Farnsniente

The sign for our motel for the night

Did we really book THIS motel??

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in
📍 Tadoussac, Quebec

Photos

Trip index

Summary

One of those travel days where things don’t go quite right. We visited the other two section of the Saguenay Fjord National Park on the way to our next overnight location, the town of Tadoussac where the fjord meets the Saint Lawrence River. The Baie-Sainte-Marguerite (north side of the fjord) is especially known for beluga whale viewing from shore. Sainte-Rose-du-Nord is a tiny village perched above the fjord with magnificent viewpoints but no whales on this day. Another favorite viewing stop on the Fjord is the Halte du Béluga trail but we were told at the Visitors’ Center that no one had seen the beluga so we decided to skip it. On the positive side, the entire Route du Fjord between Saguenay and Tadoussac is packed with overlooks, beautiful lakes and dramatic scenery. Our (somewhat less than awesome) lodgings were on the edge of town so we drove in to view the oldest wooden church in North America, the Chapelle de Tadoussac, built in 1747. Drinks and dinner on the waterfront.

Details

Today we head out from this hotel and city. I’m not sure we’ll miss either. We’re in a really business-y part of town and the hotel has a funny smell. They offer free washer and dryer (one of each) and you can buy a detergent pod at the reception desk. But the clothes all have a very pronounced perfume smell after washing that we all find objectionable. And the halls and room all have a “cleaner” smell. Thank you, no. That having been said, dinner was excellent and breakfast was generous and good, too.

Before we leave Saguenay we have a couple of stops. The first is “The White House”. Not THAT White House. This one is famous because it survived the big flood of 1996. They make it sound like it’s the only one that survived, though I’m not sure on that point. I’m sure we could have learned more by going inside (it’s now a museum providing information on the big flood).

Where we’re standing, in a big commemorative park, we’re seeing the house from below, down river. There’s water flowing around both sides, waterfalls. And there’s even water coming out from under the front door. Very striking. The house seems to be a few dozen feet above us, so if it was surrounded by water there much have been a lot of water. A nearby panel explains that the town got as much water in a few hours as falls over Niagara Falls in four days. Lots of water. 

What can top that? There’s an old candy shop near by that’s also a big pull and apparently we’re being pulled. I don’t go in but hear it’s pretty amazing, with lots of candy including a large selection from our youth. Karen buys me a roll of butter rum life savers. Yum!

Pushing on, we head over to Saint Rose du Nord, a tiny village along the way with a bay where whales have been known to visit. Today we visit but we see no whales. They also have sharks here and summer vacationers in kayaks. Interesting combination. 

A bit further along we stop for lunch. It’s your typical gas station/convenience store/repair shop/restaurant/hotel. They have meeting rooms for something. It’s not big but is big enough to serve us lunch. Our waitress is older and fun and polite, as all Canadians seem to be. We order burgers and onion soup and such.

Our waitress asks if we want something with that. The two syllable word she’s saying we don’t know: “free-tays”. We ask her to repeat it a few times before we realize she’s saying “frites” (French fries, one syllable) in the local pronunciation. They also add an NG sound to a lot of words and it’s crazy hard to understand these people. They can understand Parisians perfectly (and thus us) but are flummoxed why the reverse isn’t true. 

Down the road we stop at another national park, park and walk around. There’s a longish hike down to the fjord proper where you can see whales if they’re there. It’s a longer hike than we’re interested in doing and, from querying hikers returning, the whales aren’t there today.

A park sign indicates what distance you should stay away from whales, depending on their variety, if you in a kayak or other type of boat. 400 meters for beluga, blue or right whale, 200 meters for all others. The question is answered: what do I do if a whale suddenly appears and is closer than that? Answer: Slowly back away, not stopping until you’re far enough away from them that you can’t see them any more. But seeing them is the total reason you’re there. Hm. 

Pushing on we eventually get to Tadoussac and find our motel/hotel/restaurant. On the sign it boasts Fruits de mer Pizza (“Seafood Pizza”). I’m not sure if I’m supposed to read that as a single concept but somehow I do.

You know how in scary movies there are motels where you just know someone’s going to get murdered? Yeah, this looks like one of those. At the registration office I try the door and it seems to be locked but there’s a kiosk for registering and even scanning your passport and getting your key. Wow! Gregg gets their key but apparently the room for Karen and myself is still being cleaned, but I’m told my confirmation number is 7033. I look around and see a room 33 so I guess that’ll be ours. 

We think back to how we ended up here. Ah, yes, we did look for good places to stay in Tadoussac way back when, but each time we found a good hotel it was booked for the days we’re here. Panicking we find this place does have two available rooms and pounce on them. Well, we’re only here for one night so how bad can it be, am I right?

Shortly I get an email saying the room now IS ready so I go back to the registration office. I see people tugging the door more forcefully than I did and getting in, so I do the same. I get our room keys and we head up to room 33. Neither key works (argh) but a bearded lady room cleaner sees we’re having trouble and comes to our aid. Hold the key there longer (doesn’t help). So she uses her key to let us in, but I’ll need to go back to the office to have the cards rekeyed. We drag our stuff into the surprisingly nice room, with good A/C, and I leave Karen there while I got back to the office. On the way I read the “Room Number 27” on the pouch for the cards. Whoops!

Can we switch to room 33?? No, we arranged the room through hotels.com so that’s not an option. Room 27 is fine, though smaller. Will we be murdered tonight? We’ll have to see. 

The four of us drive to short distance into town and exchange our vouchers for our whale watching cruise tomorrow. Are there whales now to see? Goodness gracious yes, we’re told by some random lady in the shop, buying plush whale toys to commemorate all the whales she saw today on the same cruise. 

We push on and visit the oldest wooden church in North America (well, the outside, we’re cheap) and try to visit an old trading post (it should be open but isn’t). We have drinks and then dinner. It’s all good and the 72 degree weather makes it even better. We walk a bit to settle our dinner and we check out where we’ll be parking and walking for our cruise tomorrow before heading back to the Bates Motel, or whatever it’s called, for the night.

Photos

Before we leave Saguenay we stop at “the White House” which is like the only house that survived the big flood that ravaged the city. It’s up on a cliff, but was surrounded by water back then. Now it’s a museum and has water flowing all around it and even out the front door.
A nearby panel shows what the White House looked like back during the flood.
What to do after all that excitement? Candy! I don’t go in but Karen buys me a roll of life savers. Butter rum. So good.
Stopping at a bay to see the whales, maybe. Where we park we see one of many hay bale sculptures, a snail on a mushroom. There were many of these. Apparently this is a highlight of their year and a big tourist draw. No judgement.
The bay where the whales sometimes are, but not today. Sharks, too. They have a wooden sculpture of the sharks that like this place. We saw lots of kayakers. What could possibly go wrong?
Done with lunch, on to dessert. Yes, please!
After lunch I wash my hands in the men’s room. This really is a full service hotel/restaurant.
Back into our bright blue dusty car.
To hike or not to hike? The hike is too long and the promised lack of whales at the other end yields a “not to hike”.
Had we been kayaking and had we come too close to a whale, what to do? Back off slowly til you can’t see them. But wait, we’re there to see them. Huh? Snowflakes I guess.
It’s a national park. It is pretty good looking.
We do see belugas, including a Baby Beluga (ear worm) inside the interpretive center.
Our motel… Seafood pizza… OK, maybe not.
Our room. Despite all the jokes it was perfectly adequate, cool enough, and smelled like nothing. We’ll take that for one night.
Below our two rooms were the laundry facilities. We did not check them out. Over the railing was a picnic table being used for drying someone’s clothes.
To enter our room… step up about 8″ or so. They must get a fair amount of snow here in the long winters.
The oldest wooden church in North America, or so it claims. Beyond it is a French cruise liner (Ponant Cruise Line).
A major center of commerce back in the day. A trading post. So much trading went on here, back then. You buy my pelts/furs and I get flour, salt, hard tack, fabric, whiskey, etc. in return. Big business.
Drinks before dinner. The girls love the color of the fingernail polish of the lady at the next table. Closer inspection is required.
Such a good dinner. Outside and 72 degrees. Yum.
Down to the marina. These yellow boats take people in loaned orange coveralls out to see the whales. We’ll be on a bigger vessel and don’t think orange waterproof overalls will be required. Will we finally get to see these elusive whales? Stay tuned.