We had a recommendation from a friend who was born and brought up in New Brunswick. The suggestion was to go to Koubouchiguac National Park, which is close to Miramichi on the east coast of New Brunswick. We follow recommendations so the route was plotted , the campground booked , and the journey embarked upon..!!
177 kms……thats how long the drive is on New Brunswick highway 108……Highway 108NB is tree lined avenue………for those 177kms.. A car passes about every 10km…..and the occasional sign indicating bumps in the road coming up….which is actually some kind of joke…b/c the whole 177 kms is a series of bumps…!! We followed a big 5th wheel trailer…one of those 11ft high ones…it was terrifying watching that thing sway from side to side on the uneven road surface……not convinced that it was not going to just tip over sideways…mixed with us hitting the same bumps immediately after.
In Miramichi, we started the day with a drive down to the JD Irving Eco Centre, but stopping in at the Visitor Centre at Koubouchiguac National Park to see if we could purchase a Discovery Pass (annual pass for all Canadian National Parks) we were successful and once in to the park, a drive up to Kelly’s beach to check it out was in order.
Sea water. Not our first time paddling in the Atlantic, but the first time on this side of it….!!!! (Scotland is just over there…….. 👉 !!!!!)
Satisfied with what we were finding, we carried on down to Bouctouche. The origins of the Irving dynasty are in Bouctouche NB. The JD Irving Eco Centre was our intended destination for a wander out to the sandbar reclamation project, and a walk down to the arboretum.
The beaches were beautiful, and , considering it was a long weekend, not that busy..!!
We were planning a walk down to the Irving Arboretum per Alltrails…but the mosquitos thought we were an all you can eat buffet, could have been the shirts with…Take all you want but eat all you take……so while we still had enough of the red stuff in our arteries to be able to walk…we scurried back to the truck…yeuch….
The day topped off with a stop at a local craft brewer for some sustenance (recuperation from the vicious mosquito attack…!!)
………. and fish and chips straight from the ocean from Andrews Fish and Chips. (It was pretty good….. 👍..!!)
There was a bit of indecision in the house, as to the trail to follow today. Kouchibouguac has lots of little short trails, and some longer ones that are more suitable for biking. Its not the kind of place to try to go off trail……the tree cover is simply too dense. (and it turns out that the bug life is pretty tenacious too..!!)
What sealed the deal (lol) was the mention of a Grey Seal colony down towards the end of the sandbar that is Kellys Beach.
The sand bar changes with every storm…Alltrails had it as a 12km trail (out and back) and a previous user logged it as 14km…….Alltrails spent the last km telling me I was off route…we measured it as 8 km on the dot…and hilariously the map shows us as out in the middle of the channel.
At one point, for the blog….brave photographer guy decided to follow a little path up onto the dune……..prehistoric, mega sized mosquitodactyls live up there…..it took us a couple of kms of fast pace walking to shake them off the scent…..!!!
It was a bit of a birding extravaganza……big birds and little birds….plucky little plovers to hungry baby terns….lots of entertainment to make up for 16kms in the baking sun.
The other cool inhabitant is a colony of blue herons…….as we walked…suddenly there were about 15 that we could count lifted aloft…….very cool sight. Neither of us had ever witnessed more than two of them together…….
It was a breathtaking sight for sure. On the ocean side we were starting to see the odd seal head peeking up….
The seawater was incredibly clear, and not a lot of wave action even tho there was a stiff breeze (thank goodness…..otherwise we may have expired from the heat)…but the tide was going out……low tide was 3.37pm that day.
The beach itself was surprisingly clear of shells or debris of any kind ……there was the odd bit of rope and ginormous tree trunk type driftwood.
As we reached the end of the sandbar, which has apparently extended by another kilometer……we could see about 40 to 50 seals on the next sandbar out…about 50 to 100 feet offshore…..all peeking up and watching us…!!
On the other side of the sandbar, we could see the channel and some of the fishing boats heading out….
The seals were quite hilarious. As we turned around to head back…again the seals followed us…swimming along for a bit and then all the little heads bobbing up and looking over at us….it was highly entertaining. (for us anyway….lol)
There was always one ‘sentry’ seal….a bit closer to shore….keeping an eye on us….!! If you enlarge the pictures you can actually see the flies landing on him (her?)
There was more entertainment to be had with the various little birds…..
The boots came off on the way back…and I have to say….as much as we like the lakes…there is just something about the sea……it really feels like where humans are supposed to be…….I just couldn’t get enough of wading through the briny water……it was about 15 Celsius tho…so nether of us got much past our knees…it was bone chilling….but lovely….
It was a thoroughly satisfying day all in all. Probably the highlight of New Brunswick so far……..
As ever….all of the photographs are clickable for a clearer view, and additional information will be clickable as underlined text.
Edmundston was a spot on the map that seemed like a reasonable place stop for a bit. Initially we were booked for a couple of nights….but…having decided that there was not much to do around here….and that we needed a few days of a break…we extended that to five days. Edmundston, New Brunswick is a quiet little town…..right on the border with the US. It’s one of those places that if you take a wrong turn you end up in the US…we did not do that…this time…!!!( I’m not sure if I admitted to the almost accidental border crossing in Osoyoos)
It was a quite lovely little campground…a young couple with a newly renovated campground…would highly recommend it to anyone out there on the road looking for a nice place to stop. ( Just off the Trans Canada )
There were an abundance of Ontario plates in the campground. We ended up chatting round a campfire with a bunch of Ontario people. (Hi Jim and Sharon..!! 😀)
Some wandering around the town was in order….and a quick visit to a little bit of the history of the area. There are a bunch of these little forts along the border here.
Feeling the need for something more active….I picked out a trail 9 minutes drive from the campground…Mont Farlagne…..seemed appropriate to me…LOL…..
So the Iroquois trail was the choice…….lovely forest walk, nicely laid out trails….not entirely flat and not too challenging.
We met up with some of my favourite guys almost immediately.
Did I mention there are a lot of trees here…..and not a lot of elevation…so it was a very pretty forest walk through avenues of trees. That put our focus more to the forest floor.
At about the halfway point we found this little guy sitting…..closer inspection revealed a whole heaping bunch of tadpoles……
Not sure what the deal is with porcupines……but this trail was apparently affected…!!!
The return path per Alltrails was following the outbound route. We opted for the St Jean trail back….a little further but a different vista. Turned out to be a good move…we found ourselves trekking through a Maple Grove, with all the tubing in place for sap harvest. It was quite an impressive operation.
What we also found was a whole different set of fun guys…….cool alien looking things…!!!
…and another cheeky little chap that seemed to want his picture taken…!!
A good day out. A bit of leg stretching happened with some interesting sights along the way. ……..and a short drive home……
All of the photographs are clickable if you wish a clearer view. Additional information is added in clickable links indicated by underlined text.
After wandering the streets of Old Quebec city we were ready for something a bit more out in the wild. Jaques Cartier National Park seemed very handy with some interesting looking hikes popping up on Alltrails….and at less than an hour drive to get there….oft we jolly well went…!!
Once outside the city and its spaghetti of highways and junctions….there really is not much of anything in northern Quebec but trees and wilderness. Much like the rest of Canada, its surprising how big and empty it really is, when you go look at the map…!!!
Having made it to the park, and up the winding road to the visitor centre, it was a busy little place. Most of the visitors were there with kayaks, stand up paddle boards, and mountain bikes.
We were bound for the Escarpment loop ( as the one that seemed to promise views..) The next picture is of the viewing platform from the parking lot…!!!
Walking the route anticlockwise gave us the steeper climb initially and the gentle downhill after….(it’s always harder going down the steep slopes)
It was well treed so mostly in shade, and a punishing uphill after such a gap from our last hike. I don’t know if it was a result of recent storms, or if its a feature of the area…….but the trail was humid, often with water running down the path (and rife with gigantic mosquitos) even at the peak of the elevation. It is odd being that high up and it was still peaty and boggy.
At the top….from the lookout platform…you can see the truck…!!
The path down resulted in larger hordes of pestilence. It was so humid, I was not sure if they were landing on me to bite me , or mistaking me for a handy puddle.
My hat came off (because it was shaded) to become a handy bug swatter…….or it gave me some sense of keeping them away from my face at least…!!!
It did not seem like the down slope was much easier than the up…….not to the legs that were doing it….regardless of what the map said…!!
The last few kms were level and along the road….by which time we were just simply tired out…..it would seem we have lost a little fitness…!!!
There was an abundance of our favourite fun guys along the way….
……as well as some other flora……goodness only knows what they are called…but they were pretty..!!
.and some not so timid wildlife…!!! This guy sat quite patiently waiting for me to carry on my way…!!!
All the pictures in this post are clickable if you wish a clearer view. Also any additional information is included in clickable links which appear as underlined text.
Back in Ontario, parked at our special little spot behind the barn (courtesy of our good friends..!!) we had an opportunity to make some changes to the trailer. Having lived in it for a year now….there were a couple of things we wanted to do. For those of you who knew us in our house owning days you will not be surprised to see us making the wee tin house a little more our own.
No. 1 was the shower. It had never made sense to us…the glass door in a travel trailer (it’s heavy…and breakable..!!) and from early on the spacer at the bottom had failed, necessitating that one lift the door before opening or closing…..it was just awkward…!! It must have heard us grumbling about it. The day after we got back, we had just measured the gap to go and buy a tension rod for the space……when it quite literally …just fell off…!!! we were very lucky that this did not happen on the road, or when someone was standing beside it.
So….Scott set to stripping out the rest of the frame and the metal around the edge of the opening. I should probably have taken some pictures of that process….but I mostly just stayed out of the way…!!! ( Editor. That was, as usual, the smart play. It was not easy with ungentlemanly language or high volume being of no help )
The next step was to rethink the tension rod. We did not like the idea of that outward pressure on the shower walls…..so the solution to that was to install brackets, like you would use in a closet, to slot the rod in to.
…and the reno was completed with the new shower curtain….and removing that useless towel rail in there and replacing it/covering the screw holes with some bathroom specific command hooks. Waaaaay more useful…!!!
Next…to continue with the bathroom theme…..that blooming blinking big mirror in the bathroom…..!!! Its big, heavy, breakable…and the edge of it sits on the counter level…which means it tracks water up behind it and destroys the edge of the mirror. The photo of the mirror below shows a couple of layers of tape covering the surface. Amazingly it came out in one piece but if it hadn’t……
Solution, Ikea kids acrylic mirrors x 4, and once they were in…I alien taped a small magnifier between them…et voila..!!!
While we are pulling things off the wall……the television and its cumbersome articulating wall mount just had to go. We just don’t watch it…too much other stuff to do it would seem..!!! That and my work station spot is right there……and its sooo uncomfortable behind your head…….much better replaced with a pegboard. If we do feel the need for a movie on a rainy day there’s always the laptop which will blue tooth to the trailer sound system or our digital projector which will do the same thing.
The dinette cushions had their fabric replaced with a cool Sunbrella fabric in the winter. (Scott the seamster again..!!). We also took the opportunity to replace the High Density foam in all the seat cushions. It was really beginning to show its age and had lost any desire to be comfortable.
Next….the tabletop in the dinette. The before was this bland, off white arborite.
The after…..this very beautiful piece of elm sourced by good friend Bruce of Dunks custom log sawing.
Scott chopped the corners and varnished the underside…..for any of you looking replace the table please either lose the corners or radius them. You’ll know why the first time you catch your hip on it if you don’t.
Then the scary bit……our first attempt at epoxy resin. Its supposed to be the equivalent of 75 coats of varnish….so it seemed like the trick….!!
Once you pour it on, you have to heat out the little bubbles that form over the next 45 minutes…!!!
Then the hardware from the original table was swapped over…..Mr engineer made fancy little templates to get the screws in the right place.
….and the finished article. Turned out pretty well we think…..!!!
But now the other kitchen counter needs done…….and the curtains…!!!
Our last big problem to solve was creating some airflow under the mattress. A subject of many of the online forums for prolonged stays in RV’s…the accumulation of condensation under the mattress. Our short term solution has been to prop it up and air it out every two to three days…not particularly convenient…but effective.
We had been debating this one since the winter, and it was part of the plan for the Ontario stop, to build a slat frame under the mattress. (Another job for Scott…!!) Build it in situ, it won’t fit through the door.
It does make the underbed storage a little less handy to get in to….but it works a treat on letting the mattress breathe.
So much for any kind of break back in Ontario……but we got a lot done…..!!!
Coincidentally, its exactly a year since we took the Chi Cheemaun ferry across to Manitoulin and set off on this journey of ours. So here we go east this time. First stop was a Harvest Host just outside Kingston. The Doner Studio perfectly located close enough to the Trans Canada to be convenient, and tucked away enough to be beautifully secluded and private.
Our hosts, Randall and Darlene, were super friendly and helpful. The parking spot they had for us was quite magnificent. It’s a level, gravel area across the road from their studio and store, but facing out over the Rideau Canal at Lower Brewers Lock. The added bonus to this spot right now is that the bridge by their property is out for re-construction, so the through road is actually closed.
It was a real breath of air stopping here to break up the drive. The walk around these old locks on the canal was another unexpected bonus.
A little bit of history mixed in to our evening stroll.
…and a little bit of fishing……well…..the throwing of a line into the water….!!!!
…..on the way back to Xolo, we happened on this heron showing himself off quite magnificently……..
….. and then disturbed a gaggle nibbling the grass around our site..!!
…..the sunset was pretty decent too…..!!!!
With Harvest hosts there is no unhitching…..so in the morning, coffee in hand, its just lifting the stairs, locking the door and off we go again. ( That might be a slight oversimplification…!!!LOL)
Next stop Quebec City……..
Gas prices take a big leap when you cross in to Quebec, and the gas stations become more impossible to get a 30 foot rig into…!!!
Neither of us could believe that we did not take any pictures of the site in Campground Bernieres (just off the Trans Canada, and just outside Quebec City.) It was a very nice campground, very friendly staff. We drove through some horrific thunderstorms on the way there……collected our first ‘giant hail’ dents in the front of the trailer. (🙁)
We stayed a couple of nights so that we could take a wander round the old city.
Lovely buildings and little art spots scattered around.
Its a very beautiful city…….if you mashed up Edinburgh and Paris (France) with a handful of Montreal….you pretty much have Old Quebec city.
We wandered down to the harbour, and stopped for a foot cooling session in the arty sprinkler system. ( it was a hot day…!!)
Lots of soaking wet kids around…..😁😁
Its one of those places that is trapped between old beauty, interesting fine art and tourist kitsch.
It was a lovely place to wander through, but it also reinforced to us that cities are not where we’d rather be anymore.
We did have an interesting little lunch stop at Tora-ya ramen. Very yummy..!!
All the pictures in this post are clickable if you wish a clearer view. Additional information is included in clickable links which appear as underlined text.
July brought us to our first post pandemic concert, back after two years of absence from this concert series in Grand Rapids Michigan. One of our favourite artists was back on the program, the incomparable Lyle Lovett. We have attended this concert at this beautiful outdoor venue in the past and it is always worth the drive.
This time though, it was a trip with Xolo ( our Airstream).
Michigan weather exploded its regular downpour on us. Every time we have driven down to Grand Rapids ….it has been in the pouring rain.
Even on Friday night, driving over to Fredrik Meijer Gardens, the rain continued to pour. We arrived in the parking lot to a little drizzle (Scotch Mist..!!) and by the time we took our place in the queue….it all dried up…..and held off for the entirety of the concert.
The large band are all accomplished music artists in their own right…..the whole thing makes for a great show…!!
Another superb aspect to this venue is that you always meet great people, its such a lovely, almost informal setting as the concert continues through dusk ( and some years there are fireflies..!!)
Very satisfied with our evening, and our trip……we made the short drive back to our spot in Cedar Springs.
With morning we were pulling out, headed back to Ontario to regroup and make ready for the next big leg of our ongoing adventure. We took a chance on Saturday morning to try out a local breakfast spot in Cedar Springs, Sue’s Country Kitchen. Anything you might be thinking about this little local eatery is probably spot on. A truly charming and authentic place. The homemade bread is out of this world, the omelet…. fabulous. Not a matching couple of mugs, or set of cutlery in the place (or piece of furniture for that matter ). Rustic, I think is the appropriate description. If you ever pass this way….definitely stop for breakfast….its an experience. ( A good one….I promise..!!)
We had a wander round Cedar Springs….a quite charming little tiny dot on the map town….very pretty..!!
The bridge was out….!!
All pictures are clickable if you wish a clearer view. Clickable links for more information appear as underlined text.
Despite our intent to journey east, an opportunity to see one of our favourite artists perform in Grand Rapids at one of our favourite venues lured us slightly west again….briefly….but that will be the next post…..
In previous (pre pandemic, and pre Airstream ..!!) years we have travelled down and stayed in hotels locally. Grand Rapids is a great place for gastro pubs and microbreweries. This time , with our new found love for Boondockers Welcome, I had found a very promising host in Cedar Springs, just a little north of the city, 25 minutes from the venue (and 4 miles from a promising sounding brewery..!!)
The house is owned and maintained by Steelcase, one of the largest office furniture manufacturers in the world which was founded in Grand Rapids. Last time we were here we missed the tour b/c they only run them two days a week…this time we were prepared……tickets booked…….we were ready.
What a beautiful house it is……most definitely in keeping with others we have seen. It has been beautifully restored by the Steelcase owners…..and surprisingly, photography was allowed inside the house (much to the delight of my photographer…😅)
This place has a very similar feel to Darwin Martin House Complex in Buffalo, maybe its the same type of loving restoration. The enthusiasm and real love from the volunteers is the same in all the Frank Lloyd Wright houses. The decorative frieze pictured below had been painted over more than 40 times……its return is discussed with pride and wonder by the volunteers.
There were only four of us with our docent….the other couple were FLW superfans like us…..and we chatted her up enough that we got a couple of extra rooms on our tour.
Mr Wrights attention to detail and fascination with light yields some extra delightful moments in this house.
We were very pleased with ourselves for fitting this one in, it is a treasure.
Our Boondockers welcome (BW) host had recommended a trip to Grand Haven. A 45 minute drive from Grand Rapids. Following the travel mantra (always follow the recommendations…..even though this was not the laundry room…LOL) off we went, to the west side of Michigan and the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan.
It was a beautiful day, and so it was a perfect day to hit the beach, and to complete the Great Lakes set….with a swim in our fifth Great Lake..!!
…and a walk on the pier …….
….a bit of added excitement as the coastguard were called out, lights and sirens blazing…..
An absolutely beautiful place……
The host farm was a lovely property, and our site for the trailer next to a barn with a few resident sheep. Our gracious host met with us to help us get set up and told us of his missing cat ‘Shadow’ the barn cat. Shadow had not been sighted for some time but was still disposing of her daily kibble ration. (or was she..!!)
Scott met this little chap whilst filling the water jugs in the morning. We kept a respectful distance……but just had to take some pictures of ‘Shadow’….the funny lookin’ barn cat…!!!
As ever, all pictures are clickable if you wish a clearer view…..and underlined text is clickable links for more information.
Another one of the traditions we had formed pre pandemic was the food truck festival in Buffalo. Fortuitously it is held soon after the Allentown Arts fest, and since we had not started our trek to the East yet…we were able to attend.
Really its just an excuse to spend another weekend in Buffalo…..this town has been our home from home over the last few years…and it is really good to be back.
The festival itself was very busy again…which was great to see. We made the decision early to stop and have our favourite ‘Mike’ sandwich at Spot coffee……which kind of ruined us for the tasters….but the lines were long for the trucks…so we opted for a people watching tour this year.
City hall in Buffalo is such a lovely building, and that end of town has so many fabulous structures . From a conversation we had with one of our local friends some years ago….the greatest thing that happened to Buffalo was that, in the 50’s, when all the other major cities were tearing down their 1900’s to 1930’s architecture and replacing them with glass and steel, Buffalo was too poor……so all those beautiful old buildings are still standing…and are now being restored…..
There are always some great murals and unexpected artwork in this town. (Among the many things I love about this place..!!)
All pictures are clickable if you wish a clearer view, and clickable links for more information appear underlined.
On the continuing journey of Frank LLoyd Wright houses, the first one we ever visited was the Darwin Martin complex in Buffalo. This was a first time visit for the eldest daughter, and a great excuse to spend a day out and about with her.😁
It doesnt usually take much to persuade us to spend a day in Buffalo and this day was no exception. The weather was quite perfect, sunny but not too blisteringly hot.
Our last visit here pre pandemic was just as they were getting going with replacing the floriscape. Two years of pandemic restriction later and the garden is now well established and a magnificent compliment to this quite beautiful housing complex.
FLW built three housing complexes during his illustrious career, and this is the only one still standing. It consists of the main family house, the gardeners cottage, the carriage house and the Barton house which Darwin Martin had built for his sister on the same property.
At the Darwin Martin house, as with many of the FLW houses, there is no photography allowed inside the building. My resident photographer satisfied himself with scoping out the outside, and the pergola walkway down to the ‘greenhouse’.
We finished up the day at one of our very favourite haunts in Buffalo, the Allen St Hardware Cafe. A stop for dinner before heading home.
A great day out…!!!
For anyone in Southern Ontario, this house ( and the Martins summerhouse at Greycliff) are an easy day out, and, if you have even the slightest interest in architecture, or art in general, a must do trip.
Its a 2 hour tour around the house and gardens, and we have been here a few times before….but it never seems like that long. This place is just such a magnificent piece of design. That Frank guy really knew what he was doing…!!!
As always, the pictures are all clickable if you wish a clearer view, underlined text provides clickable links to further information.
OsteoPraxis on the road 