I love Gaspe!

Again we woke up early, Michael actually woke up and saw the sunrise. It was nice having use of the deck this morning. I shook out our blankets and mats and hung them over the side of the deck for a bit while I got our little house clean. Soon we were rolling down the coast again. Almost as soon as we were on the road Michael spotted two bald eagles but by the time I had the camera ready they were too far away and there was nowhere to turn around. We stopped at a rest area for a mid morning break up on a cliff top that had a path down to the beach. So down to the beach we went and we found a pillar of rock in the water that had been water worn with a honeycomb pattern. It has been so nice to go for a walk in a new place to explore each day! We took our time along the beach before heading up the steep path up the side of the cliff. Back on the bus we had something to eat before rolling down the road. There have been windmills everywhere out east but today we noticed even more of them as well as this tall, round looking thing that we couldn't identify. As we got closer we realized that it belonged with the wind farm but we still couldn't figure it out. It turned out to be the worlds tallest vertical axis wind turbine. We drove right up to it and there were signs suggesting that we could tour the place but there was no one in sight. It was still cool to see and think about ways of adding wind power in everyday life. Most of the interesting places we have found we have just happened across as we have driven by. Today was full of these places! We drove by this really cool house that had tile pictures cemented into it and then we noticed the "people" coming out of the sea. We quickly turned around and found ourselves at a restaurant/hostel/ art centre. The place was amazing! The artist had used driftwood and covered it with cement to look like people. There were lots of them! He had placed them to look like they were coming out of the water in a procession and had continued the procession down a path across his property. It was a neat idea I'm glad we stopped! The landscape was changing again and as we approached Bic National Park (really a provincial park) we noticed the funky shapes mountains and the cool rocky islands in the water. We pulled into the park but with it being the long weekend it was busy so we moved on. The road took us away from the water so we turned down a quiet road that took us up over a mountain and then down the other side with crazy hairpin turns on a deteriorating road . By the time we reached the water the road was so narrow I worried about oncoming traffic. We had found the equivalent to our cottage country. Lots of nice cottages way too close together. We made it back over the mountain safely and believe it or not we ended up in a Walmart parking lot along with eight over RV's for the night. I much prefer finding a secluded spot with a nice view but I have to admit that especially when entering a town we aren't familiar with it is nice to know that we can stay at a Walmart. In tonight's case it was starting to get dark and I didn't want Michael to have to search for a place in the dark. Good night World!

A Perfect Day

Gaspe

It was so early when we woke up this morning. The sun was shining and we pulled away a good hour earlier than our usual. Everything was perfect about today! It was hard to know where to look or to try to take it all in as we drove along. Everything was so beautiful and around every curve in the road was a new amazing sight to take in. We stopped so many times along the way. There were really funky looking islands that had high cliffs but were completely flat on top with green grass growing only on the top. It looked like the perfect golfing green. There were tiny villages is the coves with small little houses painted in all different colours and always a big church by the water. The mini Appalachians were the background to everything well almost everything, the gulf of St. Lawrence was on one side and spread out as far as you could see. Michael kept thinking it was the ocean. After several stops to take pictures of lighthouses and islands and mountains and pretty little towns we made it to the end of the Gaspe peninsula and stopped at Forillon National Park. Wait, I'm forgetting stuff already! The drive had tighter hairpin turns than the Cabot trail and at times I was hanging on to the poles on the bus telling Michael to go slow (even though he already had the bus in the lowest gear). The mountains were amazing and it was really windy. Michael pointed out a waterfall high on one of the mountains except that it didn't look like a waterfall at all! It looked like smoke coming out of a chimney! He was right though it was a waterfall and the wind was blowing all of the water up into the sky! I couldn't believe it! Anyway, we arrived at the park and took the dogs down to the beach. There was a really nice boardwalk but we could explore more on the sandy shore. The shoreline was covered in driftwood of all shapes and of course crab shells, clam shells and lots of seaweed. The dogs loved it! After our walk we drove further into the park and found tons of porquipines! Never together but we probably saw six within minutes of one another. Most were eating the clover but one was high up in a tree looking precariously like he was about to fall. I'm glad the dogs were in the bus! There are so many good hiking trails here! This is another place we will definitely come back to explore! We continued around the peninsula stopping often to take pictures or get a closer view of something. The day just flew by and soon we were looking for a place to park for the night. We found another village park! This one has little decks that you pull right up to so tonight it looks like we have a deck overlooking water attached to the bus! Good night from a beautiful spot along Gaspe peninsula!