Gaspé: Part 1

This morning we pulled ourselves away from Québec City, but not before we checked out the parks along the river one last time. We both agreed that this is a place where we would love to spend more time.

 Once we headed out, we continued along the St. Lawrence about 250 miles to a small town known as Matane. We enjoyed a long drive over mostly flat farmland on one side of the road and small houses sitting right on the banks of this oceanic river with backyards that were only about 25 feet to the water. Almost every house on the non-river side had a barn and lots of farmland and some of the smaller homes on the river side also had barn-like buildings. The strangest thing, being among all those farms with rolls of hay in the fields, was that we did not see one animal. Not one cow or horse or goat or sheep or even a dog! We did see a brilliant sunset over and on the water as we neared our hotel.

 Canadian highways have “cantines” about every 50 miles along the way—Spartan rest areas with facilities and some with little stores selling drinks, coffee, and snacks. As we stopped at these, we recalled that along the NY Thruway, “text” areas were regularly positioned for people to stop and text. Some had facilities; some were just parking areas.


 Whenever we travel, I always wonder who I would be if I had been born in Québec, for example. I may have had the same genes, but I would not have had the same filters, culture, language, educational experiences, and environment. As we passed through the small towns on the way today, I was fascinated watching the people, listening to them, etc.



 Tonight we are in Matane, Québec, Canada, (population about 14,500 people) just beginning our trek onto the Gaspé Peninsula. Already we like what we see, hear, and feel. We are about 150 feet from the river as it is about to become the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We have the windows to the balcony open—it’s a cool 60 degrees—and we are listening to the surf slapping against the shore. Good sleeping conditions! Because today was a travel day, we don’t have a lot of pictures or events to post. Tomorrow we will explore this town a bit, including a Moose Interpretation Center, and then move on toward the “end of land,” as they call it up here, which is the farthest eastern point on the peninsula, about 200+ miles away.