Third Week-August 6-12

Saturday August 6-Charlottetown

We got up this morning and had breakfast-which was decent though crowded in the breakfast room.  We ate out on a deck with Willow in her under table office.  Then I had some business with the hotel.  We had a rude awakening at about 2am as our neighbours, who were a group of young men, came in loudly and obviously drunk.  One kept yelling that their room smelled.  It went on for quite a while, and I got up and turned on the light to dial the office.  Just then it started to tone down and I decided if I called and the night attendant knocked on their door it would all just start back up.  I asked at the desk if the same guests were booked in next to us again tonight.  He said yes, and noted he was aware that they had returned loudly and drunk in the middle of the night-saying that they really had little control over such things.  I said that was fine but they needed to move us-I didn't want to be left in the same room.  Eventually we came to the solution that Megan and I pack out like we were checking out-then we could come back to the room after check in time and they would have a different room for us.  This worked out.

We headed out to a beach.  Willow was ecstatic and we have some great video of her bombing around and having a great time.  

 

 

She's Coming For Me

Beachcomber

 Then we headed to the oldest lighthouse in PEI at Point Prim.  We were able to tour the grounds, and Megan went up into the lighthouse.  We had a lunch of lobster roll and fish chowder at a nearby restaurant.  Then on our way back into town we visited something called Orwell Heritage Village.

 

Northumberland Strait

Point Prim Lighthouse

Megan in Lighthouse

Having Some Fun

Restaurant on Point Prim

Schoolhouse at Orwell Heritage Village

Inside Schoolhouse

We have put 7500 km on the Prius since leaving Coquitlam.  Toyota needs a service every 8000 km-at this point we need an oil change and some time in the next day we'll hit that mark.  It seemed easiest to just get it looked after today so we're good all the way home.  So we found one of those drive in oil change places and got it done.  Then we returned to our hotel to get our new room and have a break, as it's very hot out today.

In the late afternoon we drove back down to the waterfront and parked again.  We walked around for a while poking into shops and got some ice cream.  After a walk around we went into a restaurant on the harbour and had some mussels, salad and ciders.  After dinner we walked around the rest of the waterfront walk and headed back to the car.

Salt and Sol

Dinner View

Sunday August 7-Charlottetown to Rivière-du-Loup

Being a road day it was breakfast, then on the road at 8.  Megan drove the Confederation Bridge onto PEI, so I got the outward bound duty.  Our first stop for coffee and to switch drivers was in Moncton.  We then drove to Fredricton where we went to Glynis and Rick's place to pick up the flat cap Mike had left behind.  They were out but left the cap on their porch.  I drove on to Woodstock where we had our picnic lunch, then on for a bit.  We switched drivers at a quick highway pullout, and Megan finished the day. 

 

 

Once checked into our hotel (Comfort Inn), we drove to take a walk along the St. Lawrence in Park of the Pointe.  

 

 

The St. Lawrence Widens Here

Park of the Pointe-Rivière-du-Loup

This wasn't enough of a walk to make our steps, so we drove up to Parc des Chutes where we walked through some more trails.  Megan and I were able to have a conversation with a couple who had questions about Willow and our drive entirely in French.  

 

 

Power House

Parc des Chutes

Waterfall

Parc des Chutes

 

Finally we picked up some dinner at a Chinese restaurant close to the hotel, and ate at the room.  We didn't want to try to deal with Willow and porch restaurants in Quebec again, and many of the restaurants were closed anyway (being a Sunday). 

Monday August 8-Rivière-du-Loup to Uncle David and Aunt Cèline's (Cowansville)

Breakfast at the Comfort Inn was a bit hit and miss this morning.  They rationed the scrambled eggs on a plate through a door and the waffle maker was out of business.  We had our breakfast and got on the road. We stopped at an Information Center at Kamouraska to get some information on the area we were traveling to and a little map.  We swapped to Megan driving after about two and a half hours, stopped once in the townships to gas up, and made it to Bromont where we had hot chocolates and quiches at the Chocolate place.  Finally we drove on to Céline and David's place.

Willow was able to get her swim in off the dock, and did some fetching of the squirrel.  We had a fabulous meal with salmon en croute.  The chef is excellent.  It was raining quite hard-so this is the first day on the whole trip where Megan and I weren't able to get our 10 000 steps in.  

Tuesday August 9-Cowansville to Bruce and Laure's (Frelighsburg) 

We got up and had breakfast with David and Cèline and then went to their favourite park, Parc Jean Paul Forand, for a walk through woods and by a waterfall.  We tried to stop for some lunch on the way back but the deli was only doing takeout and we couldn't really even eat on the porch so we went back to Cèline and David's place and had a salad lunch.  

 

Park Walk

Waterfall

Along Stream

An Awesome Mantel Display

Then we said our farewells and headed off to Frelighsburg.  We stopped at a cider place on the way, and then back to the village to pick up some duct tape to help keep the fridge plugged in the car, where we coincidentally ran into Bruce and Laure.  We followed them back to their property, which is right on the border with Vermont.  Megan and I took a walk for a couple of kilometers through the property to a river and back.

 

In Frelighsburg

Bruce and Laure's Garden

Walk through Property

Then we had a nice trout, ratatouille and potato dinner taken entirely from the property.  After a nice visit it was time to turn in. 

Wednesday August 10-Frelighsburg to Chris' Apartment Toronto

We had a great breakfast of chard with eggs and a smoothie this morning and had a last visit.  We were on the road by 9am.  We were sad to go but Willow wasn't.  Felix' dog, Seraphim, who is staying with Bruce while Felix is in Greece, was very nice with people but kept stalking and taking angry runs at Willow and she was quite terrified of him and trying to stay right under our feet.  She was visibly elated to be jumping up into the car.  

 

 

I drove the first leg to the border, which we made in pretty much exactly two hours.  I had an email from Cal this morning and he and Donia have set up a barbeque with his family, my Aunt Carole, Uncle Bob and cousin Ken as well as Andre and his partner Liza for 5pm this evening.  We did have a pretty good slow down for traffic on the road so it was more like 5:30 when we got there.

 

Liza, Donia, Andre, Ken, Bob, Cal, Willow, Me, Carole, Megan

Breeze Shooting

Using Cal's New Porch

Ken, Cal, Donia

At Chris' apartment we were worried about how long it would take to get into the front door as the fob is in the apartment, but within a few minutes of arriving a UPS delivery was made and I was able to follow the driver in to get to the apartment.  After quickly loading our stuff in we headed for Cal's.  

Thursday August 11-Toronto

We had a slow start this morning, and got our laundry done in the building.  We then went out and decided to walk some paths through the green belt to a nearby dog park.  It was a real hot day.  We made a mistake and ended up on some non-paths but found our way out of the difficulty, crossed Bathurst Street and found are way via a good path on the other side down to the park.  After that we walked over to a coffee shop to pick up coffees, and went back to Chris' place during the hottest part of the day.

 

John Bales House 1824

In the Same Park Where Willow Had a Dog Park

After the break we drove all the way down Bathurst to the waterfront.  We had some dinner at a spot on the waterfront, then took an hour long cruise on the schooner Kajama.  The air felt great out on the water and it was a very nice cruise, including the bottle of Pinot Grigio we had purchased to be included in the cruise. Willow was a very good girl, sitting at our feet.  She did get a little upset for a few seconds when for some reason they decided to set of a little cannon when we were out on Lake Ontario.  After the cruise we found our way all the way back up Bathurst, did a little shop to have breakfast and lunch for tomorrow and filled up the tank so we have an easy start in the morning.  

Dinner-Harbour Behind

Kajama

Heading Out

Coming Out to Lake Ontario

Willow Is A Good Girl

Friday August 12-Toronto to Sault Ste. Marie

 

We got to the end of today and realized we had no pictures.  It was a pure driving day.  Off from Chris' apartment at just after 8am.  We had lunch at a little park in Sudbury called St. Charles Park.  We had to avoid letting Willow get close to where the water was.  She would have been very upset to have the graphic sign that showed that dogs weren't to go in the water explained to her, and she would have blamed us.  We continued on to the hotel in Sault.  We were able to take a long walk despite the heat getting to our steps goal, pick up some burritos across the way and retire to our room to recuperate for tomorrow's drive.