*START* We're on our way east to Atlantic Canada

We're in covered-bridge country (New Brunswick)

Saturday morning we left home in good time, about 8am, to head through Ontario and Quebec on our way east to Prince Edward Island. We left on a Saturday since there shouldn't be much traffic that day, the way we were going. Wrong!

We stayed away from the 401 route, going near Orillia, down to Hwy 7 eastbound, and on to Perth. Nice back roads mostly, but lots of traffic today. It seems we neglected to remember we were heading through vacation country on a nice sunny weekend day in August. We did finally get to Perth Ont (about an hour west of Ottawa) and mooch-docked in my sister's driveway for the night. Thanks Beth and Sandy, nice to have a visit with you!

Saturday's route:

Sunday we left from Perth earlier than we did from home on Saturday, heading to Lancaster via Hwy 43 through Smith's Falls etc. We were hoping to get through the first half of Quebec while most people were still recovering from their Saturday night. 

Smooth sailing over the #30 bridge across the St Lawrence south of Montreal ($4.50 toll) and all was ok until on past Montreal on Hwy 20 eastbound. First there was an RV on its side in the westbound lanes, with an ambulance attending. Several more accidents in the westbound lanes, some complete with ambulances, had traffic backed up for many kilometers over there, and slowdowns on our eastbound side from the lookie-loos. 

We figured we'd be cruising along once we got to Quebec City. Wrong again. Heavy traffic near the main bridge to Quebec City led to stop-and-go even in the through-traffic lanes where we were. Once past Quebec City a section of construction led to a merge of heavy traffic from 4 lanes down to 2, and just near the end of that there was an accident that closed one of those 2 lanes. The long 4-to-1 merge likely delayed us by an hour but seemed even longer. Ah well, we survived unscathed once again.

Some of the less-intense PQ construction

The Quebec construction was not even active, today being Sunday, but there were lane restrictions and diversions in places, and they still caused traffic slowdowns. Even all the construction warning signs slowed things down, maybe partly because any warnings on these bright signs were only in French. 

By 6pm we rolled into our usual stop along here, the De La Republique provincial park just inside the western border of New Brunswick. We took a non-electric site for a change, so were put in the back in the tenting area. Sites aren't as level back there, and the washrooms are more primitive, but a nice view and almost no traffic noise:

Aaaah!

A noisy gathering was in progress at one end of the tenting area, but a passing thunderstorm cleared that out pretty quickly.

Sunday's route:

Notice all the little construction markers thru Quebec

After the two tiring driving days we had a leisurely start on Monday. Cathie took a tour of the nearby botanical Gardens, called Les Jardins, before we left. Here are some things that caught her photographic eye:

Hard to tell but this is a large peacock

As one approached, the buffalo grunted and made foot-pawing sounds

 

This fellow sang "Hi Ho, Hi Ho" etc

A wood carver was in residence today, showing off his wares. Cathie had a good visit with Mr Cyr, as he is fluently bilingual (unlike us):

After arriving at St Martins (we had reserved 2 nights here, at Century Farms campground, with electric and free wifi) and having a break, we took a short drive up the road to a seafood restaurant with a view, The Caves Restaurant. They are proud of their World-famous chowder, and it's at least really good; the fish & chips we split were also excellent:

Happy tourists on the deck

Some views from the deck:

Monday's route: