The trip starts in very familiar territory -Franklin  County and the Eastern Townships  of Quebec. We stop in Sutton at a wonderful little cheese and charcuterie shop for our lunch fare — Tomme from Kamarouska, and a Brebis made by the good Brothers of the abbey on the lake. A dried sausage from St Jean Port Jolie, and a baguette.

On the way to Parc Frontenac we run into thunderstorms, but this trip we don’t have to set up a tent in the rain, a big improvement over our honeymoon trip. We learn on arrival that there’s no electricity in the park, but that means better dark sky viewing once the clouds clear out. This part of Quebec is an internationally designated “Dark Sky Reserve,” where the municipalities have instituted controls over lighting, to keep the night sky intensely star-filled. We’ll have to wait for the moon to wane to get a good look….on the way back in a week.

Rain stops long enough to make dinner outdoors. Then loons on Lac St Francis, reading by lanternlight, and a comfy sleep in a dry bed, scattering of rain on the roof.