The river is so wide at this part.

Canada is a beautiful country but the price of gas is hard to take, especially if you are towing. The parks and campgrounds are also a great deal more expensive than the United States although they offer more services such as free hot showers and laundry. Since my new status as “retiree” has come to pass I realized I was way over budget and decided to push on quickly toward Michigan.

Maya and I on the shore of the St. Lawrence River.

I stopped at a cute RV park in Riviere du Loup, it was right next to a horse farm and each morning I was awakened by the soft sounds of horses nickering to each other. We went down to the city to see the St. Lawrence River. It’s huge at this point, hard to tell it’s a river since the mountains on the other side were so distant. It smelled like the sea, salty and clean, and where the Riviere du Loup flowed into it you could watch the colors of the two different rivers mixing.

My neighbors.

The ferry finally departs.

Our next stop was Ottawa, where we stayed in a cheap hotel in a very questionable part of town. Maya hated the hotel and was so happy when we got to our next destination and were back in the woods.

Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park outside of Massey, Ontario was beautiful. We stayed two days and I would have like to stay longer but the park was filled because there was a big festival in town that weekend. The park had a combination of lakes and rivers – good kayaking! There was also a part where you could tube down the rapids which I would have tried if we stayed longer. There was also a dog beach!

Our last stop in Canada was a wonderful provincial park called Chutes. The park is placed in a huge stand of lodgepole pines that grow alone a river. At one point there is a waterfall before the river continues on it’s way. The park got it’s name from the logging chutes that used to be there. There was another dog beach where Maya and I played in the water, which was cool but not freezing. It was fun getting into the current of the river and riding it down a ways. Maya liked to swim against the current like one of those —- pools, when she wasn’t hunting water bugs!

I thank the Canadians for their hospitality, I enjoyed my visit. Now it is time to return to the US, we are going to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan.

Lodge Pole Pines dwarfed our little camper.

Good bye Canada.

Just a beautiful, peaceful place!

Maya hunting, but I’m not sure what!