We had a completely free day on the fourth day in Quebec City. Jerry, Wendy and some others had talked about going zip lining at the Montmorency Falls. I don’t zip line. I don’t really zip anywhere. What I did instead was a bit boring, but one of those necessary days when you’re traveling constantly: a me day.
I slept in. Which was amazing. Did at least 3, maybe 4 loads of laundry, washed all the dishes, and figured out which of the 3 Costcos in the area was nearest and drove there.
Costco Canada is comfortingly familiar, but also foreign. In Quebec, of course, everything is in French. But the layout and the stuff inside seem normal to this American. One thing I knew ahead of time was that they don’t accept Visa, only Mastercard. Which I don’t possess. But you can digitally buy a Costco shop card with your visa; it’s delivered to you via email and then you use it as a digital gift card. So, I bought one prior to leaving for the store.
I should know by experience in the States that no matter what day of the week or time of day, it’s going to be a zoo. But it was a Monday early afternoon. How busy could it be???? Oh, I’m so naive.
The parking lot was nearly completely full. I parked in the last row nearest the street and hoofed it in.
Something that threw me off slightly was they have a self checkout. There was an English option, so it went ok. Until I got to the lady checking receipts who spouted a torrent of French to me. When I said I didn’t speak French you could see the cogs turning in her head as everything shifted, and in perfect English she informed me that today was a great day to buy gas as it’s only $158/L today (which is a good price for gas–mostly it’s been $178/L). However, I already knew they didn’t carry diesel (which ironically has consistently been less expensive than gas here).
So, I had a productive day. And the ziplining apparently was closed on Mondays, so that crew came back and the guys all worked on getting John and Sherry’s trailer wheels remounted (or something).
The next morning it was time to leave for our next destination, near Grand Metis. Much of the route followed the St. Lawrence river. As we exited the Quebec City KOA, I had to get a picture of a tent that had set up the day before. Quite the elaborate tent site!
It was overcast; this was what a lot of my drive looked like to my left.
Not a bad way to spend a drive. We did leave the divided, 4 lane highway fairly quickly north of Quebec City. Jerry radioed me that it was likely the last we’d see a divided highway and so far he’s not wrong. We also went past the town of Rimouski, QC which I’ve long been passingly familiar with due to someone who once lived here. Bonus points to anyone who knows who I’m talking about, and here’s a bit of a hint:
We drove 220 miles to get to our campground, Camping Annies. The sites were had mature trees but good space between them. Everything was back in, and I had lots of help getting myself into my spot. We were due to spend 2 days there. The campground is technically in Metis su Mer. Off route 132, which runs along the coast line of the St. Lawrence south bank all around the Gaspe peninsula. It’s a route we’d become very familiar with since we were going all the way around!
Up until this point I’d not really tried out my Starlink; it wasn’t until the last day in Quebec City that I opened the box and tried to set it up. I could not get it to work at all; frustrated I spent part of the evening on the phone with Home Depot, who really couldn’t help. I concluded it was a dud and was trying to figure out how to send it back. We’d been told the WiFi at Quebec City was the best we’d be able to expect the entire trip and let me tell you that was not encouraging. So, I was a bit desperate when I got to Camping Annies, which did have a decent view of the northern sky. I decided to give the Starlink another shot and actually was able to figure out the issue. After it was addressed, set up was relatively straightforward and I was very, very pleased with the speed of the connection. It’s truly the difference between being able to share my photos with you and not.
So, prepare yourselves. For we spent the morning the next day at the Redford Gardens, and I took a few (cough hundred cough) pics of the beautiful grounds.
Elsie Redford was born in 1872 in Ontario. Her parents had modest roots but her father worked his way up in his work and there was a marked emphasis on education for their 3 children, which meant that Elsie was sent to finishing schools in Dresden and Paris after completing school in Montreal. She returned to Canada ready to take her place in society; in 1894 she married Robert Redford, the son of a shipping magnate, and Elsie threw herself into various philanthropic endeavors. She was an avid horsewoman, and loved spending time hunting, fishing, and just being outdoors. She taught her 2 sons much of the same and the family often spent their summers at a fishing lodge belonging to her uncle near Grand Metis. When he died, the lodge passed to her.
When she was 53 she had surgery for appendicitis. Her doctor didn’t want her fishing, fearing the strain on her recent surgical site; he suggested gardening instead. As with all her endeavors, she went into it whole-heartedly. The lodge wasn’t an ideal place to garden; it was located for it’s fishing possibilities, not growing flowers. However, Elsie was persistent and traded salmon for better soil and composting materials. By the end of her life she was writing articles for the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society.
The gardens were opened to the public in 1962; Elsie died in 1967. However, her incredible work to transform a spruce forest in Quebec to a beautiful garden remains her gift to this day.
As we tromped around the gardens, many decided we’d like to eat dinner together at a seafood restaurant near the campground called Le Matelot. However, they said they couldn’t accommodate our party for dinner (we asked for 14 seats). So, people made reservations for smaller groups for lunch, after the garden tour. There were plenty of seats available, but I think there was some struggle for them to understand our non-French conversation. I ended up going with Charlie, Rae, Richard and Dana.
After our late lunch, I went to Mont Joli for fuel. We were due to travel the next day from Camping Annies to Gaspe. While we had a beautiful day in Metis sur Mer, the next morning would alter things dramatically…
Stay tuned for the next challenges.
Travel with Me! 