Day 7 McGill's Go Up North - Tadoussac, St Lawrence, Mer et Monde

On Day 7 we woke up to perfect weather at our campsite over looking the St. Lawrence. Scot got up and drove into town for coffee and a fresh baguette. I sat outside for a long time alone and just taking it all in.

The kids slept for a long time and I couldn't believe my luck.

But then....

... this little kid came hoping over the rocks for his morning snuggles!

I was somehow able to convince him to sit really quiet with me, while Jakey was still sleeping and Daddy gone. It only worked for a little bit and Jake was up soon and the two played Narnia.

We have been listening to the first two books (at this point only the first) in the car on our road trip. Jake is always Peter and Finn is whoever Jake says he is... haha I know here they are re enacting Peter's First Battle in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

While the kids were playing Scot and I started packing up a little. Today is our last day at Mer et Monde.

In between we remembered that we forgot about our daily sign. I can't remember what was so funny but this one might be my favorite!

After we packed up a little we went over to the other side to explore the bay. We had a few hours before our kayak tour would start.

As soon as we go to the bay, the boys played Narnia again. Actually for most of the trip this is what they played. Hey, fighting with sticks sounds like a lot of fun!

After they were tired of battling each other we decided to make a dam with rocks at this little creek leading into the bay.

We didn't know what time it was and decided to leave. Remember how I only have flip flops and Toms with me.... there is a reason your Mom tells you to bring better shoes! I again fell and this time skinned the top of my toe. I also fell again on my tailbone. Oh man, this place did not like me. I will spare you the before picture, but I needed to wrap it up water proof for our kayaking tour.

Good old Duct Tape to the rescue. It actually worked pretty good!

After getting all bandaged up, we went over to our kayking tour only to find out it was cancelled again... bummer we are leaving and no more time to reschedule. Here is the amazing part though... even though we already went on the water for a while and that both times the tour was rescheduled because of weather, the company refunded me 100% of my money without me even asking! I was highly impressed!

We all said good bye to our favorite tour guide ever, but not before we got his info to meet up with him again one day!

Thank you Sammy for everything and for your patience to answer the bazillion questions. We hope your summer is going great and you will enjoy Japan!!! Tschuess!

We finished packing up the campsite, and organized the car and one last family picture! Finn is mad about something again... it's hard to be 6!

One last story at the campsite! I love how animated he tells his stories!

One last thing though... we came to Mer et Monde to show Finn and Jake the Beluga whales. At this point we still haven't seen any and we had a very sad little boy with us. Our last chance was to see one on the ferry back. We looked and looked and nothing... I could see the tears already setting in and just before we had to get back to the car, we spotted one!!! It was pretty amazing and it really made our day.

Long drive to our next stop - The Adirondacks! 8 hour drive but we decided to stop in the middle and get a hotel room. We found one just a little bit south of Quebec City. Got to the room, finally able to take showers and watch TV (the boys!) and off to bed we went!

Day 6 McGill's Go Up North - Tadoussac, St Lawrence, Mer et Monde

We woke up on Day 6 at our campsite at Mer et Monde overlooking the St. Lawrence. I didn't sleep most of the night because of a crazy lightning storm, trying to figure outHOW safe we actually are, and counting the seconds between lightning and thunder. We woke up to a very drizzly morning but we were all safe and sound!

We hung out in the tent for a while, hoping the rain would stop and the sun come out. A few times we thought we were in the clear and then it started again. Scot eventually went outside and made us bacon in the drizzle. What a great husband/ daddy!

The rain stopped a few minutes at the time, but not only was it wet, it was really chilly. We did see a few whales from our tent, so that was worth it!

So here is where things took a little turn for the worst and I really don't have any pictures, so here is a picture of a pretty flower! The rain kept going and going, so we decided to get in the car and get some coffee. Closest bakery we could find was back in Tadoussac (about 25 minutes). Went there, got coffee, sunshine in Tadoussac, we are excited and drive back to the campsite... still raining there. From the car to the campsite, we have to take a small walk across rocks... I forgot to pack myself any other shoes besides Toms and Flip Flops... Can you see where this is going? My Toms are nice and wet and they are not really meant for climbing over slippery rocks. I have my coffee in one hand, my camera in the other hand and.... ouch I fall and hit my tailbone HARD, plus scrape the side of my left leg. (It's now 16 days later and it still hurts like crazy!).

I spent the next hour crying in the tent. This was bad... and we are suppose to kayak for 4 hours later in the afternoon!

Scot and the kids decide the drizzle will never stop and make the best out of it, so they explore! From the distance, I was praying no one else falls and gets hurt!

This last picture, isn't our campsite, but look how amazing this looks! If there is a next time, then I want to stay here.

We decide to drive back to Tadoussac, to go to the Marine Museum, have lunch and run a few errands. Three years ago we bought Finn a Beluga whale at the Museum and we promised him that one day we will show him the whales. Finn named the Beluga, Beluga and has been his best friend ever since. He decided with the $20 from Oma, he would buy Beluga a friend. So, he bought Baleine the Humpback whale. Baleine means whale in French.

After we purchased Baleine, we sat outside and enjoyed the view of the Fjord. In the picture below, you can see the ferry we took across the Fjord the day before.

Three years ago, Scot and I ate at this restaurant (below) and we had THE most amazing Fish & Chips. We talked many times about it and looked forward to having Fish & Chips again here. Unfortunately they changed owners and the food was less than mediocre. We were very disappointed. BUT luckily the sun FINALLY came out and it stopped drizzling and it warmed up!

I forgot to mention that during the course of the day, something bit Finn on both eyelids and under his hair on his neck. His ears were actually bloody from all the bites. We gave him some Benadryl, but it didn't seem to do much for him. I felt awful for him!

We took a little walk on the beach in Tadoussac and collected shells, sea urchins, pretty driftwood and sand glass. Our spirits finally started lifting and we all looked forward going back to our campsite and start our kayaking tour!

On our way home, we stopped at the Post Office to send our postcards to friends and family.

We got back to the campsite, and got ready for our kayaking tour. I tried to rest as much as I could as I was in so much pain still from the fall.

We met up with our Tour guide, Sammy. Sammy was German and French -Canadian. He was only 20 years old and about to start studying Marine Biology in Japan. He works in the summer as a kayaking guide and in the winter as a ice fishing guide. He was also very interested in History and told us the history of Quebec, which Scot and Jake found interesting. We all loved him and seriously hope we see him again! 

Sammy, also explained to us the marine life in the area and we talked about the whales we would hopefully see. He then helped us get our gear. We all had to wear a neoprene suit, a kayaking jacket, a kayak skirt, neoprene booties and a life jacket. It took some time to get all that gear on and I was seriously struggling getting the suit on with my tailbone hurting like that.

After we were all geared up, we got some lessons on how to hold a paddle, how to enter and exit the kayak and so on...

There were about 30 other people kayaking that day, but luckily since we were the only people not speaking French we had our own tour guide. Sammy helped us in the water and we started our tour. Jake and Finn did great paddling and we saw our first Minke whale soon. But then things went crazy...

About 30 minutes of paddling, lightning struck in near distance. We were told to paddle immediately to shore to evacuate. More lightning struck and the guides were starting to yell a little more for us to hurry to get to shore. We got to shore, immediately had to get out, walk up the beach, climb up these boulders, climb back down on the other side.... remember my tailbone and we have a 6 year old with us! We could hear thunder in the distance and the urgency for us to evacuate grew more and more.

In the picture above, do you see our kayaks in the very distance? After climbing over the boulders, we climbed up this hill, through some thick brush and through mosquito hell.

We finally reached a little road, where a pick up truck was waiting for us. Unfortunately there were too many people and we decided to walk back!

The tour was cancelled, we were bummed but hoped to do the tour the next day and this was kind of a fun little adventure.

We went back to the campsite, and started making dinner. Scot and I ate the most amazing steak, which totally made up for the bad Fish & Chips we had for lunch.

At the end of the night, we all sat around the fire again... I looked over my left and there was a whale... but this whale was doing something different, that I have never seen other whales do before and the whale had a white front... OMG a humpback whale!!! They are even rare for up there but we were told that there was a young one hanging out there this summer. We couldn't believe our luck and he gave us a show for the next 10 minutes. It really was amazing and the best possible ending of this day!

Day 5 McGill's Go Up North - Quebec City

Day 5! Woke up early, cleaned up the Airbnb, packed up and made a plan on how to get the car back out of the courtyard without scratching it up anymore haha. Luckily two of the neighbors already left and that gave us a little more room to get the car out.

The video below is after we turned the car around inch by inch inside the courtyard... all that was left is to drive through this walkway. Sorry for the poor quality, Scot and I were more concerned with getting the car out then video taping. But we did it! This time no scratches either!

Today we would be driving up the St Lawrence River, over the Saguenay Fyord and to Les Bergeronnes where we were camping at Mer et Monde.

First stop outside of Quebec is the grocery store and stocked up on camping food, water and snacks.

The drive along the St. Lawrence River is just absolutely gorgeous and even the kids put the Kindles down to look out of the windows. The river turns into the Gulf of St. Lawrence along the way.

The last picture above is looking up into the Fjord. And on the other side of the Fjord is Tadoussac. A beautiful little town about 25 minutes from our destination! We are almost there!

We were lucky and didn't have to wait for the ferry at all. But even if, I don't think we would have to wait long as there are three ferry's operating at the same time. As soon as we parked the car on the ferry, we got out and started looking for Beluga whales. Unfortunately we didn't see any but the kids still thought the ferry ride was very exciting.

We arrived at our campsite at Mer et Monde and the first thing we did was explore. The campsite sits on a rocky cliff overlooking the St. Lawrence. There are small little tidal pools everywhere and just jumping from rock to rock was a lot of fun (and extremely dangerous as we found out THREE times later!)

Soon after we sat up our campsite we spotted our first Minke Whale. It was pretty awesome seeing AND hearing them for the first time.

Scot and I started dinner. The kids ate Tortellini and Cucumber Salad and we had these amazing Beef Rouladen which we picked up earlier that day at the grocery store. Finn and Jake finished their dinner before we did and left to explore some more while we finished. We didn't even finish eating when we heard this blood curdling scream, followed with a French lady trying to get our attention. We ran over the rocks (which wasn't the easiest) and found Finn in the water. The water up here is about 40 degrees. He was obviously cold and shocked but he screamed his head off because he thought the whales are coming to eat him. It was funny after we pulled him out, dried him off and warmed him by the fire. This was accident #1.

I wish I could remember the story Jake is telling us in the pictures above but he is a great story teller and I love how animated he is in these pictures.

We all decided it would be best to only explore from now on with an adult and stay close to the campsite for the rest of the evening. We made a fire to warm up Finn and we just loved sitting around it and watch for more whales. Jake did a little whittling with a stick he found and Finn "helped" Daddy with the fire.

This place is just so amazingly beautiful. I could sit forever in my little camp chair and look for whales. Unfortunately the mosquitos can be a bit much in the evening up there and we were all tired and decided to go to bed early.

The view from our tent was just incredible and worth driving almost 20 hours north east from Cincinnati!