JoAnne Gelowitz | FindPenguins

Quebec and New Brunswick Traveler
Rimouski in the evening
July 28, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
We got to our destination at about 6:00. Eight hours for a five hour drive, not bad. We took the scenic route and drove along the St. Lawrence Seaway, much nicer than the main highway.
Got to our bed and breakfast. It is called Gite de l'Onondaga. Gite is a small hotel and Onondaga is a submarine which is resting on the St. Lawrence and is walking distance from the hotel. So we drove because we didn't realize it was walking distance 😕. It was nice to be so close to the water at sunset. Kind of felt like bring beside the ocean. The day is fine and there is more to see tomorrow.Read more
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Quebec and New Brunswick Traveler
Kamouraska
July 28, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
So we stopped for a bathroom break and found a cool rest stop.
It was right on the shores of the St Lawrence Seaway. It was really windy around there. Not sure if that is common but what we saw was a group of people kite surfing - not sure if that is what it is called but that's what I am calling it. 😁 Took some pictures of them surfing on the water. Gerard got some videos of the surfers getting some air and flying off the water. It was a pretty cool place to have a little break.Read more
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Quebec and New Brunswick Traveler
Montreal Botanical Gardens and Old Port
July 27, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
This morning we went to the Botanical Gardens. It is right by the Olympic Stadium. We took in the stadium only from the outside but went to walk through the gardens. It is very nice and wasn't restricted to just flowers. There were quite a few different gardens. Useful plants (vegetables), toxic plants (Gerard took a picture of poison ivy, so now I don't have to wonder what it looks like), medicinal plants. My favorite was the First Nations garden, which was pretty much a natural forest area. Once we got way too hot we went back to the hotel to cool down and get ready for supper.
Gerard wanted to go to a French restaurant for supper. He found one that good reviews. It was hidden in a hotel just outside of Old Montreal. When we found it we discovered it was really fancy and we definitely were not dressed enough for this place. So of we went to Old Montreal to find a French restaurant for sweaty people dressed in wrinkled clothes.
We didn't find one but we found the liquor store so Gerard bought a couple bottles of wine. More on that later.
We finally decided to eat at an Italian restaurant, Mimmo. It was very good and neither of our dishes had pasta 😄. After supper we walked down rue Grande. We were going to a show that was too involve all the senses. I was concerned that we wouldn't get in with the wine. Gerard asked at the ticket booth they said it was okay and sold us tickets. Got to the door and security made it very clear that we could not bring in the wine. So back we went to the ticket booth to get our money back. They were very apologetic.
We decided to walk though rue Grande. Its like the exhibition. Food trucks, all sorts of booths selling a variety of souvenirs, a zip line, a huge Ferris wheel. Once we were done looking around we went back to the hotel and watched the football game🏈🙂.Read more
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Quebec and New Brunswick Traveler
Schwartz's Deli and Kale Salad
July 26, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
This morning we went for a walk away from the downtown area towards the neighboring residential area. The goal was to walk to Mont Royale to see the cross and then for lunch have a Montreal smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz's Deli. We got to the base of Mount Royal but it was way too hot today for either one of us to want to venture to the top. So we just hung around the park for quite a while.
Once we started getting hungry we wandered over to Sainte Laurent Blvd to find Schwartz's Deli. This place is supposed to have the best Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich in the city. It was lunch time when we found it and the lineup went down the street and around the corner. We decided to go have a poutine from Patati Patata while waiting for the line up to go down. The poutine was very good. We then slowly made our way back to the deli. The line up was a little shorter so we joined. As we waited Gerard noticed another door with people moving in out quite quickly. Our line was quite slow. We were told that what Gerard saw was the take out door and that we were in line for the restaurant. We just wanted take out anyways so in we went and got our smoked meat sandwich. The sandwich was really good and now that I am writing this I think I want another one.
It was super hot so we went back to the hotel to cool off and get ready to go out to see our second comedy show. We discovered an underground mall yesterday. It is under the festival site. So we went to the mall food court for supper. I was craving salad so I went to a kiosk that clearly sold salads but the menu was all in French. So far we have been able to figure out the French menus. I got a salad and the greens were chou frise, found out the hard way that means kale 😝. It was actually pretty good and that is coming from someone who really doesn't like kale.
After supper we saw our second show, which was really funny. All British comedians. Then we did another tour of the festival site. Came back to the room and wrote blog posts.Read more
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Quebec and New Brunswick Traveler
Just for laughs festival
July 25, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
I am writing this a day later so things may not exactly be accurate.
After breakfast we walked around the area of the hotel to orient ourselves with the streets. Turns out our hotel is short walks to the places we want to go or just a quick ride on the metro. Glad we didn't rent a car for this portion of the trip, it would have been useless. Parking is very difficult to find.
Back to the graffiti I was talking about yesterday. Its everywhere. Much like Regina, there are murals on many buildings, I think to discourage the graffiti, but sadly some of these also have graffiti on them.
After figuring out the streets we walked to the Just for Laughs festival site. Turns out nothing at the site is open until later in the afternoon, so again we just walked around and got to know the place.
Then we headed off for Old Montreal. It is a pretty cool place. Cobble stone streets, Notre Dame, lots of shops and the old port. We are going back on Saturday.
In the evening we saw our first Just for Laughs show, The Ethnic Show, it was pretty funny. After the show we walked through the festival site again. There was much more going on and this time was quite interesting. Buskers, food trucks, an outside stage for free shows (these were in French 😔) and just things to see. We went into the Cabin of Jokes. It seats about 4 people and you get a free 5 minute comedy show.
We took in lots on our first day. We both really appreciate the metro. I am really appreciating how people who work/live in Montreal are so accommodating with language. They are very willing to speak English. We have not run to anyone who doesn't speak both languages. Makes me think I should do a better job a learning to speak our nation's other language.Read more
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Quebec and New Brunswick Traveler
Getting to Montreal
July 24, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
It was a long day of travel. Since we had to fly to Calgary to get to Montreal and most of Canada did not have clouds, I got to see the changing landscape of Canada from the sky. Pretty cool to see it all in one day - mountains, prairies and lakes and trees of Northern Ontario!
Not too much to say. We got to our hotel around 8:00 pm. Went out for all you can eat sushi and went to sleep.
The only picture I have is one dad took of the luggage on the bus, which took us to the metro (subway), which took us to our hotel. On the bus I noticed a lot of graffiti. A lot of graffiti. It's kind of disturbing. I'll write more about this in the next footprint.Read more
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Southwest Sask Quickie Traveler
Fort Walsh Cypress Hills
August 15, 2018 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Today we set out to find the Mystery Rocks. Turns out these rocks are on private land with no roads leading up to them. You have to get permission from the owner to go on the land but you have to hike to the rocks through the Cypress Hills or go on horse back. So no.
We were told that if we went on the bus tour at Fort Walsh we might be able to see the rocks. We went on the tour but no luck. So we spent most of the day touring and walking around Fort Walsh.
We wanted to go on a short easy trail that walks along the Battle Creek. Instead we ended up on one of the back country trails. We realized something was wrong and turned around. Good thing, that trail was 6.5 km. We found the easy trail and it was a nice walk along the Creek.Read more
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Southwest Sask Quickie Traveler
Ghost Town Blues
August 15, 2018 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
This is where we are staying in Maple Creek. Ghost Town Blues is probably one of the most unique places we have stayed. The rooms are decorated with rustic antiques. You have to take in the experience because there is no TV and the wifi is sketchy. Each accommodation is separate - small cabins, back of grain trucks and covered wagons. Bathrooms are shared. A bit problematic first thing in the morning but fine otherwise. The dogs are hilarious. The black one brings you the ball to throw it and the white one waits in the bushes to steal it once it has been thrown.

From here we will check out the Cypress Hills area. Sounds like the roads we usually drive on in this area are closed due to fire risk. We will have to stick to the highways and grids to see the sights.Read more
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Southwest Sask Quickie Traveler
Grasslands National Park
August 14, 2018 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
We thought since we got the yearly pass for the national parks we would go see Grasslands National Park. Turns out this park is free to get into. Oh well.
Grasslands is the only park of its kind in Canada. It is the prairies in its original form. They are reintroducing animals that were near to extinct and they are thriving - bison, prairie dogs, ferrets, burrowing owls. There are also rattle snakes.Yuch!
Interesting place. Not sure if I would like to camp here but the area does need to be preserved.
When we were in Shaunavon we went to visit some friends. Found out that they are camping at Sask Landing so that is our next stop.Read more
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Southwest Sask Quickie Traveler
Getting to the National Park
August 14, 2018 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
So we miscalculated a bit and stayed in Shaunavon which is an hour from Grasslands National Park. We had to backtrack through nothing but grain fields to get to the park. These farms must be huge because there were not even any farm houses.Read more
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Southwest Sask Quickie Traveler
St Victor Petroglyphs
August 13, 2018 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
We went to St. Victor to see the petroglyphs. What's a petroglyph you might ask. It is a carving left in stone. It is believed that the Dakota and Nakota people left the petroglyphs on these rocks. They are hard to see but if you look hard enough they are there.
St. Victor on the other hand is one of those blink and you miss it towns. I took a picture of the downtown core.Read more
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Southwest Sask Quickie Traveler
Big Beaver SK
August 13, 2018 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Tried to find Castle Butte in the Big Muddy Valley but missed the turn off.
Ended up in Big Beaver SK. We wanted to go to the Aust's Store in Big Beaver anyways so no big deal.
Pretty cool little store. They have one of everything and only take cash or cheque. The clerk in the store told us how to get to Castle Butte but it would have required backtracking. Yup, we don't do that.Read more
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Southwest Sask Quickie Traveler
First stop Ogema
August 13, 2018 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
First stop Ogema. We stopped here because there is a touristy train and a very good pizza restaurant. Both are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Apparently the whole town is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays except the bar.Read more
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