Quebec: Whales and Trails, Part 1

 Joan and I had booked a trip with Natural Habitat Adventures, NatHab, to visit Quebec and the Saint Lawrence Estuary, with an emphasis on whale watching. Our journey began on September 18, 2023, but only after another airline adventure.

 

Our flights were from Columbus to/from Québec City, with a connection in Toronto. United was our flight to/from Toronto, and, booked as part of the United reservation, Air Canada to/from Québec City. Two weeks before departure, Joan logged in to see if any schedule changes had occurred. Lo and behold, the Air Canada flight to Québec City from Toronto had disappeared. Nobody had notified us. United would take us to Toronto, leave us there to hitchhike to Québec City, and then return us to Columbus! Joan called United, and their first suggestions were not helpful: arriving at the Québec City airport at 10pm does not work when the orientation dinner for the trip takes place in town at 5pm! Finally, United came up with a connection through Newark on our way out, and Toronto on the way back.

This has not been a good airline year!

September 18

Newark was surprisingly uncrowded on this Monday. During the flight to Quebec, we met two women on the other side of the aisle who would also be on our adventure. In the arrivals lobby, there was a shuttle driver with a sign that displayed not "NatHab," but the women's names. Joan and I joined them!

After dropping off our luggage at the Hotel Le Germain Québec, Joan and I had the afternoon to explore parts of the old city of Québec. The sky was cloudy with threats of rain from the outwash of Hurricane Lee, but the downpours weren't to arrive before the next day. We took a long walk and saw the Basilica-Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Québec, Montmorency Park National Historical Site, and others, including a chocolate shop with a chocolate museum. As is my unfortunate habit, I neglected to take photos on this arrival day, but here are a few snatched from Google StreetView. (Thank you, Google.) One side effect of this technique is that the weather appears better than it was!

 

First, the Basilica-Cathedral. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

The famous hotel Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac.

The chocolate bonanza.

Two images of the Promenade des Gouverneurs which, clinging to the heights, yielded ever-changing views of the St. Lawrence.

It was not all flat.

Joan and I also enjoyed going down the funicular Vieux-Québec, an electric cableway built in 1879. Here's a view of the petite top station.

And a look from below.

Then it was time for our welcome dinner at the hotel, where we met our fellow travelers and our guides, Julia and Jackie, sketched out our plans and gauged our interests.

September 19

The next morning was grayer than before. Here's a picture of the Séminaire de Québec taken from our hotel room window.

Shifting the image, we can see that real estate is maximized on the lower level of the city by constructing rooftop gardens, patios, and such.

Then we hit the road, traveling northeast out of the city towards Tadoussac, where we would spend the next two nights, focused on whale-watching.

However, the weather was getting worse, with wind and rain, so after consulting by phone with the whale-watching outfit (Essipit Whale Watching Tours, an indigenous-owned company), our guides pivoted. On arriving at Tadoussac, we visited the Interpretation Centre on Marine Mammals instead, a short walk from the Hotel Tadoussac. Our whale-watching tours were reduced from three to two, but we all agreed it was the best course.

The Interpretation Centre has many hands-on exhibits, an exclusive film (in French with subtitles), and a fantastic collection of whale skeletons, from the smallest creature to the largest.

One such is an example of whale baleen, the method by which grazing whales feed.

After taking a big gulp of the sea, the whale expels the water, but food items such as krill are caught in the baleen and swallowed. Our group agreed that this museum visit was a wonderful orientation before the upcoming whale-watching.

These first two days were on the move, but tomorrow our group will focus on whale and walking adventures.

Hiking Canada 2023: A Long Way Home and a Surprise

 On July 28, 2023, there was off-and-on rain in the morning. Joan and I packed up after breakfast and headed to Canmore to shop at Le Chocolatier, a fabulous chocolate manufacturer. For a long time we've stopped there on the final day of our Canada visits. Alas, we arrived just after 10am, but they open at 11. No problem, we'll go to the Kananaskis visitor's center and donate the bear spray we purchased there two weeks ago. (They can use it for demonstrations but cannot resell it. And we can't take it on airplanes!) We took the back way, Highway 1A to 1X to 1. When we returned to Canmore, Le Chocolatier was open, and Joan and I loaded up.

We then took Highway 1 east for a few exits and hopped onto 1A for a scenic drive, the early parts of which go through the Stoney Nakoda First Nation. It's a scenic, slower, two-lane route; sometimes, horses are grazing on the roadside. Then, Joan and I enjoyed lunch at Aama, in Cochrane. We sampled yak stew, flatbread, yak momos, and chicken "chow mein" -- noodles with great spicing. Did you know there is more than one yak ranch in Alberta?!

Finally we drove on, returned our rental car, and at the airport hotel prepared for the next day. Or so we thought. The next morning, we walked the entire length of the airport to check in for our 7:30am flight with United. There weren't true check-in counters at the far end, but stand-alone machines and two personnel behind the counter to accept our baggage. We entered our info, and the kiosk spat out our baggage tags (put them on yourself) and boarding passes.

We inspected our boarding passes. Whoa! Our itinerary had been simple -- Calgary to Chicago to Columbus. What we now held passes for was Calgary to Chicago to Dulles to Columbus. It turned out that a crew member for our flight had  arrived late the night before, and given the mandatory rest period for aircrew, we were going to leave Calgary at least four hours late. Needless to say, we had time to kill. At least we had some views (and reading material).

Chicago was hectic, but Joan and I managed to board our flight to Dulles. Approaching Dulles, we could see lightning flashing in the clouds, and you can bet we worried whether our plane would be able to land. Fortunately, it could. As Joan and I marched the length of Dulles to our next gate, it was obvious that many earlier flights had indeed been canceled -- the queue for customer service was as long as half the airport, and folks were sleeping on the floor.

 

Luckily, our plane was still destined to depart. But the gate agents couldn't tell us when: United was still scrounging up an aircrew. They arrived in dribs and drabs, including a pilot that looked like he was fresh out of high school. When we finally boarded the plane, the pilot announced that we had to wait a bit longer because the aircraft hadn't been refueled.

 

Eventually we took off and landed in Columbus. We arrived back at our house at 3:00am. When we woke up, Joan and I were stunned to see that three skyscraping honey locusts had blown down when we were gone.

Fortunately, they had fallen parallel to the yard, not into it or our house. The stairs in the photo belong to a neighbor. Nothing was damaged except other trees, and our bank account for removing the locusts. One still had enough of a trunk that a climbing specialist had to go up at least three stories to dismantle it piece by piece.

It had been a rewarding trip, but with frustrating airline troubles both going and returning.

Book Link

It finally occurred to me to add a gadget to my blog whereby readers can jump to my memoir, Chasing Lucy, and possibly future books as well. Look for it in the blog's upper right corner:

In paperback or ebook, and thank you in advance.