Part XXIV: Going AWOL

Hello everybody,
I'm sure you've all been wondering where I have been after this long absence. Well I have had an extremely crazy/fun/stressful/cold/tiring weekend. Let me tell you, I don't think I've been this relieved to see Monday... ever... only so I can do a whole bunch of laundry, shower, clean my room and generally get my life in order.
So this weekend actually started mighty early. Tuesday night Sean broke the world record for the Montreal-Tadoussac stretch of highway and came to visit me. Seriously, I don't know how people drive that fast and don't get pulled over or die.
So on Thursday I morphed into tour guide Kelly and we saw the sights. The dunes, Tadoussac beach, Pointe d'Islet, Escoumins, Bergeronnes and highway 170 were all stops on the grand tour. It was actually a pretty nice day but alas, there were no whales to be found.
Thursday night was the main event in Tadoussac. Seriously, it was like Christmas came early. With more fire. And explosions. St-Jean-Baptiste Day is a HUGE deal. So HUGE you have to write it in caps whenever you reference it. There were all the elements of a good party. Beer was flowing, fireworks exploding and the fire was burning hot. Seriously, this was a HUGE bonfire.

Since we had a little pre-drinking party with other PC staff (shout out to Tanya, Rosemary, Gen and Kev) it was well into the early hours of the morning when we walked home... uphill.

On Friday we had a super busy day. Picked up kayaks from Baie St-Catherine in the AM, drove to Anse St-Etienne to drop off my truck, drove to Baie Eternite to start our kayak trip. Now day one had some high winds. Some really high winds. You really don't notice until you get out there how high. It was only until we were getting soaked by one metre waves and our hands were all cut up from launching did we realize how stupid we were. We ended up making our 13 km journey in 4 1/2 hours when it was supposed to take 5 1/2 because the wind was pushing us.

We got to our campsite at Anse a Tabatiere completely soaked and exhausted. Luckily there was still a lot of daylight left for us to pitch our tent and get some food into s before crashing. My sleeping bag had been part of the soaked material so I froze until Sean was extremely gallant and switched so I got his nice warm, dry one. Ahhh heaven.

The next day was supposed to be calmer but boy were we in for a surprise. About 2 km after starting the day Sean and I got seperated because I stopped to film. When I found him he was on this beach waving me down to stop. With really rough waves his rudder had broken off and he had been smashed into the rocks. Luckily he didnt get swept out to sea or die or drown. We stayed stranded on a beach for two hours until the tide went out and try to make it to the nearest town. Luckily we were stranded next to the only town on our route: Anse St-Jean. So after a very stressful half hour paddle into a really strong headwind, we made it. Exhausted, hungry and desperate we got a lift to our cars, grabbed the best hot dogs and hamburgers ever, and came back to Tadoussac.

Our three day journey had become two, and boy was I ever sore, cut up and tired. Needless to say, gorging on junk food and bad TV ensued.
So today I reviewed my footage and checked out what we managed to get. Today was spent re-writing and re-focusing script to fit the change in story. A crazy weekend but now it's time to relax. Ahhh.