It has been an incredible few days. We are writing this evening because we are not sure when we will be back online and we want to give you an inkling of how our week has been so far. On Monday afternoon we prepared ourselves for our first night of camping by making a trip to Canadian Tire and drove to Quebec City. Following the guidance of some East Coast travel experts (namely the Dunnings), we planned on camping the night outside of the city and taking the ferry into the city the next morning. We drove to the first camping site we found on the outskirts of town. It was about 6.30 pm. Coming from a background of camping in remote, secluded areas we were pretty shocked to see the campsite. It was basically a large clearing with some scattered trees, a mini-village of RVs, and a collection of buildings that each served a purpose- one had a laundromat, another had a restaurant, and in the center of the site was a large building with super clean facilities, warm showers, and flush toilets! It was a nice reintroduction to camping, if you can call it that.
We picked a site at the edge and to the back of the lot. The sky was overcast and we wanted some coverage from the rain and wind that seemed inevitable. A number of the local RV-ers walked by us, some several times, probably wondering why we chose not to set up camp next to them and join them in a game of Bridge.
We set up camp complete with our Coleman stove and our tent & tarp. We made a delicious meal of veggie dogs and tea. By the time we had that all figured out, it was time to wash up and get in the tent since the sun was about to go down. We both slept well and were surprised at how warm the night was. It was raining in the morning when we woke up, so we immediately packed up and drove off regrettably forfeiting our trip to Quebec City. It was 8 am. At some point in this venture, we were supposed to give someone $23. Since the camp office was closed when we entered and when we exited, we drove off with a car full of wet gear to our next destination.
Eleven hours later we reached the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula which is as far as you can go in Quebec without falling into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The views we had all day driving were spectacular and we drove through areas were we felt we could have been in Spain or the south of France. But, we grew tired of driving and really wanted to find a nice spot to camp. A National Park called Forillon was our destination and we had reached it at last. We drove in and were assigned a campsite. This was closer to real camping than the night before. Each site was separated by its neighbour with a wall of trees. We giggled with delight as we parked and began to set up camp. As our tent dried and after we had finished a meal of lentil soup and veggie dogs, we explored the area a little bit. There were no RVs here, just small tents like ours and young rugged-looking 20-something year olds huddling around their campfires.
There was a grassy, narrow trail leading us down to the water. We really were on the tip of the Gaspe and the views were overwhelming. Standing on the sandy beach, we had in front of us ocean for as far as you could see, to the right there were high mountains and steep cliffs blanketed with dense trees, to the left there was a grassy knoll and more water, and behind us was a pink grapefruit-coloured sunset that turned the clouds into cotton candy. Maya ran along the beach, playing with pieces of seaweed and old crab shells. Magi and I watched a seal watching us from the water. It was a crisp, cold windy night so there were no flies. It was perfect.
Our camp was on a small hill right above the ocean so we listened to waves crash and seagulls cry as we fell asleep.
Tonight we are in Miramichi visiting Jeremy, Jennifer, Emerson and the dogs, a couple of German Pinschers named Newt & Dara. It is amazing to see how much Emerson has grown since the last time we saw him only seven months ago (of course, he was only one month old last time). He is a real joyful baby and really damn cute. It is wonderful to be here tonight.
Tomorrow morning we head off again to explore more of the east coast. We plan on reaching Nova Scotia at long last. We will have to fill you in on all that later.
Goodnight!
tothesea,
k&m
Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Sunday, June 09, 2002
to ottawa and back
We spent the last week in Ottawa visiting Krishna's mom. Though it was mainly a week of relaxation, we did get to make our first visit to The National Gallery of Canada. It was really impressive. After learning so much about European and American art, I (Krishna) was really taken aback to see what was happening in Canada's art scene throughout the last few centuries. It had me somewhat ashamed of my ignorance when it comes to art from my own country. On the other hand, it also has me excited to know I have a whole spectrum of art so close at hand that I have not really explored yet.
We were both enthralled with the art of The Group of Seven and especially Lawren S. Harris whose paint application looks as thick and rich as icing. Another impressive section of the museum is the collection of Inuit art. The prints from Nunavut artists, most of all, are beautiful treasures.
Krishna got her 60 day tourist visa for India while we were in Ottawa. It was a painless process and one that makes the trip overseas feel even that much closer to reality.
Another important aspect of our time in Ottawa is that we picked up a third travelling buddy. Maya, mom's 6 lb. terrier, is joining us for the remainder of our travels in Canada. That trip begins tomorrow when we head to Quebec City en route to Halifax which we expect to reach on Friday the 14th. We're going to be camping all along the way. Magi will be introduced to blackflies for the first time! Wish us luck- we're both pretty rusty when it comes to roughing it! Thankfully, we'll have a brief respite from outhouses and meals from the Coleman stove when we visit baby Emerson and co. in Miramichi on Wednesday.
Have a great week everyone!
to the sea,
k&m
We were both enthralled with the art of The Group of Seven and especially Lawren S. Harris whose paint application looks as thick and rich as icing. Another impressive section of the museum is the collection of Inuit art. The prints from Nunavut artists, most of all, are beautiful treasures.
Krishna got her 60 day tourist visa for India while we were in Ottawa. It was a painless process and one that makes the trip overseas feel even that much closer to reality.
Another important aspect of our time in Ottawa is that we picked up a third travelling buddy. Maya, mom's 6 lb. terrier, is joining us for the remainder of our travels in Canada. That trip begins tomorrow when we head to Quebec City en route to Halifax which we expect to reach on Friday the 14th. We're going to be camping all along the way. Magi will be introduced to blackflies for the first time! Wish us luck- we're both pretty rusty when it comes to roughing it! Thankfully, we'll have a brief respite from outhouses and meals from the Coleman stove when we visit baby Emerson and co. in Miramichi on Wednesday.
Have a great week everyone!
to the sea,
k&m
Friday, May 31, 2002
the soreness of shots & what to do about india
Tonight we sit down to write to you with very sore bodies. We finished the move and have all our things stored safely and soundly until our return. That is part of why we are both sore... load upon heavy load of boxes mixed with stairs will do most people in. The real soreness has come from the vaccinations that were administered to us this afternoon. Flowing through our bodies right now are Polio, Typhoid, Hepatitus A, Measles/Mumps/Rubella, and for Magi, Tetanus as well. Each limb took a needle.
Today we also heard the latest news regarding the words of war between India and Pakistan. Both the American and Canadian governments are asking their citizens who are in India right now to return home. In addition, they have asked that people cancel upcoming trips to the region. This leaves us in a predicament. We have decided to wait and see what happens in the next month or so before we cancel anything. Right now, we are willing to go to India and concentrate our travels in the southern part of the country (which was what we were planning on anyway). Who knows what might change if the tensions escalate.
For now, we are enjoying the peace of the country and the joy of being in a warm house during a series of strong downpours. It feels good to be out of NYC though it was a difficult move for a lot of reasons.
Thank you to all who have left posts! It's exciting to receive them and don't feel shy to write more than a few lines.
to the sea,
k&m
Today we also heard the latest news regarding the words of war between India and Pakistan. Both the American and Canadian governments are asking their citizens who are in India right now to return home. In addition, they have asked that people cancel upcoming trips to the region. This leaves us in a predicament. We have decided to wait and see what happens in the next month or so before we cancel anything. Right now, we are willing to go to India and concentrate our travels in the southern part of the country (which was what we were planning on anyway). Who knows what might change if the tensions escalate.
For now, we are enjoying the peace of the country and the joy of being in a warm house during a series of strong downpours. It feels good to be out of NYC though it was a difficult move for a lot of reasons.
Thank you to all who have left posts! It's exciting to receive them and don't feel shy to write more than a few lines.
to the sea,
k&m
Monday, May 20, 2002
in the beginning
Welcome to the unveiling of our humble little website. We're keeping it minimal in order to simplify updating it when we are overseas. Plus, this makes it easy for everyone to navigate.
Now that we have satisfied ourselves with the design, we will begin charting our adventures and range of emotions that are involved not only with making such a voyage, but with the advanced planning stages and the aftermath of the return home.
Our goal is to capture the joy, wonderment, fury, and anxieties of a long and winding quest through India, Nepal, and South-east Asia (and some other surprise destinations prior to our overseas departure and along the way). Though this website is going to be mainly text, we hope to supplement your reading with a postcard or two and perhaps some other goodies. When we return and if you so desire, you can sit with us and a steaming pot of tea or coffee and we'll take you through our photos.
Big hugs go out to Patricia for wide-ranging inspiration and to Martin for helping us with the intricacies of HTML. We highly recommend Patricia's website charting her own travels across the region.
to the sea, k&m
p.s. sorry about the ads, we've done our best to limit them where possible. The one placed at the bottom of this page can be made smaller by using your mouse to drag the edge down. The one on the about us section can be closed.
Now that we have satisfied ourselves with the design, we will begin charting our adventures and range of emotions that are involved not only with making such a voyage, but with the advanced planning stages and the aftermath of the return home.
Our goal is to capture the joy, wonderment, fury, and anxieties of a long and winding quest through India, Nepal, and South-east Asia (and some other surprise destinations prior to our overseas departure and along the way). Though this website is going to be mainly text, we hope to supplement your reading with a postcard or two and perhaps some other goodies. When we return and if you so desire, you can sit with us and a steaming pot of tea or coffee and we'll take you through our photos.
Big hugs go out to Patricia for wide-ranging inspiration and to Martin for helping us with the intricacies of HTML. We highly recommend Patricia's website charting her own travels across the region.
to the sea, k&m
p.s. sorry about the ads, we've done our best to limit them where possible. The one placed at the bottom of this page can be made smaller by using your mouse to drag the edge down. The one on the about us section can be closed.