Hiking through the woods

To break up the driving we often pause for hikes through the woods. Sometimes it feels like you are walking through a fairytale labyrinth- the moss makes everything feel so alive.

From Canada to the White Mountains

The drive from Canada to the White Mountains in New Hampshire is the quintessential fall foliage "leaf peeper" drive.






We stopped for a walk and an elegant picnic lunch after reaching the U.S. to celebrate getting through immigrations with only our dried dates confiscated.




A pack of wild turkeys

Bizarre Santa World tourist trap in the middle of nowhere

Quaint buildings and churches in small, nearly abandoned towns.



The Pumpkin people of Jackson, NH: The Beatles

Mon Amour

Je suis dans l'amour avec Québec. Maintenant, je suis inspiré pour apprendre le français.


We ate in the above restaurant which is the oldest building in old town Quebec. We had rich chilean red wine, authentic french onion soup and a fluffy chicken pot pie. To top it off I had the best dessert I have EVER had- warm fresh blueberry cake covered in a real maple butter syrup and topped with vanilla bean ice cream. Mmmm... I just drooled on my computer...

The city streets are so charming and everyone speaks both French and English interchangeably. It is the loveliest city I have been to in North America. If only it weren't so cold.







There are acres upon acres of open green grassy hills upon which you may run and frolic while overlooking the city and old fortresses while singing songs from the Sound of Music. And dogs are allowed!








We visited Le Louvre at the Museo de Bellas Artes, a chocolate museum and then a maple museum and guess what!? Aunt Jemima is not real maple syrup! It has no maple syrup in it at all:(

Ottawa, Montreal

Here is the bridge to Canada. I have to interject here because this is almost where our journey to Canada ended. We had a terrible time passing through immigration. We thought we were being clever by dashing over to the line that had just opened, but the officer accosted us and after a crass interrogation told us to pull over and go into the immigrations building. Inside, our passports were taken by a woman who's motherly, soft face belied an angry cop and she began her interrogation: You don't live in Colorado? And you don't live in Rochester? And you don't live in Massachusetts? And you don't have a job to go to? Right, an "Internet Business". Pet Paintings, huh? But you don't paint? Vietnam? Hmmm...Communists.
OK. She didn't make the "communists" remark, but it was headed in that direction when she told us to take a seat while she ran a background check.

Our waiting room companion was a 20-ish American girl trying to visit her friend in Montreal. She had been waiting for an hour and 45 minutes and set off alarms when she went to get her sweater from her car, unescorted. She warned us that we may be there for a while and to not leave without notifying immigration. Adam went to the car with an officer to lock up and pass inspection. The motherly cop called me up and asked a few more questions and I cracked a joke and she laughed as she transformed into the nice woman she appeared to be, kindly explaining that they did not see people with such a "transitory lifestyle" often which is why we had to go through this. As we were released, sweater girl was escorted to her car and sent back to America.

Ottawa and Montreal




Montreal is a big international city. We drove around on the scooter to see the sites, but we were not really in the mood for big cities so we only stayed for a few days. Long enough to get our fill of canadian poutine, the national dish.



We walked to the park downtown and there just happened to be an orchestra playing with fire dancers! And hardly any people watching. It was as if they knew we were coming and put on a show just for us!



Canadian Poutine: Crispy french fries covered in gravy and topped with cheese curds.