793 August 3, 2022 Gaspe

A walk along the river in Grande-Vallee.

The Canadian people have found eyecatching ways to remind you to slow down and watch for children.

Grande-Vallee is the beginning of the region known as La Pointe or Land’s End; the translation of the name given to this land by First Nation People; Gespeg. We were traveling around the end of the peninsula. There are crashing waves here as we approach open water. We stopped at a scenic viewpoint for breakfast.

We arrived at Fort Ramsay Campground in Gaspe around noon. We will stay here for 4 nights. Today, we went with the Jeep to explore the town. We took the bikes and rode on the bike path on the Bay of Gaspe.

We stopped to see a naval exhibit. During WWII, German submarines patrolled the Saint Lawrence and attacked and sunk many ships. The Canadian goverment decided that if the Germans tried to overtake Gaspe, the land and village would be sacrificed. They had decided to burn the town, detroy the wharfs, and blow up anything that might be useful so that if the Germans came. there would be nothing here for them.

This is a giant game of Battleship on the boardwalk.

Always interesting sculpture…lots of testosterone here.

At the end of the path there is a set of steps that leads to the Musee de la Gespesie. We decided to go into the museum. Here we learned a lot about the history and culture of Gaspe.

The Chic Choc mountains are the beginning of the Appalachian Mountains; one of the oldest mountain chains in the world. These mountains were formed 450 million years ago. In 9,000 BC this area was first inhabited by the native people. Eventually the Eastern Algonquin Indians merged with the Plano People and the Mi’gmaq culture was formed. These people of the sea subsisted on walrus, whales, porpoises, and seals.

Early history of this region involves Vikings, pirates, shipwrecks, whaling, fishing, and industry.

In 1534, Jacques Cartier, sailing for the King of France, erected a 30 foot cross in the mouth of the bay and named this Canada.

There was another exhibit dedicated to the artwork of Yves Gonthier, a local artist. These are two of my favorite pieces. The first is his interpretation of raspberry bushes.

The second is a sort of seascape…where the waves meet the shore, the colorful rocks visible through the clear water.

Other interesting art.

We were glad we took the time to visit the museum and we learned a lot.

This evening, we drove back into town and had dinner at Bistro-Bar La Brise-Bise. Tim got a salmon poke bowl and I had a lobster club sandwich…delicious!

We heard the couple next to us speaking English and we asked where they were from. Bonnie and Wendell live in New Brunswick and are in Gaspe for the first time on vacation. We really enjoyed talking with them about travel and life!

When we got back to the RV, a neighbor here in the campground approached Tim and spoke with him about traveling. People are amazed and in awe of the way we live and the things we get to do…we really do know how fortunate we are and we are grateful every day!