Note: This is the blog for Sunday, July 31.
Got up and out at our normal 9a (yeah, we suck at getting up early) and went down to Casse-Crepe Breton on Rue Saint Jean and got in line. This is the same place we failed to get into the previous morning but, this being the last morning in Quebec City, we couldn’t just bail. We got in after about thirty minutes.
It was a small place but charming. In the center the cook (chef?) made the crepes for all to see. It was really cool — she poured out the, for lack of a better term, crepe batter onto a flat circular hot plate and used this thing that looks kind of like a windshield wiper to get it all nice and flat and even. I ordered a crepe with strawberries and water. It was most yummy! Michelle and Genetta had breakfast crepes and Addison strawberries and bananas in a cup with a bagel and cream cheese. Genetta finished it up with a chocolate crepe that she shared with all of us.
Headed back to the hotel and checked out. A little nerve-wracking getting out of the upper old city but we did fine. Headed out west on the main drag we came in on then took 73 sud (south) over a nifty bridge spanning the Saint Lawrence to 20 ouest (west) to Drummondville, at which point we picked up 55 sud to the border. Shortly after crossing the Saint Lawrence the land flattened out quite a bit and was mainly forest punctuated with farms and the occasional village.
Pretty river in Quebec Province
We did note a few cool things, however. First, the amount of firewood that people had stocked up ready for the winter. We’re talking 100’+ long stacked 5 – 6′ high. It was almost a fence in some cases! We also saw a sign for “Rue King Ouest” (King St. West) but I kept thinking “King’s Quest” when I saw it. Finally, we saw flashing lights and heard sirens from behind and saw a police bus speeding up from behind in the direction of Montreal. Michelle and I wondered if it was due to the collapse of a tunnel just hours before in Montreal (though we don’t think anyone got hurt, at least we hope not).
Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when this bus runs all over you?
Once we reached the border we came to a stand-still. We ended up listening to an entire CD in the time it took to get through customs (contrast that with Canada, which took all of five minutes, tops — though that was Sunday night, not Sunday afternoon). Still, everyone behaved just fine (except some honking at some yahoo that used Duty Free parking lot as an express lane by some irate Quebeckers) and the customs people were very friendly.
Getting there!
You know, whenever I leave the country for even a little bit, like this past week, I start to miss stuff about my home country. I start to build unrealistic expectations of the return home. And while I loved my stay in Canada I was half expecting to be met at the border with George Washington himself, grinning with his wooden teeth, McDonalds frappe (large, plain — no whipped cream or drizzle, fo shizzle) extended to me, while Lee Greenwoods “God Bless the USA” plays in the background.
That didn’t happen. To top it off, we were by now quite hungry (it being 4p or so and we having not eaten so much as a bite of food since breakfast). We figured, heck, there’ll be fast food at every exit. It turns out that was severely underestimated just how wild northeastern Vermont (“The Kingdom”) and northern New Hampshire was (this, despite having driven through the territory in 2007 coming back from visiting my uncle in Maine).
The wilds of Vermont
In fact, we didn’t see any fast food beside interstates 91 or 93 for at least one hundred miles. Wow. Sure, there were signs that said “get off here and you can have gas, food, and lodging!” but they lied. We got off in St. Johnsbury on the suggestion of one such sign. Wrong move! We drove all the way through town and not much at all. Also, what a weird town — no stop lights during our drive all the way through! Just stop signs, and the locals didn’t seem to care much about following all the petty rules surrounding stop signs. Look, I live in the South and understand all the jibes about it being backwards, hick, what-not. But in response I point to St. Johnsbury. Of course, St. Johnsbury has one thing that will ensure it is never Lumberton — the headquarters of Maple Grove Farms, my favorite brand of maple syrup. Yum!
Continued on through beautiful countryside (and lying moose crossing signs) of Vermont and crossed the Connecticut River into extreme northwestern New Hampshire on 93. I-93 goes straight through Franconia Notch where it even goes down to being one lane in each direction — I didn’t even know an interstate could do that and still be considered an interstate! Heck, even I-40 maintains two lanes each direction through Pisgah Gap.
The wilds of New Hampshire
Sheer rock face of Cannon Mountain in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire
It wasn’t until Tilton, NH (in the middle of the state) where our hotel is located for the night that we saw food. At that point we decided to drive down to the Outback in Concord as we were all in the mood for it. Big mistake — huge traffic jam that made the 15 mile drive take nearly an hour. Still the food was decent, if a bit pricey, but we all ate our fill and headed back north to Tilton. On the way what looked to be a bear loped across the highway causing the cars in front of us to slow down rather quickly!
Checked into the hotel and they upgraded us to a suite which was nifty. It’s no Chateau Laurier or Hotel Manoir Victoria but it’ll do. Plus, the room was right next to the laundry facilities, which we desperately needed to get through the second week of this vacation. Michelle baby sat the laundry while I went down to the pool to watch Addison swim. He practiced holding his breath. Lest I get too used to actually hearing English all over once again a group of Quebeckers arrived and chatted up a storm amongst themselves in French. Returning to the room, Michelle, Addison, and I went to Wal-Mart to get some laundry supplies and change for the machines as well as some sweet iced tea from McDonalds. Yay! Genetta stayed in the hotel room watching TV and reading.
Route for July 31, 2011