Monday, September 25, 2006, PEI to Notre Dame du Lac, NB

Today we finally left the east (right) coast. We drove off PEI and paid the exorbitant confederation bridge toll of $40.50 CD. I guess theyÂ’re still paying for that baby! WeÂ’re taking the Transcanadian Highway #2, which follows the US Canadian boarder over the top of Maine, along the St. John River, and through Fredericton (the seat of New Brunswick) to Grand Falls. Fredericton was established by the French as St. AnneÂ’s point in 1642, taken over by the British in the mid-1700Â’s, and letter settled by the Loyalists as they fled the American Revolution. The St. John River is similar to the size of the Columbia, but with gentle sloping banks instead of a gorge.

We drove for most of the day, stopping briefly in Grand Falls after reading about magnificentcint falls, but finding them somewhat less tmagnificentcant. We continued driving and spent the night at a little roadside motel (40Â’s style efficiency units). There are many of these little road side motels along the route. This one came without XXX Dancers. We considered camping, but once again the forecast of rain convinced us otherwise.

The motel, Auberge Marie Blanc (sounds much more exotic than it was), was suggested to me on a tripadvisor forum and turned out to have an interesting story. Apparently the main house, called the Gray Lodge, was built in 1905 by a New York lawyer as a hunting lodge and to hide his mistress, Marie Melford Blanc Charlier. Marie Blanc was a "well educated and mysterious lady ahead of her time, born in Martinique to European parents." When her affair with the lawyer ended, she sued him for possession of the estate and somehow won, living out the rest of her life in the lodge. At some point they current owners built the efficiency suites which have a beautiful view of the lake and they continue to run it as an inn.

We at dinner at a twilight zone diner called Visions, not the good kind. We ordered the prix fix meal, which was all around scary. My Caesar salad was sloppy with dressing and heaps of mystery cheese. Brett had bbq chicken that looked edible. They provided home made bread for which we received instructions to "take a slice out of the bag and heat it on the antique stove" There were tongs provided for turning the bread and a sign that instructed us to put the butter on the bread after it was heated. It seemed like a fire or burning hazard to me, there were no signs warning patrons to toast the bread at their own risk. The salad bar, which I carefully avoided, contained mushy cornishon, pearl onions, iceberg lettuce, mystery grated cheese, and "French" salad dressing, yum! This was the only restaurant in the town, Notre Dame du Lac, that was open though. The motel proprietor told us that the "good" restaurant was closed on Monday nights. This motel was definitely multiple steps down from our previous stops, but it was quiet and clean, and we slept well.