the_busman_chronicles

du reford au bic

categories: edmundston or bust

Trip Photo Blog (constantly updated)Т
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Before we stopped in Rimouski, we decided to visit Reford Gardens. I’m not one for flowers, but this was a garden like no other. What started out as “summer home” gardens for Elsie and Robert Reford in the 1920s have evolved into a gallery of traditional and modern landscape architecture. Most tourist gardens tend to be ‘old-school’, but the Reford Gardens is the best of both old an new. The old - luscious landscapes, with deep greens and bright colour accents from rare and indigenous plants. The new - abstract expressions of human build form and nature juxtaposed in what could easily be called modern art. It was all quite amazing. Т
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Alex loved it. He walking around in the wooded gardens, over bridges and in the old family summer home. We were always ahead or behind a seniors tour - so he quickly became the centre of attention. To him the modern gardens probably looked more like playground equipment, but he explored each in only the way a child can.Т
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We ended up spending 2 hours at Reford Gardens, which made us late for Rimouski. The bus was filling up with dirty laundry, so we decided finding a laundramat was more important than finding a camp site. After a few drives up and down the main street in search of a laundromat, we asked the concierge at a local hotel and he pointed us in the right direction. With washer loaded, we headed out to grab a bite to eat. Downtown Rimouski is a hoppin’ place on Saturday night, so it took us a few tries to find a restaurant with seats. We ended up at an “Italian bread bar” (Pucini’s) - DIY toasted bread on the grill with every meal. Its a concept I want to import back to Guelph. The lasagne was like no lasagne I’ve every had before - but the best I’ve every had. Despite having a cute French girl his age at a neighbouring table, Alex was sick of sitting and insisted on eating from our laps or running around the restaurant. Т
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With laundry done, we headed to the other side of Rimouski to Bic National Park to find our campsite for the night. By this time it was 10pm and the campground would be closed, something we knew all too well from our BC or Bust trip - if you arrive after close, the sites are self-serve and you can pay in the morning. Like most of the parks we’ve stayed at it was pretty much abandoned. We were knackered - so we pretty much set-up the beds and jumped in them.Т
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Sunday morning we got a chance to see where we were - between the weathered fog covered mountains and the St. Lawrence. It smelt and sounded like the sea. Before we departed we drove around. The shores stretched to the water and were filled with muck, rocks and birds - it must have been low tide because the large basins we could see were empty. The rocks along the store were unique - sharp looking, but frail once you touched them. Even though we never made it to Halifax, I imagine it a lot like Bic. Т
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On to QuebУЉc (referred to here just as just QuebУЉc, not QuebУЉc City). Т
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Random observation: the curbs in most of the city’s in QuebУЉc are made of granite or quarts granite. Not sure why cement won’t do - maybe they use diamond tipped snowplow blades here.Т