Friday, August 17, 2012
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Outdoorsy Stuff
The Gaspesie region is noted for all the outdoorsy stuff. It is made of forests, rivers and rock. Because of the special environment it is home to animals that would usually only be found above the treeline.
As far as seeing animals, we only caught the tail end of a porcupine,
literally,
..an angry squirrel.
..and lots of birds
We saw a sign that said there was a beaver dam. We thought that might be pretty cool. Unfortunately those beavers were rather elusive. we could only find evidence for their existence.
You can see where they were working on this log.
Their home:
There were all sorts of interesting sights to behold on our many walks. I think it would be easier to show pictures instead of rambling on and on...
I think that will do for now. Enjoy your evening. :D
As far as seeing animals, we only caught the tail end of a porcupine,
literally,
..an angry squirrel.
..and lots of birds
We saw a sign that said there was a beaver dam. We thought that might be pretty cool. Unfortunately those beavers were rather elusive. we could only find evidence for their existence.
You can see where they were working on this log.
Their home:
There were all sorts of interesting sights to behold on our many walks. I think it would be easier to show pictures instead of rambling on and on...
I think that will do for now. Enjoy your evening. :D
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
We Interupt Vacation Ramblings
To show you a gratuitous picture.
We added Reno to our family. He was christened Reno because Hubs found him while renovating the garage. We are estimating him to be only a few weeks old. Right now, he seems to be all head. He sure is a squeaky little character.
We added Reno to our family. He was christened Reno because Hubs found him while renovating the garage. We are estimating him to be only a few weeks old. Right now, he seems to be all head. He sure is a squeaky little character.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Day in the Sun
When we woke up on Tuesday, I was waiting for my turn in the torture chamber shower and turned on the weather channel. There is something to be said about holidays making you do or eat things you would never think of doing back home, like watching the weather channel and Toddlers and Tiaras. Anyways, the weather guru said there would be rain for the rest of the week. That is when we decided to try and do most of the outdoor adventures before the rain hit.
After we were presentable we decided to drive to Percé.
All over the peninsula we saw these purple flowers,
Up close they look like this:
This is the reason for our visit to Percé
Something else I needed to google when I arrived home. The big rock is simply called Percé Rock Who knew? well, probably most of Percé.
We also discovered a giant lobster trap.
I had to try it out..
This restaurant was amazing. I wish I had thought to bring the camera inside to take a picture of our fabulous dinner.
A giant silver tray laden with lobster tails, scampi's, shrimps, scallops and salad was brought to our table. It had been a long time since either of us had enjoyed a meal of that magnitude.
To cap off the day we visited a working lighthouse.
This is the fog horn that is no longer in service because the surrounding community found it a trifle loud in the middle of the night.
Since I have to get ready to go to sleep for work tonight, I leave off here for now.
Have a good everyone.
After we were presentable we decided to drive to Percé.
All over the peninsula we saw these purple flowers,
Up close they look like this:
This is the reason for our visit to Percé
Something else I needed to google when I arrived home. The big rock is simply called Percé Rock Who knew? well, probably most of Percé.
We also discovered a giant lobster trap.
I had to try it out..
This restaurant was amazing. I wish I had thought to bring the camera inside to take a picture of our fabulous dinner.
A giant silver tray laden with lobster tails, scampi's, shrimps, scallops and salad was brought to our table. It had been a long time since either of us had enjoyed a meal of that magnitude.
To cap off the day we visited a working lighthouse.
This is the fog horn that is no longer in service because the surrounding community found it a trifle loud in the middle of the night.
Since I have to get ready to go to sleep for work tonight, I leave off here for now.
Have a good everyone.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Things To Google When We Get Home
The Wind Farm
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.
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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