Ottawa Valley: Goodbye Quebec, Hello Ontario

We carried on the journey by crossing over the St. Lawrence River to the northern side around Quebec City in order to avoid Montreal traffic on Labour Day. We ended up getting set back a couple hours due to accident-inspired traffic jams in spite of our best efforts. At the same time though, I had never driven along that side of the river, so it seemed good for a lark.

There proved to be little of interest to speak of, so I will cease speaking of it here, other than to note that we stepped out of the vehicle briefly to see the Montmorency Waterfall (A on the map) near Quebec City, then kept going southwest on the way to Ottawa, Ontario.

(One might wonder legitimately why we didn't spend more time in Quebec. It's mostly because we lived in Montreal for 6 years, and had seen a fair deal. Also, we are trying to get to Alberta/British Columbia before the days are too short, the weather is too cold, the leaves have left the trees, and so on).

Montmorency is a cool waterfall, but in truth once you've seen Niagara it's hard to get into much of a frenzy for anything else. We got an obligatory family photo in, nonetheless.

After a quick breaking of the fast around noon in the Kodiak, we hit the road again. 

We finished the day by stopping off at a boondocking site north of Laval after having dinner with a friend in the area, then headed across the Ottawa River into Ontario the next morning.

Having crossed the provincial border, I thought I was finally freed from the pall of the French language, only to remember that much of the Ottawa Valley is also Francophone.

Case in point, we are staying the night here in a town called Orleans, on the lawn of an Apple Farm called La ferme d’Orléans ("Orléans Fruit Farm") through the Harvest Hosts program (free stays with the assumption you buy a few of their goods--we bought apples and some veggies). They were also kind enough to allow us to use one of their garden hoses to fill up our water tank, which is a pretty big deal! (No toilet flushing or dish washing without it).

Overlooking Gatineau across the river into Quebec, the place featured a fine sunset.

After I walked around admiring the scene on my own for a bit, Kenting was about ready for a piece of the action:

During fetch beside the apple orchard, he actually achieved speeds faster than light for a breif moment:

Here he mistakes an apple for the all-important ball.

Later, he went under this tree in pursuit of something that fell (also an apple, though he was convinced it was something more interesting). 

This creature continues to entertain us. He's either really special, our we're easily amused. Maybe a bit of both.

It was fine evening indeed, but when the sun goes down it's time to go inside, eat and think about where to go next. Somewhere westward, certainly. Likely toward Algonquin Park.

We'll figure it out before bed and drive on tomorrow.