8/7/14 – Strolled the beach looking for rocks and sea-glass in the morning, but worried about the distance yet to cover to Quebec City, and wanting to arrive early on Saturday, we decided to make up some distance today. We did make a brief stop at a wind-turbine farm, where they have the largest vertical-shaft turbine in the world, but the tour would take 1.5 hrs, so we headed on west.

We also bypassed a moose and wildlife sanctuary and some gardens Nancy would have liked to visit, but we DID drive the coastal route, through several pretty little towns, and eventually arrived at Plage de Trois Pistoles Campground in the town of that name for the night. We did some rock-hounding at the beach before turning in.

8/8/14 – We were far enough at this point in our trip to Quebec City that we decided we had most of a day to spare. Since we hadn’t taken the ferry over to view the Beluga whales from the shore driving through Tadoussac, we decided to try a whale cruise from our side of the Seaway. We drove west to Riviere-du-Loup, where we had booked a 1:30 boat ride.

The catamaran ride was on the water until docking back at 5:30, much of the time heading across the Seaway into the Saguenay - St. Laurence Marine Park, a protected marine wildlife preserve off the north shore, near Tadoussac. There were quite a few other boats in the area, of all sizes, and the backs of various whales could be seen as they break the surface, Minkes, Finbacks, and Humpbacks. The latter also had very visible spouts, and would dive deeply, displaying their tail flukes. We also saw many groups of gray seals, and the captain said a blue whale was seen, but we missed it. All-in-all, a good show.

Then, heading back and not far from port, a pod of Belugas went by in front – pretty neat.

After disembarking, we tried to get a spot at a campground in the port, but by that hour they were full, so we headed westward to St. André and the SEBKA de la Batture campground. No services, but they had a spot left we could fit in for the night! I set the rig up while Nancy went back to pay, and she returned with a handful of wild raspberries she picked enroute – and several new skeeter bites.

8/9/14 – Rose early and on the road to Quebec City by 8 am. We transfer from the 132 to the 20 when convenient for freeway travel, and when we get to the KOA in Levis (St. Nicolas) before 10 am, our spot was not yet available. Expecting this, we got directions to go into Quebec and headed out. We crossed the bridge to the north side of the St. Lawrence, parked for free in the dirt overflow parking lot for the aquarium, then caught the 400 bus line, $3.25 ea one-way, along the riverside and into the old part of the city. There were mobs of people everywhere in this quaint but awe-inspiring fortified town, everything steeply up and down narrow streets or stairs, with folks in 17^th century dress everywhere. An initial disappointment – we had been told that Cirque du Soleil was honoring its town of origin with some free shows in the Agora at the harbor. However, this apparently ended in 2013, and it would cost us almost $200 now – not in the budget. We stopped at a small restaurant, had a light lunch of spring salad and onion soup at a café table for two on a narrow outside balcony, watching the modern/medieval mahem unfold beneath. We then walked up stairs and narrow, packed streets to the Terrasse Dufferin, a broad, high wood boardwalk part of the ancient city wall, overlooking the river far below.

We then sat for a busker performance, a young woman who did amazing things with hoops!

We climbed still more steps in an attempt to get access to the Citadel, but found it would end up being the long way around. More great views, though.

At this point, we decided to head back and return to the campground – tomorrow we would have a full day here.