... a few of these you may have already seen on facebook, but there're enough new pictures to make your visit worthwhile ...
... for a christmas gift last year i gave liz a "gaspe´ wanderabout" ... we took two days for the drive up, spending a very relaxing evening at a very nice hotel in amqui, about an hour south of matane ... liz, "so, let me see if i understand you correctly ... you're saying we're going to get up tomorrow and leave this hotel ... i mean, if that's true, i gotta ask, why" ... yea, methinks hers is a different interpretation of wanderabouting than mine ...
... rain, a bit of wind, twisty road, still we made it to our first destination ... a zillion+ fascinating rocks on this beach ... liz, "dad, you're going to have to set a timer and give me a load limit" ... while i don't think she actually examined each and every stone, i doubt if there were many she missed ... luckily, my new car has a fairly good-sized trunk ...
... the view from our doorway at the most excellent hotel plante, which in my opinion is the best place to stay in gaspe´...
... the next day we wandered over to the other side of the gaspe´ peninsula ... one of my "trip goals" was to climb down and then back up the long wooden staircase to the beach ... i managed, but it was helpful knowing that if i faltered liz was ready to catch me ... on the gaspe´ peninsula it's pretty much 50/50 that any given day will be clear—this afternoon was quite exceptional ...
... this little beach has become of one of my favorite places in the world ...
... in the distance the cape rosier light warns of the treacherous coastline ...
... liz spent a lot of time watching the birds in the cliffside rookeries ...
... the next day we suited up in shiny yellow slickers and sailed out on the gulf of saint lawrence to look for whales ... along the coast we saw all sorts of sea-eroded rock formations ...
... everyone diligently searched for the great blue whale that had been observed by the previous day's expedition ...
... northern gannets skimmed alongside us ...
... "thar' she blows" ... porpoises ...
... this is what i saw ...
... even this little boy kept a sharp eye out—until, that is, he decided to spend the last half of the trip fast asleep in his mother's arms ...
... perce´ rock, twenty-two miles away ... far enough that the great hole in it was below the horizon ...
... despite the shortage of cetacea (my theory was that they were swimming along right beneath the boat, laughing themselves silly), liz enjoyed the beautiful scenery ...
... for me this dramatic vista of the rugged headland was worth the trip ...
... another of my goals, to enjoy a bowl of traditional gaspe´bouillabaisse ... on our first trip eric ordered this scrumptious dish, while i, in my usual rather boring culinary conservatism, played it safe with—with a menu item i can't seem to remember ... while we were eating eric said, "give this a taste" ... one spoonful and i was an addict for life ...
... this is why i can never move to the gaspe´... at almost $30us a serving i'd end up in the poorhouse within a few weeks ...
... another goal, to manage walking up the incredibly steep drive from the downtown to our hotel ... the bellyful of bouillabaisse didn't make it any easier, but i did it ...
... in the local museum i watched a group explore the gaspe´through a "virtual reality" immersive experience ... i passed on it, a bit pricy as far as i was concerned, but it was great fun to watch the people twisting their heads and spinning in their chairs ...
... there were a lot of excellent exhibits, of which my favorite was about the mi'kmaqs ... from the moment cartier landed a deliberate process was initiated to diminish the achievements of these native americans ... for instance, i had never known that they had a written language, because, as it was, i was taught they didn't ... said the mi'kmaqs to jacques cartier, "pjila’dik" ... said jacques, "i am inclined to believe that this is the land god gave to cain" ... sad ...
... we spent an afternoon relaxing on the sands of "penouille, presqu'île de" ... there were only a few people there, probably due to the rather strong breeze that picks up towards the end of the day ...
... i had never realized that this things are actually airfoils ... he simply held the front of it and it flew in the wind ...
... the windward side of the little sandy peninsula is covered with driftwood ... this young boy turned a log into a makeshift canoe ...
... "beach cutlets," that's what we called 'em when i was a lifeguard ...
... these two chorusing crows were the only thing brought pause to liz's beach glass search ...
... the most efficient manner in which they pecked away looking for any scraps left by the day's beach goers, it's quite possible these birds are paid by the canadian government to keep the beach clean ...
... someone must've been confused, it's the peninsula on the other side of the bay that is the "natural" beach ...
... after liz does her magic this'll be beautiful jewelry ... (she takes requests, i think) ...
... my daughter, liz, and this fantastic place ... what could be better ...
... i will return to the gaspe´... it calls me ...