Flowers from my trip - Part II

Looking for name - found in dense woods  - Chignecto bay provincial park

White version of the wild rose seen all over New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Gaspesie

An entire roadside covered in Dame Rockets - seen all over New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and gaspesie

That same sweet pea like flower - this time at Kouchibougac National park.

No clue what this is but it was taken in a field near Perce, Quebec

I know those as fleur petards from my childhood, but not it's proper name.

Flowers from my trip

Forget-me-nots seen all around New Brunswick and Gaspesie

Iris seen growing wild all over New Brunswick & Gaspesie

Wild Rose seen all over New Brunswick and all along St Lawrence

Lupin - seen in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia & Gaspesie

No clue what this is.... seen on Fundy shore at Cape Chignecto - looks like a form of sweet pea

Large field of Lupins

Lady Slipper - seen at Chignecto Bay.

Rafter Antigua sandals

I blogged about a year ago that I gotten some Antigua sandals. Originally I was pleased to have found them and them somewhat disappointed. The pair with the black straps were a touch too tight and it hurt my little toe to walk in them.  Thankfully, since I wore them around the house during winter while my feet were not swelled seems to have broken them in a bit, I can now wear them with swelled feet and they no longer hurt my little toe.

Also I had read on a website someone not pleased because she found them slippery on wet pavement and that hadn't been my experience with my original pairs of Antigua's. Sadly it was true with the new pair. They changed the way they do the sole of the sandal and these 3 new pairs were a lot slipperier then my original 2 pairs. 

I had been dragging my feet while wearing my black strapped pair in hopes that if the surface of the sandal sole was rougher, they would not be so slippery and made an interesting discovery. It seems that there's a form of synthetic fabric layer glued to the sole. It mostly peeled off my sandals and since then they much less slippery on wet surface.

I am now in the process of wearing down the pink and blue strapped pairs so that I can peel that fabric layer off them too.

For everyone's bitching we're the most taxed in Canada!

One of the things I noticed travelling through Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, is that it's most expensive in Quebec. The price for campground is more expensive in Quebec then  the other provinces I was in. The price of wood for burning in a campfire was more expensive in Quebec and furthermore, Quebec provincial parks are the only parks I've been to so far where they charge up to $1 for a 4 minute shower! That was a Bic National Park in Bic Quebec. Most of the other provincial parks I've been to in Quebec charge 50 cents for  5 minutes. [Seen at Grand Jardins, Frontenac and Tremblant] Still though - charging for a hot shower?!?!?

None of the federally run parks I've been to [Kouchibougac, Forrillion, Fundy, or Cape Breton Highlands], charge money for taking a shower, nor do the ones in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, or PEI for that matter. 

I mean people always bitch about Quebec, we're the most taxed, things cost the most. We do expect to get more if we do pay more. Having the rest of Canada say it comes out of their pockets is suck garbage. Most of those who say that have probably never travelled to Quebec or experienced life in Quebec.  

Un Plan pour le Quebec!

We return home quite late, of course there was construction.

Red fox and his breakfast in Parc National du Bic

We left Parc National du Bic around lunch time.

I took the 132 most of the way home. I took it to Sorel where I took the 30. 

Of course just to make life interesting, they had closed the exit off the 30 for the Mercier bridge, so I had to drive down the road to St Isidore back to Kahnawake and catch the from there. 

View seen from Cacouna, Quebec.

I can say I've driven most of the 132 except for the inner part of the Gaspe peninsula.

Driving to parc National du Bic - day 13

Sign at Cap Chat

Vertical Eolienne at Cap Chat

We drove from Forrillion National park in Gaspe to le parc National du Bic following road 132. For the most part it was grey and cloudy and it did rain buckets at some point, which was great, it washed the layers of squished bugs on my windshield.

One of the few stops we did was at Cap Chat, to see the vertical Eolienne, but it wasn't ever spinning.

Ferme Rioux at Parc National du Bic

The road follows the ocean for some time, and it's pretty scenic to see rock on one side and ocean on the other.

Bic also seems to be a popular park, despite it being the week-day, the Rioux campsite furthest from the road was half full. It's next to the old Rioux farm that was expropriated sometime in the 1980's.

Perce et Gaspe - day 12

Rocher Perce seen from the wharf at Perce

We woke up fairly early because we'd been told that we could walk to the Rocher during low tide and the perfect time to do it was between 8 and 10 am. Of course the person who told us that didn't tell us where to go to get to walk it.

Rocher Perce seen from beach under via Rail Bridge at Barachois

We went to wharf and asked one of the guys sailing the cruise boats. He pointed out the road. Once we got there, we realized the road had been made inaccessible by the authorities and by the time we figured out how we might get there, I figured we didn't have enough time between the tide starting to rise, so we never walked it. Another time I guess.

We left Perce around lunchtime and drove to Forillion National Park around Gaspe Bay. It was quite peaceful there. It was quite warm and despite being told there was mosquitos, black flies, noseeums and deer flies, we hardly got bit by anything.   However we arrived with a warning not to burn any fires because it was too dry.

In Forillion National Park

We return to Quebec - day 11

At a Halte municipale near Carleton-sur-Mer on road 132 in Gaspesie

After packing up the Grand Vitara, we crossed the bridge, drove a few miles and we were back on road 132, which goes from Kahnawake near where I live all the way to the border of New Brunswick and around the Gaspe Peninsula.

We drove in direction of Rocher Perce, one of the highly commercialized spots along the scenic coast of the Gaspesie. The view along the coast is spectacular. I was quite happy to visit during the low season, I doubt I'd have been able to handle the hordes of tourist during busy season. Bleah.  

Along road 132 almost in Perce

The campground I'd chosen, Le Camping de la Baie de Perce, run by SEPAQ was right in the middle of Perce and we could walk from our campsite to most places in Perce.

I did a fair amount of souvenir shopping, and picked up a lighter, several fridge magnets, a grey/black stripped hoodie and a wind chime, that was made with local agates and had a really amazing sound.

Day 10 - Sugarloaf provincial Park - Popular spot apparently!

Clouds at Sugarloaf provincial Park

Miscou Island Lighthouse

We left Kouchibougac and headed for Sugarloaf Provincial park. Little did we realize how busy it was going to be because it was a Saturday. When we arrived there was exactly 2 spots left with electricity and that was it. We took one spot and when we got there we realized that the 2 spots were twinned together and with no separations. Around 8pm 4 kids arrived in a pickup truck, coming to NewB to mountain bike. They were extremely loud, walked through our campsite frequently to go use teh facilities and were generally obnoxious. Thankfully they were gone by 9am the next morning. 

Beresford Beach, New Brunwick

We drove from Kouchibougac following the Acadian Coast road and stopped at a couple of Beaches along the way. We figured the water might be pleasant on beaches along the Baie des Chaleurs, but it wasn't so. 

We stopped at Bathurst and Beresford Beaches, put our feet in the water and realized it was just as cold as my recollection of the Atlantic near PEI.

Driving up the coast to Kouchibougac National Park - Day 9

Today we left Nova Scotia and drove down the coast of New Brunswick to Kouchibougac National park, where we are camping for the night.  It is fairly quiet and fairly private. Apparently half of the park was reserved for a "Learn how to camp" group. It was fairly cold so there were no black flies, that were really bad at Cape Chignecto, even on the damn beach. I kid you not, the wind should have been strong enough to turn them off. Thankfully I only got a bite or two that swelled up. The rest of the bites I got I have not reacted to.

Sadly it's very cloudy here too and we cannot see the stars. There was a wild rabbit at our campsite that hung out for a while. I bet he could smell the soy sauce that had spilled in the dishes box.  I took some pictures around the campsite, but it was grey if it wasn't downright spitting. 

Day 8 - We stay put in Nova Scotia

Road inside Cape Chignecto Provincial Park

It was a cloudy day in Cape Chignecto Provincial park. No blue sky. Plenty of black flies and mosquitoes. I woke up around 10ish and went to the office to pay for 2 nights at the campground and get some firewood.  There was so many black flies, the smaller ones that eat you alive if you let them that I build a fire at the campsite very early in the day and stayed within smoke range so I was not eaten alive.

It was incredibly peaceful as no one else was in the campground till about 6-7pm that day. Just us, a few birds and wildlife and that was it.

Red rocks at Cape Chignecto Provincial Park coast

This park is really in the middle of nowhere. You don't even hear the road. Mostly you hear wind and birds and not much else.

Day 7 - We head to Nova Scotia

We had a late start and drove off around 2pm that afternoon. We got to the border between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia at 4pm.  We got to Cape Chignecto Provincial park around 7pm but they had their office closed by 4:30pm so we found a walk-in spot in their closed campground to a parking lot and got settled in. We were the only people in the campground that day, otherwise it was completely empty. Talk about fortuitous.

What was not so good is while I was putting down the foaming flooring inside the tent, my companion cut himself with the axe and we spent about an hour looking for the crazy glue so he could seal it. The irony is that the containers of crazy glue were in his car door, easily accessible in case of emergency!

The last of the Sunbury Bridges - The Rusagonis Covered Bridge - Day 6

Patrick Owens Bridge - 1909 - Rusagonis Covered Bridge

Patrick Owens Bridge - 1909 - Rusagonis Covered Bridge

We stayed put today since Zach was at school and Debbie had no van. After Zach came home, Debbie and I went to find the bridge on the Wilsey road in Rusagonis. This bridge was somewhat different then the other 2 we saw. It had a pillar to hold it and had a wider span. It also had ventilation openings on one side.

After finding the bridge we went to the Costco in Fredericton so she could get her heart medication so even in the unlikely event she was without her vehicle for a few more days, at least she had her meds.

Three covered Bridges of Sunbury County, New Brunswic - Day 5

Bell Bridge

Today we went looking on the little back roads around Gagetown, and Oromocto for three old covered bridges supposedly all in the same general area. The bridges of Sunbury county in this area are The Bell Bridge, the Mill Settlement bridge [The Smyth Bridge] and the Hoyt Bridge. 

Smyth Bridge

This was roughly a 3 hour round trip from Debbie's in Oromocto. We managed to see the Bell and Smyth bridges when Debbie's minivan decided it had enough and overheated to the point where her van turned itself off. Thankfully we had just a touch of cell signal so she was able to call the CAA. 

We stalled on Branch road near Brisley creek. Some visibly ex-military native guys stopped to offer assistance. They thought we had run out of gas. They are the ones who told us our exact location, which was most helpful so Debbie could tell the CAA where she was.  The more native looking guy told me I shouldn't just stand on the side of the road wearing a skit. That I would get eaten alive by the bugs. Well I had put on bug spray and it worked for me.

Brisley Creek seen from Branch road - near Oromocto

Luckily the tow truck who picked us up was able to squeeze all 6 of us inside his truck, though Zac ended up sitting on Kristin's lap. The driver was pleased when he realized that my companion and I also spoke fluent French along with the English!  He told us about another covered Bridge on Kilsey road about 15 minutes away from Oromocto. 

Wild Strawberry near where minivan stalled.

The tow truck dropped us all at Debbie's and I followed the tow truck with my Suzuki to the garage so I could pick up Debbie.  I also took her to the furniture store to pick up her last end table, that she said she would pick up that day.

Oromocto - it rained, it hailed, it spit, it pelleted! Days 3 & 4,

St-John's Anglican Church in Oromocto, NB.

Today we went sight seeing between Oromocto and Fredericton. We saw two old churches neither one still in use as well as the Burton Bridge. There were some nice forget-me-nots and irises. These flowers bloomed later here then in Montreal. I get the feeling it's a bit cooler.

Burton Bridge, linking Oromocto & Fredericton on St John's river

Holy Trinity Anglican Church - 1846 Fredericton, NB

Yesterday between the rain, the torrential rain, the pellets and the hail we managed to get some shopping done. Got some Taste of the Wild cat food. I haven't been able to buy some in Montreal for a while for all sorts of reasons. It was also cheaper then in Montreal.

 Also ended up buying clothes at Bootleggers and Fairweather, both stores that used to have outlets in Montreal but don't anymore. I also ended up buying a dress at Bluenotes, also a store not available in Montreal.

Grand Falls, and driving to Oromocto - Day 2

Canada geese flying at Republique Provincial Park

This morning we got woken up by Canada geese and by crows. Birds love being noisy very early in the day.

The Falls at Grand Falls, New Brunswick

We got a slow start, we left the campground around noon, and proceeded to Grand Falls. I'd been there several times, but I didn't remember ever seeing the falls.  I got to see the falls and people zipping over the falls on a line. I could never do that, too much afraid of heights.  We stop at a small restaurant in Grand Falls, called Tresors et Delices. They had the most awesome Mussels. It's a pity it was not Friday after 4pm because you can have all you can eat mussels! My travel companion had chicken curry, which was good, but not spicy enough.  If I stop again in Grand Falls, I definitely want to eat at Tresors et Delices again!

Hartland Bridge, New Brunswick - World's longest covered bridge.

The other stop we made on the road was the Hartland bridge - which is the longest covered bridge in the world still in use.  After which we drove to Oromocto New Brunswick to go visit my gf Debbie who recently moved there.

La Republique Provincial Park - Day 1

The park is really easy to find and is literally right on the border of Quebec. It's another park that seems to be sandwiched between 2 roads so instead of just hearing the songs of the frogs or the odd Canada Goose flying by, you hear almost non-stop sound of trucks and motorcycles. There was even a motorized canoe on the river next to where we were camping. Hopefully as it gets later there will be less traffic and more quiet. 

We chose campground spot 142, on the island, This is an all open spot with zero privacy. However since tonight were the only campers on the island part of the campground, privacy won't be an issue!

The campground is well maintained, the river view is scenic, There's a botanical garden and a few other things like a car museum. They have a laundry room and plenty of other amenities.

Leaving for 2 week trip today

Today we are driving down to New Brunswick, near Edmundston, to a provincial park called "Les Jardins de la Republique". It is sunny and my allergies are pretty bad. A few hours on the road should resolve that.

June Flowers

Bearded Iris

Painted daisy Giant Robinson

Columbine black Barlow

Columbine red Barlow

My youngest got her University Degree today!!!!

My baby holding her diploma!

Today I went to watch my youngest receive her university diploma. A very proud moment in the life of a mother. I will NOT be made to feel guilty because I went to her graduation ceremony. My joy as a mother to see my child blossom into a young woman with a university degree will not be damped by the protesting students and their supporters. 

I mean I never got to see either daughter graduate from High school. I got to see my eldest graduate from "navy boot camp" and my youngest today from university. These are very special moments in the life of a mother and I would never get back the opportunity to share with my daughters these milestones.  I would have gone to my eldest' university graduation if she had attended but since she is currently sailing on the HMCS Moncton now, it's a moot point. 

This in no way takes away the fact that I feel that education in Quebec should be free and I support the movement, but it's pretty petty of them to bitch me out for supporting my children!

Winzip driver updater = SPAM

I generally liked Corel and it's applications but I'm really NOT impressed with Winzip Driver updater. This piece of garbage installs itself without asking, and I suspect it came along with BitTorrent because the only 2 locations I've ever seen it has been on my systems with BIT TORRENT. 

And when you uninstall it, the damn software has the gall of asking why I'm uninstalling and it doesn't have the choice to answer "because it was an invasive piece of spam that installed itself without me asking".  Seriously, if you have respectable software you don't need to install yourself via  a back door. 

I have little respect for software that installs itself in a sneaky way like most annoying tool bars. I don't need 200 fucking tool bars on my damn browser.  It's laggy enough as is to browse with Firefox [which is a memory hog] then to have to deal with extra tool  bars.

Let me tell you either way, the Winzip Driver updater was removed as fast as I could find it's uninstall.  I have no INTEREST in trying out junk that installs itself like a virus. You want to be a respectable software, only install yourself on PC's who's owners have requested you.

Jethro does his imitation of a towel

Or alternatively you can say he was hanging out in my drawers!

Crow much?

Two crows in a tree taken in Ottawa.