GREG'S MACDONALD'S TRIP

September 8, 2012

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Finally got on the road around noon on Wednesday and made it to Quebec City in time for rush hour. Even in rush hour, this city is still one of the most charming and beautiful cities in North America. Easy 4 hour drive, need to get up here more often. After hanging out on the Plains of Abraham waiting for the hour hour to subside I just drove around and got lost in the City, exploring places I would not have found otherwise. When I finally got my bearings, I made it eventually made it up the North Shore of the St. Lawrence to a little town called Baie-Saint-Paul where I put up for the night. Continuing up the coast through little towns hugging the coast line of the St. Lawrence, which was getting wider and wider the further northeast I traveled. Got to Tadoussac, after a ferry ride across the Rivière Saguenay, for lunch.  This is a destination for tourists because of the incredible whale watching and the fiord from Lac Saint-Jean down the Rivière Saguenay. Unfortunately the weather was misty and foggy so I did not partake in either activity. However there will be other opportunities for whale watching later off the coast of Newfoundland with my son. Camped out on the outskirts of Baie-Comeau in the mist and rain, ugh! This small city has a huge Alcoa plant and is the junction of Route 389 which is the only road north to Labrador City 400+ miles to the north. Well "road" may have been an overstatement. This winding, hilly, mostly dirt road with only a few places to get gas and only one restaurant was driven mostly by speeding trailer trucks and Hydo Quebec workers who I guess live in the little trailers settlements I saw along the way. There was one point of interest that I found out after the fact from an e-mail from my son, that the large lake that was to my left for a long while was actually Lake Manicouagan which was formed by the impact of asteroid that was 3 miles in diameter 225.5 million years ago creating the fifth largest reservoir in the world. Meanwhile, white-knuckled drive along Route 389 became even more so with a thunderstorm that turned the dirt to mud! However, it was all worth it in the end with a double rainbow that ended in an iron-ore pit on the outskirts of Labrador City!! Huh? I always thought that it was supposed to be a pot of gold! Those Newfies!!!!! Arrived in Labrador City, around dusk in search of a room and found the Wabush Hotel which has  wi-fi and miners everywhere. This should not be surprising since Labrador City and Wabush were built in the 1950s near one of the largest iron ore deposits in the world. They say there is enough iron ore here to last more than a century. Maybe it is iron ore at the end of the rainbow! Sounds like Hurricane Leslie may make landfall here sometime Tuesday or Wednesday so need to find a front row seat and head for the coast earlier than expected. There really doesn't seem to be much between here and there except Churchill Falls, so might as well. I'll let you know how it goes when next we chat. -Greg '

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