The drive to the Quebec area was estimated at ten hours, so we knew this was going to be a long day. The boys were asleep when we left at 4:45 Monday morning, so the only views of the Confederation Bridge were the lights as we passed over the bridge. The traffic was not too heavy considering it was a holiday. Polly got her first driving lesson on the trip to Quebec and it had to be through a construction zone that seemed like it would never end. We made it through the construction zone without hitting any cones, cars or guard rails- thank you Lord!
We had stopped earlier to get breakfast at Tim Horton’s and the boys wanted donut holes honey glazed, blueberry and chocolate cake. We ate all of the donut holes except 4-6 which were inadvertently left on the counter while we went inside the Quebec visitor center, when we came back inside; we noticed that Bella had finished the last donut holes 3 of which were chocolate cake. I guess the donuts did not have enough chocolate to harm Bella because we did not see any change in her eating, drinking or any other bodily functions. We said a prayer for her and watched her very closely as we traveled toward Quebec.
On the drive to Quebec we tried calling some campgrounds and found that some of the employees of the campground could not speak little English (a couple did not speak any English) which made communicating on camping rates difficult. We decided on a campground that had been recommended by some people we met and we arrived at Camping Carol late afternoon, settled into our spot and took a brief walk around the campground. The campground was situated on the St Lawrence River across from Quebec City, and had a deck where you could see the ships sailing down the river. Later, that day we planned our visit into Quebec City and our ferry ride across the river into the city. The ferry was in a nearby town called Levis which was about 15 minutes from our campground so on Tuesday we traveled into Quebec City. Our visit to Quebec City included Old Quebec, the Citadelle, Notre-Dame de Quebec Basilica-Cathedral and the unique shops in the city. We walked along the stone wall which was part of the fortification of the city erected in 1690 under the mandate of Governor Frontenac. The Fortifications of Quebec are the last of the fortified cities north of Mexico. We enjoyed the views from the upper level in the city and the various fountains situated around the gardens. We enjoyed a Italian restaurant called Mikes where we enjoyed a calzone, an appetizer with a really tasty dip, and kids were able to enjoy kids meals. Carson had a happy face pizza which included spaghetti with hair. Zachary had a grilled chicken sandwich with fries and both enjoyed soft drinks which is rare due to the expense but this lunch was around $20 for all four of us.
In one of the parks stood the Tourny Fountain which was a gift from the La Maison Simons (a family owned local retail store) to the City of Quebec for its 400th anniversary in 2008. Since we sell water fountains we are always interested in each fountain we hear or see while traveling and this was the largest we had seen. Throughout the city there were fountains, statues and monuments commemorating the history of Quebec City. We continued to walk around the city until around 4:30 when we decided we had experienced Quebec and ready to leave for the day.
Our plans changed once we arrived back at our car, ready for an afternoon snack, we decided to find the one and only Krispy Kreme Donuts in Quebec, so we were off on a donut expedition. This time we took the bridge into Quebec City and followed the directions on the GPS, to arrive at Krispy Kreme just before the hot sign was turned off at 5:45. Krispy Kreme is not as popular in Canada due to the dominance of Tim Horton’s which you can find almost everywhere. The dozen donuts lasted less than 5 minutes even though they were the last ones off the line and not really hot. After our donut run we went back to the motor home and decided on our adventures on Wednesday.
We decided that we had enjoyed Quebec but we needed to rest on Wednesday, so after homeschool we went outside to play “redneck bocce ball”. The office was closed and we could not borrow the correct balls so we used all the balls from our toy box underneath the motor home. After playing we took a walk around the campground and noticed some signs on the poles where the water faucets are attached that read (in French) “Eau Non Potable” which we found out went unsafe drinking water. The lady at the front office told us that the government had made them put up those signs about two years ago but assured us that the water was safe to drink. This did not make us feel any better so we did not use any more water except for showers and thank goodness we were leaving the next morning for Montreal. We finished out our day doing research on Montreal, things to do, where to get on the Metro and the cost of our activities while in Montreal. On Thursday we left for Montreal, the first large city we have encountered in Canada which gives us mixed feelings.
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On August 30th we arrived in the Red Sands Shore region of Prince Edward Island in a small town called Borden-Carleton, home of the Confederation Bridge connecting Nova Scotia and PEI.
On Thursday, August 27th, we arrived in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island which is known as the Green Gables shore. In Cavendish we stayed at Marco Polo Land which is a very large RV park right near town.
On August 26th, we arrived at the ferry at Caribou, NS in time to take the 12:30 ferry to Prince Edward Island. Unfortunately it was full before we could board. Bicycles and cars get first priority over motor homes and large commercial trucks. The lady at the gate told us that we may be able to board the 2:30 ferry but she could not guarantee since the 2:30 ferry was a smaller car ferry. If we had not made the 2:30 ferry then the next one would not leave until 4:30. While waiting for the ferry we ate lunch, washed dishes and worked on finishing home school assignments for the day. We boarded the ferry around 2:30 where we were squeezed on the bottom deck with less than two feet between the motor home and the 18 wheel truck next to us. All passengers had to leave their vehicles so we left the motor home and went upstairs to visit the cafeteria, gift shop and play area. We walked out on all the decks for a view of the water and to take some pictures and then returned to the dining area to listen to live music. Carson was able to play with some kids at the indoor play area. Zachary took advantage of the free time to play his DS, his game time is very limited now that school as started.
Our first campground stop was St. Peters Park on August 26th. This campground was one of the first where it was nothing like the pictures on the website and the RV park reviews did not help in the selection. The trees on both sides of the driveway into the park had almost grown together creating a canopy over the drive which is not good if you are driving a 40’ motor home that is 12’ 6″ high. We tried to dodge the lowest hanging branches but that was nearly impossible. We had been told that the internet worked at the sites but when we checked in we were then told that you had to sit at the office and unfortunately there were no electrical outlets to plug in our laptops, so no internet for another night. I think the biggest issue was the lady at the front office gave us the site information and how to get to the site the wrong way and we had to parallel park the motor home, the water hose barely reached, the sewer hose would not reach and our neighbor chopped wood until 2:30 am. We decided very quickly that we would be only spending one night at this location and heading to Cavendish the next day.
On August 25th, we stopped for one night at the Arms of Gold Campground in Little Bras d’ Or Lake, NS. This stopped was made just so we could visit The Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic site.
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