Ile d'Orleans, Quebec, Canada
It didn't just rain last night it poured - all night long. We stayed up way too late watching Downton Abbey and it felt good to sleep in. When we finally started pulling out of the campground a fellow camper told us our tire was low. Again?! Turns out it was the opposite tire and we had picked up a dry-wall screw somewhere. The gods did take some pity on us and it stopped raining long enough for Ned to put on a spare.
When he was just about finished, two other campers came on over and asked if they could help us. When we told them it was just a tire one of the guys said he would be more than happy to take it back to Fredericton to get it fixed for us! How sweet was that? We told him we were planning on hitting the road in the direction of Edmunston. He said wait just a sec and came back in a bit. Turns out both he and his buddy are in the military and are mechanics. They were looking for their tire repair kit, but couldn't find it. Instead, he called ahead to the nearest Walmart, in the direction we were headed, told them our problem and said they we waiting on us. On top of that he wrote out very clear instructions with a map on how to get there. When we got to Walmart they guy who took care of us said he'd only charge us $5 for plugging it, forget about his time. He knows what traveling is like. Canadians are sooo nice!!
The biggest lesson for me of this road trip is the inherent good in people. We've been in sticky situations, and been dumb tourists in other situations, and we've always been aided by the kindness of strangers. I try to be a good person, but I'm going to try extra hard to pay it forward!
After our little tire diversion we headed "Ouest" or West and stopped at Grand Falls. This is a huge gorge with spectacular water falls. During the spring run-off, 6 million liters of water per second runs over the falls. This is 90% of the volume of Niagara Falls. A few months later virtually all the water is diverted to the power plant. Luckily, we hit it on a roaring day. Even better the rain had stopped for awhile so we were able to get out and stretch our legs and be silly taking photos of the touristy things around the area. Legend has it that a young native girl saved her village by luring a Mohawk tribe over the great falls and down into the gorge.
The craziest thing to me about these falls is that there are two zip lines that actually go across the gorge (a 230 ft. drop) and falls. WTF?!! You couldn't pay me enough to do that. The rates are $40 for adults and $30 for seniors 70 or over. Ned wanted to know if the senior rate included complimentary CPR. Totally cracked me up.
We are now in the world of all things French. Ever try using a gas pump with only French prompts? And the pumps don't work the same way as in the U.S. Yeah, that caused our credit card to be put on hold by the bank. (Another story, but I digress). We got a kick out of all the French town names. So, my French speaking friends tell me the joke about the city called "St. Louis-du-Ha!-Ha!" We didn't get it...
Our destination for the night was going to be Riviere-du-loup on the St. Lawrence River. When we got there it was raining like crazy, we had picked up an hour crossing into the province of Quebec, so decided to keep moving on. We drove another couple of hours to the City of Quebec and then our final destination for tonight was Ile d'Orleans. This is an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River next to the city of Quebec. It was founded in 1679 and is still very agricultural and artsy. We passed apple and blueberry farms, wineries, cheese makers, cider mills and greenhouses abundant with beautiful flowers, and the most picturesque stone houses and barns. It feels so much like the French countryside. We are really looking forward to exploring this island tomorrow, as well as sunny weather.
