Bluebird's Nest

Today I’ve asked the tweenager to be my guest blogger. I wanted to capture her thoughts on the cross Canada trip we made by interviewing her. Please feel free to comment and ask any questions to her. She will be sure to reply.

1. What was the part of the trip that you liked the most?

   My favorite place we stayed was in with John and Sylvie, I enjoyed that the most because it was soooooo pretty! The most peaceful thing I ever did was fly-fishing on the river there. Also the beds where really comfortable and camping doesn’t provide luxurious mattresses .

2. What was the worst part of the trip you disliked the most?

   My least favorite part of the trip across Canada was Morse (middle of no where) Saskatchewan. I disliked this the most because (and I may sound like a downer) it was the most hot I’ve ever felt, and the most mosquitoes I’ve ever seen, all thought the thunder, lightning and down pour cooled things down a little and put the mosquitoes partially at bay. That was the first night in the tent and so far not so good .

3. Which city was your favourite and why?

   My favorite city was Riviere du Loup in Quebec, the day we traveled there over all was the best day of driving because we stopped in Quebec city for an hour and a half, but when we got to Riviere du loup we stayed in our very first B and B (Bed and Breakfast) it had the most amazing view of the Riviere Saint Lawrence, (Saint Lawrence river), welcome cocktails/orange juice and topped off with an amazing sunset and my own room. Plus an awesome breakfast in the morning!

4. What was the most memorable experience and why?

   Wow that’s a hard one and I know I hate it when people do this to me and it sound really stupid like can’t you just pick one but the whole experience was soooo memorable for me, the boring days in the car on the west coast the fun touristy things in the east coast, the good food, laughs, wild life, almost squishing wild life (porcupine… ouch!), rain storms, swims, hot days and so many things that I have missed but will one day come back to me.

5. What was your favourite meal and why?

   Lobster at Johns house, yummy, yummy lobster, it tastes like heaven, I don’t know what else to say.

6. If you could have done something differently, what would that be and why?

   If I had the option I would have spent more time in hotels, camping is fun for a while but it’s difficult and boring when you do it too much plus we had quite a bit of rain (mostly nights when we where in a tent… what luck).

7. If you could have not done something, what would that have been and why?

   Wow my only regret is taking a little lick of mama’s ice cream before she got it and not telling her, I’m guilt ridden to think that I didn’t ask, I hope you will forgive me Mama …

8. What do you think you learned about yourself?

   I learned that I can almost sing baby beluga in my sleep, baby beluga is the wee babes fav song and some times the only thing that will make her shut up in the car, personally I think it’s almost as annoying as the crying.

9. What do you think you learned about the others you traveled with?

   Hmmm… I don’t really have any dirt to dish on the “hubby” (as you know him) and Mama.
   I learned that the wee babe is prone to mood swings, that Mama is a princess now and “the hubby” can’t not lead us around cities.

10. If you had to describe the trip in 3 words, what would those be?

    I love Canada

Finally I have to mention that I hope I didn’t disappoint you with my answers, I’m not all that heartfelt or serious, I’m only the tweenager after all.

There you have it! Straight from the Tweenagers mouth! You can follow along on her blog as well at Live, Love, Laugh by JJ.

Hmmmm… I’ve had shitty nights sleep lately but this one takes the cake. It’s not too often that I breast feed the wee babe in the middle of the night and then she wakes up again when I put her in her tent. Sigh. Totally annoying. On top of it, it appeared that one of my milk ducts was blocked. A little uncomfortable. Sorry if that’s T.M.I.

We woke up and got dressed and then went for breakfast. And what a breakfast it was. They don’t call it a BnB for nothing. Just check out the photos to see the gourmetness.

After indulging in riverside splendor, we set off on our 5 hour trip.

Another time change puts us at 4 hours ahead of Victoria. And now only 5 hours behind Switzerland. Losing time sucks though.

So we had a free lunch somewhere in New Brunswick near some falls and a zip line. Free lunch as we made sandwiches and granola bars followed by chocolate cookies with double stuff.

Then we continued on until we hit Fredericton where we met John to take us to his camp. (As you can see the day was pretty uneventful besides playing ‘Name that Tune’, trying to keep each other awake and reading ‘Anne of Green Gables’.

We made it to the camp and it’s AMAZING. It’s not what you would think of when you think of ‘camp’. It’s more like a fishing/hunting resort. It was built in 1948 and has 8 rooms. It’s right beside a river with an artesian spring for it’s water supply.

John and Sylvie are great hosts. We sat around and had a beer and then I gave the wee babe a bath. We followed that with Atlantic Lobster. Man-o-man was that delicious. Sylvie explained to us how to best get the meat out of the lobster and we were up to our necks in lobster juice.  The only crappy thing was the wee babe was being a little fussy (can you say cry-fest) so the hubby and I needed to trade off every once in a while which meant cleaning our grubby paws off.

We followed that with salad and potato salad and then with strawberry ice cream with strawberries and cracker. The whole thing was soooo yummy. I couldn’t ask for more.

We’re staying in two rooms (me, the hubby and the wee babe in one and the tweenager in another.) with a bathroom that is shared between them. But we had a choice of whether we wanted that or a room with two beds. This place is HUGE.

I’m so enamored with new Bruinswick and the cost of real estate and land. I’m almost convinced I want to buy a little piece here and build a yurt on it and rent it out. I just need to work a little on my hubby to make it happen. He’s all about the yurt right now but he’s still stuck on the west coast as to the location of it.

Tomorrow we have great plans to tube down the river (it’s my turn this time), check out a suspension bridge and just enjoy the day.

EXPENSES:

Sleeping: At the camp at John and Sylvie’s camp
Wee babe disposition: We think she’s having issues with her teeth but she’s pretty great as usual.
Weather: Overcast and about 29. Nice for lunch and the air-conditioned car.
Stress level: Fab.

We left the AIRBNB this morning and I was a little sad. It was such a nice all to our selves place. But the stairs were pretty scary.

It only took us about 2 and a half hours to get to Quebec City. And it was hot again. Sorry Victoria but the weather here on other side of Canada is dreamy to uncomfortably hot. It’s the type of weather where you NEED a shower at the end of every day.

Anyway, Quebec City is very European in its look and feel. The architecture is old. Like way older than Victoria. I think I would have been a little more wowed by it if I hadn’t been to Europe and Switzerland so many times. (I’m not bragging, just telling it like it is. After all, I’m married to a Swiss man remember?) It was still very impressive and definitely felt like a different country altogether. Everyone was speaking French.

My first impressions of Quebec City weren’t really amazing unfortunately. There was the sweet smell of piss where we had lunch on the lawn. The wild aroma of weed on and the drunk/druggy half awake/asleep on the side of the road in the main tourist spot. Thank god the architecture was amazing or I would have regretted stopping.

We headed up the funicular first so we could get a good view of the city. Stopped for lunch by Chateau de Frontinac where we ate our pre-made sandwiches. Then just walked around the city. If you can believe it, the other totally random thing was that a Metallica concert was playing that night so there were people drinking in the streets and lots of rockers wearing heavy metal t-shirts. Kinda strange.

That was about it for Quebec City. We were there for only a couple of hours but we felt like it was enough. It’s a beautiful city. Very charming.

The heat was really beating us down (33 degrees) and with all the people we made a bee line outta there and headed to Riviere de Loup.

I think the lack of sleep from the last two nights (the bed was tooo hard), coupled with the heat and the walking, oh and lets not forget the living out of a car for the last two and a half weeks, made me really sleepy for the drive, and I was driving. My hubby and I played 20 questions (I sucked but it helped to keep me focused). When we were getting closer we typed in accommodation and a Beluga Hotel came up. Since we sang a few rounds of it today we thought maybe it was a sign.

So we took the side road to Riviere de Loup and man-o-man am I ever glad we did. I think this is our first taste of east coast living. Beautiful little sea side/St. Laurent cottages built on quaintly tree lined roads. Picture perfect. My hubby was going crazy. He even got the notion in his head that we might be able to do a BnB if we found something perfect. And did we ever.

Two bedrooms with a welcome drink, a night cap liqueur, a gourmet breakfast (I’ll let you know how it is tomorrow) seemed to be worth the $115 we paid. The only catch is that the tweenager is in her own bedroom in the basement sharing the space with another family. She was ok with it though.

According to our budget, that’s it for hotel/bnb/AIRBNB type dwellings for us. We’ve got to camp and or find some friends to crash at. Thankfully we have 2 more nights at friends of the family in Fredricton and then we’ll be camping the rest. Oh we have a night crossing on the Ferry to Newfoundland and already paid for our last night in St. John’s at a motel.

We headed off into town to get some grub. Since this will be the last meal I take in Quebec, it had to be a serving of poutine. And again, it was not any better than something I would eat in Victoria. But I understand that I totally missed out when I was in Montreal as evidentally, there is a place that serves 50 different types of poutine! Doh!! I’m so pissed I missed that!!! I guess there will have to be a next time.

We came back to the BnB, watched the sunset over the St. Lawrence, all had showers and then relaxed in the living room reading Anne of Green Gables. We’re desperately trying to get through it before we get to PEI in around 3-4 days.

Sleeping: BnB: $115
Items lost: I lost my favourite flip flop while we hiked/walked up Mont Royal. I have since bought a new pair of Crocks but it’s not the same
Wee babe disposition: Hot in the Ergo but other than than, stellar.
Weather: 32 degrees. Smokin’ hot.
Stress level: Tired.