Thanksgiving

We can only hope that all our American and Canadian friends enjoyed Thanksgiving as much as we did.  We had a terrific day with family and friends in Virginia, lots of great food and some wine.  A big thank you to everyone who made the day memorable.

 

Having been dissuaded from a hibernation plan, I started out the day by making stuffing and preparing the turkey.  

 I even helped Pat make the pumpkin pies.

 Once the turkey was roasting, I had some time to relax and enjoy a bit of wine.

 Much to the despair of Chris and Phil, I fell asleep with my head in the bowl...long before the meal.  These big celebrations always seem to get the best of me.

New York State and a storm

Before I start this post I need to comment on a conversation we had the other day.  As usual, Phil and Chris were berating me about writing blog posts and my alcohol consumption.  I'm kind of used to this theme now, and my skin is thicker than it used to be...however, let me remind everyone that I am a bear.  Twice already this fall we've been in snow and I want to...need to be...hibernating.  It is what bears do...just let me curl up in a warm place with a few bottles of red and I'll be good for a few months. 

Aside from hibernating, we visited New York State after driving over the border from near Niagara Falls in Canada. We went to the Finger Lakes region, where we camped in a National Forest.  This campground welcomes horses, as evident from the many hitching posts and a corral present.

Many hiking trails weave through the forest and around the lakes and ponds here in the Finger Lakes region. 

 We had a gorgeous, sunny fall day to explore the park.

 We surprised this grumpy turtle trying to sunbathe along a raised section of the trail.  He snapped at us as we tried to get around him.

 

The region has what is written up in a British Airways magazine as "one of the ten most scenic drives in the world". We had to see...and it was a pretty drive, but there were so many pretty drives in the area and some had better views than the road specifically suggested by BA.

 Plenty of vinyards along the way too...why aren't we stopping??

Amish and/or Mennonites live in the area and this sign was directly in front of the truck stop where we fueled up.  An interesting contrast in cultures.

 There is our little RV lined up with all the trucks.  Fuel was relatively expensive in New York...it was about US$4.40 per gallon.  Glad we aren't paying Perth prices.

 A big storm was forecast to hit the east coast.  We decided to turn North and visit Montreal and Quebec (as I mentioned in the Quebec blog).  On the way to Montreal we drove out to Cape Vincent, a little town on the St Lawrence mostly devoted to tourism.  It is well past the tourist season now, so facilities were fairly limited but we found a nice pub open for dinner.

 This is Tibbetts Point Lighthouse a little ways down the road from the town.

They build many of these pretty stone cottages up here.

 

 It wasn't Friday when we were here...I wonder how early you need to get in before this place closes.

 

 One of the nice things about out of season travel is the available parking!  No one complains where you park and when were stopped at the pub and asked about parking, they just said, "who is going to give you a ticket?"

We try hard to avoid this scenario.

Along the St Lawrence, in the 1000 Islands region, we stopped at a State Park and went for another hike.  We were hoping to camp here, but sadly, the camping is over for the season.

 

Eventually we worked our way up to Canada again.  We watched the storm hit the east coast on a TV in a bar one night and someone told us where to catch the train and where to get off in Montreal.  The next day our intrepid travellers found the train and made their way about 29 km to Montreal, changed trains and got off at St Catherine.  It wasn't quite where we expected, plus it was really rainy.

Prepared for the rain!

 How is this for confusing the navigation?

 This was another classic.

Aside from our train ride, and then a taxi ride (the taxi driver got lost) we ddin't see much of Montreal.  Quebec City is a separate post.

Quebec City

A big storm was forecast to hit the east coast of the US which was, of course, right where we were headed.  Not being completely stupid, we decided to head north to Montreal and then Quebec City and try to avoid the worst of the storm.  We had a leisurely drive up along the northern boundary of New York, along the St Lawrence Seaway, visiting several small towns along the way.  We eventually crossed over into Canada not far from Montreal.  We didn't spend a lot of time in Montreal, but we drove up to Quebec and spent a very enjoyable couple of days looking around.  Founded in 1608, Quebec is one of the oldest cities in North America.  It is also the only city north of Mexico which is still surrounded by fortified walls. 

 

Here is Phil near one of the gates through the wall.

 The gate is just up the road from the Citadelle, an active military installation.

 There is plenty of history in this town.  Even though it was a rainy, gloomy day, we enjoyed exploring all the hills, walls and historical sights.

 

The mighty St Lawrence Seaway is just on the other side of the wall.  We climbed up about 650 steps to get where this photo was taken.

The city streets are narrow and winding...very picturesque and fun to browse.

There are some really steep hills, I wonder if they make the horse drawn carriges go up these streets?

 

 We walked for miles that morning...up and down, all around the town.  Phil and Chris decided to treat themselves to a nice meal in an old restaurant...it was delicious.

While near Quebec we visited a shopping mall.  It was fairly big and they even had a hockey rink, so we could witness the Canadian favourite. 

 As I mentioned, the hockey was in a mall.  Around the hockey rink was an indoor amusement park complete with rollercoaster and ferris wheel.

We departed Quebec in the hopes of finding warmer and sunnier weather.