Meanwhile, back at the New Brunswick Road Trip…

Before we left on this little roadmance of small adventures, I ended a post with Gone roadmancing! You can find me on Instagram.

Ha-ha! Ho-ho! Hee-hee!

Halfway to Saint-Hyacinthe, hadn’t even left Ontario yet, and I was all Gonna live in the moment. Not gonna Insta. Not gonna take clicks from the automobile running down the road. Not gonna social media.

Just… Not gonna.

I’m just gonna breathe and live in the moment.

Liberating.

So…

Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec to Edmundston, New Brunswick Leg~

We rolled out around 10 o’clock in the morning. Early risers are we.

We wandered out Route 20, aka the Trans-Canada Highway. 75 Fahren and sunny.

Getting ice for the cooler is a daily event, as is gasoline. We hit the Timmies twice. That’s how we roll from Saint-Hyacinthe to Edmundston.

It’s not a long drive for the day. 490 km (304 mi).  4 hr 42 min with no construction, no traffic, no stops for camera time (Like that’s going to happen.) This will be a repeated refrain.

Quebec is gorgeous agri-land. Jewel-green rolling farmland.

We’re traveling north and east. 2 1/2 hours out from Saint-Hyacinthe, you can cross over the St. Lawrence River into Quebec City. We’re not doing that. We’re traveling up, up, up to our first stop of the day at Riviére-du-Loup, Quebec (population 19,447 in 2011) nestled on the south shore of the St. Lawrence.

We took a long break for lunch at L’estaminet, which we found on TripAdvisor. I use TripAdvisor a lot for road trips. I’m smitten. The travelers who review hotels and restaurants give frank reviews. I depend on that.

L’estaminet, with its Come In! Be Happy! Let’s Party! vibe, is located in their downtown core, which is small and charming. If you’re curious, you can click through their gallery and view their menu at the link above.

Go ahead. I’ll wait.

We were sitting in a raised area by a bank of windows overlooking the patio diners and the street. I’m a bit of a Little Miss Nosy. I like to see what other diners are eating. I’m always asking the wait staff, What’s that? What’s that? What did you deliver to that diner over there? This can be challenging when you’re speaking Frenglish.

Yup. Little Miss Nosy.

We decided on classic fish & chips, but not until I had a bowl of their carrot soup. #eatyourveggies

Seriously. Could I please, please have that little fry basket?

Do you think they would buy it if I said I ate it along with the frites?

Borg with a metal deficiency?

Sigh.

Me neither.

I could go with — What fry basket?

It was a lip-smacking good meal. Crispy-coated haddock with a lime mayonnaise, frites, and mesclun with balsamic. Capped the meal with a capp and a stroll along Rue Lafontaine.

Two words.

lime mayonnaise

I could eat that all day, and I’m not a huge mayo fan. But lime mayo is not mayo. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Shops and cafes and restaurants and patios intermixed with residences.

This was the outdoor dining patio for another restaurant just down the street. I loved the pop of tangerine with the tones of the wood. I wondered if I could do one more lunch before we left.

Lots of porches and exterior stairs to multiple dwellings in Riviére-du-Loup. It’s part of its charm. And color. Lots of pops of color.

Inside L’estaminet looking out.

If we travel in that direction again, I would like to spend a night in Riviére-du-Loup. I hear the sunsets are spectacular.

Oh, and do a little whale and seal watching.

From Riviére-du-Loup, we head east and south on Route 85 crossing from Quebec into New Brunswick and on to Edmundston in about 1 1/2 hours.

New Brunswick is more blasted granite and cut trees than agri-green, and you lose an hour when you cross into this province from Quebec.

Edmundston sits at the conjunction of the Madawaska and Saint John Rivers and feels a bit like home. We’ve stayed there several times heading into Atlantic Canada and Coastal Maine.

To be continued…

Here be Hump Day.

Let’s just roadmance small adventures.

Elen