johnboystravelblog

August 13, 2019

My friend Shawn added a comment to the lighthouse post I made yesterday as to the “watercolor” appearance of the background.  This led me to go back and look again at a few shots I took earlier that morning, shortly before coming upon the l’Anse-au-Griffon statue.  When I took these I specifically remember seeing shadings and hues in the clouds ,and reflections in the water, which I hoped the camera would catch.  You’ve heard the saying “the picture doesn’t do it justice,” and I was hoping it would this time….

Those were taken about 730 in the morning local time (and for you computer geeks that might have noticed, the timestamp on the photos taken with my smartphone is exactly one hour ahead of real time.  My phone hasn’t yet made the adjustment back to Eastern time which occurred when I crossed in to Québec province over a week ago).

August 13, 2019

Here are some other things I saw Tuesday morning while in Cap-des-Rosiers on the Gaspé Peninsula of Québec province..  As I drove in to town from the west:

As I walked back from the lighthouse to get some photos of the “welcome to town” sign which was on the east side of town I went past a home which had wooden models of three lighthouses out front.  This was the nicest one:

It was maybe 3 feet tall.  There were also some nice birdhouses:

While I was stopped in this small town to take photos of the lighthouse and was parked safely off the road in it’s parking area I noticed that I was atop a tall cliff overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  I took these photos of some birds:

Three flying away from me, first totally out of rhythm:

And then in perfect sync:

And I stood and watched as this bird, or waterfowl if you prefer but still a bird, floated on the water, frequently diving for fish.

I didn’t know it at the time but I had found a lone Common Eider, the largest duck in the northern hemisphere.  Now THIS was a duck!

As I said, it was a beautiful morning and this was a peaceful spot so I put the cameras away and just stood and soaked in the view for quite a while.

I was now at the far end of my clockwise loop around Forillon National Park and the road would next be taking me south, then west back to Gaspé.

August 13, 2019

I continued my clockwise lap around the perimeter or Forillon National Park and saw this lighthouse in the distance.  I knew immediately it would be a keeper.

At a tad over 111 feet, this is the tallest lighthouse in Canada.

The lighthouse was putting out an incredibly bright white light which lasted a considerable length of time, not just the quick “flash” that most do.  The lens must rotate very slowly.  I waited and waited hoping to get a photo of it but ultimately came to the conclusion that I was now too close to it to see that light from the ground.

I left my car in their parking lot to walk back and get these photos, plus wait for the light and had to make an extra trip back to my car to put new batteries in the digital camera.

Here are shots I got from the parking lot area, first of the sign at the lighthouse itself:

Note that the biggest icon on the sign is the $, indicating that there is an admission fee.

It didn’t open until 9 and I was there a little after 8 and had already used up a good bit of time so I took these remaining shots (from outside the fence) and went on my way.  I still had lots of places to see.

---

 

UPDATE – A few minutes after I posted this originally I learned that this is an “Occulting” lighthouse, meaning that the duration of light bursts exceeds the periods of darkness between bursts.  Most lighthouses are long dark, short light but this one is the exact opposite.

August 13, 2019

Monday as I made a lap around Forillon National Park, near the town of Gaspé, I discovered this mysterious statue out along the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence:

Made of wood but enhanced with metal shrouding and rope, it was in the town of L’Anse-au-Griffon but had nothing indicating who it was or what it represents other than an equally mysterious plaque at the base, crediting the artist:

I Googled it but am coming up blank.

It is a handsome statue, well crafted and with amazing detail.

Dude, you may want to get that spot under your left eye looked at.  Seems that you’ve got something serious going on there….

And while I was trying to find out exactly what this represents I found this amazing photo online.  The statue with a spectacular aurora borealis in the background.

(Photo credit + copyright: Christian Fortin)

Let’s hope it wasn’t photoshopped….

August 13, 2019

My first full day in the Gaspé area I decided to first make a lap around Forillon National Park before exploring the Park itself.

First let me clarify a couple of things.  I highlighted Gaspé in pink because when I made my initial reservations on Airbnb back in early May, that’s where I thought I’d be staying.  Well that host cancelled my reservation a few weeks later (he was a newbie to Airbnb and I may well have been his first reservation, if not first actual guest.  Apparently his first actual guest must have made the host have second thoughts about having strangers in his house and he cancelled all 4 remaining stays, mine being the last, so he could make “modifications” to his home).  So now I was staying in the little town of Petite-Rivière-au-Renard, about 18 miles and a half hour north of Gaspé proper.

I had taken Route 197 as a shortcut to get to my Airbnb when I arrived.  I had stopped briefly in town to go in a Tim Hortons to use their wifi and their washroom (I do that a lot).  Gaspé is a very attractive town with lots of trendy restaurants and a big entertainment venue.  I had initially thought about backtracking in to town for dinner but found a nice place right up the road from where I was staying, both of which had views of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, so I had stayed up on the coast.

As I mentioned, the next morning I decided to make a lap around Forillon National Park, shown in dark green on the map above, before exploring the Park itself.  I had been driving on Route 132 most of the day on Monday since arriving on the Gaspé Peninsula and, as the map indicates, it actually goes all the way around the Park out near the water.

Now – about that duck… and you need to work with me a little on this…  As I was driving east on Route 132 to start my clockwise lap (and with the Gulf on my left) I was traveling down the road at the posted speed limit of 31 mph (50 km).  It was early morning (my first photo of this sequence was taken at 748am) and there was virtually no traffic on the two lane road through a mostly residential area.

I was scanning the area quickly left to right taking in the scenery as I drove.  At one point, when I looked out over an open area where I could see the water in the distance, my mind captured the scene and a second later informed me “that was a large duck out in the water”.

I turned around and went back, parked in a safe spot, donned my Safety Sam vest and my cameras and we were off to the races…..  Upon closer inspection my initial thought was obviously proven wrong.

Not a real duck but a rock, but it kinda sortof looks like a duck.

Use your imagination.

OK, fine.  It’s a seal on a rock.

August 18, 2019

Real time     Blood pressure probably 500 over 100 (I’m kidding)

It is Sunday afternoon and I am back at my Airbnb.  Don’t worry, everything’s fine, but I need to get something off my chest so I can hopefully sleep tonight….

This morning I decided to take my car and drive to a few places which were more than walking distance away.  I have walked exclusively the last two days and this is my last full day here.  So much to see!

I drove north of Québec City to Jacques-Cartier National Park, about a half hour outside of town.  My pre-trip research indicated there were some gorgeous fjords there.

My first sign of trouble was their sign, which I had plenty of time to study while waiting in a long line of traffic to get in to the Park.  Well, it was Sunday morning and, though cloudy at the moment, was showing signs of improvement.

Here is the sign I saw:

It was different than every other Parks Canada sign I have seen while in the country:

I thought “OK, Québec thinks it’s better than everybody else and wants to be rebellious”.   Fine.

When I finally get up to the entry gate I tell the young lady that I have a Discovery Pass, which gives me free admission to all national parks and historic sites in the country for one year.  She says “Oh no, this is a Provincial Park”.

Whoa.

“You mean Parc Nationale is a Provincial Park, not a National Park?” I ask.

“That’s right”, she says, “it’s kind of a long story but Québec’s special status…”

OK, let me stop you right there.  I said (calmly and politely, this isn’t her fault after all) “Oh yeah, Québec thinks it’s special all right” and indicated I would turn my car around and leave, which I did.

And after reviewing my photos the entrance sign I saw was, in fact, a Parks Québec sign, not Parks Canada.

I had also been puzzled by these highway signs as I approached Québec City on Thursday:

Hey….. Québec……  Prêter une attention particulière….. (pay close attention)

I’m only going to say this once:

You are part of frickin’ CANADA and your national capital is frickin’ OTTAWA and it’s in frickin’ ONTARIO PROVINCE, and close enough to you to rub your snooty little nose in it.

Compris?   (Got it?)

There, I feel much better.

---

 

Hey JohnBoy, dites-nous ce que vous vraiment penser…  (Tell us what you really think….)

I’m tempted to stop using the accent when writing their name just to piss ’em off.

 

 

 

 

August 18, 2019

Please forgive me as I go off topic once again to report something I personally find quite amusing.  I hope you will too.

(Photo credit + copyright: Andrew Redington/Getty Images Sports)

Brooks Koepka, a 29 year old golf sensation who has played full time on the US PGA Tour for the past several years, was called out by a fan on Twitter during this weekend’s event which is one of the elimination rounds leading to this year’s season finale where the winner will walk away with a cool $15 million dollars.  Weather had interrupted the event and Mr. Koepka was in the clubhouse, apparently looking at some of his followers comments on his Twitter feed.

He had this snappy comeback during that rain delay:

(Photo credit: Twitter as posted by @wiley77, the author of an online golf blog)

I should point out that Mr. Koepka, at 29, has won over $30 million on the US tour alone, and won 4 of their “Majors” (a handful of marquee events throughout the year) in just the past three years.  He had played on foreign tours for years before committing to the PGA Tour, where he undoubtedly had won much more.  When he’s good he’s very good.

---

Earlier this week I read where Bryson DeChambeau, another new golf sensation on the PGA tour, also had a direct comeback to his fans in general who criticized him for slow play (a chronic problem in recreational, amateur and professional golf where a player takes too much time thinking about and executing a shot) in last week’s event.  He had made a few remarks at the time they were brought to his attention and evidently before embarking on this week’s event on Thursday, and having had more time to stew over it,  effectively addressed his critics by saying “Screw y’all, screw all y’all” which is another Southernism in US lingo.

---

And I didn’t want to distract from the story but for those of you who may not know, a Brinks Truck is the common term for an armored vehicle used to, generally safely, carry around large amounts of cash between banks and customers or the US Treasury.

UPDATE – Here are pictures of a Brinks truck I saw literally driving up to the National Mint (where they make loonies and toonies) in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, on Wednesday, August 21.

 

August 12, 2019

As the previous posts describes, I saw a large island close to shore as I approached the town of Percé which I thought was the popular tourist attraction people there which had been telling me about.  I thought to myself “Ho hum, it’s just an island, people…”.

Well THIS is Percé Rock:

Percé in French means perforated or pierced, as in “there’s a hole in the rock because it’s been pierced”.

I backed off on the zoom so you can see how far out in the water it is:

 

Jutting out from the shore is a peninsula with a large house and a smaller piece of land with another house, and I’m guessing maybe a cemetery up on the hill.

Tourist brochures include a photo taken from the left of this view looking out towards the rock with the houses in the foreground but I couldn’t get to the spot where it was taken.  You may be able to find it online.  It is a great shot!

After getting these pictures I drove through the town of Percé which is a large area of trendy restaurants and shops.  It was around 5 o’clock and given the number of people milling about I was sure I would have needed a reservation so I just drove on, planning to eat once I got to Gaspé.

You probably can’t tell from the map I posted previously but there is a large cove north of town and as I drove back out towards the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the other side of that cove I could see the back of the formation off in the distance:

And the further I drove the better I could see it in profile against the setting sun:

After trying to get some bird pictures which I’m not real happy with I turned my attention back to things on land.

I continued on to Gaspé where I would be spending the next two nights.

 

 

August 12, 2019

I continued east from Saint-Siméon and stopped in Bonaventure for lunch.  In the restaurant (actually just a small ice cream shop with some basic food) I took these two photos while waiting for the young lady working there to prepare my meal.

Not other customers, they were small wooden gnomes up on a shelf.

This was a dessert the young lady could have made for me.  Cute (hence the photo) but I passed.

I took my food outside to eat as it was a beautiful day.  After I finished I took these photos of a huge church right next to the little strip mall where I ate.  This is the Catholic Church of Saint-Bonaventure.  Lots of photos because it is another huge church and I didn’t want to miss anything, including the detail.

Further up the road was a little rest area and there were big batches of wildflowers:

I tried to get cute with some pictures of a sailboat way out in the water and using the flowers in the foreground but I’m not happy with how they turned out.

I continued, northeast now, on Route 132 towards the town of Percé (pronounced PEAR-see, and you must “roll” the r which I still can’t do).  My Airbnb host in Gaspé works in Percé and highly recommend I plan to spend some time there as I passed through the area.  Other hosts told me to be sure to see the Percé Rock.

When I got close to Percé I saw a large island not far offshore and thought to myself, “Percé Rock, eh?  Looks like just a big island to me….”.  The island is the one on the right in the first photo below and extends ever further right, out of the shot.

As I was taking these photos I heard a helicopter spooling up (increasing speed to the rotor blades) and sure enough, a tourist helicopter was taking off just up the road from where I was standing:

After watching it take off and leave (I LOVE helicopters) I went back to my picture taking.

When I decided I had enough photos (you’re only seeing the best ones) I got in the car and continued driving.  As I climbed the hill and went around a bend I saw a large group of cars in a parking area and several people walking around.  In a moment I realized why.

 

 

August 12, 2019

After crossing the bridge from Campbellton, NB to Québec province on Monday I started driving east along Route 132.  People had told me this would be a spectacular drive and I was not disappointed.  This is what makes traversing my scenic roads attractive and rewarding.  In this case, driving by water, be it a lake, river or ocean on a sunny day with the sun at your back is just magnificent.

Here are some of the things I saw along the way:

This is the Church of Saint Jean l’Évangéliste near Nouvelle, QC.

Given that it was in the shade, here is a better photo I found online:

(Photo credit: originis.ca)

Further down the road I saw this church high up on a hill very close to the road.  As I looked up towards it as I drove past the sun reflected off the silver steeple.  I took a photo from the base to try and show what I saw, then crossed the road to get the other photos.  This is Saint-Omer Catholic Church in Saint-Omer, QC.

 

I continued east on Route 132 and found this church in Saint-Siméon.  It is the Catholic Church of Saint-Siméon de Bonaventure.

Across the road and facing the Bay of Chaleurs (separating the Gaspé Peninsula from New Brunswick) were some little public balconies along a wooden boardwalk.  They had flowerboxes and I thought it would make a great picture looking out over the water.

I tried to move the blue & black recycling/trash bin out of the shot but it was literally nailed down (it gets quite windy out by the water) so I had to squat down and improvise: