Gerry's.

The parliment buildings and the Rideau Canal

While were were there in addition to the changing of the guard there was also the changing of the Army commander.

We toured the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau which recently added this reconstruction of the Wildcat Cafe from Yellowknife. 

Of course we had to stay in town to watch the light show on the Parliament Buildings

We rode our bikes up the Rideau River, across to Gatineau, the back across to Ottawa and down the Rideau Canal. During the ride we stopped at Rideau Hall for a lunch break on the grounds.




Tuesday 16 July 2013

July 14 - 16 - Sault Ste Marie & Sudbury

We spent an enjoyable day at Sault Ste Marie Checking out the Soo Locks and the Bush Plane Museum




 Could not resist this "flower bed" at our campsite in Sault Ste. Marie
The big nickel at Sudbury where we also visited the Dynamic Earth which highlighted the Nickel and Copper mining in the area

Sunday 14 July 2013

July 10 - 13 - Eastern Ontario

We have finally made it to Ontario, but as usual it takes a long time to get around Lake Superior.

We have been enjoying some of Ontario's Provincial Parks.

A nice sunset at Aaron Provincial Park

A stop at the Terry Fox Memorial

Lake Superior Provincial Park. We hiked about 20 km along the Coastal Trail. This is a 5 day backpack trail similar to the West Coast Trail. We felt the hike as we had not been hiking for a while but felt okay the next day.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

July 7 - 9 Manitoba

On our way through Manitoba we made a visit to Thornhill where Helen's mom was born, Not much remains of the old town but we did find a town hall.

In Winnipeg we explored around the Forks Area (sort of like Granville Island) and walked around to the legislative buildings.


Our last day in Winnipeg was spent with an excusion out to Gimli (an early Icelantic settlement) and nearby Winnipeg Beach



July 5 - 6 Saskatewan

A visit was made to the Motherwell Homestead a national parks historic site.


Rape Seed (Canola) is frequently grown in this area.


 A very pleasant stay was made at Saskatoon where we took a bike exploration of the Riverwalk area and university grounds. Several white pelicans like to fish near this weir across the river.

Friday 5 July 2013

July 2 - July 4 Peace River - Alberta Beach - Vegreville

With the long weekend over we set out on our cross country adventure.

We traveled via Lesser Slave Lake and then down to Alberta Beach area just out of Edmonton.

The next day we traveled through Elk Island park but saw no animals. We then carried on to the Ukranian Heritage Center nearby and toured that.


Our travels carried us on to Vegreville for the night and we saw the famous Ukranian Egg.


The next day we continued along and stopped at Fort Battleford the historic outpost of the Northwest Mounted Police.