towacross

I just wrote in my previous post about the world records so often used in the USA for attractions, sometimes being real, sometimes somewhat excessive. Then the next day we found another world record confirmed by several websites about the highest tide in the world!

We went for a walk with the kids at high tides first and it looked like a "normal" bay and a dock with a few fishing boats.

Then we went the next afternoon at low tide and I dropped my jaws. The sea was nowhere near the shore, actually you can walk about a mile to reach the water. So we walked on the bottom of the sea for about 20 minutes to see the new coastline.

The dock was also quite special with all the fishing boats standing on the bottom of the dock, without any water under them. They placed a metal frame underneath each boat and they were also fixed with a rope to the dock to prevent overturning. It is also nature's cool reminder of work life balance as no fishermen can do overtime once the water is out of the bay.

The rest of the walk covered a snall lake called "bottomless" which is about 20 meters deep. Nice diagrams explained how this special bay was formed after the last ice age, when the melting ice carried loads of rocks to the seaside, then land moved up and down to form this special area.

Everything is bigger in the Americas. Bigger land, bigger roads, bigger cars and bigger cities. There are many signs starting with "The biggest ... of the world!" so I was not surprised that we accidentaly found the biggest axe of the world!

To meet more local people we registered on www terego.ca where you can book one night stays on local farms, wineries, breweries and destilleries. We mix these short stops on longer driving days with staying several days in more comfortable campsites or near attractions to spend more than one days. Our first stop was at a brewery called the Big Axe. It was after a long drive of over 500kms so we just arrived 15 minutes before they closed the pub. Perfect to taste their beer and to stock up for the coming days with some nice IPAs.

Tue next morning it was light rain and I woke up first. Started to check google maps to see if I can go for a walk or run with the dog when I realised the biggest axe of the world was just 2,5 kms from me. Had to see it so went for a run and it is big indeed.

During my web browsing I started to save interesting locations across Canada so whenever an interesting picture or story crosses my online readings I save them on Google Maps for later. One of such a saved location was just ten minutes from our current campsite at Quebec so we decided to have a look with the kids and the dog.

After parking the car and getting out the trolley and the dog we realised that there are long long stairs up and down the area. I had no time for any workout in the past two weeks so I thought climbing a few (hundred) steps with the trolley and the kid in it will do for now. The effort was absolutely worth it as we walked on the rocks of the riverbed, then climbed up to the cable bridge which is about 22 meters above the water level and moved back and forth as we walked on it. We had a sandwich lunch on a bench and suddenly our dog started to growl. We did not see any reason for a few seconds but then about 30 cms from the dog I also noticed a curious squirrel who somehow did not notice the dog at first. The kids were loving it and I tried to save them from the trauma of our dog catching and eating a sweet squirrel in front of their eyes. Then the squirrel finally realised that the crumbs of our sandwiches are protected by a laaaaarge animal so he qickly disappeared on a tree. No trauma, just fun.

After lunch and a saved squirrel we visited the power plant building which is not really open for visitors as it is a working power plant. There are two glass windows to stare down the depth where supposedly the turbines are running so Abel enjoyed seeing the technical details. Then we just walked back to the car and my workout program ended by lifting the baby trolley into the trunk.

Until now we have visited two KOA (Camp of America) campgrounds in Canada, the first in Montreal and the second one in Quebec. As I learned they have three service levels, the Journey being the simplest, the Holiday offering more services and the Resort being the best version. All of them are near or on Highways so it is very easy to reach them with bigger rigs (without issues with low bridges).

Even the first one in Montreal was all good for us. Clean and new toilets and showers, well maintained flower gardens and grass, easy to access spots (pull-through for convenience). The power and water connection was reliable, there was one power outage due to a major thunderstorm which was really force major, outside of their control. So we enjoyed our stay there and I was especially grateful for the storage of our trailer and car after my initial drive from Delaware US was completed to Montreal.

The second KOA we visited was in Quebec, which is one category higher (Holiday) and about twice the size of the one in Montreal. It has a nice childrens' playground with real chickens, a gold washing game and a large jumping platform. The most enjoyed part was the pool and the hot tub which we used with the kids all times. It was still before the main season so the pool was open until 4pm and the water was a bit cold to my taste, the kids had no problem playing in it. The staff on duty was very kind and although the hot tub is signed 18+ only she recommended to warm up there with the kids. So we kindly used both facilities, going back and forth from one to the other every ten minutes.

The laundry was fine at both locations and we made good use of them. So overall we are happy with the service KOA provided so far and we plan to use them throughout our journey. Tomorrow we try a longer leg for the first time: about 500 kms to cover. So far we did only 180-200km per half days but we want to try and see a longer one heading to Nova Scotia. The goal is to reach a microbrewery so I am quite motivated! Will see how well the kids will cope with the long day. We plan several longer stops every 2 hours so might be a late arrival.