Back to the States!

WEEK SIXTEEN (continues) Next stop is Burlington where we check off Vermont on our Golf in All 50 States list. It's a gorgeous day, perfect for a round of golf. The course is very nice. I haven't played golf since January so don't know what to expect, but surprisingly, I played well for me, shooting 100—maybe I should start playing this game more often!

Kwiniaska Golf Course outside of Burlington.

Since Elizabeth Polis Stroot went to school in Burlington, I emailed her for suggestions which she quickly provided—Sweetwaters American Bistro, check; the pedestrian restaurant and shop-lined Church Street, check; and a stroll on the waterfront walkway along Lake Champlain, check. We even found a dog park for Zoey! Burlington is a great little town. We had fun.

Church Street.

We decide to drive up to Stowe since we were in the neighborhood. Primarily known for its ski slopes, Stowe seems to be a four season destination. It was quite busy. It is just one more cute Vermont town. (There seem to be, according to Deborah, three kinds of New England towns: oh so cute, really cute and isn't this the cutest town you have ever seen? And I can't tell the difference...)

Inn in downtown Stowe.

Our next destination is Bar Harbor and the Acadia National Park. Our motel is actually a few miles outside of Bar Harbor in Trenton, ME. It's called the Acadia Sunrise Motel and is only about 30 minutes from the park. We arrive in Trenton around 10am. 

Acadia Sunrise Motel.

Our room isn't ready but the proprietor kindly lets us drop our bags and we head into Bar Harbor for lunch and the afternoon. It's gorgeous and everything I expected—quaint downtown, lots of flowers in beds and baskets, good restaurants, cute New Englandish houses—and something I didn't expect—the Shore Path which follows the coastline for about a mile and a half on the east side of Bar Harbor. It's lovely—the ocean on one side and beautiful mansions and almost-mansions on the other. 

Huge mansion along the Shore Path.

Photos below all views from the Shore Path. (This is the best photo of me
 Deborah has taken in years. I look so young and skinny.)

(My action shot of our action photographer.)

Jim found a great spot for lunch—the Fish House Grill right on the water next to the Bar Harbor Whale Watching Company. The lobster rolls were fantastic—hot-dog style buns piled high with big chunks of delicious lobster! This would become the first of four consecutive meals of Maine lobster! How much better does it get???

Deck of the Fish House Grill.

Cute downtown Bar Harbor.

After browsing the local shops (Where I actually bought a long sleeve tee on account of it was going to be in the high 40s that night) for a couple of hours, we returned to our motel where we found a secluded sitting area at the back of the property for the cocktail hour. It was a very nice spot with only one issue—it was adjacent to the Bar Harbor Airport where small planes and jets were frequently taking off. This aside, it really was a nice spot and the weather was perfect. 

I really was happy and yes, it was a cocktail in a coffee cup.

Dinner was at the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound recommended by motel staff. He quickly explained that we should have our lobsters in Trenton not Bar Harbor because the Trenton Lobster Pounds "know how to prepare them properly" which is boiled outside over charcoal in salt water not inside over gas in fresh water. We took his advice and the lobsters were amazing and cheap—$20 each!

The Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound...yum, yum.

Six huge vats for cooking this evenings
lobster dinners—over charcoal as advised.

Zoey wanted a lobster but just
got a bib!

Jim got a bib AND a lobster!

My first whole Maine lobster! (Don't let her kid you. This was
her first lobster on THIS trip. Deborah can pretty much always
pass as refined, but put a lobster in front of her and it's liking
watching a zombie feeding on a whole classroom of brains.)

The next adventure is exploring Acadia National Park. Although it is one of the few national parks which allows dogs, we opt to board Zoey for the day. We can't drop her off until 8:30am so we don't make it to the park to witness the first glimpse of sunlight on the continental United States (it's actually only the first place for half the year, from October to March; the rest of the year, the honor goes to Mars Hill which is less than one mile from the border with New Brunswick, Canada). It is a spectacular park. It is the first park east of the Mississippi designated as a national park; it has the highest peak on the Eastern Seaboard, Cadillac Mountain; and it has 2.5 million visitors a year. The visitation is understandable. It has 145 miles of hiking trails; 57 miles of carriage roads; numerous lakes; a 20-mile Park Loop Road that crosses the ridges, descends to the coastline, travels along coves and goes to the top of Cadillac Mountain.

Our Bar Harbor expert, Kathryn Scurci who went to school at the College of the Atlantic, recommended that we go to Jordan Pond House for popovers; hike the Bubbles; go to the top of Cadillac Mountain; and drive the loop.

We arrived at the park and found the Park Loop. Our first stop was Sand Beach.

Sand beach—it was quite foggy at the beginning of our day
at Acadia.

Not only was it foggy, but a little chilly—these beach
beauties were all covered up.

We had an early lunch including delicious popovers with house-made strawberry jam at Jordan Pond House next to Jordan Pond, a glacier tarn with depths up to 150'. 

Gorgeous view from the lawn seating at the
Jordan Pond House.

You can see the Bubbles in the background. (Ken Jones, notice 
how I don't mention what they should have named those two 
Dolly Parton mountains?)

After lunch, we hiked the 3.6 mile trail around the pond then drove more of the loop to the top of Cadillac Mountain. The views did not disappoint. We saw the Bubbles but after walking around Jordan Pond, we were out of juice—it's good to have a reason to come back! (You can choose to go up either the east or west coast of the lake. We chose east. Bad decision. Once you get to the farthest point away, the path turns from easy dirt/and walkway to boulders you have to climb over. Those go on for about 1/2 mile at which point you start walking on boardwalk which is rough hewn logs, two logs wide, so when you meet someone coming the other way you either have to jump down or get VERY close. There were some very cute young ladies on the path, but I jumped down for everyone else. This portion of the trail runs for over a mile...)

Picture above and those below are from the top of Cadillac Mountain. 

                                                               (My new tee shirt!)

This man was gracefully seeking clarity through
Tai Chi at the top of Cadillac Mountain.

 Acadia is a fabulous park. The only wildlife that we saw were seabirds but moose, bear and, of course, whales are all found in or around this great park. Offshore, there are puffin nesting grounds but you have to take a boat to the right place at the right time of the year to see them...another reason to return.

Quebec City

WEEK SIXTEEN—Old Quebec City is captivating. Its cobbled streets, European architecture and friendly people combine to make this city a joy to explore. From Le Chateau Frontenac to the Quartier Petit Champlain which claims to be the oldest shopping district in North America, Quebec is nothing short of charming. We browsed the galleries and boutiques, photographed the beautiful old buildings and had a couple of good meals during our brief stay in Quebec City. Would love to come back one year for their well-known Winter Festival but I'm not sure I could get Jim to return in January when the temperatures hover around zero! (Sure, I'll come in January, if only to try out my wings and fairy dust...)

It is so beautiful and so polished that it is Disneyesque.

Place Royale is the first permanent French settlement in
North America. It is here that Samuel Champlain built his
Abitation which served as a fort, warehouse, trading post
and residence when he arrived in 1608.

Mural depicting the history of Quartier Petit Champlain.

Such quaint residences.

Le Chateau Frontenac is purported to be the most photographed
hotel in the world. 

Yet another view.

From a gazebo at the top of a toboggan run.

Same gazebo as above.

Jim doing what he loves to do best!
(And he does a grand job as well.)

Given the amount of food we are consuming in these
wonderful cities, this seemed an appropriate photo to include.
(Zoey's reaction to this was to bark and then sniff...I had the 
opposite reaction...)

Le Quartier Petit Champlain

Neat wood carved figure outside of a shop
selling a variety of native-made products.

This was the last weekend of the Quebec Summer Festival so we got to enjoy some of the performances as we walked back to our hotel from our adventure in Quartier Petit Champlain.

(It had been a long time since I had visited either Montreal or Quebec City and both are still great places. They are a little grittier than I remember and the traffic rivals cities in the States, but  you should put both on your list to visit. Unless of course, Trump pisses them off even more and they bar Americans.) 

More Montreal

WEEK THIRTEEN—This week we are continuing to explore Montreal. Sadly, it is not a very dog-friendly city so Zoey is spending a lot of alone time in the loft. She does, however, get to go to a nearby dog park almost everyday and on many of our walks and hikes.

This is the first weekend of the Montreal Jazz Fest. We go to check out the afternoon free street concerts, but it is very cool and starting to drizzle. We listen for a brief time and head back to our apartment. We do, however, have tickets to see Herbie Hancock later in the festival so that will be cool. 


The next day is still cold and drizzly so we go see Ocean's 8—love it! Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean is the perfect counterpart to George Clooney's Danny in Ocean's 11, 12 and 13. 

Today's adventure is taking a ferry to Île Notre-Dame. Back in 1986, I visited Montreal with a team of folks beginning the process of planning AmeriFlora '92 the centerpiece of Columbus' quincentennial celebration. We went to Montreal to meet with the planners of that city's 1980 Les Floralies, an international garden show. The event was used to renovate Île Notre-Dame which had also been the site of the Expo 67 World's Fair in Montreal. Today  I returned to the island which is home to residual gardens; the Biosphere, a museum dedicated to the planet and environmental education; the largest Casino in Canada; a major aquatics center; and miles of walkways. 

Our ferry. Biosphere. This was actually the USA Pavilion in the Montreal Expo 67.

Montreal Casino

This is Tariq, our waiter at the casino. He  was so friendly and commiserated
with us about Trump asking us please not to let it happen again in 2020!

The weather has changed and Montreal is HOT as in the predicted temperature today is 90 degrees. To beat the heat, we got an early start on a walk to and up Mount Royal, a large volcanic-related hill or small mountain located in the city of Montreal and 764' in elevation. (Deborah likes this photo of me sooo much she used it twice. Not that I blame her. Or maybe, just maybe, she likes the photo of Zoey and I'm just backdrop...) Atop the mountain is a 103' illuminated cross installed in 1924 by the Jean-Baptiste Society, an organization dedicated to the protection of francophone interests and Quebec sovereignism. Today, the cross is owned by the city. A cross was originally placed at this site in 1643 by Paul de Chomedey, the founder of Montreal. The mountain is also the site of Mount Royal Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, designer of Central Park and the Biltmore Estates; however, his original design was not fully implemented because Montreal experienced a depression during the mid 1870s while the park was being built and many of Olmstead's plans were abandoned. It's a beautiful park and a nice hike to the top of the mountain. The reward—stunning views of the city. Great view of Montreal from the top of Mount Royal. The juxtaposition of old and new.  WEEK FOURTEEN—July 1st is Canada Day which marks the anniversary of the 1867 uniting of the three separate provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia into a single entity called Canada which remained a British colony. It was not until 1982 that Canada became fully independent from Great Britain. It's a three-day weekend: some businesses are closed and the city celebrates with a parade and a public swearing in ceremony for new citizens in spite of the heat wave which continues to envelope the city—96 degrees today! It's too hot for Zoey to walk on the sidewalks so after her early morning walk, she's pretty much confined to the apartment. We walk back to the JazzFestival stages but it's even too hot for jazz. Fortunately, there's a tented pavilion that serves beer so we grab a table in the shade and then enjoy the music. (I don't care what all those scientists say. There is no such thing as global warming. These temps are just a fluke. In fact, I think we should just take the handcuffs off all the corporations and let then do whatever they want to the environment. What the hell. We won't be around in 50 years anyway. Right, Ken Jones?) Kids cooling off in the Victoria Square fountain. JazzFest stage We have two highlights this week: one is going to see Herbie Hancock. He's 78 years old but you'd never guess that by his music—he and the musicians playing with him are great. They play a two-hour set and come back on stage for an encore—great show. The second highlight is having Chris and Peggy Bugg arrive on July 3rd. Chris and Peggy are great dining partners so we've given some thought to where we will take them. Peggy loves fois gras so for our first lunch we go to Modavie. It's just around the corner from us on St. Paul Street which is the oldest street in Montreal and named for the city's founder Paul de Chomeday de Maisonneuve. It is a cobblestone street lined with boutiques selling outrageously expensive artwork to souvenir shops pandering to tourists wanting to take home Canadian-made moccasins, Canadian-produced maple syrup or anything else kitschy and made in Canada. Chris & Peggy. St. Paul Street Along with fine dining with the Buggs at Hotel Bonaparte; Chez l'Epicier; Pyrenees; Terrasse Nelligan; Les 3 Brasseurs; and some I've forgotten, we also visited the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts which is hosting an exhibit titled, From Africa to the Americas: Face-to-Face Picasso, Past and Present AND Here We Are Here: Black Canadian Contemporary Art. Great piece by a black Canadian contemporary artist at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art. Unfortunately, the Leonard Cohen exhibit at Montreal's Contemporary Art Museum ended before we arrived. This street mural remains. We found time for a ride on the La Grand Roue de Montreal, the tallest ferris wheel in Canada. It is almost 200 feet tall (equivalent to a 20 story building) and provides a spectacular view of the city. (And after promising we would only have to make three revolutions to the top of this terror machine, the jerk running it decided I needed to have one more fright and gave us a 4th rotation. And to add insult to injury, I had to ride it again when Kathy and Ken Jones joined us...) La Grande Roue de Montreal. Jim and Chris. Jim and I. Another great view of the city from the ferris wheel. We visited the Montreal Science Centre to see a Dreamworks Exhibit and learned about animation from sketch to screen. Really hadn't thought about how long Dreamworks has been making films but the exhibit included movies like Antz their first computer-generated film and Chicken Run made in 2000 and, of course, Shrek. Great exhibit—made us want to rewatch some of those great animated films and watch for the first time some that we have missed. Chicken Little. Maquettes for Shrek and Donkey. These are story boards for various movies. And we went to the Chateau Ramezay, the first building in Montreal designated as an historical monument in the province of Quebec. It was originally built as a residence for then governor of Montreal, Claude de Ramezay in 1705. WEEK FIFTEEN—We had one last lunch with Chris and Peggy at 11am on Saturday, July 7th and left them to meet Ken & Kathy Jones. Since this is the last weekend of the JazzFestival, we asked the Joneses to meet us at one of the stages. It was hot and we were pretty much jazzed out; the Joneses didn't care to stay either so we found a cool (temperature-wise) nearby bar and spent the afternoon catching up with the Joneses: seeing pictures of Ken's new BMW convertible (this is why we could never keep up with the Joneses);  talking about Jim's latest book since two characters are named after Ken and Kathy's sons (one's bad and one's good); and finally, going to the Place Ville Marie Observation Deck for spectacular 360 degree views of Montreal and a couple of beers at their bar to check in on the World Cup. Yet another view of Montreal! We met them a little later at La Brassierie Le Pois Penche for a wonderful French dinner. The next morning, Jim and Ken went to play golf at the Ireland Golf Course and Kathy and I went to the Barbie Expo located in RÉSO  Montreal's Underground City. It's a series of interconnected office buildings, hotels, shopping malls, convention centers and performing arts venues in the heart of downtown Montreal. The Barbie Expo is a display of more than 1,000 Barbie and other 12" Mattel Dolls some dressed in costumes representative of countries and cultures; some dressed as celebrities; and some dressed in haut couture by designers such as Oscar de la Renta. After that we returned to Old Montreal for lunch at Mandy's and then browsed the art galleries and upscale clothing stores on St. Paul. We spent the rest of our time with Kathy and Ken eating at our favorite restaurants and sampling some new ones—we took them back to Stash Cafe, Gaspar Tavern, and the Terrasse Nelligan. We explored The Village and had a great dinner at a new restaurant, Le Pelerin Magellan. We also took them to the Old Port for a ride on the ferris wheel and to the Basilica Notre-Dame. Sadly, we had to say good-bye to them as they continued their adventure and left to visit friends in New Hampshire. Looking forward to seeing them back in Ft. Myers this fall. Dinner with the Joneses at Le Pelerin Magellan. Basilica Notre-Dame This is our last week in Montreal. We've pretty much done everything we want to do here. We try a couple of new restaurants, Kyo Bar Japanais, a great sushi bar and Schwartz Deli for their signature smoked meat sandwich considered emblematic of the city's cuisine, and return to a couple of our favorites. Montreal smoked meat sandwich—similar to a pastrami on rye. My yoga studio in Montreal. And spend some time enjoying the Place d'Armes. Our favorite musician who played regularly at the Place d'Armes near our loft. These two sculptures in the Place d'Armes represent the  cultural differences between English and French Canadians: the snobby woman holding her French poodle gazes with disdain at the Bank of Montreal's head office symbol of English power; and the snooty Englishman with his pug, looks scornfully at the Basilica Notre-Dame symbol of the religious influence of French Canadians. We scramble a bit at the last minute to find souvenirs for Weller and granddaughter-to-come. We decide on cute little moccasins made in Canada for both of them. All that remains to be done is organize our stuff and repack the car. We get up early Saturday morning and Jim goes down to start packing the car—however, access to our street is restricted and our parking lot has been cordoned off. There are police officers at both ends of the block and in the parking lot. They won't tell us what happened but do say that it will be a couple of hours before we can get to our car. We never do find out what happened but as promised, they leave in two hours and within a half hour, we are on our way to Quebec City! It's not until we arrive in Quebec City, that we notice that our passenger side mirror was a casualty of whatever happened in that parking lot. The plastic casing is crushed and we have no idea how it happened. (Note to self:  always, always check out the parking arrangements for Airbnb and VRBO. This parking was the worst...and very expensive...)