The bad weather predictions were showing on the maps this morning.  Up to 30 cm (1 foot) was expected to fall today in Edmunston, NB, which was our destination.  Moncton (tomorrow’s plan) was expecting a major fall of ice rain over the next few days.  There were travel advisorys for both locations.  Time to make a Plan B.

Southern Québec has little snow right now and is basking under sunny skies with temperatures just below freezing.  We decided to cancel our reservations in Edmunston and Moncton and head, by a round-about route that bypassed the freeway, to Québec City.

We had been to Québec (they drop the ‘City’ designation that I am used to) briefly on our cross-Canada road trip but had only visited the Plains of Abraham Historic District.  Québec is a wonderful place to visit in the winter so we made a reservation for two nights at the same hotel we stayed in before.  This hotel is located just across the St. Lawrence River at the southern outskirts of the city near Old Town.

Our travels took us once again through farm country and about eight small rural communities.  It was a leisurely drive on quiet roads under sunny skies – with geocaches thrown in.  I enjoyed the day very much. There is a very long power trail of geocaches hidden beside the road in this area that is quad friendly.  All of them are hung in trees and so are winter friendly.   We found #80 because it was very near a side road.  We also fund caches #43 through #35 which were hidden along a short section of Range Road #6 that paralled the highway. We diverted to find them and then drove back to the main road again.  The quad trail extends for many kilometers and would make for several days of fun geocaching if we lived in the area – and owned a quad or snowmobile; which we don’t. It really was a picturesqe day. We rounded a corner and came upon a covered bridge!  That was an unexpected surprise.  We bought a sandwich for lunch at a gas station in Sainte Étienne and then drove the last 40 or so kilometers up to the freeway and into Québec.  We only had to drive 5 km on the busy road and we were ahead of rush hour so it was not bad at all. We crossed the St. Lawrence River a few minutes before three o’clock.  Our hotel is literally 600 meters across the bridge so we checked in and had a leisurely rest of the afternoon before finding dinner.