Quebec City

We met friends  Kerry and Susan in the KOA outside of the city we did a tour of the city then a day driving ourselves.

What a beautiful old city and so rich in history we were so lucky to have summer like weather.Fran  loves the colorful doors and windows so many pictures taken!The hockey player is for Owen there were many figures hanging above the streets.

A 3D mural   more hockey for Owen

These are the falls called Montmorency east of Quebec city  they are actually highter than Niagara. pretty cool!

A picture of the basiliica in Ste. Anne de Beaupre a picture that simply does not do it justice it was truly magnificent it is a shrine than one can go to for healing. The original stucture from 1887 burn down so this is quite new 1976 it seems so pristine next to the time worn cathedrals one sees in Europe and built in a similar style and opulence

.On the grounds of the Citadel in Quebec city

Chateau Laurier beautiful hotel  if you have the pennies ...stay there

Prowling around lower Quebec city

the second residence of Canada's Governor General in the Citadel of Quebec city.

view of the St. Lawrence and the city below from the Citadel

We said goodbye  to Quebec City and moved   up the Gaspe pennnsula to Rimouski and stayed O/N overlooking the St. Lawrence. The Quebec style homes with their sloped roofs and neat yards took us back to our travels in France the people we met were warm and friendly and spoke to us in English after hearing our poor attempt at French. Our trip took us along the south shore of the St. Lawrence and then we turned inland to New Brunswick.

Montreal

We spent a full day in Montreal and had a great dinner and evening with our nephew Chris Alpaugh and his partner Marie.They are fixing up an older home close to the city..it is like a new home. We had not seen Chris for about 6 years. It is hard to belive that Anita has been gone so long.
Tony and I and the girls had a long bike ride along the canal that day and it was warm like summer, we found a wonderful market along the way and made a picnic lunch. Like Ottawa, the bike paths are so nice. The drawback is the speedy bikers who weave in and out way over the posted speed.
We watched a pleasure go through one of the locks...which in the past was for tranporting goods.

Byward market, Ottawa

many venders of farm vegetables all local!...great brunch at Tuckers

bike ride along the Rideau canal and through the city.

There are any people on bikes throughout the city and MANY bike routes.

Ottawa, Byward market, and bike riding in the capital

war memorial...parliament buildings in the background

Ottawa Parliament buildings

we visited the sest of our country's dcision making in day light

and during the lightshow at night... yes, the girls took th spectacular show in too.

Ottawa museum of man

RCMP parol boat in Saulte Ste. Marie  they patrol the great lakes, pulled up as we werewalking the docks

WE drove into WAWA a small town which was a mining town in the past and now struggling to survive.. A beautiful place on lake WAWA...we parked right on the lake in town for the night ...a" Louie View"' We always call a spot with a good view after Fran's Aunt Louie who always liked to stop for a picnic that had a view. We asked a lady walking by if this was ok, she was the mayor of the town so had her blessing. many business in town are closed down but it survives on fishing and tourism. 

There are 250 thousand lakes in Ontario...we get glimpses of beautiful isolated beaches along the way.No mountains though but more hills to climb the the straight roads of the prairies are gone.
lake naming must be a tough job with so many lakes.....'.cigar' lake, 'pickle' lake,'cotton blanket lak'e, 'old women lake'. .yes and' Dad' lake and across the road 'mom' lake... Then just down the road' baby' lake.

ThunderBay, Sault Ste Marie to Ottawa

Aug.28
We finally left Kenora on Friday , after waiting a week for the new tire.
We decided to delete the trip to Niagara and head for Ottawa.
we had a Walmart stop in Thunder Bay.
On our way out we visited the Terry Fox memorial. It is situated in a beautiful park overlooking Lake Superior.There is a 9 foot bronze statue of Terry and it brought back the memory of when he had to stop his cross country run.

The drive east from Thunder Bay was incredible, we has continued glimpses of Lake Superior...a huge lake which looks like the ocean, set along mile and miles of forrest we listened to the celebration of life for Jack Layton along this route which illuminated the beauty of our country and just how fortunate we are to live in Canada..

For our American friends, Jack Layton was the leader of our Opposition party who recently died of cancer..