The Acadians

When we left Quebec for New Brunswick, our first Maritime Province, life became easier.  Signs were in both French and English.  The well prepared tourist brochure featured several routes through the province.  We selected the Acadian one, not because we were interested in or knew anything about the Acadians but because it followed the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  We do love water.

It turns out that the Acadian culture and history became the highlight of that part of the trip.  One of the real pleasures of travel is finding these surprises.  All I knew before is that folks in Southern Louisiana came from Nova Scotia and were called Cajuns.  I have since learned that Acadia (present day Nova Scotia) was founded by the French in 1604 and later ceded to Great Britain in 1703.  While the power struggles between the French and Anglos were finally settled by 1763, the Acadians were casualties of that conflict.  From 1755 to 1763, 2/3 of the Acadians or about 10,000 people were deported to the American colonies, Great Britain and France.  Some fled to New Brunswick where they found sanctuary.  This event is modernly referred to as "The Deportation."  During this expulsion, the farms and homes of the Acadians were destroyed.  Not only were the Acadians of French origin but they were Catholic.  The Acadians were not welcome in the colonies and many later moved on to French islands in the Caribbean, as well as a still French island off Newfoundland.  About 1000 of those sent to France subsequently chose to relocate in Louisiana, where the Spanish  welcomed their fellow Catholics. 

It seems that the lives of Acadians were second class in Canada until about 40-50 years ago when Acadian leadership in New Brunswick was able to create the only Province that is officially bilingual.  Parents have the choice to send a child to a French or English school but the child must also learn the second language and become fluent.  We had no difficulty with the language while traveling in the Acadian part of New Brunswick, unlike our experience in Quebec. 

The New Brunswick provincial government runs an Acadian Village with about 40 restored or painstakingly recreated period buildings.  Life is depicted from the mid 1700's (after Deportation) through the 1930's and staff are dressed in period clothes, enthusiastic and very well versed in the history of their particular time.  I have been to Williamsburg in the US and this far surpasses that in size and accuracy.  The staff easily shift from French to English depending upon the visitor's native tongue.

We spent an hour the first day and the whole next day visiting nearly every building and watching demonstrations and asking questions.  The activities featured included:

Fiber Arts such as flax and  preparing, spinning and weaving (the topic of another blog),

An Acadian Home in the mid 1700's

 gardening, shingle making,  lumber milling, blacksmithing, tinsmithing, cooperage (largely for storing salt cod), rigging, milling, food prep and day to day living.  

Pot for dyeing wool with natural plant called Tansy

Bread Oven

Homes always had a root cellar

The Acadian Flag flying over a recreated hotel

While in the Acadian area we noticed that the Acadian Flag (not Canadian or the provincial flags) hung everywhere.  Homes were often painted with red, white and blue trim.  Clearly the Acadian identity is strong.  The flag resembles the French flag with an added yellow star, yellow we were told because that is the color for the Pope.

Eating Well #1

Poutine

The trip across the US as far as Michigan did not provide lifetime culinary memories.  The highlight was McDonald's senior coffee for himself and lattes for me.  The UP pasty was interesting, a meat pie made like a turnover.  I am told it comes from Wales and is what a coal miner would take for lunch.  Once we hit Quebec, I figured it would be a better world.

Our first Quebec adventure was to order the ubiquitous "poutine."  This makes our junk food look healthy.  It is a large serving of french fries, topped with gravy and then slightly melted cheese curds. It is a one time experience for me.

Things improved as we continued east, with very nice french bread, a Basque cheese shop with wonderful smoked cheddar and some delightful french onion soup.  The markets had quite a different selection of food, fresh duck legs and breast, duck fat, sausages made from various game including wild boar, lots of veal and of course, croissants.  It was looking much better than the North Dakota Walmart.  Fortunately, the stores laid in while still in Washington lasted about 2 weeks (and much longer for the pantry and frozen things) so we did not starve. 

My first lobster roll

PEI Mussels

Conditions are very much improved now that we are in the Maritimes.  My first (and definitely not my last) lobster roll was lovely.  A homemade hot dog bun with lettuce and a homemade tartar sauce plus loads of lobster meat.  The PEI (Prince Edward Island) mussels were the best every.  We love our Penn Cove Mussels in WA,  but the PEI fresh caught mussels on a deck in the sun with blueberry ale were memorable.  They are large and succulent, prepared with lots of garlic and wine as well as shavings of carrot and celery.  Yum.  We have also had outstanding fresh fried clams and lots of fresh caught haddock and cod, prepared either deep fried or sauteed and served on a bun.  Unfortunately we don't like oysters as they are pretty common here too.  Yesterday's lunch was a seafood chowder,  not cream based, but thickened I suspect with the generous amount of potato and loads of seafood (fish, shrimp, crab and lobster).  I am inspired.  We eat the local fare at every opportunity and I know this availability will continue for some time as we head into New England in a week or so. 

The final food related treat was a trip to the Paderno cookware factory store in PEI.  I love bargains and I love cookware.  I found a great little omelet pan which it now occurs to me will be a perfect size for the RV kitchen.  A seafood omelet will be a nice campground supper one of these days.

Quebecois (People of Quebec)

After surviving the notorious Montreal traffic, we headed east and found a lovely RV park just east of Quebec City. 

The park itself was lovely, immaculate and populated largely by people who owned their spot.  Most spoke only limited English but I dredged up the school French and got by.  Not only were there no Americans but all the license plates were from Quebec.  The site owners all fussed over their lawns and their flowers and it was truly delightful.

View of the pond side sites

You could tell that you were in another culture.  The women were stylishly dressed, the park residents were all sitting out in gliders, conversing with other park residents.  The dogs and children were well behaved, many people smoked and nearly all flew the Quebec flag-not the Canadian flag.  How many times have we seen someone flying the California or Washington State flag?


We planned to spend just one night but with the reports of Irene, decided to hunker down and not head to the Maritimes, as it seemed the closer one got to the Atlantic, the worse it would be.  Wrong.  We ended up staying three nights and the storm weakened to a tropical storm but headed our way.  We put the rig nose into the wind and prepared for the night.  The biggest challenge was taking the boys out-they did not like it at all.

There were hundreds of downed trees

 

Typical village Catholic Church

All official street signs were in French only.  Even the KFC was changed to PFK-Poulet Frite.  Most villages along the St. Lawrence Seaway had a lovely Catholic church dominating the landscape as you drove in.  In our last stop in Quebec Province we encountered a woman whose English was excellent.  She explained that she was from New Brunswick but had a Quebecois boyfriend.  She said she tries to teach him English but it is very difficult.  An Acadian in New Brunswick (more about them later) explained that people in Quebec (outside of Montreal) are afraid of losing their French culture and purposely avoid English.

Canine Connection #1a

I forgot to include a picture I took for my cousin Christina.  She and her husband Chris have a new daughter Maddie, who has begun to crawl.  She needs a pink leash now.

Great Lakes Shipping

The fishing boats are built for weather

Himself is in his glory.  The combination of marine, mechanical and industrial causes his pulse to quicken.  Entering Duluth, Minn.,  heading to Superior WI,  is the first chance to see the mighty Superior Lake.  We know days could be spent here but the schedule forces us to move on to the UP (Upper Peninsula).  Those Wisconsin folk think the UP should be theirs, as would anyone looking at the map.  The story we heard was that the Michigan people were whining about losing some land to Ohio, so the Feds gave them the UP.    UP jokes resemble the now politically incorrect Polish jokes of years ago.  Nevertheless, the UP is a treasure and Michigan made out.  The Maritime history is extensive.

A model of the structure used to empty rail cars and load ships

The first stop is Marquette, where the Maritime Museum and Lighthouse introduced us to the lake's shipping history.  A cute town, with a heavy industrial past.  A massive structure extends into the water and was used by the rail cars carrying iron ore.  They dumped their load, which was then slid down into the holds of Great Lakes bulk freighters.







The next stop was the Tahquamenon Falls State Park, which provided a nice change from the industrial  scene.  A hike to the falls was a highlight, with much needed exercise after so much time on the road.  Despite the amount of water everywhere, we have had almost no mosquito problem.







The next treat was the well done Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point-the area where upbound traffic coming from the Soo (Sault Ste. Marie) Locks leave the lee of the point to face 200 miles of unobstructed weather.  The point has the largest concentration of shipwrecks, with the overall total in the Lakes being 6000 since Europeans came to the area.

There is a very moving video of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  The Fitz was downbound in 1975 when she radioed the freighter Anderson that she lost radar and was taking on a list.  The Anderson was 10 miles behind and asked if the Fitz had her pumps going, to which the Fitz answered in the affirmative.  The Anderson then provided radar positioning aid to the Fitz.  The winds were 90+ mph and the waves at 30'.  A snow squall hit the Anderson, interrupting radar.  When radar again operated, the Fitz was gone.  The Anderson alerted the Coast Guard, whose subsequent search revealed debris.  The ship was later located in 500'+ of water, a mere 15 miles from Whitefish Point, where she would have entered more protected waters.  All 29 hands were lost.  I downloaded the Gorden Lightfoot song and it now has a new meaning to me.

The Newtsuit used to dive the wreck and retrieve the bell

Twenty-five years after the disaster, the Canadian Coastguard, the National Geographic and the Shipwreck Museum arranged to remove the Fitz's bell from the wreck and replace it with one on which all 29 names were inscribed.  The original bell was carefully restored and now serves as a memorial at the museum.  The ceremony dedicating it was very moving as family members rang the bell for each lost sailor.

The freighters are provisioned while underway

The next treat for himself was in "Soo."  It is one of the busiest locks in the world with about 100 million tons of cargo passing through each year.  The U.S. operated the two commercial locks and the Canadians operate the small pleasure boat channel.  We scored a campground with a clear view of the channel just south of the locks.  While there are a few ocean going vessels, most are Great Lakes bulk carriers.  The Soo locks boat trip was a treat.  We cruised the commercial lock, saw the Canadian Soo including a steel mill and returned through the pleasure boat canal.  Even though it is summer, we experienced high winds and and a thunderstorm, but the sun returned in the afternoon.

 I took the afternoon off and himself visited yet another museum in the Valley Camp, built in 1917, 735' long and in operation until the 70's.  After his visit to the museum I was informed that it was unique in having one of the last "triple expansion steam engines."

That's pretty much it for our Great Lakes experience.  I did just learn that my brother John spent his first summer in the Naval Academy on a destroyer which made the Navy's maiden voyage into the Great Lakes.  It was 1959 and Ike and the Queen dedicated the St. Lawrence Seaway's opening.  He told me that at each stop the crew would get shore leave.  The local WWII vets would buy the sailors more drinks than they could handle to honor the occasion.  John still remembers his first boilermaker.

North Dakota Boom

We crossed the state line into North Dakota, reset our clocks to central time and noticed a complete change in the landscape.  Eastern Montana had a good bit of reservation land on our route and there was little evidence of prosperity.  Williston, ND on the other hand was booming.  Highway 2 was clogged with hundreds of big rigs, cement trucks, "belly dumps." and tankers.  Buildings were under construction and 5th wheels were parked all over for housing.  Portable buildings were lined up in long rows, used as worker dorms.  The signs on the vehicles provided the clue that the activity was related to gas and oil and Google answered the question.

The Bakken shale rock formation stretches from ND, through eastern Montana and Saskatchewan.   Production is already at 1/4 of a million barrels a day and the estimate is that by 2020, they will be taking 1 million barrels a day.  That is about 10% of current U.S. oil production and 5% of current consumption.  Employment in the sector has increased 6x and will be 20x by 2020.

Fracking is controversial, with the material disposal and potential ground water pollution being significant concerns, but clearly SD is full steam ahead.  The boom continued to be in evidence as we traveled to Minot, ND, but now the spring storms and flooding added further complication.  There were 11,000 people who lost their homes.  This housing problem was aggravated by the employment boom and the local Walmart looked like a hobo camp.  RV's were all over and many were in substantial disrepair.  Some were unhooked from their tow vehicle and had generators chained to them.  Obviously these were not transient RV'ers stopping for the night.

The next contrast was entry into Minnesota.  The rowdy west was left in favor of those tidy Swedes and Norwegians.  The rest stop was well appointed and order was seen in the traffic and public facilities.  Landscaping was groomed and the grass was much enjoyed by the canines in the party.  Boogs even went for a run.

Canine Corner#1

This post is out of order as Mom is way behind.  Long travel days and lack of Internet service have caused her so back up so I am going out of order.  We crossed into Canada three days ago and made great time on the way to the Maritimes, stopping off a bit to practice our French in Quebec.  We made it past Quebec City last night and found a delightful park right on the St. Lawrence Seaway.  The plan was to head out to the Gaspe peninsula but watching the news of the hurricane, we decided to stay put.  The course is a bit uncertain and we may in fact be in a wind tunnel, but it is civilized, paved and includes a restaurant and nice facilities.  All the dogs speak a strange version of french  but they smell the same as at home.  Since Boogs can't see or hear he has no clue that we are in a somewhat exotic province.  The park puts those Minnesota Scandinavians to shame.  It is groomed and in perfect order.

Boogs and I were disappointed at the border crossing.  We had our rabies certificates and Dr. Dana's statement that we were cootie free but the agent didn't look at us.  We were even sporting chili pepper scarves.

Boogs has pulled his usual tricks on the trip.  He finds edibles everywhere and even jumped out of the camper-over 3 feet high-and was spotted 20' from the camper.  Talk about not knowing your limits-115 years old, blind and deaf.  Go for it Boogs!

I, on the other hand, have been the "good dog."  I'll admit that I try to take advantage of his disability but Mom is pretty sharp eyed and usually calls me on it.  We have met all kinds of dogs on the trip-from Yorkies to English Mastiffs.  My favorite were the chocolate labs who lounged on the dashboard of the large motorhome.  A great vantage point for guarding the camper and spotting potential canine friends.  I suggested that we could use a larger RV, something with a nice couch to lounge on.  Right now we are either on the floor or on the bed and travel in the back seat of the truck while underway.

One highlight was in Minnesota where the rest stop included a large grassy area.  Mom broke into a run and Boogs and I followed suit.  It was great to see the old, blind guy running like a pup.  He seems to have complete faith in his "service team."

Ragamuffin