Rimouski, Quebec, Canada

Saturday, August 11, 2018
Rimouski, Quebec, Canada
Woke up to chilly air, RV windows open, so it was hard to get out of blankets!  It felt like a beautiful, sunny fall day!  I was comfortable in my long sleeve t-shirt and shorts today.  We had our last breakfast outside at Camping Transit Campground, site 16 and then got on the road at 10 am for the Gaspe Peninsula.  Being in Levis got us onto the northeastern side of the St Lawrence, so we followed the Trans Canada Highway until Kamarouska, then shifted over to the coastal route 132 to drive through the small towns on the coast.  At first we didn’t even see the river because it looked like a marsh with the tide out - now read this is the Estuary of the St Lawrence, where waters of ocean meet the river, so there are tides and marsh grasses.  The river is so wide you can barely make out the far coast and we are leaving flatlands for the rolling hills, and eventually mountains.  Apparently, this region is the northernmost point of the Appalachian Mountains.  We get into Rimouski Campground at 1:30 - not the campground of our dreams, but didn’t have many options when we called 2 days ago.  We had met a guy from Ontario on the shuttle ride, and he gave us his itinerary from June when he drove this trip, and he recommended going to Melissa-Sur-Mer, but we couldn’t get reservations for there.  Instead, we took the campground host rec for this place, and must say it’s more of a city party campground.  Almost everyone is from Quebec, except for neighbor from New Brunswick and has that “lived in” camping atmosphere.   It also means everyone is speaking French.  At least in Levis, many tourists were speaking English.  We check out our site (not level and hard to get out) but was the only site available and decide to drive directly into town before hooking up the RV.  Found good parking at the tourist info center, then explored the town - riverfront walk, arts center, and into their neighborhoods seeking out a local Catholic Church for Linda.  We saw some beautiful historic Catholic Archdiocese Buildings, and possibly some not-so-nice areas of town, as I so often do.  But was a great walk for the dogs and perfect weather and a perfect preamble for a great dinner.  We met several older ladies who all wanted to talk about our dogs, but language barriers persist.  We have the google travel app which translates written signs, but it gives some strange translations!  For example, a No Parking sign, with tow truck pictures translated to “towing your expense except for holders thumbnail” - the same app on my phone translated it as “towing to your fresh” - go figure!!  But the people have been very friendly, even when we can’t make sense of it!  We got back and set up at campground by 5, had cocktails and then fixed dinner of Lynn’s frozen salmon on arugula salad (found a huge tub of arugula at Costco, so will be eating it a lot!!) and roasted broccoli.  The dogs got the special treat of grilled salmon skin so they are happy campers now!
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