I just got back this week from a road trip with my friend Susie Stout to Canada and New England. We crossed over into Canada at Niagara Falls and took some time to view the falls from the Canadian side. The last time previous to this trip that I crossed over into Canada, their customs agents gave me a hard time, but this time they were as friendly and reasonable as anyone could expect. The view of Horseshoe Falls was spectacular. From Niagara, we proceeded to the small village of St. Hippolyte just north of Montreal in Quebec province. We stayed there at a small resort for four days. Sight seeing and fishing occupied our time. I caught a 3 pound, 30 inch muskie fish. Susie and I took an all day tour to the city of Quebec one day and saw a couple of the original Catholic churches, took a boat ride up the St. Lawrence Seaway, walked around the old city, ate dinner at a French restaurant, and saw some other sights.
When Susie and I left Canada, we drove through Montreal, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine before reaching the city of Portland, Maine. The tree leaves in the mountains were just starting to turn into their fall colors, so the drive was very scenic. From Portland, we drove up the ocean coastline over scenic Casco Bay to Freeport, Maine, where we went through all of the L.L.Bean stores and some outlet stores. Susie bought a small fishing rod and reel. We ate lunch at a lobster roll and seafood restaurant. When we were finished shopping and eating, turned our car southward and retraced our steps to Portland. We stopped on the way at the Loring Memorial Park to look out over Casco Bay from a hilltop.
Susie and I left Portland in late afternoon on a Saturday on Columbus Day weekend and expected to find a motel room later in the evening after driving toward home for a while. We were badly mistaken. Every single room was already taken wherever we stopped. We also called several prominent motel chain booking centers to no avail. Finally, after we had traveled several hundred miles and most of the night, we finally found a high priced room at 4 o'clock in the morning. We fell into bed that morning, rather than laid down.
We finally reached home the evening of the next day. Our pets were just as happy to see us as we were them.
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| Niagara and Horseshoe Falls at Niagara, Canada |
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| Auberge du Lac Morency resort at St. Hippolyte, Canada |
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| Me, with guide Fred and the muskie I caught. |
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| Me and Susie Stout in Quebec, Canada |
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| Quebec & the St. Lawrence seaway from Quebec's Citadel |
