Today's drive? Upriver, towards Montreal on the South Shore.

I have to say, for all the crappy weather we've had so far in the Quebec City Region, the Sunday drives I've had have been in full sunshine! Admittedly, it's been frostier than a witch's tit, but hey, heated seats are roughing it...makes me more attuned to the journey's of the early Voyageurs...

I was pleasantly surprised today as I was not expecting to see much on the drive, but the highway 132 Ouest wanders along the south shore of the St. Lawrence through farmland and small villages, with plenty to look at. I'm certain this area is beautiful in summer! Every so often the road dips down to water level (most of this shore is cliff) where there's a municipal park overlooking the river.

Those white specs? not ice as I have become accustomed to seeing so much of...they're immature geese (I could tell from all the honking and carrying on). What you don't get from this pic is just how cold it is...the wind is right on the shore and very cold.

One of the neat things about this area is that you get to see many large oceangoing ships. That's a treat for a shipbuilding guy like myself. These boats are referred to as 'Lakers' because their design is such that they can be no larger than the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which enable the vessels to be floated 'uphill' or 'downhill' through a series of locks between the island of Montreal and the Great Lakes. I'm not sure if this particular vessel is a Laker or not. She may have come down from Montreal, which is as far as they can go if over-sized for the seaway.
Fun Fact: My mother's father worked on the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway back in the 50's...so that's cool!

A container ship headed east towards the Atlantic Ocean...note the huge flock of birds, possibly geese or gulls off her Starboard bow.

I drove right down to route 55 near Trois Rivieres, then headed south to hook up with the 20 (Autoroute Jean Lesage) then headed back to Hotel President Kennedy where I'm residing while in Levis. All in all about a four hour trip.