the_busman_chronicles

destination: home

categories: edmundston or bust

Trip Photo Blog (constantly updated)Ā
Ā
Before leaving Quebec we decided to stop off at one last park for the night. We chose La Mauricie - a national park. It reminded me a lot of Algonquin Park in Ontario, a mix of interior and tent/trailer sites. It was a short drive there - barely enough time for Alex to have his nap!Ā
Ā
On the recommendation of the park check-in guy (I think his name was Alain) we decided to explore the park a bit before settling at our site. Sidebar: The one crappy thing about any RV is that once you set up camp, you’re pretty much there until you leave - unless you’re towing a car or other mode of transport behind you - all we have in Buddy in Alex’s umbrella stroller, whihc won;t fit the three of us. We took a short hike to see some moose and a long winding drive up a hill to the highest spot in the park. No moose, bears (there was a warning posted at the entrance), dear or any other 4 legged wildlife to be seen, until… later that evening.Ā
Ā
We found our site and set up camp. As usual there were only 4-5 other campers in the park. There was a super-cool playground for Alex right beside the washrooms, so we let him have some fun while we relaxed. We contemplated spending two days at Mauricie, not do do or see anything, but to just relax - being on the road everyday and setting up/packing up was getting to be tiresome. Instead, we decided to keep going, but come back one day early.Ā
Ā
The bear warning had us a bit worried so we made sure the campsite was “secure” before we went to bed. I took our garage to the bin at the entrance (thought it might be safer than keeping it in the bus). Opening up the large green bin I was startled to see a racoon had taken up residence inside - it was about two feet away from me starting at me as if to say “Hey who turned on the lights?”. It was probably in paradise.Ā
Ā
On Wednesday we were off to Ottawa. Our second visit with Kif didn’t really work out all that well. She had to work late Wednesday night to write a speech for her boss, and didn’t make it home until 9:45pm. We deciced to just hang out in the Byward Market and walk around. We ended up at Kif’s at 7:30pm, let ourselves in and hung out with her cats Bucky and Jojo. Alex loves Bucky, and insisted on chasing him around until he could give him a big hug. Ā
Ā
We managed to catch the first episode of the Apprentice: Martha Stewart before putting Alex to bed. Ahhh, TV. I’ve missed you. Sorry for the summer of neglect, but now that you have all new episodes for serve up we’ll be best friends again. Around this time I knew the vacation was over. Any chance of camping out near Kingston, spreading the Ottawa to Guelph drive over two days was dead. Thursdays destination would be home!Ā
Ā
And so it was. We pit stopped at MEC on the way out of Ottawa, grabbed some fresh bread for P+J sandwiches in the bus, and pointed Buddy towards Guelph. 6 hours later we were home, having seem more of Canada and understanding more of what it was to be Canadian. We checked two more provinces off the list - we’ll be back to the east coast soon to see the others.Ā
Ā
Where are Alex, Julia, Chris and Buddy off to next? Not sure yet, but you’ll be the first to know.Ā