La Côte Nord

La Côte Nord is the name for this region of Quebec, translated to "The North Coast", in reference to the St. Lawrence River. After leaving the Ottawa area, we travelled northeast to Quebec City. There's so much history there. For a brief synopsis (very brief I promise), way back in the day (in the 1500's) the French came to North America and set up a colony to be administered from Quebec City. Then in the mid-1700's the British war with the French spilled over into North America, culminating with the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (now a city park) just outside the fortified Quebec City, where the British claimed victory, but both their commander General Wolfe and the French commander General Montcalm were mortally wounded on the battlefield. A few years later, the war in Europe ended and in the treaty, the French ceded their North American colony to the British. Since some of the French had lived here for several generations and made homes in the region that is now Quebec, they stayed, while most of the new settlers were British. There's a lot more to it, and lots of cool interesting stuff to see, like the old walls around the fortified city, and the archeological dig (open to the public) where the original fort was built. You can also see the Governor General's residence, where the actual head of state lives, and has lived since the 1600's. Overall a pretty cool place, with a lot of interesting history behind it.

The Parliament of the Province of Quebec

Quebec City Skyline

Downtown in the old city (within the walls)

Touring the archeological dig at the site of the original fort

Poutine - french fries with cheese curds and gravy - a Quebecois treat! We figured, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, right? We thought about kidnapping a British diplomat and demanding safe passage to Cuba too, but that it was too 70's

After leaving Quebec City, we drove up the north coast to the town of Tadoussac, where the Saguenay River joins with the St. Lawrence. This is the heart of the St. Lawrence Estuary, where the river's fresh water mixes with the Atlantic Ocean's salt water. The result is an abundance of plant and animal life, from krill to whales. You can watch the whales from land, which we did, but to get a really great view you need to go out in a boat. We went on a 3-hour tour in a zodiac, and saw tons of whales from pretty close. By the time we continued north, we'd seen beluga whales, tons of minke whales, and even a blue whale (from a distance).

Minke Whale as seen from shore at Tadoussac

Another zodiac just like the one we were in

Minke whale

Harbour Seal

Minke whale feeding

Beluga whale - Meghan loves beluga whales

I'm telling you, she loves beluga whales

From Tadoussac, we travelled the highway north along the coast. It seemed as though every little town up there is very quant - the biggest building is always the church, and colourful little houses are surrounded by picturesque farmland. It's a very pretty part of the country. After only a few hours of actual driving time, we made it to Godbout, where we were to catch the ferry. The river is so wide at this point that the ferry crossing takes 2 hours and 15 minutes! We hit some unexpected construction on the way to Godbout, a couple of times actually, and ended up not getting there quite as early as we had planned. I'd say we got there at just the right time though - we were the last vehicle to get onto the ferry! Time to cross the river and continue the adventure - on to the Gaspé Peninsula.

Typical Quebec town - very beautiful!