The drive to Quebec

Without stops, the drive to Quebec is about 7 hours for us. It ended up taking us longer since we stopped a few times. We had to get out of the car and stretch our legs.

MAPS

The drive, while long, is pretty easy and straightforward. The hardest part is getting out of Massachusetts. Mr. Ken did all the driving. Normally on a long car ride, all I do is sleep. But for this trip, I was the navigator, which was very stressful. I had to look at 3 different maps. I know my way out of Massachusetts (kind of), but wasn’t too sure about the rest of the trip.

Our trips takes us up Route 93 in New Hampshire where we go through the White Mountain region. This is one of my favorite places in New Hampshire. We drive through pine forests, with mountains in the background.

Driving through Vermont is straight up Route 91. All you see are woods and farms.

BORDER PATROL

I am not ashamed to say that I was brought up to respect authority. I was a bit nervous about crossing the border from the US to Canada. Not that I had anything to hide, but you just never know if you’ll be getting a cranky border agent who wants to look at everything you have packed.

I didn’t have to worry, the border guy was very pleasant. All he did was glance at our passports and wish us a nice trip.

CHAROLAIS COWS

Once we get into Canada, we see more woods and farms. I was especially interested to see the cream colored cows and their calves. So pretty! I think these are Canadian Charolais. I really wanted to take a “live picture” of all the cows and their babies, but I didn’t think Mr. Ken wanted to get off of the highway and drive through the Canadian countryside for that. The Charolais originated in west-central to southeastern France, in the old French provinces of Charolles and neighboring Nievre. The exact origins of the Charolais are not known but it must have been developed from cattle found in the area. For more information on these: Charolais.com Association History.

FRENCH MCDONALDS

We needed to make a rest stop, so we stopped at a McDonald’s. Now normally I wouldn’t set foot in a McDonalds, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Hah, we now knew we were in the province of Quebec Canada since the menu was all in French! Ordering is all done through a large message board and theoretically there was a button to display the menu in English, but it didn’t work. At least, pictures can tell the story, e.g. a cup of coffee looks the same in any language.

It took us a while to figure out that we needed to pay at the counter before our order would be processed. So we approach the counter and the nice young lady says, “Blah, blah, blah.” Well actually she said something in French, but we didn’t have a clue what she was saying. So I just smiled and handed her the money. She took it and our order was put in. I guess my French fluency isn’t quite what I thought. Now I feel we are really in Quebec since I paid with Canadian money. Their paper money is more like plastic, which is interesting.

WAZE PLAYING TRICKS

Not only did we have maps, but we had Waze, the software that can tell you how to get somewhere. Yeah, it works mostly. Except when we got to Quebec City, Waze took us around the same block twice for no reason; there was no accident, there was no construction. It just was.

WE’RE HERE!

Finally we arrive at our destination! It is a lovely old building on a cobblestone street. Very French looking.

What road trip adventures have you had?

Image of Canadian Border Agents is from DepositPhotos.com.