O Canada!

On July 18 we headed out for Canada.  On the way up we saw farmhouses, barns, rolling hills, and...

Amish!  We never knew there were so many Amish in the United States

Before letting us cross into Canada the border guards had us pull over and did a thorough inspection.  They checked the truck and even had us open the RV slides.  They took about 20 minutes checking things out.  Our neighbors in the RV park are from Ohio and they said they were not stopped at the border.  Maybe it was our Texas license plate.  Did they think we were smugglers?

Speed limit is 100...kilometers per hour (approx. 60 mph)

Don't know why they're thanking us!

Look what they grow in Canada--corn!

By mid-afternoon we arrived at our home for the next month, Camping La Cle des Champs Complexe VR.  This RV park is located in Saint-Phillippe, Quebec which is one of several towns just across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal.  The RV park has approximately 250 developed sites for RVers who spend the summer here.  Those sites are privately owned, beautifully landscaped, and paved.  Each site has a 4-person glider, a large glass topped outdoor dining set, and storage room.  Many people have built screened rooms on their site in which they have a TV, living room, a small kitchen and dining area.  We are in the Voyagers section where there are about 50 sites, each with a paved patio, 3 person swing, and a small outdoor dining set.

Our site

We had read that Montreal and the surrounding area have LOTS of bike paths so one of the first things we did was go for a bike ride.  We found a paved bike path in a park that runs alongside the St. Lawrence River.  The path even crosses the river into Montreal but we didn't go that far because that would have been a very long bike ride.  We rode 13 miles that day.  The bike path we rode on is the small white strip of land on the right side of the river.  We rode up to the first highway intersection.

Pictures from our ride...

Town of Candiac to the right of the bike path

Montreal skyline across the river from bike path

After the ride we needed to find a bathroom.  That wasn't difficult because every town, no matter how small, has multiple parks.  The winters are so cold here that when warm weather comes people try to be outdoors as much as possible and all the parks and bike paths encourage outdoor activities.

Beautifully landscaped part

Time to buy groceries!  We went into a little market and it was wonderful!  Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, cheese, and an in-store bakery.  We bought a few things there but also had to go to Walmart to buy some RV supplies. 

Signs in Walmart...

No Skippy or Jiff peanut butter

Some things we've learned since being here...

Gas stations and most restaurants don't sell fountain sodas.  In fact, there are very few fast food restaurants.

There are also very few bars.  Lunch in some restaurants are leisurely, accompanied by 1 or 2 bottles of wine.

They don't use pennies.  They round everything to the nearest nickel.

When riding an escalator keep to your right!  The left side is for people walking up the escalator.

"Sortie" means "exit."  Good to know when your trying to find your way out of the underground metro stations.

Bagels here are delicious!  They have a slightly sweeter flavor than bagels back home.

Next post will be on touring Montreal.