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1 to 15 July 2011 16 to 31 July 2011

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Another day hot and humid, +30 C. We hardly moved and kept cool and hydrated with water and beer. The beer is in us, we are in the water and the water is in the pool... It sounds like a song!

Chubby does not like water...

A day by the pool and some good food!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

A day even warmer than yesterday, +33 and with the humidex, +40.

Regardless, we go for a 10 km bike ride.
We are the pros!

What is missing from this photo?

My smile!, Well not really, it was the beer.

Our "campsite" at Patrice and Manon's place.

We spent the afternoon by the pool, played some games and finished the day playing pool with the kids.

The last two days were some hot. We are not used to this humidity, but the pool sure helped.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Moving day! On our way to Chibougamau!
Our fan club is watching us leave.

To the whole family, Patrice, Manon, Rock, Catherine and Valérie, thank you for having us at your place and making it so perfect.
See you soon!

On our way to Val Jalbert, Lac-St-Jean. We like secondary roads more the highways.

Upon leaving Berthierville, we took highway 138, or

the King's highway to Trois-Rivières (Three Rivers).

From Trois-Rivières, we followed the Saint Maurice River. It is just plain beautiful.

Highway 155, is the

River road.

Can you see the moose?

Our first look at Lake St-Jean.

Our home for the next three nights the campground of Val- Jalbert. More info in the next few days.

Nice site, but a little close to the highway. The traffic calms down in the evening.
A little bike ride in the campground. And yes, those are railroad tracks hanging over the creek!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Today, we are visiting a genuine company town build in the early 1900s, Val-Jalbert.

We visited this town in the early 80s, since then, many things have changed.
We see the pulp mill, very modern for its time. There is a cable car available to save you from climbing the 764 steps to reach the top of the Maligne falls.

From the top of the falls, you can see the majestic Lac-Saint-Jean (or the St-John Lake).

A short guided visit took us around the pulp mill where they made pulp products. A very modern mill for its time, run by the power of the water from the river Ouiatchouan, also by run by electricity.

Since 1927, the trees have made a comeback!

We really love the idea of the flower pots!

Ouiatchouan fall and the pulp mill.

The houses that the company rented to the worker were very modern at the time. Running water, electricity and indoor flush toilettes. Even a fire hydrant system for fire protection!

Part of the investment made over the past few years on the Val-Jalbert site served to build this spectacular lookout over the Ouiatchouan falls. Very impressive.

Ah! So happy!

Throughout the day, you have actors playing "locals" on the site.
Lots of fun, lots of laughter!

The pulp mill and the town was build in 1901 and after many years of success, 1927 mark the end of an era for Val-Jalbert.
The people did stay for a few years, but the town was officially closed in 1931.
The houses were abandoned.

The Dubuc avenue with all the restored houses.

The cross marks the spot where a man died while trying to bury the rock. Back in the 20s, if you wanted to remove a big rock from your yard, you dug a hole and rolled the big rock into it and made it disappear. Well, the man slipped and somehow the rock fell on him.

The convent-school, classes taught by the nuns just like in 1921.
We had a good time in classes!

We spent over 4 hours in Val-Jalbert. We have seen most if not all there is to see. If you happen to drive by, stop by it is worth it.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

When we arrived in Saguenay/Lac St-Jean, we stopped at the information center and it was mentioned that the cave was closed because of an unsafe bridge.

Uncertain weather today, so off we go to see the "Trou de la Fée", or "Cave of the Fairy".
A little rain on the way to the cave, but nothing serious.

We cannot go to the cave!
But we have a reduced rate for the rest.

This the only cave in the region. The name "Cave of the Fairy" comes from this legend.
The river Métabetchouan was used as a hideout by army deserters. They notice that a bird of prey uses to stop off the mountain and stay there for a long time. They climbed to check this out and found the bird waiting by the cave's entrance for bats to come out and catch them. The deserters climbed down the cave and a fairy appeared and told them the war was over and they could go home. This is how the cave got its name, the "Cave of the Fairy".

The cave is actually a protected site where bats come and spend the winter.

Over the past few years, they have spent around 10 million $$ on upgrades and new equipment.

Bad luck turned out that the dam used as a bridge to cross the river to get to the cave. The bridge was condemned by the government, Of course, the government did not warn them ahead of time that this was coming. Got to love the government's way of doing things.

They had a very short time to turn around and offer something else at the site. They came up with a guided visit by the river with lots of historical information.
Some photos...

The tour guide informed us that the Métabetchouan river is a prime site for spawning Ouananiche and pickerels. An ouananiche is a freshwater salmon. The white foam you see on the river below is actually a hole that goes down 60 meters and the ouananiche comes here to spawn. This site is guarded 24/7 during the spawning season.

We have two choices of trails to get back to the welcome center, we take the most "rustic" one.

After such a busy morning, we went to St-Félicien. They have a microbrewery and they have won many first places in international competitions.

We bought a "paddle" of samples. Allowing us to taste many of the beers made by the brewery Chouape.
From the closest to the farthest,
The blond,
wheat and citrus,
the red Chouape,
IPA,
and a black and oat.

Very good beer and lots of fun to try them all.

The sky is pretty unstable and we are lucky to get a little bit of sun before the cloud cover comes back.

Two very busy days.

Tomorrow, we are heading north to Chibougamau and my aunt Denyse's 70th birthday party.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Today, we are leaving for Chibougamau. If I remember right, I was about 12 or 14 years old the last time I was in Chibougamau.
I am now 51!

Last night, we had a few rain showers. All the potholes are full of water.
If you do the math, water + bike + kids =

Just beautiful!

Of course, the rain started again as we set up to leave.
"Tying" the car to the motorhome, and installing the rock-guard.

A little bit of everything, fog, rain, and some sun.

Chibougamau, here we are!

Marc-Henri, Candide and Dan came for a visit, but we forgot to take any photos!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Rolland, Suzie, André and Giselle are coming today.
They finally got here a little late because my brother miscalculated his fuel consumption and ran out of gas...

Giselle and André.

Suzie and Rolland "building up" their home.

I am showing off my leaf blower to clean the carpet!

After everybody is settled, it is time for a cocktail!

Denyse dropped by for a few hours. Tomorrow is her 70th birthday!

Me, but also me with my Mom and Dad in 1972 or 74.

Great days...

Saturday, July 23, 2011

A big day for Aunt Denyse.

Some photos of the gang from St-Jérome!

Again, if my memory serves me right, we were about 120 in the room to celebrate Denyse's birthday.

Someone had the great idea to tell the Maitre d' that my brother ran out of gas... And it was not me!

Marc-Henri, Rolland and me.

Giselle, Michele and André.

André, Aunt Marie (95 years old) me and Rolland.

Monique, Louisette and Paulette.

André, Denyse (birthday girl), Giselle, Denis, Suzie and Rolland.

Bernadette, Denyse's sister, doing the "roast".

Denyse really loves this singer, Michel Louvain... (of course not the real one).

At the rear, Rémie, Céline, Marc-Henri, Maurice.
At the front, Margo, Tante Marie, Bernadette and Denyse.

A slideshow was showing photos of Denyse's life. Some of them were from my family, here is one with, Lucien (Dad), Rita (Mom), Estelle, Christianne, Rolland, a dog and me. It must be around 1964!

What an evening. So much fun and memories. A pleasure to see my family from the Lac-Saint-Jean!
Thank you, Denyse, for the invitation!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The day after Denyse's birthday. No problems for us, we came back at a reasonable time.

I will start with the bugs in Chibougamau. Let's just say that in Cold Lake (Alberta) or Belleville (Ontario), we do not as many bugs as here, according to us!
Here is a little one!

We spent the afternoon at Marc-Henri and Elise.
From L to R, myself, Almas, Marcelin and Dan.

Back at the campground, some computer work...

Rolland trying to take a group photo and having a hard time at it. And I still do not have the photo!!!

Denyse dropped by for a visit.

Just some photos that I think are pretty.

Hummm, can't wait for supper?

A very nice evening at the fire and some well-deserved sleep.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Matte'muffin for breakfast.

Suzie and Rolland at the "dis-assembling" of the house.

And they are leaving!

We are now by ourselves at the campground. Lucky for them because on Tuesday morning the noise started! A rock crushing company next door running from 7:30 in the morning until 5 at night. Boy does it make noise!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

In the afternoon, we visited Chibougamau.
Not much to visit. Chibougamau is a town that has seen better days.
A geological site explaining the passage of glaciers many years ago.

During our travel, we have encountered many road signs and many were not so clear to us like this one...
Does it mean that...?
If you go too fast you crash!
Go fast and you fly!
We are not sure what is on the other side of the hill!
For you to decide...

We are invited to my aunt Denyse and her boyfriend Maurice for supper. We sure laughed a lot. A great time.
Denyse, it was a pleasure to come to Chibougamau for your birthday.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Just as we are leaving Chibougamau, Michele noticed some water under the sink in the bathroom! Out goes everything from under the sink to search the source of the leak. Luckily it is just the "big nut" under the sink itself that got loose. But! At the same time, a laundry soap sample decided to spring a leak a the same time. After everything is cleaned up, we hit the road.

For some strange reason, we notice the southbound lane is in worse shape the northbound lane. For the first time, we have to remove the wine glasses from the cupboard because we are afraid they will break.
But the scenery is gorgeous!

Albanel is a quaint little village on the north-west side of Lake St-Jean. This weekend is the "Festival de la Gourgane", or the stalk bean festival.

We are camped at my aunt Monique's place, across the street from the festival and the municipal campground.
We spent the evening with, from L to R, André, Marcel, Monique, Candide, Louisette and myself.

Lots of fun again with relatives.

Friday, July 29, 2011

For the last few weeks, I had a hard time starting my hot water tank and my fridge would not keep stuff cold when selected to propane. I troubleshot, but found nothing. Last night, I had this big flash and remember that my other motorhome had the same problem and to fix it they changed the propane regulator. So here I am looking for and at my propane regulator.

The propane regulator is in a very poor location, lots of work required. I opted to let the dealer change it for me.

Marcel and his son have a dairy farm with 180 cows. A few years back, they did some major upgrading and went full robotics.
The cows have lots of room to mill around and the robot that milk the cows is actually very gentle with the cows.
Pretty amazing!

The festival site and the municipal campground is just across the street from Monique's place.

On our way to having a typical dinner meal, tourtière du Lac St-Jean with Dan, Candide and Monique (who is not on the photo).
Humm so good!

Tonight we went to a play in Mistassini. It was about legends and stories from Quebec.
Very good!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Our campsite at my aunt Monique.
The motorhome from the left is from St-Paul, Alberta (Candide and Dan) and us by the house.

A view from Monique's porch.

There was also a vintage car show on the weekend.

With the mascot of the festival, "Gourgafel"

Sunday, July 31, 2011

We took the bus from the festival and went around the little village of Albanel.

The entertainment for the afternoon was a magician, a good show. And we went back to the car show after that with Monique.

Another big meal coming up. Bernadette has invited us to her son's place.
Great meal, here are some photos of the occasion.

We finished the evening at Monique's place.

What a weekend with the festival and the relatives.

Until next time.

Life is good...