Day 5-7 Metis-sur-Mer, Gaspe

Our next driving day was unfortunately not uneventful. 60 miles into the trip one of our guest’s truck brakes locked up. Luckily we weren’t too far away, so we unhooked our truck to go back and pull their trailer to an RV park while they waited a day for their truck to get fixed. Meanwhile, another guest who was 70 miles ahead of us had all their cabinets over the driver and passenger seats of their motor home fall down, leaving it undriveable.

Luckily Bill is handy and fixed the problem and they were on their way. As if that wasn’t enough, the guest we just helped was just feet from the entrance of the park and ended up putting their rig in a ditch

just as we discovered that our truck is blowing out black smoke AGAIN so I guess a sensor is going bad.……So our 230 mile day turned into 13 hours in the truck for us.

We found a Ford Dealership 25 miles away and were told they will look at it on Monday or Tuesday. Hmmmmm this is Friday…..

We spent the day at Reford Gardens. Luckily we found out before we left that the bugs were biting terribly there, so we were prepared. At the entrance is a huge lawn chair, so of course we had to get our pictures.

They had a small museum with replicas. Bill was about to use the restroom

NO, NO, Bill, that’s just for show!!!!

What a beautiful garden.

Bill and I both were practicing with our new cameras. Unfortunately, we have a lot more practicing to do.

Since our truck was not fixed, we had to leave with our rental car. Don’t think it’s going to pull like our truck….

We found the most unique looking homes.

On our way to Cap-aux-Os, Gaspe, many of us stopped at the Nordais Wind Park “Eole”.

Our guide, Rene spoke very good English and was very excited to explain to us how windmills work. In the center of the park is the tallest vertical-axis wind generator in the WORLD!

That generator costs $37 million to build. As we went inside this generator, we were shown all the mechanics of what makes it run.

There was also a small windmill on display. This windmill at the cost of $75,000-$100,000 can power 3 houses.

The smaller windmills, the ones we are most familiar with, cost $200,000 per blade. They use 3 blades per windmill with each blade weighing 9 tons. Those are the blades you might see a tractor trailer hauling down the highway. I didn’t realize they had brakes! Below is a picture of the windmill with its brakes on.

One of the good things about us not having our trailer were some of the steep grades. They are not quite like out west because they are much shorter, but they are just as steep.

Since we were in a car instead of pulling our RV, we were able to visit a beautiful lighthouse

What a view!

Corey's Wedding

Memorial Day weekend, we were off to Lorraine, Ohio, near Cleveland, to attend our niece’s wedding. Our drive proved to be an adventure. We didn’t get far (Hagerstown, MD) before we had to take a break so Jenn could feed Baby Olivia. Bill, Billy and I decided to wander over to the pawn shop and found some treasures. Billy got a good deal on a pink ipod, WITH A LOT OF GOOD MUSIC ALREADY LOADED. Since it was pink, he bought it for Olivia. I found a pocketsize camera with a viewfinder (that they don’t make anymore) as well as the LCD screen. Sony Cyber-shot 13.6 mp. I’m very happy with it, but I’m still learning how to use my Panasonic Lumix as well as this one so many of my pictures didn’t turn out very well……

Back on the road again, then it happened, A TIRE BLOWOUT! Luckily the spare got us to our destination. Baby Olivia was extremely good for such a long car ride (approximately 10 hours).

We were able to get together with family for lunch prior to the wedding.

Wow, 4 generations of Hamiltons. Pictured below, Daddy Billy, Olivia, Grandpa Bill, and Great Grandpa Robert.

What a beautiful, sunny weekend. The venue was a beautiful setting on Lake Erie. Corey made her entrance like a princess.

She was beautiful and if she was nervous, she sure didn’t show it. She never stopped smiling.

The reception was held in a building right there in the park, overlooking Lake Erie. The decorations were unique and very tastefully done.

The cake not only looked beautiful, it was delicious, caramel apple and lemon flavored.

One little guy seemed to be the life of the party.

The DJ did a great job getting everyone movin’ and a shakin’ (which accounts for most of my photos turning out fuzzy) on the dance floor.

That is until the sunset.