Travelogue: Day 8

Our last day of the eastern leg of our cross-Canada road trip!

We were up for an early start, because before hitting the road for another 700km, we wanted to visit the Cacouna Beluga Observatory just outside Rivière-du-Loup.

An indigenous-owned and operated site, the Putep 'T-awt observatory sits at the top of a hill overlooking the St. Lawrence, and is a good spot to see belugas, especially in the morning.

Well, the belugas must have been sleeping in, because we only saw one...but that's not to say this place wasn't worth the visit! To reach the observatory we took the "challenging" hiking trail, which really wasn't much of a challenge but which was certainly beautiful. Densely forested for most of the way, the trail would intermittently peek out over the water at increasingly more impressive heights.

We finally arrived at the top and enjoyed the view from the facility's rooftop.

We made our way down and began the long drive along the south shore of the St. Lawrence, making our first stop at Lévis, which is just across the river from Québec City.

Here, we enjoyed the very-new Umano Park.

Parc Urbaine Umano is a huge redevelopment project in Lévis, and was previously a municipal landfill.

It was hard to imagine that this site - seemingly prime real estate at the top of a hill - as anything but a community gathering space. New apartments, a playground, splash pad, and pump track overlooking the city. And there was a festival when we visited; dozens of bouncy castles were set up (and FREE!) and live music was just getting ready to start.

But we couldn't stay for the music, as we had many more kilometres to go.

We returned our borrowed IONIQ 9 in Montreal, transferred all our stuff into our beloved old car, and headed home.

And just like that, our eastern trip is done!

It was a whirlwind - 3500km in just 8 days - but it was amazing. And it’s just an appetizer for what’s coming next! Keep following us as we make our way west and north this fall.

If you can find it in your budget to donate to our fundraiser for Canadian Tire Jumpstart, we would deeply appreciate it.

Our trip was filled with constant reminders of how lucky we are not only to live in Canada, but to have the privilege of access to such great opportunities to play and explore as a family. Not all kids in Canada are as lucky, and Jumpstart great work towards levelling the playing field.

Please consider donating, and we’ll see you on our trip west!