It’s me again. Dad is tired. He does all the driving and I do all the hopping in and out of the car, and he gets tired! Oh well, guess it is just cuz I am so much younger than him!

We are in a new B&B tonight, and I made a mistake in the reservation. I thought we were staying here only one day, but I made the reservation for two days and the B&B in Quebec City does not have room for us until Sunday, so we just quickly found a motel part way to Quebec so we won’t get too late a start on Sunday sightseeing.

So, today, what did we do? Mostly we drove up (or is it down the St. Lawrence River?).  I was told today that the St. Lawrence runs northeast to the Sea of Gaspé, so therefore when we are going “up” to Quebec City, we are actually going down. Believe me, this is not easy for me to wrap my brain around so luckily I am not driving so don’t need to worry. I just tell Dad, “Head north!” and he does.

Back to today: we had to go back into the infernal tunnel in order to cross the St. Lawrence to be on the side to continue our church and cemetery hopping. We wanted to catch the couple of places that we missed yesterday because it was so late. We found Lavaltrie first along the river. The town was much larger than we thought. We didn’t think we woud find the church but it was nearly at the other end of town. Dad walked the cemetery while I took pictures of the church. My ancestors were there in the 1700s, so again finding any remnants of them is impossible. I am also finding that even the churches have not survived. The people outgrew them or they burned or they just needed to be rebuilt, so it is lucky when we are able to find a church that might be the original church. We did find a church in Lavaltrie that appeared to be the original church, but not all churches post their history.

It seems that Lavaltrie and Lanoraie, the second place we went, share the priest or, at least, have a shared religious community. I don’t exactly know what that means, but they are probably in the same diocese, so it would make sense that they would have some sort of common activities.

In Lanoraie, Dad stayed in the car while I got out to take a picture. I saw two other ladies walking around the church with a camera. When the younger lady saw me, and I had on my genealogy logo sweater, she asked me if I was doing genealogy too! She and her mother, both French Canadians from Laval, were there searching for their ancestors. I talked with them for several minutes. Believe it or not, we did not have any common surnames even though our ancestors lived in the same place. It was fun to share a little with them, however.

We weren’t able to continue our family history touring because Dad had made arrangements with Elder Austin Knutson to meet him for lunch in Victoriaville, which was 89 miles from where we were! Needless to say, we had to hustle to get their by 1pm since it was already nearly 11:30. So we left the Chemin du Roy which follows the St. Lawrence River, and sped up the autoroute towards Trois-Rivières, where crossed the St. Lawrence, which had widened greatly at this point, and headed for Victoriaville.

Wow! is all I can say about the colored leaves we began to see on this journey. Up till now, we had seen a tree here and there which were partially turning, but near Victoriaville, there were many more maple trees and other species, and the colors were wonderful. In another week or so, it will be a painter’s dream. But, for us, it was great. We tried to get a few pictures but photos cannot capture such beauty.

We did meet Elder Knutson and Elder McCleve at a place called The Fromagerie. Restaurants here in Quebec are nothing like in France. They are much more self-service and fast food but the food tends to be satisfying and filling, which is usually what we are looking for when we are hungry.

Dad and the elders all ordered a “poutine” which, we were told by someone but can’t rememer who, is the national dish of Quebec. That is, the national dish like McDonald’s is our national restaurant. Believe me, you will not catch me eating a poutine, but Dad had to take the plunge. To learn more about what “poutine” is, check out this website: http://members.shaw.ca/kcic1/poutine.html or Google it for some photos. I will also send you some photos which are totally disgusting IMHO.

After the lunch (BTW, I had a healthy chicken with peaches and veggies lunch to maintain my girlish figure and not clog my arteries with garbage!), we said good-bye to the Elders and returned to the Chemin du Roy, which runs along the St. Lawrence River. We headed back to Yamachiche and Louiseville to take photos of the churches but were disappointed this time. The churches were too new and we didn’t find the cemeteries. But, we did enjoy the beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, we learned in Louiseville that there will be a Festival de la Galette de Sarrasin, Oct 03 to Oct 12. These are the buckwheat crepes that we make once in a while. Oh, how much fun it would have been to be here to try Canadian galette. Wonder if they are like the Breton kind?

We managed to find our next B&B in Trois-Rivières. It is in a big house on the river’s edge. Can’t wait until tomorrow when there is sunlight to get a good look and take some pictures.

We were hungry so our hostess suggested we try a restaurant just a short walk up the street called Madelon. We almost couldn’t find it, but were glad when we did. Our meal was nothing like we thought it would be. I ordered pâté de saumon (salmon) and Dad ordered some smoked meat. What Dad ended up with was a very thick sandwich with meat that he thought tasted like pastrami but I thought was more like corned beef but really was neither though good. I ended up with veggies, a quiche like pie that vaguely tasted like salmon but did taste like fish, covered with a sliced hard-boiled egg and a white sauce with mashed potatoes on the side. It was good but not exactly what I expected. We also had access to soup, a salad bar, and the dessert bar. Pretty good and much different than we have had so far. Everything else we have had was just like anything we would have in the States.

The restaurant was very noisy and everyone in it seemed to know the wait-staff and were talking and enjoying their time together. Dad and I could hardly say a word to each other because it was so loud. Then, just before we left, a man set up to sing. I didn’t think anyone was interested in him nor could they hear him but as we left he was obviously singing a popular song, because many of the people in the restaurant were singing along with him. They were certainly a happy bunch and we enjoyed our meal, but were glad to re-enter the peace and quiet of the neighborhood streets as we walked home.

Well, Dad is sleeping and I am tired but way behind on titling my photos, so better work on that for now. We probably will not have internet tomorrow night. We found a room in a motel that does not look great, but will at least get us closer to Quebec.

Although I am looking forward to visiting Quebec which is supposed to be very beautiful and full of history, I cannot wait til we get on the train. I am so tired. On the train, we can rest. We are going to need all that time to rest cuz we are really tired now.

Three weeks has been fun, but two would be better and we need to choose something more relaxing than driving all over the countryside chasing something that doesn’t really exist except preconceived in my mind.

Love and kisses to all.

Goodnight!