Percé, Quebec

  When I woke up this morning (8:00am), I was greeted by a rotting and pungent odour. I changed, washed myself, and had a breakfast of lobster tails (from the day before) and sardines. During breakfast, everyone in my family was complaining of the sharp smell and upon sniffing everyone, my brother determined the source of the odour; me. I smelled myself and discovered that the odour was coming from my jacket. I took my jacket off and immediately, the smell was gone. My mom went to clean my jacket, and discovered a couple of shells in them. Then I realized that the shells that I had picked up on the beach yesterday rotted in my pocket and released the nasty smell. After the confusion, we packed our tents and prepared to go canoeing!     

  
 

My brother and I happily canoeing

Prior to today, I had gone canoeing three times in my life. A year ago, I went on a three day canoe trip in the Laurentian forest with my dad and other adventurers. Today, however, my dad and I would be canoeing along with the rest of my family. We rented two canoes and began to paddle along the Kouchibouguac River. Along the shores, I spotted a cormorant and took a picture of it (below). We paddled for an hour, then turned our canoes around and paddled back to the dock. I saw a great blue heron, but it was wading too far away for me to take a photo. 

  

A cormorant

At 11:00am, we left Kouchibouguac and continued to drive north. We left New Brunswick and entered the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec (2:00pm Atlantic Time). I thought that we would head west and back to Toronto, but my dad turned the car east and headed towards Percé.



We drove for four hours, passing through small Quebec towns, before finally coming to a stop at a private campground near Percé. I used my French skills to communicate with the French owner and at 5:00pm (Eastern Time), we settled into our campsite.

Because we crossed back to the Eastern Time Zone, I had to set my watch back an hour, which meant one less hour of sunshine. After dinner (congee and various meat and vegetables), the sky quickly darkened so we decided to start a campfire. My brother and I played around with the fire for thirty minutes (lighting twigs up) before fatigue kicked in. By 9:30, I entered our tent and decided to go to sleep.