We started out by driving to Gaspe where we hoped to see Jack Lebraceur. He and Jim go way back from years of negotiating contracts at Brunswick. So we found his address, plugged it into Garmie and off we went. It was looking a little dicey along the way. This wasn't exactly where we would have pictured Jack retiring to, but it was pretty along the water. Garmie has a mind of his own sometimes and was telling us we had arrived about 2 miles before the actual address. We called Jack and there was no answer which was disappointing, but it was time to move on.
We scored our first success with our Places to Eat in Canada book....Cafe la Brulerie in Gaspe. Had a great lunch. Jim had excellent smoked salmon on a fresh bagel. The chef made a mistake and gave him a double order. After the initial "whoa...that's way too much," it was gone in a flash. They roast their own coffee and the place is very eclectic. Lots of carvings and paintings. Love it! Garmie brought us right to the door (score 1 for Garmie).
We decided to head to Ste-Anne-des-Mont to spend the night. The whole drive went like this: go up into the mountains on a windy road, exclaim at the colours of the trees and the villages down below; drive down the mountain into the village; marvel at the size of the church in the town; drive at 50 km through the town; repeat every 10 km. By the 10th town I was no longer exclaiming at the colours; I took my nose out of my People magazine to see the latest church and I was hoping we would arrive soon. You don't make time on that road, but it is definitely pretty.
We had hoped to stay at Gite du Mont Albert. It sounded so pretty...right at the base of Mont Albert with a romantic dining room. Yum!! So we relied on Garmie (shaking head) and headed off in the direction he indicated. We are driving into Parc Gaspesie for 30 km; it's now getting dark and we haven't seen one sign for this hotel. Jim keeps saying "in 5 km we're turning around." And finally that's what we did, much to our disappointment. When we checked into the hotel we did stay at, we found out that it is 42 km into the park. We were almost there! Rats! Some signage would help, or better directions in the CAA book. Oh well.....
We checked into what I will call a "John's Motel" (not that kind of John...just a hotel in Bathurst that paints a picture for me!). One of which I am sure will be many along the way. It seemed to be the best in town. We go to the restaurant and it is very dim and the waitress and the chef are sitting at a table talking. They jump up when they see us. I am cracking up wondering what kind of meal we are going to get. We both order scallops and they are really good. When we are finished, the waitress rolls the garbage trolley over to the table and starts scraping our plates into the garbage bag. I had a hard time not to totally lose it laughing. "No, there won't be any dessert! Just get us out of here!"
So that's Ste-Anne-des-Mont. Not a long visit...just a place to stop off with, of course, a lovely church.
We're on to Riviere-du-Loup....
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