Quebec City, Montreal, Parc National de la Mauricie

Onward we went to the province of Quebec!  You will know the second you cross the Province line because ALL of the signs turn to exclusively French.  I still am not entirely sure why, since Canada is still part of the English empire and the rest of the country is bilingual but somehow/some way the province of Quebec has enough influence to do what they like.  ;) 

We started out our exploration by going to the national park called Parc National de la Mauricie.  It is a park that has 150 lakes.  People load up their canoes or kayaks with food, tents, sleeping bags, etc...and head off onto the lake for a camping trip of a lifetime.  I told Gary that it is a combination of car camping and backpacking since you can take more but you're still limited on space for what you can take.  After watching lots of people do this, we vowed to go back to the park on a day that had better weather to at least get on some of the lakes in one of the many canoes that the park has for rent. 

 Hearing so much about Montreal made us excited to head into the city the next day.  Old town Montreal is amazing!  It feels a lot like parts of Europe and has a lot of history.  We toured the underground museum that showcases Montreal in 1600's.  We saw where it started being built and why.  It was exclusively founded to bring the Catholic Church to the natives by a very small group of people from France.  Since it rained the entire day (surprise!) we walked all over old town where we saw their Notre Dame and then we headed to the university section that features beautiful houses around a popular square.  We then drove into downtown where there was a church said to be modeled after St. Peter's Square in Rome.  It is a beautiful church named St. Mary, Queen of the World.  It has statues on the roof line just like St. Peter's in Rome and the church itself is quite beautiful and modeled after the church in Rome. 

After seeing Montreal we were excited to see Quebec City.  Our drive into the city was absolutely beautiful since it took us right along the river.  After a short distance we saw old city where fur trading first started.  It is a town that is 2 levels and you can take a funnicular from one level to the other.  Back in the day it was separated into high town and low town.  High town is made of the Citadel and the wall that still stands today (and the only town in North America that is still enclosed entirely by a wall). Also in the upper part is now the Parliament building.  We enjoyed Quebec City more, we found it be smaller, less busy and to remind us even more of Europe.  They have 2 Notre Dame churches there.  After walking around both levels of the town, we headed about 20 miles northeast along the St. Lawrence river to a  little town that has the most amazing basilica named Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre.  It was absolutely amazing and beyond words to describe the beauty and grandeur.  Definitely worth a visit!

Remembering our promise to ride the canoe and explore the lakes of Parc National de la Mauricie, we chose to go back on our last day since the weather was cooperating.  We rented a canoe for a couple of hours and set off on the lake to see if we could find one of their many camping sites to have a picnic.  After paddling for about a half hour, we found a beautiful, elevated site to explore.  These sites have a flat place to set up your tent, a fire pit for night time fires (they provide the fire wood on the site), a picnic table for meals and even a little outhouse.  It would be a lot of fun to try this some day!  :)  After a little bit of exploring we decided to head back but we were dreading having to row into the wind.  We surprised ourselves at how well we did!  No falling in and we made it back in no time!  :)  Hope we make it back to this whole area (despite the language barrier) some day! 

Camping Port St-Francois, Nicolet, Quebec, Canada

We looked for a campground in a central location that would give us access to both Montreal and Quebec City. This area of Quebec along the river was a nice spot to base out of to explore the area. The park is a mix of long term residents with a smaller area for the short term visitors. The sites are gravel and back in with the hookups for water and power at the back of the site. The park only offers 30A, which was fine for us since the temperature was nice during our visit. There are a lot of trees in the park providing quite a bit of shade. Each site has a fire pit and picnic table. This park has a ton of amenities for the family to enjoy. Nice swimming pool, bocce ball, playgrounds, large chess set, ping pong, community activity room, etc. The wifi worked well for us. We were happy with the park and rate it a 3 out of 5.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Riverside RV Park & Campground, Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada

We needed an overnight stop on our way to the Montreal and Quebec areas and this campground was in a good spot for us. The park advertises full hook ups, and they have a few around the edges of the park, but the majority of the sites have no sewer. The sites are gravel and very long with many trees around the park providing a lot of shade. Each site has a picnic table. The park advertises wifi, but it did not work at all. The park also does not allow visitors with a sewer hook up to do their own laundry. You are required to do laundry in their campground laundry, which was as sketchy as the trailer being used as bathrooms. The water pressure was also so low we took our showers with the pump on. We were less than impressed with the park and give it a 2 out of 5 rating. We will look for other options when staying in this area again.

Ocean Surf RV Park, Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada

Great location in New Brunswick to explore the coast line of NB, Prince Edward Island, etc. The park is walking distance to a great beach area that we enjoyed strolling along at night. The park is split into two main sections where the first is primarily seasonal and permanent residents and the back section is for the short term visitors. Our site was gravel, but flat and with a lot of extra room on all sides. Each site has a picnic table with grass surrounding the gravel parking pad. The park has a nice pool area that was very popular with the families during our stay. The park offered wifi, but it was very weak and mostly did not work. The staff during checkin was helpful and prepared. We rate the park a 3 out of 5, but would have no issues staying here again when we visit the area.

Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada

After a great stop in Halifax, we headed back to northern New Brunswick to explore that coastal area of Canada. We only had a couple of days so we got right to exploring by heading to Prince Edward Island for the day. Our first stop was Anne of Green Gables in the beautiful PEI country side and then a stop in Charlottetown where we walked the harbor area and visited St. Dunstan's Basilica. Charlottetown has a surprising amount of historical significance for the formation of Canada as a country. Our second day was spent visiting the Hopewell Rocks Park. This park is along the Bay of Fundy and experiences the 50'+ daily tidal swings. The coast line has been etched by the tides into amazing formations. We spent a few hours at the park walking along the ocean floor at low tide appreciating the natural beauty. After this quick stop it is time to move into Quebec.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

This may sound very "American" of me but I never knew/never stopped to figure out where Halifax, Nova Scotia is.  It always sounded like some far off and exotic place whenever I would read about it.  When I realized we were going there I was pleasantly surprised.  :)

Nova Scotia means New Scotland in Latin and it is indeed very influenced by Scotland.  It is one of the "Maritime Provinces" in Canada and I think it is the most beautiful.  It played a big part in both world wars because of its location,

Our first day we visited The Citadel which is an old fort built right on the water to protect Nova Scotia from France and later on, The United States.  It never was used as such but when you go today, you will find soldiers, still firing their guns, while dressed in their tartan plaid and once a day, at noon the canon is still fired.

Nova Scotia also plays home to a couple UNESCO World Heritage Sites and we had the pleasure of visiting both.  One of them is called Peggy's Cove.  It is a tiny fishing village located on the eastern shore of St. Magarets Bay and it is home to Peggy's Point Lighthouse.  It is stunning where the edge of land meets the ocean and the waves slam against the rocks, creating "water explosions".  :)  We walked around for a little bit but spent the majority of our time watching the waves since it was an overcast and windy day, thereby creating "angry waters".

The next day we drove out to another UNESCO World Heritage Site which is Lenenberg.  Another small town that is home to The Bluenose II.  The original Bluenose was a fishing and racing schooner that became an icon of Nova Scotia but it was wrecked in 1946.  She was so popular that she was replicated in 1963 and still sails today.  We just happened to be there while she was in port.  She was sailing to Boston a couple of days after we saw her.  Lenenberg was also a huge fishing port but is now a popular tourist area known for its colorful buildings and beautiful architecture.
After Lenenberg we drove out to one of Canada's National Parks called Kejimkujik.  It is a heavily forested area with some beautiful lakes and rivers to kayak in.  We just did a short little hike and then we were on our way.  A fun fact about Canada's National Parks is that they put up 2 red, adirondack chairs whenever they think there is a view worth seeing.

Our last day in Halifax we went down to the waterfront area.  It is a beautiful setting of restaurants and shops and fun touristy things like segway tours and duck boat tours.  We decided to do a duck boat (or what they call a Harbour Hopper) tour to learn some fun facts and history of Halifax.  One fun fact is people that live in Halifax are called Haligonians.  :)  It was a beautiful day so we walked up and down the waterfront, had a glass of wine and just took it easy.  I have now been to 5 Canadian provinces and Nova Scotia is my favorite so far.