Thursday, April 28, 2016

I said, "fjord" not "fnord"....

Tempting, eh?
My good friend David Blanc disappears every year around May and returns to Le Burgaud in mid-September.  He Summers in the beautifully-situated town of Tadoussac, Québec, where he operates a small business, Kayak Aventure, guiding people on visits to the Saguenay fjord of the mighty St. Lawrence River.
David

David fell in love with this place after a visit in May, 2010 and returned that very same Summer in order to follow a training program with the Fédération Québécoise du Canot et du Kayak in order to become a certified guide.  He began working immediately.  David was eventually offered the the opportunity to purchase a part of the business and has been his own boss for the last two years.

David is a good friend, but he's also someone I'd trust with my life out on the estuary, where weather conditions can deteriorate rapidly.  He's got the courage, presence of mind and general common sense required to make the good decisions that could save your life.

Getting a glimpse of a surfacing whale, magnificent though it is, isn't worth your life now, is it?  Not to dwell on the dangers, it's actually quite safe, but in the wrong hands you could find yourself in unpleasant circumstances.

Photos of the fjord are amazing, and David tells me stories of a raucous season with plenty of opportunities to rave up in the local tavern, or merely chill out under the stars in the small coastal village (permanent pop. circa 800). Tadoussac is still considered to be located in the wilderness.

Tadoussac as seen from the St. Lawrence
So, this is basically a plug.  If you're looking for a fun outdoor vacation in a place which is geographically close to the US but culturally bears a strong imprint of French culture, why not go north, young man?

David also said it was OK to let you know that if you tell him you learned about his enterprise on this website, he'd be willing to offer a little discount.  So, go for it!

The English version of the Kayak Aventure website:


Oh, yeah.  Ask him about the time he sailed from France to Thailand and he and the crew outwitted Somali pirates in the waters off the Horn of Africa.  Great story!

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

From WikiBear
A couple of users over at Treasure Net have linked to our Lone Star Republics post and have generated both some visits and some positive responses on their forums.  So, here's a brief shout-out to Treasure Net.  Although the context is treasure hunting, and thus the fabled hidden "Confederate Gold", you'll find some stuff about the Knights of the Golden Circle if you search their forums (indeed, the very real Saddle Ridge Hoard may have been cached by the KGC).  

So, one good deed deserves another.  Check out their forums.  Some innarestin' stuff over there.
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Update 04/26.  Looks like that post is kind of popular...it's been re-printed here:  http://knights-of-the-golden-circle.blogspot.fr/2016/04/lone-star-republics.html