About one hour away from destination point in Gaspésie, we could see these giant wind turbines on top of a mountain. There must have been at least twenty.
This was something we knew we had to check out when we arrived. I had seen these turbines in Prince Edward Island and a few in Toronto, but nothing of this magnitude.
We had the opportunity to see how people transport parts of these giant structures on our way towards a wood festival. No matter how I type that out, it still comes across weird in my head. Wood Festival. Oh well,
I had to google how it is possible to transport something of this size and found this video on Youtube:
I am always amazed at the ingenuity of humans. Watching the drivers haul that blade made me realize they must have amazing communication skills and intuition. They were also moving really quickly. I guess it helps if you know the region really well. At one point they entire team pulled over and asked that all the vehicles following pass them because we were coming up on very twisty roads. Hubs and I were rather disappointed because we wanted to see how the team navigated those turns. I was even more disappointed because we saw these rock structures on the side of the road. I wanted to take pictures but there was no where safe to pull over and I already felt like Indiana Jones trying to outrun an over-sized cannon ball.
We learned that the wind farm is located in the town of Murdockville.
The blades are manufactured in Gaspé.
When you stand next to the farm on the hill in Murdockville, all you hear is a woosh type sound. Reminded me of the few alien movies I have seen in my time. That woosh sound is how the aliens communicate with each other.
The Wood festival took place in Ste. Anne des Mont over a three day period. The contestants have a chunk of driftwood which they try to fashion into a sculpture based on a particular theme chosen by the administrators. This year the theme was to create something that represented a Quebecois song.
These are the tools mainly used:
Here are some from last year:
After the Wood Festival we foraged for food and discovered a few people wind sailing.
I don't think I have the arm strength for this sport. It was amazing to watch.
Once we were fed and burned to a nice red colour while watching the wind sailors, we found an aquarium to visit, Exploramer. They have a whole programed geared to everyone with outdoor and indoor interactive activities. You can touch sea life, partake in sea excursions, stay inside and enjoy their museum, the whole nine yards. We just spent most of the afternoon in the indoor aquarium taking loads of pictures.
I couldn't touch any of the specimens. My had just would not reach out...
On our way back to the motel we were able to take a few more pictures. There was no giant blade following this time.
We also stopped in Murdochville where there used to be an active mine.
We also stopped by the side of the road so I can find a stump for our front garden.
All throughout our travels we kept seeing this bright orange signs, No Fracking/Non Fractuation. I have finally been able to learn what they are all about. Fracking involves pumping a mixture of water, sand and other chemicals deep underground at high pressure to fracture rocks, allowing the trapped natural gas to flow and then be pumped to the surface.
Read more: http://www.canada.com/health/Fracking+poses+risk+water+systems+research+suggests/7048967/story.html#ixzz23RtwBrms
I also googled more information on the wind turbines.
I think this will do for today. I hope you all enjoyed your week end.
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