| SUP rack...

Finally i found some time this afternoon to install a pair of Seattle Sports storage cradles that I bought a few weeks ago at MEC. They will be very useful to keep the inflatable out of reach from the cats, they were starting to enjoy scratching the foam too much. The main advantage is that i could now keep the boards inflated until they absolutely need to be rolled in for a trip. The good thing is that hey are not too expensive, feel solid and are pretty straightforward to install (the cradles come in a box with a simple assembly instruction form and some hardware.

bye bye cat claws!!!

In the meantime, i have put my beloved Sub Vector up for sale. That said, 3 boards are too much in such a small apartment and we only want to keep the inflatable ones. It has a lot of minor scratches due to life on a river but overall it is in really good shape. (update SOLD!)

thanks for the great time Sub Vector!

| Cat luv...

Yesterday i went to Maude's cattery to pick up our second cat Dim Sum, it's always sad to take a kitten away from its family and he didn't seem to like the ride in a cage. What a beautiful yet strange creature, he's super calm and despite being slightly older than Banh Mi, he looks so clumsy and tiny, she is is definitely larger and tougher. 

Who's that thing?

We were quite anxious about the introduction in his new home with such an energetic resident already in place. But it went surprisingly well... she was super excited/nervous and wanted to play while he was exploring this entire new territory, so we had to separate them in multiple occasions :-)

funny hair patches behind the ears!

the wrinkled explorer  <3

It took a day for her to get used to having a new friend that look like a tasty dumpling, she was obviously a tad jealous but now they're getting along really nicely! SooOo cute together!

| TRIP # 001: Gaspésie - Part two...

Day #4 Gaspé to Percé

The road to Percé once again was beautiful, though it was getting dark rapidly. It's imperative to make sure your brakes are working properly because there are super steep sections, from 8% to a crazy 17% which is probably the steepest part i drove so far on a regular road.
Once at destination it looked like a ghost town, everything was shut down except for a pub but i badly needed a shower and couldn't care less about it. I can't use the diaper wipes we bought recently because i'm allergic to Paraben and it started to burn my skin a little, yeaaah my mistake for not reading the label! So we left Percé to Grande-Rivière where we would find many open restaurants and motels, as told by a local friendly old dude (i think he's still laughing at us for touring the place in winter).

Indeed there is a more lively vibe as soon as we entered the city but the only place we could find was the Motel du Rivage (~82$/night on WE). Although there are lit-O-rally hundreds of gites, hotels, camping and B&B along the coast they are almost all closed now, and if not, their receptions are shut down after 4:00 pm so you know, we've tried.

Grande-Rivière is a charming city with a nice little harbor, a few restaurants and friendly folks. We checked out around 11:30 am and went looking for a brunch, which is apparently too much to ask for. Then we had no choice than to go back on the road and try to visit the famous Rocher-Percé. It was amazing to drive the same road again because we could finally enjoy the view in daylight, and it's stunning.

There is so much we didn't see the previous night, the rock and the island Bonaventure are beautiful from every angle, at close range or far away in the distance, making it difficult to drive and admire the landscapes all together.

Everything was closed, not even one available boat on the ice-free waters, we were starving and then decided to go back to Gaspé for a lunch. Dominique one of our friend grew up here and she told us to go try the poutine aux crevettes at the Brise-bise restaurant. Hmmm pretty good i have to say!

Okay now what about the 31st? because i originally envisioned something more exciting that what is going on here we decided to drive back near Québec city and to check the mood there. On the way back we stopped again at Saint-Jean-Port-Joli but went to visit the city this time, it was a pleasant surprise with its very artsy and odd vibe, there are plenty of cool boutiques, boulangeries and gourmet restaurants to enjoy.

We are now back home in Montréal and the return was exhausting, we will be celebrating here so we wish y'all a Happy New Year, enjoy your last day of 2013 and see you guys in 2014!

| Peuf peuf peuf...

I haven't seen such a rad start of the winter since 2004, snow keeps piling up and again we have to dig it all up! Not even Xmas and we went snowskating many times under some of the best conditions in a long while. It's quite a funny sight to look at all the cars buried in the street until you try to get into yours, hoOo well this is life in Quebec :)

It took about an hour to clean this mess...

| White dump...

Today i was awake early because of the kids upstairs running like crazy, one of the many problems of the old wooden houses here in Montreal. Anyway outside was a pleasant surprise, about 30 cm of fresh powder and it is still snowing. However it's always fun the first few dumps of the season, but it will soon become annoying especially when you have to dig your car out for the next morning -___-