June 9, 2009

Canadian Maritimes Travel

Good night!Stopping only for gas at Gaspe', we headed to the campground and arrived at about 6:00 pm. Carol made a nice antipasto and we had spaghetti and tuna. This is the first location with no cell service and no WiFi, so I am writing this offline for future upload. Watching the DVD Finding Forrester with Sean Connery and Rob Brown filled our evening.

Day 22 (June 8, 2009)

Careleton (pronounced Car el ton) Municipal Campground was one on the best, except for the showers as described below,, totally surrounded by the ocean connected to the mainland by a narrow spit of land. Had it been less windy, we would have ridden our bikes on the new bike path that parallels the road. As usual, only a handful of RVers and a tenter or two in a 400 space campground!

I had a shower in a space obviously not designed by RVers. The water runs only a short time with the press of a button and the shower faces outward and hits the shower curtain with such force that it soaks the changing space as well as the shower stall. The changing space shelf was too narrow to be practical, There was no bench to put clothes on, only one hook for hanging and the shower had no shelves for soap and shampoo. I managed to get clean after pressing the button a dozen times just to obtain hot water to begin the shower. But Carol gave up after soaking some of her clothes just figuring out how to operate the thing and used the RV shower instead. I can say they were clean, but not very practical. I'd have preferred the type that require twenty five cents for six minutes of hot water, nuisance that they are.


Heading east on Rte 132, we stopped at a tourist information center in New Richmond for maps and literature. As has been a pattern, we were the first customers of the season. The gal and her assistant spoke very little English but with my tiny bit of French and our positive attitudes, I got everything needed. Very nice people and helpful. Meanwhile, Carol was online with the laptop in the RV searching for information, too.


We headed for Chandler on the road that hugs the coast so we had continual sea vistas. Stopping briefly at Paspebiac to visit the restored historic site of a very large cod processing facility that was in operation beginning in mid 18the century until the turn of the 20th century. Next to it is a modern fish processing plant. The old site consisting of many buildings was closed, but the buildings are very well restored.


Stopping for lunch at the Marina Restaurant in Chandler, we were among three occupied tables on the second floor of a building shaped like a ship, right on the bay, of course, for a very nice three-course battered fried cod (muero?) lunch. Very little activity in the town, almost as if it were asleep.


The tulips are in bloom here and throughout this trip we seem to have followed the tulips and the dandelions (the dandelion could easily be the provincial flower of all that we visited!) The lilacs are coming into bloom here, too.


Perce' is noted for a huge rock just offshore that has a nice round hole in one end. Very peculiar and photogenic. Weather is mostly cloudy and windy (It's always windy!) and temperatures in the 50s.

No comments: