Our Canadian Adventure (part two)

Our Canadian Adventure (part two)

Part two of our Canadian Adventure begins with our departure from Prince Edward Island.  We left PEI by way of the Confederation Bridge.  The bridge connects PEI to New Brunswick.  Tolls for the eight mile long bridge are quite expensive with automobiles costing $46.50 and our motorhome costing $62.50 with car in tow.  Fortunately they only charge when leaving PEI. 

Once off the bridge we traveled west along the Trans-Canadian Highway into the city of Fredericton.  Fredericton is the capital of the Canadian province of New Brunswick.  The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River. We stayed at a nice campground on the river called Hartt Island RV Resort.  Upon leaving Fredericton we headed north into Grand Falls, NB.  Grand Falls gets its name from the 75 foot high Saint John River waterfall and gorge located in the middle of town.  We visited the falls and gorge during our stay.  If you’re brave enough you can zip line across the gorge.  It was a nice half day outing but it wasn’t overly impressive.   We left Grand Falls and traveled northeast to Rivière-du-Loup.  This little city is located in the Canadian Province of Quebec, on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River .  The city was named after a nearby river, whose name means Wolf’s River in French. We took a nice long drive along the river and enjoyed the scenery and views across the river.  From Rivière-du-Loup we traveled west to Quebec City.  We stayed in a large KOA campground where everyone spoke French.  While setting up our site a fellow camper came running over.  She was also from the US and noticed our NY plates.  She was so glad to have English speaking neighbors.  She chatted with us and explained that she hadn’t talked to anyone since she arrived at the French campground.  It was a bit of a challenge to communicate while in Quebec City.  Most residents expect you to communicate in French.  We found it interesting that the further north we traveled in Canada the more French became the primary language. Throughout southern New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI, English was the primary language. Everyone spoke perfect English and all road signs were in both English and French. As we traveled north from Grand Falls into Quebec Province everything, including road signs, were only in French.  We learned Quebec is the only province to have a predominantly French-speaking population, with French as the sole provincial official language. 

Montreal was supposed to be our last stop in Canada but due to a minor health issue we had to make Quebec City our last stop.  We left Quebec City and made our way to the US border crossing leading in to New York.  The crossing was uneventful and just as easy as our crossing into Canada.  We were asked a few questions and sent on our way in less than two minutes. 

We’re glad we decided to go to Canada.  We made many stops, ate tons of good food and did a lot of sightseeing.

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