Trip Report! Day 4: La Mauricie National Park & Trois-Rivieres

On Tuesday we got up to drive to La Mauricie National Park, which is between Montreal & Quebec City, about two hours from each.  On the way there, we stopped in Shawinigan to eat lunch and found a pizzeria that also serves poutine.  I have been hearing about poutine for years via my Canadian internet friends, and trying it was one of the priorities of the trip, although Ben was not entirely convinced it was a good idea.  How could it be bad?  French fries, gravy, and cheese curds!

He is a believer now.  Although we both agreed it's the kind of thing you can only have once a year or so because it sort of makes you feel sick afterward.

We got lost trying to figure out how to get to La Mauricie National Park from Shawinigan, but finally pulled into a motel and I ran into ask the proprietor for directions.  Naturally, she did not speak English.  She was super friendly, though, and ran to find a man who could help us.  It's a good thing we asked, because the maps were not at all representative of the actual roads in that part of Quebec.  Anyway, a short time later, we finally arrived.

We went on a 5.5 km hike in the park that took about two hours.  It was beautiful!  The weather was perfect, too, right around 70 degrees and sunny.

Parts of it were also really steep.  One of my main fears in life is walking down steep hills.  I don't know why I always put myself in these situations.

Parts of the hike were so steep they had strung ropes along the path so you could hold on!  Super scary.  Ben was patient with me.  And to be fair, I am much less of a wimp than I used to be.  I swear.

After our hike, we drove back south a bit to Trois-Rivieres.  We stayed at a great B&B, Le Gite Loiselle.

It was right across the street from the Museum of the Ursuline Nuns and adjacent church.  We didn't go inside either place but they were very picturesque.

The B&B was only a couple of blocks both from the water and downtown Trois-Rivieres.  It was a really cute little town.

We met at a cat there.

We picked a place at random out of the long row of restaurants downtown for dinner and it was good.  I have forgotten the name.  The standout was the appetizer of toasted bread with goat cheese and fig jam (which looks like tomatoes here).  Our waiter also helped us with some handy French vocabulary words.

After dinner we walked around the small city center.  The government complex reminded us of Missouri Western in St. Joe.  Definitely from the same architectural era.

There were phone booths all over Quebec!  I don't think there are even any phone booths left in New York City.

The next morning, we got up and drove to Quebec City!