Jul 1 - Mont-St-Pierre on the Gaspé, QC
Well, here it is Canada Day – Canada is 149 years old
today – and Jen and I are in the boonies of Gaspésis;
Mont-Saint-Pierre to be exact, a couple of hundred
kilometers further down Hwy 132 than yesterday.
We woke up to a beautiful sunny sky this morning. We
are happy to be leaving – the long weekend meant families with kids moved in last night. Not that we don't like kids, but there is a general "din" associated with kids playing, having fun, just being kids. I suppose some of that comes from parents who sometimes look the other way, like last night as a toddler plunked himself down in the road as an RV was approaching. Fortunately nothing happened, but it could have – the RV driver was driving right into the setting sun.
Anyway, we were on the road just after 9 a.m. It was a really nice day for a drive. Fifty-seven kms down the road we stopped in a Halte Municipal for a coffee in Sainte-Félicité. This was a very interesting place to stop – there were a number of plaques explaining some of the history of WWII, specifically the possibility of German u-boats hiding in the St Lawrence river.
I'm sure at the time the possibility of U-boats in the river was terrifying for all concerned. I don't think either of us realized this.
But on a lighter note, and one that brings to mind the 1966 movie: The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming, we saw this.
Here we are having coffee.
We are approaching Cap-Chat, site of one of the world's largest wind turbine farms. This site includes the world's tallest vertical-axis wind turbine in the world – Eoli, god of the wind.
And just when we thought we'd seen it all, here is a rest stop along the highway. There were a total of 5 covered gazebos. Never seen a rest stop like this before.
Quite the site! Here's a shot looking in the other direction.
A closer look at the sculpture of a fishing boat captain.
Back on the road we continued driving east until we came across a ferry docked at a wharf. The ferry was the Holiday Island out of Charlottetown. We figured it was in Les Méchins for some maintenance work. This place has an interesting history.
Okay, so we're off again.
Oh, and before I forget (again!), for the gardeners in the audience, you might be interested to know that the lilacs are blooming here in Gaspésie! And the veggie gardens are just being planted – the effects of the cold St Lawrence river!
We continued driving east along Hwy 132. The views were impressive! I commented to Jen that our drive today is far prettier than the one we did a few years ago around Cape Breton, NS. You could probably do the drive around Gaspé in a couple of days and you should. It really is spectacular. Take a look.
Then just a short distance to go to our stopping point for the weekend, we saw this. Mont-Saint-Pierre is tucked away between the slope on the right of the road and the distant hill along a somewhat sandy beach.
As luck would have it, at the end of July is the big hang-gliding event of the year. Apparently pilots from all over North America come here for the event. Too bad for us. That would be something to see.
We are here at the municipal campground for the weekend. Neither of us realized just how small Mont-St-Pierre is. There is no gas station. The nearest are about 50 kms east or west of the village. But we are in our kind of campsite – similar to Honeyman State Park in Oregon – can't see the neighbours for the foliage!
And the view out the back (taken from the park office).
Now before I close today's entry, I want to share an "a-ha" moment I had when we arrived at the campground. When I started this entry, I looked on the web at the Cap-Chat wind farm. I found out that they offer tours of the vertical wind turbine – you can actually climb inside to a lookout point. Well, we were right there, as you saw in the photo! I should have gone into the building to find out what was available. I could have done the tour while Jen had her afternoon rest in Alfie! Now we're 70 kms east, in the rain. Oh well, I won't make that mistake again!
More to come as exciting things happen here in Gaspésie. Stay tuned.
Pretty bad, eh. Guess I don't take enough "selfies!"
