Fall 2017 Shortened Canada Trip: Quebec City

September 2017 Road Trip!!!  

Time for another road trip adventure. Judy and I are traveling with camping buddies Sue (Judy's sister) and Al Meyer. We are parked at the KOA in Quebec City for 3 nights. Then it is off to the Canadian Maritimes. As with most of our adventures, there is always an occasional misadventure or two. Well, our first one happened before we even pulled out of the driveway back home. As we lowered the RV off the jacks, a flat tire showed up.  Fortunately, an hour later we had a new tire and were on the road. Hope that is the only hiccup on this adventure. 

Tuesday, 9/5:  297 miles and parked at the Quebec City KOA

The drive to Quebec City was a little over six hours long. Passing through Canadian Customs via the  Ogdensburg Bridge was a breeze.  In fact, the officer said “Welcome to Canada and have a good trip.”  Once in Canada, we took the Trans-Canada Highway, commonly referred to as the  the 401.  The province of Quebec, being as independently minded as they are, rename it Route 20.  I don’t know what their logic is. We stopped at the first rest area entering Quebec to refresh our selves and get updated driving directions to best navigate a bypass around Montreal.  The recommended Rt. 201 “shortcut” turned out to be not the best choice. There was heavy traffic with dozens of traffic lights.

Over all route to Quebec City

The very busy RT 201 Montreal bypass.

Much better Montreal bypass

We arrived at the KOA and quickly set up.  The sites were pull through and level.  We have stayed at this KOA before and would gladly stay again.

Wednesday. 9/6:  Toured Old Quebec  City

Today we spent an absolutely wonderful time in Old Quebec City.   Even thought the weather was overcast and with on and off drizzle, we still enjoyed it.   Al drove into the city with his truck since it was smaller.  Good thing!!  Parking was very  limited.  We did find a parking garage that he just barely fit into, with only inches to spare.  As luck would have it, we ended up parking in the center of the town.  The Frontenac Hotel was the first building we came to.  And would you believe, this city founded in 1604 (that’s over 400 hundred years old) has a Starbucks Coffee Shop in the lobby of it’s most famous hotel  After wandering around, and not not really knowing where we were going, we came upon a park that had a carriage ride station.  It was the best thing we did.  The ride was slow and pleasant, and the descriptions that the driver gave were fantastic.  It turned out to be a great decision to take the ride.  We would recommend it to anyone traveling in the area.

Then  we had lunch at La Buche  where we tried some excellent and unique dishes.  I had Shepherds Pie, which was not served your traditional way of presenting it, and it was excellent!  The group also tried poutain, meat pie, and a smoked salmon salad.  It was a great lunch, we we were stuffed at the end.

Back at the campground, naps were in order.  :-))  Later we met a nearby camper from Ontario who was traveling to Prince Edward Island, which is where we are going in a couple days.  We had a great a visit about traveling.  They have never camped in New York, so we suggested they try the Lake Placid/Whiteface KOA.  They seemed interested.  Maybe we will run into them on Prince Edward Island.  Who knows.

Thursday. 9/7:  301 miles and back home in Gouverneur

Well gang, after only 2 nights on the road, our Canada RV adventure took a severe U-turn today. We are back home and the campers are parked in the driveways. Judy's daughter Suzie had emergency abdominal surgery late last night. Not to worry. Suzie is home and recovering, but Judy needs to go to Hyde Park to assist in care of the grandchildren, shopping, and the like for a week or so. We still hope to salvage a shorter New England RV trip later in the month. We did, however, enjoy a wonderful and really interesting day in Quebec City yesterday. We definitely plan to come back someday.

As always with our adventures, stay tuned for the next episode.