More grey.  More rain.  All day.

Spent a lot of time behind the wheel — way fewer photos than the previous days.  Loads of miles between stuff — but I got my whale in Matane! Turns out he is metal & not cement after all.  And worth the approximately 8 hours round trip just to see him.  It was a damned pretty drive anyway and I found a great spot for the doggies to cut loose.

Much woofing and running of legs in their dreams right now.  Surely, they are still digesting the sights and smells of the doggie paradise that was “le municipalité du Bic” — which is a straight shot north basically of Maine.  The water source here is a little inlet piece of the St. Lawrence River.  Popular with kayakers & such because it’s a much calmer bit.  The further I got north towards the whale, the wilder the water became.  Little ocean-like waves even.

Upon arrival at any watery place, Nik heads out to alert me to it just in case I didn’t notice.

Game on.  Fixie in her classic “throw it for him so I can bite him in the ass while he chases it down”.  But she’s too much of a wimp to chase him in the water.

I have yet to witness even a big dog that can move as fast in the water.  God bless the “red kitty Cuz” which has gotten us through every day on this trip.

Grip is feeling mighty fine these days.  Damned good for 12 and the recent eye surgery.

Say bye-bye to that orange official retriever training toy.  Nik had put a hole in it awhile back.  As Grem considered the option of freezing cold water vs. the chicken she’d get for retrieving it, orange-thingie slowly sank into oblivion.

Beaches are just the best — all my dogs agree.  The skankier the better.  And this place had just enough standing water to create that special marinade of dead fishies, dead birdies, and decaying seaweed.  Fix found bones to chomp — god knows what that was.  And Grip consumed a seagull wing before I could get to her.  Ah well.  And apparently there were also live things just under our feet.  Grem got lots of exercise digging and fussing and doing what terriers are supposed to do.  A real break for me and the usual high stress of her likeliness to run off.  Unless, of course, the critter pops out of another hole and she sees it and gives chase.  Which would be disastrous — but kind of a risk I’m willing to live with.  Sometimes.  When there’s not a road nearby.

Obligatory group shot:

Moving on… Earlier in the day, I spotted this place in the distance from the highway in Rivière-du-Loup.  Needing gas soon, I decided to investigate.  Tackomania for sure.    This Santa looks so frightening and gnome-like.  And to top it off, Xmas music (the Christiany kind) was playing, loudly, although the place seemed to be closed.

Noël au Château looks much better at night — with a little technical manipulation. The place had a few storybook statues scattered about.  Not sure if there was a fairy tale theme here pre- the Xmas theme or if they existed simultaneously.  A Donald Duck that was partially concealed & too far away to shoot.  A weird chickeny thing.  And these guys:

Sorry for the blur.  I was holding the leashes for the heathens and trying to shoot at the same time.  Nik was sure critters were about while Grip & Grem were devouring dandelions (they love the greens & stems).  It felt like the camera was steady for the click — guess not.

Creepier still, directly across the street, at the Motel Loupi:

One more from Rivière-du-Loup, you gotta love a motel whose letters are nearly bigger than the rooms.  Je présente “Le Motel Blvd. Cartier”.

Okay — time for me to join the dogs in dreamland.  Hopefully, I’ll dream about places like Bic or Matane and not about scary Santas or bears.  This place is all me and the dogs would need to be happy.  If you could transport the scene out of freezing cold Canada that is.

Tomorrow should be the final day in Canada — then, just another day or two with some stops in VT, etc. on the way back to the Big Bad Apple.