Quebec Covered Bridge

Our final lunch time picnic area stop on the way from Quebec to New Brunswick allows us to make a short detour and walk over the Routhierville covered bridge across the Matapedia River.... exceptionally well maintained inna scenic setting!

Sainte-Flavie

Campground on the St Lawrence Seaway with the Airstream as close to the water as we can get! Our bedroom view is awesome! Folks collect driftwood and build bonfires and party all along the beach. It's been a pretty good month in Quebec! Lots of spoken French, lots of interesting meats and seafood, comfortable weather, some superb waterfront camp site locations, costs way under budget with cheap Canadian $, new territory we haven't seen before, new friendships, lots of friendly people, longer stops in fewer places.... all is good!

Pointe-au-Père Lighthouse

Only 128 steps to the top! Then two narrow ladders to the rotating fresnel light, once whale oil and updated to electric. No longer an active light, just a tourist attraction!

Submarine tour

HMCS Onondaga - A Canadian Navy decommissioned diesel-electric Oberon class sub lies alongside the museum at Pointe-la-Pere and a detailed technical audio guide takes you through an opening in the stern for a claustrophobic inducing stumble though the narrow and contorted passageway, through multiple watertight doors, through the engine room, control room, galley, sonar room, officers and enlisted men's mess, to the forward torpedo room and a hatch to the outside. Half an hour is stressful.... how about a 3 month patrol!

Lobster grilling....

With a plentiful supply of low priced live lobsters at US$12 per lb, we decided to plunge into full grilling mode. With grill set on high at 400F, a preliminary two minute firing quietened down the crustaceans and allowed to next surgical stage to be performed humanely. Using our large cleaver knife we cut the body and tail into two halves and returned them to the grill for five minutes shell side down and nicely dowsed with melted butter. More melted butter and they were turned over meat side down for 3 minutes. Transfer to plate, pour a crisp cold wine wine, splash more melted butter, eat and enjoy this delicious tender lobster meat, crack claws, clean up, go back to grill and fetch next lobster, repeat until all lobsters are gone! Actually one 1-1/2 lb lobster each is quite sufficient but the grill is only big enough for one lobster so we cook the first one and serve half each and repeat for our second halves a few minutes later. Served with a potato salad made with shallots, mayo and white balsamic vinegar and white balsamic glaze. Memorable especially on a beach sea front camp site with a red sunset!

Rare Mongolian Blue Poppy

Visited the Gardens of Métis located in a micro climate zone along the St Lawrence River and admired the rare and difficult to grow blue Mongolian poppies largely found in Bhutan but these do not produce opium.... In the late spring of 1922, a British Himalayan expedition, led by legendary mountaineer George Leigh Mallory, discovered the plant on their failed attempt to reach the summit of the then-unconquered Mount Everest.

Les Jardins de Metis

Elsie Reford grew up in Montreal and enjoyed salmon fishing with her uncle on this property. Having no children, he left Estevan Lodge to his favorite niece. It's been over 50 years since she developed these gardens, and they contain specimens from all over the world, all named and grouped, including this kitchen garden. We meandered on the paths and came upon this art installation where the artist translated his belief that the Greek's took inspiration for their columns from trees.

Four girls...

We are camped out on the St Lawrence Seaway about 200 miles downstream from Quebec City where it is about 30 miles wide. The water temperature is icy.... only a few degrees above freezing! Some folks are brave enough to dip their toes including this family of four daughters enjoying the best of an exceptionally warm weather Sunday trip to river.

Fifty years ago...

Airstream camper was used as a mobile quarantine facility for the Apollo 11 crew return from the moon for 21 days... we spend nearly 8 months a year in ours.... but only traveled about a quarter of the distance to the moon in it!

Meanwhile back at home....

Only 30 miles from our home in Tappahannock, approx 1,000 Airstreams are gathering for their annual "International" rally in a heat wave of over 110F heat index. Happily we are 1,000 miles to the North in Quebec with a summer temperature range 60 to 80F.

Ferry across the Saguenay River

Much to our surprise the road came to an end at the Saguenay fjord and the only option to go further north east is to take a free ferry. The map just shows a continuous road! A very efficient and frequent ferry service across the mile wide estuary with swiftly running currents. Long enough to exercise legs, swop drivers, breathe in some sea air and visit our private restroom!

Lobster Heaven!

Yesterday we arrived at Capitaine Homard "Captain Lobster" (a campground and a restaurant - perfect combo) in St-Flavie on the St Lawrence estuary ... a real treat for us as we had been putting off eating any lobsters till we got here. Well worth the wait!

Hot hot hot Virginia!

My motto is never be in Virginia July and August! Well I still act as PIO for our county EMS so today I posted a weather alert for this coming weekend which also happens to be the annual Airstream gathering in Doswell VA - some 800 Airstreamers. So very very glad I can do this remotely from a location 1,000 miles much further north in Quebec!

Mussels for dinner

A stick of butter, 1/4 lb of shallots, 1/2 bottle of dry wine, 2 lb of mussels, steam them up for 6 to 8 minutes, serve mussels, add sour cream to shallot wine sauce and simmer, pour over mussels, eat mussels, drink shallot wine soup! Classic dish we have prepared ever since we sailed into Normandy and Brittany harbors back in the 70's...

Lunch Quebecois

Lunched at the Bistro Saint-Malo and had fish soup with mussels and croutons followed with a hearty duck leg and Toulouse sausage cassoulet! Stuff of long ago life memories! Now for a nap....

Forbidden literature

The Ursulines Monastery is the oldest teaching and boarding school for girls in North America founded in 1639! Amazing breadth and range of what was on their Vatican decreed list of banned books!

Old Quebec City

Always enjoy a walkabout in Quebec City! Must be our fifth visit in 40 years! We love getting back into the French culture, lifestyle and food of this town. Our campground is south of town across the river so we walk on the boat ferry and use the funicular to reach the Chateau Frontenac terrace, Place d'Armes and the artists in the Rue du Tresor. We walked to the Augustines convent and the Ursulines chapel and museum, got lunch in lower town, checked out the craft fair, and visited the Fort Museum with its diorama and movie of the history of French and English struggle for Quebec. A most enjoyable day!

A bit of Proust!

Memories from childhood or adolescence come flooding back as I indulged in a black pudding lunch at Rioux & Pettigrew in Quebec old city. Boudin noir is not approved by the FDA as I discovered recently in Louisiana! Baked and served with mushy peas and real peas, fingerlings, and a nettle family vegetable!

Supermarket selection!

I was like a kid in a candy store....

Gourgane Beans

The broad bean or fava bean goes by the name "gourgane" in the Charlevoix and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean regions. This bean has a long history, and was once a common staple in the diet of the inhabitants of New France. Long associated almost exclusively with the Charlevoix region, especially since the late 19th century, it has been virtually forgotten elsewhere, except in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region. It was introduced there by settlers from Charlevoix starting in 1838 and is now grown as a commercial crop. Despite the legume's remarkable nutritional value, it is rare in the diet of Quebecois today. It is primarily known for its use in "soupe aux gourganes" (gourgane soup), a regional dish featured in traditional cooking in the Charlevoix, Saguenay, and Lac-Saint-Jean regions.

La fève des marais est connue sous le nom de gourgane dans les régions de Charlevoix et du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. D'origine très ancienne, elle faisait autrefois partie de l'alimentation courante des habitants de la Nouvelle-France. La culture de la gourgane, surtout après le XIXe siècle, sera longtemps identifiée presque exclusivement à la région de Charlevoix où sa présence se maintient, alors qu'ailleurs elle paraît négligée ou même oubliée. Par le biais de l'immigration des Charlevoisiens vers le Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean à compter de 1838, la gourgane s'implante aussi dans cette région et y devient une production agricole reconnue. Toutefois, malgré ses grandes qualités nutritionnelles, cette légumineuse occupe une place marginale dans l'alimentation des Québécois d'aujourd'hui. Elle demeure principalement associée à la fameuse soupe aux gourganes, un mets régional typique du patrimoine alimentaire charlevoisien, saguenéen et jeannois.

 (From the encyclopedia of French Cultural Heritage in North America)

Dinner time!

We had three dinners with our Quebecois Airstream group... "Diner Communautaire" where everyone brings their own food, "Souper Saguenéen", an elegant four course local fare meal featuring pate de champagne, next a favs or broad bean gourgane soup which gave rise to my table calling me David Gourganes, and then the main course a local game and potato pie dish Tourtiere followed by individual blueberry tarts. The last dinner was on our way to the theatre and we all dived in to an excellent and varied Chinese buffet in Saguenay for a couple of hours!

View from my bed!

Waking up and pulling the curtains aside, open the window and breath in the fresh marine breeze.... then my cup of coffee arrives and I catch up on my phone with what's happening in the world. Saguenay River Baie-Saint-Jean has a 10 foot tide and over a week my morning view changes from high water almost lapping at the Airstream and kayakers paddling by to a view of a distant craggy rocky shoreline with low water half a mile away.

Bistro de l’Anse

Bistro and micro brewery in the garden next to the camp ground where we enjoyed our July 4th dinner with local venison burger and fish and chips. Returned there another day for salmon tartare and a selection of brews!