In case you’re wondering where I’ve been for the last week, we just took a much needed rest at my parents’ house in Quebec. It has been wonderful to relax for a while, but we are both ready to tackle the last leg of this journey.

Quebec has been beautiful to drive through, and incidentally also has the nicest “info-touriste” rest stops we have seen so far. Each one has its own tiny depanneur. The depanneur is one of my favourite Quebec institutions (and if you have not been in a depanneur there is no possible way I can describe one for you). I have always had mixed feelings about growing up in Quebec as an anglophone, but I am really enjoying driving through my home province this time around. Maybe because our B.C. plates make everyone think I am a BCer with surprisingly good French, instead of a Quebecer with an English accent. Maybe because Quebec is so gorgeous, with so many clean and quirky small towns.

We stopped for dinner in Quebec City, in a tiny little place called La Cuisine. The name is apt; I felt like I was eating in someone’s kitchen, right down to the open cooking area with magnets all over the fridge.

I left “Distant Storm” in Degelis, QC. Yes, more clouds. It rained on us again last night – I don’t think we’ve camped a single night without at least some rain. At least there are rainbows. Last night we followed this most unassuming little snippet of rainbow past Quebec City as far as Montmagny, and I don’t know if I would have gotten there in one piece without it.