We went on an 11 day road trip earlier this month to Quebec province, Canada. Nate and I have never been to the French part of the country and the drive was actually shorter than some of the other road trips we have been on in the United States. Montreal is 8.5 hours away, and Quebec City another 2.5 hours from there.
Nate and I also keep a list of which states we have been to, and Vermont was missing from both of our lists. We made a point of stopping in Vermont on the way up to Quebec City. The charming little town we chose as our VT stopping point was Chester, population 3000 and change. Nearly all of Vermont consists of sparsely populated towns, so Chester was a good example of such a town. Chester is known for their historic district and stone village. It had lots of old houses/buildings. While we were looking for somewhere to eat lunch, Karina spotted this cute old house that's now a restaurant, and the kids wanted to eat there because of its facade. Luckily they served spaghetti for kids, had outdoor seating to accommodate Snoopy, and Nate and I had a wonderful meal of cheeseburgers with Vermont cheese and maple mayo.
I have always enjoyed walking through cemeteries, and we enjoyed this one in Chester. Certain gravestones were marked with flags and we discovered this meant the person had fought in a war. There were soldiers from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, WW1, WW2, Korean War, and Vietnam. The kids had fun seeing where soldiers had fought (and survived, since they were buried here).
And of course, everyone wanted to hold Snoopy's leash, and they fought for the privilege.
We then moved on and made it past the US - Canada border. Before we left Maryland, we couldn't find Snoopy's folder with all his medical records, despite a lot of searching. To enter Canada, dogs just need a rabies vaccine, which of course Snoopy is up to date on, but we couldn't find his paperwork. We ended up printing out a copy of his scanned in rabies vaccine that I had in an email. It wasn't an original copy though and we weren't sure if that was good enough. So just to be sure, when we got to the Canadian border, we put Snoopy in the 3rd row of our van, by Karina's feet, and hid him under a blanket. Derek of course kept loudly asking "Where's Snoopy? I can't find Snoopy! Snoopy's gone!", so I kept him supplied with apple sauce when we got to the border agent. Everything went fine!
We stopped for two nights in a ski chalet near Orford National Park by the town of Magog, Quebec in the Eastern Townships (known for its charming little towns). The kids loved having a yard, a fire pit, outdoor seating, three bedrooms, and a big family room. This was our favorite Airbnb rental of the three rentals we stayed at during our trip.
Nate helped the kids start a fire in the fire pit:
The next day we went on a hike in Orford National Park and hiked up Mont Chauve. We were only planning on hitting the first 1-2 scenic lookout spots on the loop hike and then turning back. Everyone started out happy, and the kids enjoyed waterfalls, climbing on rocks, and running around.
We kept following the signs, and everyone began getting tired, and we planned on turning around at the next scenic spot. At one break, we asked some locals where we were on the path and how far it was. They said we had gone on the western part of the loop instead of the eastern, but that we were already more than halfway around. We knew the trail was a loop, but weren't planning on doing the whole loop. We were just going to get to a couple of scenic spots and turn back the way we came. Since we were more than halfway around the loop, we kept trudging along. We were annoyed we had made a wrong turn somewhere, but thought it was fine since we were already more than half way.
It was starting to be a very long hike for Derek, and we had forgotten to bring the carrier for him :-( We improvised and put Derek in between my backpack and my back. It was not comfortable for either of us! Mostly it hurt my shoulders, and Derek wasn't pleased either, but he also didn't want to walk.
We kept going and hit some scenic spots, and told the kids we were almost done with the loop.
Eventually (over an hour later), we got to a proper map, and realized that we definitely were not more than halfway on the loop when we talked to the locals. In fact, after an hour or two of extra hiking, we were only then arriving at the halfway point. We had another 5.9km to get back to the starting point! Everyone was devastated, but there was nothing to do but continue hiking. Lydia got several piggy-back rides from Nate. Derek took a nap in the improvised carrier that hurt me, but was still the best option. We still don't know where the communication with the French speaking locals went wrong, because their English seemed pretty good.
A long, long while later, we finally made it back to the car. We had unintentionally hiked nearly 12 km (7.5 miles) on mountainous terrain, and were so relieved to be done!
After that we headed to Lake Stukely beach, also in Mont Orford National Park.
This is Mont Chauve in the background, and it doesn't look like much in the picture, but it was a long all day hike on difficult terrain that we weren't planning on.
They did have a fun playground as well. We ate dinner there (lots of fresh sandwich choices), but apparently kids from Quebec aren't as picky as our kids, because our kids couldn't find anything they were willing to eat, so it was more snacks from the car for them, unfortunately.
The next day we headed to the town of Sherbrooke and went to a beach on the Magog River. We also rented a pedal boat. Since we were headed to Quebec City right afterwards, we had Snoopy with us, so Nate and I took turns on the paddle boat with the kids. They thought it was grand! Derek pretended to be a 'bad boy diver', like in the movie 'Finding Nemo', and his goal was to 'capture Nemo'. (Derek also wants to be a 'bad boy diver' for Halloween).
None of the kids had long enough legs to reach the pedals, so Nate and I each had to pedal without any help. I liked looking at the houses along the river.
After I finished with the pedal boat, and traded places with Nate, I went in search of Snoopy, who Nate had left near the shore somewhere. At first I couldn't find him, and then I realized he was surrounded and hidden by a group of camp kids who were all petting him, at least 6 kids at once. I found out afterward that the kids had been coming continually to pet Snoopy while I was on the boat and Nate was sitting with him. Snoopy looked happy as can be, and was enjoying the pets. Every time a kid left him, they gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek or forehead. Snoopy was very popular! I got a picture when there were only a few kids left. Snoopy is such a good boy - very patient, loving, and gentle.
Next post: Quebec City
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