We are staying at the B&B shown by the gray dot. This was our second night and today we will drive to New Brunswick, to the black dot to the east.
The first three days were driving through endless forests. The traffic was not too bad. Our first hotel was in a small town where the paper mill had shut down a few months ago. The hotel was comfortable and there was an attached restaurant. The decor had not changed probably since the hotel was built and Dad said he was just waiting for Colombo to walk in. But the food was good (Dad had liver and onions) and the room was dark and quiet.
The next day we drove to Vaudreuil QC. We stayed at a beautiful new Holiday Inn next to a vast shopping area. We managed to find a real Italian restaurant! The meal and wine were delicious. We had a good rest in our hospital-like sanitary room.
The next day, 8/30, we drove to our first B&B. It was located at the yellow dot. There was a beautiful view of the St. Lawrence River from our back window. There were gulls but no shorebirds. We stayed only for one night.
The photo shows the shoreline at low tide. The low rocks are revealed as well as the sand and seaweed.
Driving north along the coast we came to the Parc National du Bic. We learned that it was a provincial park and we drove the few roads that went through it. Most of the area was devoted to hiking and biking. The interesting trails involved hiking beaches that are only accessible during low tide. The seals were interesting to watch as they lounged on the seaweed-covered rocks. Since it was raining we didn’t do much. We lfet the park and drove on to the east, looking for shorebirds along the coast. Finally, when it was time to find our B&B, we realized that it was right next to the park where we were in the morning. The B&B looks out over a bay and at the park. Again, lots of gulls and ducks but not much else. But a beautiful view nonetheless.
The next morning we drove along the coast and then into the Chic-Choc Mountains. Here we found a hike that was supposed to have the Black-backed Woodpecker, one of our life targets. We drove a long gravel road to the parking lot and we’re surprised to see that it was big and there were a lot of vehicles parked. It was a popular hike. We hiked less than 2k mostly up, and realized the rain was starting to increase. Bill hadn’t planned for that. We found a bench to sit and look out and then headed back. On the way we finally found a few birds, but not the woodpecker.
We’re relaxing in Bic now and getting ready to move on to New Brunswick.