Canada

We spent one whole day of our vacation in Canada. It was about a 3 hour drive from our lodge, so we thought, "why not?!" Wow...it was much different from what we expected!! We went to the province of Quebec, which is the French province in Canada. As soon as we crossed over the border, EVERYTHING was in French--road signs, other signs, I mean everything!!

We stopped at a gas station about 30 miles into the border and even the gas station clerk didn't speak English!! We later found out that they are not allowed to attend an English school unless their parents are English. AND if 2 generations in a row opt out of attending English school, then they lose their privilege to attend and can only attend French school! This is all in an effort to keep the French language pure in Quebec. Wow.

After a LOT of driving (it seems on those northern roads, even in Maine, you can only drive 45-55mph!), we finally made it to Quebec City. The first place we went was to the Cyclorama de Jerusalem. This is the largest panorama display in the world. You go up these stairs and you're in a dome that is a panorama of the city of Jerusalem. It is amazing. It has been there since 1895!!

Then, we went to the St. Anne Cathedral, which was celebrating its 350th anniversary this year. As we walked in, we noticed all of the tourists gathered at the back of the church. Then, we saw a bride! She was about to walk down the aisle to be married!! The music started, and she headed down the aisle! All the tourists were snapping pictures and after she got down the aisle we all just resumed our browsing through the cathedral. Too weird!!


Our favorite thing in Canada was the Canyon St. Anne. It was a huge canyon with a waterfall that was so beautiful! It was fun to hike around and walk on the not so sturdy suspension bridges!




We then headed into the "Old City" where we found the Notre Dame Basilica, the largest Cathedral in North America. Blu pointed out to me that Quebec was celebrating 400 years this year, which is longer than the USA has even been a country! Wow!!

We ended our day in Canada at a French bistro. I was too afraid to order French food, so I ordered a "chicken fajita." (I'm a Texan! I know all about fajitas!) When it arrived, I was surprised to find a toasted tortilla filled with chicken, covered in spaghetti sauce and parmesan cheese! So I guess I got a French meal after all!!

Driving home from Canada was SOOO scary. We got to the border around 8pm and still had about 1 1/2 hours to go. The border patrol guy stopped us and gave us a long speech about the moose and how it is a really bad time of night to drive. Sure enough, we had to drive 40 mph the whole way home, and we were the ONLY car on the road. Whenever we stopped, people would warn us about driving, mention that we shouldn't be on the road, and how it wasn't a joke. We were terrified!! We did end up seeing about 7 moose off the road, and one in the road. And on a Saturday night--no other cars on the road!! Someone later told us that "nobody up here drives past moose o'clock!"

We were very glad to be back in the USA after our day "abroad!" :)