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Published: July 29th 2008
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Bonjour!!!
We have arrived in Quebec. Lets back up a few days though first. We left my sister’s comforts of home and headed east into Ontario, spending our first night in Dryden. We took the high road through northern Ontario stopping at Kakabeka Falls just before Thunder Bay. They were spectacular with a scenic hike around the area. The thing most noticeable about Ontario is all the beautiful lakes along the way and then the Great Lakes on top of that. Lake Superior is massive and could easily be mistaken for the ocean. We caught our first glimpse in Thunder Bay. Arriving in Dryden we went canoing on the lake for a short paddle. It was pretty rough and lots of laughs but Alex and I made it back dry and in one piece. We camped the night in Aaron Provincial Park which is located on the lake and has great swimming and boating opportunities and lots of bugs. The next morning we took inventory of our bites! We packed up and had a quick dip before we hit the road again, off to Nipigon. Nipigon is a small town with friendly locals. We camped the night at the bank of
the Nipigon river which feeds into Lake Superior. While setting up our tent and elderly local took an interest in us and conversation ensue about our trip and where we were from and then he share some history and bits about Nipigon. I guess we just missed a fleet of sailboats that came from Thunder Bay the day before. It must have been quite a sight to behold the way the locals chatted on about it.
Next day was the loooong day in the car! Nipigon to Kirkland Lake. We travelled pretty much nonstop all day. We stopped in Hearst for lunch which is a French community although most of the signs are bilingual and so was our server thank goodness. We stopped in Cochran for a rest , stretch and information. How much further could we get in a couple more hours driving and could we make Quebec, were we even getting close? We decided around Cochran we would get a hotel that night since thunder storms loomed overhead. I am so not into camping in the rain especially if I haven’t even set up the tent yet. LOL Kirkland Lake we got the oil changed since we put
4800 Kms on the car since I left Vancouver. So Miss Meeps went for service and we went off exploring. Heritage Hockey North. Is a hall of fame for all the great hockey players that have come from Northern Ontario and there are numerous. Which makes sense since all those little lakes freeze in the winter and transform into hockey rinks in every community. I am not a big hockey fan but I did recognized many of the names listed from days gone by to even present. It reminded me of when I was a kid and collected hockey cards and skated on the pond. Good times and lots of hard work shovelling snow.
We left Kirkland Lake in late afternoon and drove to Val-d’Or, Quebec. I felt a surge of nervousness crossing the border as all the signs on Route 66 were all French. I gave thanks I was paying attention when they were bilingual. The second sign in after welcome read the cost of a ticket if you drove 140km in a 90km zone. If caught it would cost you $658 and 10 points on your licence. Don’t even think about 160km because that’s $895 and 10 points.
Ouch! Ontario does a similar thing and posts the cost of its tickets as well. All roads were 90kms excepts for when passing through small towns. Ontario tickets are 110km=$95 3 pts, 120km=$215 4 pts, 130km=$285 4 pts! This was incentive for me to slow down since I would much rather go shopping than pay a ticket. Makes me wonder what the price of a ticket is in BC, AB, SK, MB since no signs of such were posted and I sped like crazy. Boy was I lucky!
Val-d’Or has been great. I am learning French and managed to muddle my way through ordering dinner in French with the help of a phrase book and Alex. It felt quite exciting trying to speak another language. We watched the 400m sprint on bikes last night which is part of the Le Tour de l’Abitibi happening this weekend. These racers were amazing as they zipped past us at lightening speed. Unbelievable! Well that’s it for today enjoy the pics and stay posted since we hope to hit Newfoundland by the end of the month. Cheers
Jeannie & Alex
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