Le Coup de Coeur

As we motored towards New Brunswick this morning along “le bas St. Laurent”, the predominantly flat agricultural land (an ancient remnant of the ice age and former basin of what is your now the St. Lawrence seaway) gradually gave way to hilly topography with mountainous ranges in the distance (reflecting the extension of the Appalachians).

Appalachian Mountains, also called Appalachians, great hig hland system of North

America, the eastern counterpart of the Rocky Mountains. Extending for almost 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to central Alabama in the United States, the Appalachian Mountains form a natural barrier between the eastern Coastal Plain and the vast Interior Lowlands of North America. As a result, they have played a vital role in the settlement and development of the entire continent.

The atmosphere as quickly evolved into one of cottage and maritime flavour as we skirted the expanding views of the St. Lawrence River which is noticeably broadening into a vast body of water approaching the Atlantic Ocean. We stopped for the night at Rivière-du-Loup which is almost the last outpost before beginning our descent southward towards Nova Scotia. We took advantage of the clear    summer weather to go for a walk and get some exercise. Our focus however was upon our late afternoon dinner reservation made at nearby Le St. Patrice, located in what appears to be an historic riparian farmhouse. We made it there after an absorbing nap. We weren’t the only ones with the identical purpose. From what I gleaned of the other dining room patrons they were likewise tourists from Ontario and Maine. Nobody was overdressed - though that didn’t diminish the semi-formal appearance of the dining room with its moderately preposterous chandeliers and pleasing white linen tablecloths.