2024 Bigger Truck across Canada day 3

Hopefully yesterday was the most stressful/eventful day of the trip. This morning, it was a little later start to the day, but so much better. The Montreal South KOA is immaculate, and the person at the desk was the Bizarro version of the person at the previous KOA. She was incredibly helpful, and pointed us in the direction of an RV dealer near our campground in Quebec City. Fingers crossed. Once we got on the road, we were excited since it was a mere 2.5hr drive to our destination, the Aquarium du Quebec. However, the Canadian powers that be had a little something else in store for us.

With our newfound arrangement of driving both vehicles, Kimberly was rewarded with a 45 minute full stop and go traffic jam due to this semi truck deciding to roll over in the median and back up both directions of the highway for many, many kilometers. Good thing the Jeep has a nice easy clutch. 3.5 hours into our 2.5hr drive, we needed to stop for petrol.

Just seeing the reaction from the kid at the counter since pay at the pump was disabled was worth it. It nearly surprised the France out of him. I assured him that yes, it is possible to rack up C$307 in a single transaction. It's all yours, courtesy of the red white & blue.

The final hour of our 2.5 hr drive (yes, we are now at 4.5) involved a bit more construction, traffic, and an exciting and creatively designed 6 into 2 lane merge just before crossing the St Lawrence and arriving in Quebec City. There, we arrived at the aquarium and mentally prepared ourselves for the one thing Jordan wanted to see more than anything on this trip. Historic architecture, you guess? Old Quebec, the only fortified city on this continent north of Mexico, you assume? Nope. Polar bears. And let me tell you, they did not disappoint.

I'll spare you the other 50 pics and videos we got, but they really know how to put on a show. There were 2 of them, and they were kicking the crap out of each other nonstop, it was like the Beute family basement circa 1977-1982 whenever the babysitter showed up. Jordan was completely giddy, which made it worth the 4.5 metric hours of construction and traffic to get here.

If you do find yourself in this historic city, this place is certainly worth a few hours of your time. It is directly on the shore of the St Lawrence, with this historic bridge in the background, which we discovered is an international historic civil engineering landmark. The engineering nerd in me was quite impressed.

Back to the aquarium - there were a few notable creatures, specifically the Sarlacc pit:

this guy, who seemed like he just wanted to hang out:

and this guy, who seemed like an aquatic Dr Seuss reimagining of Scrat from Ice Age:

From there, a quick trip down playground memory lane, allowing Jordan to experience the true joy of a dolphin on a coil spring (keep your shear strength jokes to yourselves, nerds)

Then it was back to the big truck to head to our campground, the aptly named Camping de la Joie. But not before a brief visit to an Inuit ice exhibit, where Jordan was definitely comfortable and not worried that we had potentially just been locked in a frozen shipping container.

A quick pic to remind ourselves that we have no idea where we are going or what anything is, and we were off.

On the way back to the parking lot, we realized that all the bikes we had seen on the way in were enjoying this riverside trail that must have some incredibly scenic overlooks, and also must be an Olympic trainig ground given the amount of spandex and full aero gear (do you really need the full Alien teardrop helmet for a Sunday afternoon cruise?)

Back at the campground, we were assigned to site 135, sized to accomodate a motorhome up to 35' in length. I admire the Canadian confidence that we would fit, and with a bit of finagaling (never actually spelled that word, certain that cannot be correct), we were set for the evening.

A quick hour of nap/downtime for the ladies, and it was off to Old Quebec City to explore, only about a 20 minute drive. We knew it was going to be cool, but I don't think any of us were prepared for what we saw.

We explored for just a bit before grabbing a bite to eat (and our first poutine of the trip!) at a joint called le Chic Shack, right at the base of the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. The atmosphere around the area was pretty vibrant, especially for a Sunday night. Street performers, influencers influencing, cars cruising, open air cafes and music everywhere, it was quite the experience. Once we finished dinner, the sun had set and it really became picturesque.

We were starting to fade, but Kimberly had one more spot for us to check out - Umbrella Alley. It was worth the hike all the way down to the waterfront.

At that point, I'm not sure I could have gotten us back up the hill with a Looney Tunes ACME cannon. As luck would have it, the Funiculaire was still running, giving us one last view of Old Quebec.

Now, we were done. Quick trip back to the campground, and down for the count til tomorrow. Cheers!