BigWeather's Blog

Woke up and checked out ASAP from our room in the Rutland, Vermont Holiday Inn.  The room smelled terrible, and what had been a cough the day before was a lot worse in the morning.  However, I think whatever crud I caught (and it would only get worse) was not from the room — but it didn’t help either.  The staff said “well, we changed it over from smoking a month ago…”  Hey, here’s a clue: it takes WAY more than a month for a smoking room to not smell like an ashtray.  While I sympathize with their problem — they can’t sell it as a smoking room if they want to transition it to a non-smoking room — I think the opposite, billing it as a non-smoking room, is dishonest at best.  We’ll do our best to avoid Holiday Inn non-Express in the future — as it is the non-Express ones that seem to show this quite a bit.

Anyhow, went grocery shopping at the Hannaford Foods in Rutland.  Man, there were a lot of older people — I suppose it is a retirement community?  We picked up tons of supplies for Indian Lake: napkins, paper towels, toilet paper, plastic cutlery, food such as Entenmann’s (donuts, buns, and the required New York style crumb cake), grapes, blueberries, chips, cookies, etc. — stuff that would suffice for breakfast and lunch and not require refrigeration.  While Michelle was checking out Addison and I happened to be perusing the 50c charity books section and we found a hardcover collection of stories with illustrations from one of Michelle’s favorite authors, Charles deLint, that she did not own.  Score!

We then set out for Ticonderoga, stopping by McDonalds for some sweet tea.  Now normally I’m not a huge proponent of the homogeneity that chain restaurants bring to the United States (and abroad), but…  In an otherwise sweet tea-less land McDonalds is more than welcome.

After a very beautiful drive through the countryside of western Vermont and extreme eastern New York we arrived at Fort Ticonderoga.  The fort played a pivotal role in the settling of the region as well as sorting out the balance of power between France and England in the 1700s.  Originally Fort Carillon, a French fort, it guarded the entrances to both Lake George (the north side) and Lake Champlain (the south side).  In 1758 there was a huge battle where a small number of French soldiers (around 4,000) under Montcalm (who would later die trying — and failing — to hold Quebec City in 1759) held off a vastly larger English force (around 17,000) by doggedly defending a hill to the northwest of the fort.  The French defenders had, in about two days straight digging, erected an eight foot high barrier that was easy to defend and allowed them to hold out.  They also got very lucky in that they managed to kill Lord Howe, considered to be the brilliant tactician of the English force, just before the fight.  This battle would be the bloodiest day in North America until Antietam in 1862.

The following year, 1759, the British would take Fort Carillon and rename it Fort Ticonderoga, from the Iroquois “junction between two waterways.”  In 1775 Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys, along with Benedict Arnold, captured the fort and had the cannon hauled to the east to help with the war effort in Boston.  The British recaptured it in 1777 but it became irrelevant after their defeat at Saratoga and was eventually abandoned.  It lay in ruin, scavenged for years by people for building material, until preserved and later restored in the 1800s and 1900s.

The fort today makes quite an impression.  There are three buildings in the center that surround a courtyard, then the walls themselves, then two triangle shaped defensive-works, one to the west, one to the north.  These are connected to the main walls by wooden bridges that could be destroyed should one of the triangles be taken — and cannon could be brought to bear against them.  The fort has commanding views of both the upper reaches of Lake George and the lower reaches of Lake Champlain and is surrounded by mountains (which would prove to be an Achilles heel).

Fort Ticonderoga's commanding view

Fort Ticonderoga's central courtyard

Fort Ticonderoga cannon

We watched and listened to a fife & drum corps, in United States uniform, enter the fort via the entry tunnel and parade about the courtyard.  Then we watched an excellent introductory film that laid the groundwork for what we were seeing and took in the exhibits in the two other buildings.

The largest building had many things from the fort, the campaigns, etc.  Lots of old maps and such, including such interesting stuff as Georgia as a colony splitting South Carolina into an upper and lower colony — the upper being where South Carolina is today (though extending westward to the Mississippi) and the lower being just north of St. Augustine, Florida, and extending west.  Also interesting was a map referring to New York as New Belgium.  I knew that the Dutch were the original European power to take New York but had no idea that the land was referred to as New Belgium at one point!  There were also exhibits on everyday soldiers’ items and the like, and a diorama of the Black Watch, a Highlander regiment that took horrific losses (over half) during the Battle of Carillon in 1758.  Particularly stirring was a page from the book that listed all of the British Army officers with, in pencil, “Kd” or “W” marked next to nearly every officer from the Black Watch — for “killed” or “wounded.”

As if one South Carolina wasn't enough!

The other building had a large collection of muskets, swords, and other weaponry from the period, including one musket that had a nasty exploded breech that surely killed its owner.  The kids took turns holding a reproduction firearm to get a feel for the weight of the things.

Once back in the main courtyard we listened to another fife and drum corps, this time in British regalia, play various songs that dictated the activity about camp.  This was in the day before wristwatches and the like and the common soldier could not afford watches.  The fife and drum corps would play various songs, not only to announce the time but also what the soldiers should be doing.  One song told them to get to work, then when to break, then to get back to work, then when to break for the day.  Another would rouse them in the morning.  That sort of thing.

Fife and Drum corps, Fort Ticonderoga, New York

We also took in a small exhibit on feeding the soldiers at the fort.  We learned that it took a shift of bakers working twenty-four hours a day to make enough bread for the garrison.  There was a garden maintained during the spring and summer months, before the snows set in.  A variety of foods were eaten, everything from clams to pork to beef and fish.  And, as can be expected, the officers ate far better than the rank-and-file.

As for us, we left the fort and ate hotdogs and grilled cheese sandwiches at the gift shop adjacent to the fort.  Did a bit of shopping and headed out to Indian Lake around 3p.

We arrived at Camp Sabael, on the upper eastern shore of Indian Lake, at about 4p.  Camp Sabael, and in particular our cabin of Gray Rock, is very important to the Young family.  While the Camp was founded in the late 1800s it wasn’t until 1908 that the Youngs, on the recommendation of the Colwells, joined Camp Sabael and built their own cabin.  The patriarch of the family at that time, James Addison Young (or “The Judge” as he was frequently known), is my great-great-grandfather.  Ever since 1908 the Young family has taken vacation up at Indian Lake and enjoyed a simpler life with no electricity, gorgeous mountain air, and lake views to die for.  My brother, Greg, and I had gone up to Indian Lake for years in our youth, from about ten years of age all the way to our early 20s, most often accompanying my grandfather — though occasionally also my father or Uncle Geof.  I even brought a friend up, Daniel, and finally in 1994 my wife, Michelle.  It was very important to share the place with those close to me.

Entrance to Camp Sabael

Life, however, intervened — as it often does — and I had not had an opportunity to share Camp Sabael, Gray Rock, and Indian Lake with my children.  I had been fortunate to share the Long Island cottage in the early 2000s prior to my grandfather’s passing in 2007 but had not managed to make the trip to Indian Lake.  My Uncle Geof very graciously offered us some time in early August to visit (and this whole trip was built around that timing).

Gray Rock cabin, Camp Sabael

Entering the cabin was a strange sensation.  I was struck by how little had changed in the seventeen years since my last visit.  Sure, some things were different — the day bed that acted as seating in the dining room under the framed Indian Lake maps had been moved the reading room, the deck out back was no longer painted, that sort of thing — but by and large it smelled and sounded the same.  The creak walking up and down the stairs to the second floor.  The whiff of evergreen from outside mixed with a hint of mothballs.  While it was a flood of memories coming back for me it was all new to my children — who eagerly explored the place.  It wasn’t long before Genetta was at the piano playing songs from the songbook (she noted that many were slightly different than the version she knew) and Addison was trying to figure out which bed he wanted.  Michelle and I slept in the main upstairs room — which was a little odd, honestly, as I had never slept there and associated it very strongly with grandpa — and the kids slept in the room to the left with two single beds — the very room that myself (and often my brother, though he’d sometimes sleep in the room to the right) slept in over two decades past.

Gray Rock's reading room

Kids' room at Gray Rock

While we were out on the deck out back soaking in the lake view (and admiring a blueberry bush that positively bristled with at least thirty blueberries!) we heard a voice from the front of the cottage.  Ben Gott, 14, introduced himself and in yet another “small world” moment we found out he was up for a few weeks from his home in Asheville, NC.  Addison and I walked down to the lake via the steep stairs next to the lookout shelter and skipped some rocks.  He was positively chomping at the bit to swim but I had us walk about camp some more.  We’d run into several more Gotts and were able to have a bit of Q&A about the camp (“how’s the spring?”, “what eats are there in town?”, “where’s the dump?”, that sort of thing) as well as show Addison the large cliff over the lagoon with the flagpole near the Colwell’s cabin.

Shore of Indian Lake in front of Gray Rock

Headed back to Gray Rock and unpacked the car.  As it was approaching night and we noted that we were running short of ashes for the privy (and would not be making our own) we headed to the Lake Store to get some lime — to no avail.  However, they did recommend a few places to eat, including the Indian Lake Restaurant & Tavern.  That restaurant was located right at the intersection of US-30 and 28 in the center of the Hamlet of Indian Lake and was a place that we had eaten at many times, under a different guise, with grandpa in the past.  The adjacent grocery store, however, was sadly gone.  The food was great.  I had steak while Michelle had a pulled pork sandwich with “Carolina Piedmont sauce” — vinegar-based sauce!  Addison had a burger and Genetta meatloaf (which she didn’t like a whole lot — as she was thinking it was meatloaf like we have at home and not the traditional shebang with onions and peppers).  For dessert Michelle, Genetta, and I had some wonderful chocolate cheesecake.

On the way home we passed Stephenson’s Lumber hoping to get some lime but they were closed.  Heading back to camp we saw three deer along Jerry Savarie road (which still can hit this harmonic frequency that will literally rattle your car apart!).  I turned on the water valve for the cabin as well as the gas tank and lit the two central gas lamps of the reading room.  I was a bit nervous, having never “run” camp, but it wasn’t bad at all.  Under the flickering warm glow of the gas lamps my wife and daughter read their books (and Genetta played a bit more of piano), my son played his DS some, and I noted the day’s events and then read most of Ted Colwell’s “Camp Sabael: Its Story” and some of the Adirondack atlas before turning in.

For sleeping we just slept in our sleeping bags on the mattresses and had brought our own pillows.  I think Addison was a bit freaked by the darkness but use of the night light setting of his electric lantern fixed that and we eventually all fell asleep.

Route for August 2, 2011

A bit of a chaotic morning as we still had laundry to do and had to be out of the room by 11a.  Woke up, ate hotel buffet breakfast, nursed the laundry, and got out just before 11a (though our laundry wasn’t technically done until just after 11a — shhhhh!).  While that was being finished up I went outside to see the river that completely surrounds our hotel (and only our hotel) like a moat.  There were a couple of people fishing and I tried to talk with them but their dialect was a bit inscrutable in parts.  Oh well, I’m sure they had a hard time understanding me too!

Ile de Holiday Inn, Tilton, NH

Our rear passenger blinker had gone out the day before and I spied a dealer while driving around the prior night so we took it to their “QuickLane” express service to get it replaced.  A mere twenty minutes or so later and $17 poorer I was feeling a lot better about our safety on the road.  The people were super friendly and one of the guys was originally from Dunn and had a son at Fort Bragg.  Small world.

Got some sweet tea at McDonalds for our short drive to FunSpot in Weirs Beach, NH.  The drive was short, about twenty-five minutes, but passed next to some gorgeous lakes and through the resort town of Laconia, which was popular particularly in the late-1800s.

Lake near Laconia, New Hampshire

North of Laconia we entered Weirs Beach and turned into FunSpot, the largest arcade in the world and home to hundreds of pre-1987 arcade games.  We happened to enter via the third floor entrance — the floor that contains all of the classic arcade games.

Third floor entrance to FunSpot, home of The American Classic Arcade Museum

Now “The American Classic Arcade Museum” is a bit of a misnomer.  Other than a display case right as you enter, some placards describing the significance and history of some games, and some newspaper and magazine articles and memorabilia (posters, etc.) on the walls it isn’t really a stuff type of museum — rather all machines can be played.  As I’ve seen many sites post pictures (and even video) of the classic games floor of FunSpot I’ll post some of mine — if they wish it pulled just contact me, please!

Entry display case showing some early videogame artifacts, strangely heavy on the Odyssey

$20 got us 100 tokens and since we printed out a coupon before we arrived we got an additonal 50 on top of that.  It worked out to roughly 13c a token, and the games took their original token count — in other words, most took just one.  Playing Pac-Man, Dig Dug, etc. at 13c a play was a deal and a half!

Glorious, glorious pile of 150 tokens!

Funspot has much more than just the classic arcade games.  It has putt-putt (indoor on the original 1952 course or outdoors), kiddie rides, rope and zip line activities, bowling, more modern video games, skee-ball, whack-a-mole, bumper cars, and of course some pinball machines.  I focused on the classic arcade games, however, most of the time (while the kids and Michelle played a ton of skee-ball and bowled).

Now, as far as the classic arcade game area — it’s a large room with some spill over into two other areas.  It is fairly dimly lit with a reddish light and they have 80s music playing.  I had an almost zen moment when one of my 80s favorites, Joe Jackson’s “Steppin’ Out” came on.  It gets the feel down pretty well, I suppose, but there isn’t the garish neon purple and green, geometric shaped gaudy carpet designs or anything else I remember from my youth.  Most of the machines were in decent working order (with some exceptions, like wonky monitors and such — and only a few (less than ten) out of order).  Not bad at all.

The collection is quite good, though Michelle and I were very disappointed that Q*Bert was missing.  Turns out it was normally available to play but had been rotated out for a while.  Grrr!  We found plenty of other games to play, however, and Michelle latched on to Time Pilot to assuage her Q*Bert blues.  I started with Sinistar (“I Live!”, “I Hunger!”) and got the top score — well, top daily score.

Top o' the World!* -- *today only

We decided to eat a quick lunch at the snack bar — pizza and rootbeer for me — then go back upstairs to the classic arcade room.  I then proceeded to play tons of games (at least 50), including: Zaxxon, Joust, Joust 2, Defender, Robotron, Ms. Pac-Man, Dragon’s Lair, Xevious, Bag Man, Super Sprint, Double Pong, Frogger, Crossbow, Chiller (remember that one with all its gore?!), Kick Man, Crystal Castles, Tempest, Moon Patrol, Space Invaders Deluxe, Millipede, etc. etc.  Tons of games.  I played many of them with Addison (and a few with Genetta — she liked skee-ball more) and we particularly enjoyed the co-op ones like Joust (cocktail version) and Gauntlet II (stand-up).  It was a great time and I think the kids have a new appreciation for the “old games.”

I was struck by how much fun many of them still are.  The ergonomics of the games leave a bit to be desired, particularly for a 6’5″ person, however.  After a while my back and hands started hurting.  Dang, too old to play videogames!  I was also struck by how ingenious some of the display methods, particularly for those in the late-70s and early-80s were.  Space Invaders Deluxe sported a painted backdrop and a multi-color projected playfield.  Video Pinball used a physical pinball playfield and only rendered the flippers, ball, and drop targets.  Warlords was really special.  It had a painted backdrop with actual depth AND they used colored acetate squares to make the neutral area yellow (since it is a fireball being tossed around) and the four players in the corners all have a distinct color — despite all the rendering of the game being in monocolor white.  Wow!

Brilliant, simply brilliant

I also noticed how many of the early games had dedicated control systems (which would become standardized by the late-80s and JAMMA, by and large): the “Coke can” of Major Havoc, the left and right only joystick of Lumberjack, the spinner of Tempest, and this gem called Space Zap that used four buttons for the cardinal directions and a separate one to fire — presumably before the joystick?

Many of the machines were grouped by manufacturer or series.  Particularly impressive was the Pac-Man row (and I think Daniel’s Super Pac-Man is actually better than theirs) and the Donkey Kong row (shades of King of Kong).

Row of Pac-Man series games at FunSpot -- check out the sweet Pac-Man Halloween costume on the wall!

Row of Donkey Kong series games at Funspot

They also had many historically significant games like Pong, Computer Space, and Death Race.  Everyone knows 1972’s Pong, I won’t rehash that here.  Computer Space pre-dates Pong by a year and was the first commercially released electronic video arcade game.  Death Race was a 1976 game that stirred up a media firestorm — pretty much one or two players drive around and run over “gremlins” that look a lot like people.

Computer Space, released in 1971, the first commerically released video arcade game

Death Race (1976) -- Grand Theft Auto 0!

I guess where the disappointment came in (other than Q*Bert no-show, grrr!) was the lack of any videos or books covering the contents of the “museum.”  I’d pay some cold hard cash for a book that profiles each, pics on the left, text on the right.  Or a video walk-through of the entire floor.  I tried to make one of my own but it’s very amateur.  There are also some on YouTube as well.  C’mon FunSpot, I WANT to spend my money on this!

The pinball section wasn’t in as great a shape.  I read online that the number they have has been shrinking because they are a maintenance hassle and just don’t get the play that the more reliable video arcade games get.  Still, below is a shot of Black Knight lest anyone think I am biased!  They had quite a few more, but not a tremendous amount, such as: Fire, Addam’s Family, Playboy, Funhouse, etc.

Black Knight pinball at FunSpot

After I played enough classic arcade games (or, more correctly, felt that we really needed to hit the road) I sauntered downstairs to find the family bowling.  Turns out they had cashed in their skee-ball winnings for a sweet FunSpot glass!  I watched Michelle finish beating the kids (though she didn’t break 100) and then the kids asked if we could play the other bowling-type game they add — candlepin bowling.  Turns out it is a New England and Maritime Canada thing only but it was great fun.  It uses a much smaller ball, slightly bigger than a softball, that has no holes.  The pins are smaller and one gets three balls per frame.  The pins do not reset until after all three balls are bowled, making for some interesting strategy hitting fallen pins to swing into unfallen pins.  Two frames are bowled at a time.  It is definitely a lot harder — and the top score every recorded is 245 out of 300.  No perfect games in this variation!

Candlepin bowling pins

After candlepin we played some skee-ball for a tiny bit to kill the rest of the tokens.  Left FunSpot about 6p and headed to our hotel for the night in Rutland, Vermont.  It was a couple hours drive and, despite many moose crossings and it being the perfect time of day to spot moose, we saw none.  Grrrr!

We did drive through some beautiful country, however.  Mostly mountains with rivers and brooks alongside the road for long stretches.  We went through Woodstock, Vermont, which seems to be quite affluent — a playground for the rich in skiing season, I imagine.  Most other towns were not nearly so well off — we saw lots of hotels, restaurants, homes, etc. for sale or abandoned.  It seems the recession has hit fairly hard here.  Shortly before entering Rutland there was the most beautiful sunset, one which I was fortunate to capture with my camera.

Beautiful Vermont sunset

Checked-in but didn’t unpack as we were super hungry.  We went immediately to the nearby 99 Pub & Restaurant (apparently a Boston chain) and had a very decent meal.  Since the Red Sox had won the previous day (though they were getting hammered by Cleveland this night) Addison even got to eat free!  Addison and I had top sirloin, Michelle some honey chicken wrap, and Genetta chicken fingers and a salad wedge.  They printed the calories for everything on the menu and it was shocking — and definitely influenced my choice of dinner.  I wish everywhere would do that — I thought it was the law already.

Hauled our crap to the room, by this time I wasn’t feeling well at all.  Soldiered through the blog and researched some stuff for when we go dark tomorrow at Indian Lake — won’t be able to blog until the weekend.  It’s been fun, hope you’ve enjoyed reading it and look for the Fort Ticonderoga,  Adirondack days at Indian Lake, and the wrap-up this weekend or early next week!

Route for August 1, 2011

Note: This is the blog for Sunday, July 31.

Got up and out at our normal 9a (yeah, we suck at getting up early) and went down to Casse-Crepe Breton on Rue Saint Jean and got in line.  This is the same place we failed to get into the previous morning but, this being the last morning in Quebec City, we couldn’t just bail.  We got in after about thirty minutes.

It was a small place but charming.  In the center the cook (chef?) made the crepes for all to see.  It was really cool — she poured out the, for lack of a better term, crepe batter onto a flat circular hot plate and used this thing that looks kind of like a windshield wiper to get it all nice and flat and even.  I ordered a crepe with strawberries and water.  It was most yummy!  Michelle and Genetta had breakfast crepes and Addison strawberries and bananas in a cup with a bagel and cream cheese.  Genetta finished it up with a chocolate crepe that she shared with all of us.

Headed back to the hotel and checked out.  A little nerve-wracking getting out of the upper old city but we did fine.  Headed out west on the main drag we came in on then took 73 sud (south) over a nifty bridge spanning the Saint Lawrence to 20 ouest (west) to Drummondville, at which point we picked up 55 sud to the border.  Shortly after crossing the Saint Lawrence the land flattened out quite a bit and was mainly forest punctuated with farms and the occasional village.

Pretty river in Quebec Province

We did note a few cool things, however.  First, the amount of firewood that people had stocked up ready for the winter.  We’re talking 100’+ long stacked 5 – 6′ high.  It was almost a fence in some cases!  We also saw a sign for “Rue King Ouest” (King St. West) but I kept thinking “King’s Quest” when I saw it.  Finally, we saw flashing lights and heard sirens from behind and saw a police bus speeding up from behind in the direction of Montreal.  Michelle and I wondered if it was due to the collapse of a tunnel just hours before in Montreal (though we don’t think anyone got hurt, at least we hope not).

Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when this bus runs all over you?

Once we reached the border we came to a stand-still.  We ended up listening to an entire CD in the time it took to get through customs (contrast that with Canada, which took all of five minutes, tops — though that was Sunday night, not Sunday afternoon).  Still, everyone behaved just fine (except some honking at some yahoo that used Duty Free parking lot as an express lane by some irate Quebeckers) and the customs people were very friendly.

Getting there!

You know, whenever I leave the country for even a little bit, like this past week, I start to miss stuff about my home country.  I start to build unrealistic expectations of the return home.  And while I loved my stay in Canada I was half expecting to be met at the border with George Washington himself, grinning with his wooden teeth, McDonalds frappe (large, plain — no whipped cream or drizzle, fo shizzle) extended to me, while Lee Greenwoods “God Bless the USA” plays in the background.

That didn’t happen.  To top it off, we were by now quite hungry (it being 4p or so and we having not eaten so much as a bite of food since breakfast).  We figured, heck, there’ll be fast food at every exit.  It turns out that was severely underestimated just how wild northeastern Vermont (“The Kingdom”) and northern New Hampshire was (this, despite having driven through the territory in 2007 coming back from visiting my uncle in Maine).

The wilds of Vermont

In fact, we didn’t see any fast food beside interstates 91 or 93 for at least one hundred miles.  Wow.  Sure, there were signs that said “get off here and you can have gas, food, and lodging!” but they lied.  We got off in St. Johnsbury on the suggestion of one such sign.  Wrong move!  We drove all the way through town and not much at all.  Also, what a weird town — no stop lights during our drive all the way through!  Just stop signs, and the locals didn’t seem to care much about following all the petty rules surrounding stop signs.  Look, I live in the South and understand all the jibes about it being backwards, hick, what-not.  But in response I point to St. Johnsbury.  Of course, St. Johnsbury has one thing that will ensure it is never Lumberton — the headquarters of Maple Grove Farms, my favorite brand of maple syrup.  Yum!

Continued on through beautiful countryside (and lying moose crossing signs) of Vermont and crossed the Connecticut River into extreme northwestern New Hampshire on 93.  I-93 goes straight through Franconia Notch where it even goes down to being one lane in each direction — I didn’t even know an interstate could do that and still be considered an interstate!  Heck, even I-40 maintains two lanes each direction through Pisgah Gap.

The wilds of New Hampshire

Sheer rock face of Cannon Mountain in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire

It wasn’t until Tilton, NH (in the middle of the state) where our hotel is located for the night that we saw food.  At that point we decided to drive down to the Outback in Concord as we were all in the mood for it.  Big mistake — huge traffic jam that made the 15 mile drive take nearly an hour.  Still the food was decent, if a bit pricey, but we all ate our fill and headed back north to Tilton.  On the way what looked to be a bear loped across the highway causing the cars in front of us to slow down rather quickly!

Checked into the hotel and they upgraded us to a suite which was nifty.  It’s no Chateau Laurier or Hotel Manoir Victoria but it’ll do.  Plus, the room was right next to the laundry facilities, which we desperately needed to get through the second week of this vacation.  Michelle baby sat the laundry while I went down to the pool to watch Addison swim.  He practiced holding his breath.  Lest I get too used to actually hearing English all over once again a group of Quebeckers arrived and chatted up a storm amongst themselves in French.  Returning to the room, Michelle, Addison, and I went to Wal-Mart to get some laundry supplies and change for the machines as well as some sweet iced tea from McDonalds.  Yay!  Genetta stayed in the hotel room watching TV and reading.

Route for July 31, 2011

Woke up and headed to McDonalds for breakfast — we tried to get in at this crepe place but the line was long and slow.  They call biscuits biskits here.  Anyhow, I had promised to take Addison to a few shops so the four of us set off.

We stopped at a store that sold toy soldiers among other things.  They had some amazing dioramas set up and carried various brands like W. Britain, King & Country, and John Jenkins.  After a little deliberation he settled in on some 18th century soldiers wearing snowshoes.  Turns out that was a fantastic choice as they were from the Battle on Snowshoes (March, 1758, part of the French and Indian Wars subwar of the Seven Years’ War) and the two he chose were French-loyal Native Americans.   Even cooler is that the battle took place mere miles (kilometers, whatever!) from Fort Ticonderoga — which we’ll be visiting on Tuesday.

Art-packed alley

We stopped in several other shops, myself looking for a Canadian-theme cow.  Tall problem.  Moose?  No problem.  Beavers, bears?  Easy peasy.  But no such luck for cows.  As we walked through the town I took advantage of the gorgeous weather (upper 70s tops, with blue sky punctuated by the occasional cloud) to snap tons of pictures, many of which were re-shoots of ones taken during yesterdays terrible gray sky.  Though I can’t complain too much about yesterday — at least the rain totally held off, even through the 10p Le Moulin a images 3D presentation.

View down a street, note the white structure which Le Moulin a images 3D was projected onto as well as the gorgeous blue sky!

From the Dufferin Terrace we took this cliff side elevator called the Funiculaire down to the lower old city, Basse-Ville.  The Funiculaire was built in the late 1800s (1879, I think?) and had been upgraded and changed over the intervening years, most notably removing the covering and making it a nice glass-bedecked elevator, basically.  This afforded wonderful views of the old city.

View of the Basse-Ville from the Funiculaire

The old city contains the Place Royal, the spot where Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec on July 3, 1608.  More than even the upper old city, Haute-Ville, this area looks and feels like a European city.  Twisty, tight streets, plenty of cafes with outdoor seating, tiny charming parks, etc.  We first visited the first defensive position of the settlement (built in 1691), La Batterie Royale, where there were some cannon set up and some great views looking back at Le Chateau Frontenac and forward to the St. Lawrence.

Cannon at La Batterie Royale, Quebec City's first defensive position

View of Chateau Frontenac from La Batterie Royale

Littering the lower old city, however, were stands and stages erected for the coming Festival of New France, starting just a few days after we leave.  It was kind of a bummer because they were erected in front of many nice photo opportunities but what can you do?

Dodging the stages and other festival structures, a nice shot of Chateau Frontenac with Basse-Ville buildings in the foreground

We went to a store that sells items made in Inuit co-ops up in the new (as of 1999) territory of Nunavut.  They had the coolest map there and the proprietor was nice enough to let me photograph it.  Michelle found a really neat carved owl that just looked so happy that she had to buy it.  I finally found the inukshuk that appealed to me as well.  Altogether it wasn’t too expensive, and is one of the few souvenirs I have bought (other than our magnets, of course) on this trip.

The guy at the Inuit art store pointed us to a pizza and pasta place in the adjacent square for lunch.  We all had pizza which was quite good — though it used swiss instead of mozarella cheese!

Place Royal courtyard with our lunch eatery to the right

Afterwards we walked around the old lower town a bit more.  There was this incredible mural painted on the end of a multi-story building made to look like the building’s wall had been cut away, revealing a scene from the past.

Awesome mural in Basse-Ville, Quebec City

We went into a store that sold maple products.  I was this close to buying some maple cotton candy but ended up with some soft-server maple syrup icecream that was absolutely delicious.  Not only that, but they put a piece of maple syrup candy on top.  Heaven.

Once we finished eating that the rest of the family relaxed on a bench while I tried to get to the riverfront for some pictures.  I wasn’t able to, unfortunately, because that portion of the riverfront was Canadian Coast Guard land and off-limits to people like me.  I did get to check out a neat park that contained examples of several types of navigation buoys, from small river ones to larger ones used in more open waters, however so it wasn’t all a waste.

I swam the Saint Lawrence and buoy was I tired!

By this time I really had to use the bathroom but the only one we could find was a shared one — no kidding.  That’s just a little too continental for me, and we were pretty much done with the visit to the lower old city, so we headed back up via the Funiculaire ($2 per person — much better than having to walk!).

Fancy sign for shared bathroom -- on a toilet paper roll!

Once there I took some time to take many photographs of the Chateau Frontenac as well as the gorgeous river below covered with many small sailing boats and the occasional large cargo ship.  I love the age of digital photography where wasting film is no longer a concern!  As I was walking back from one end of the Dufferin Terrace Genetta met me and said that Michelle and Addison were irritated I took so long.  I felt kinda bad, but man, it was such a nice day for photography of that wonderful view.

Funiculaire entrance at Dufferin Terrace

Saint Lawrence River view from Dufferin Terrace

Chateau Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace -- note the new copper plating that hasn't tarnished to green yet

Headed back to the room only to find that it hadn’t yet been cleaned.  So we headed back out, this time to the Citadelle (quick fact: citadelle comes from citadella, Italian for “small city”).  This involved walking up a pretty brutal hill running between Rue St. Jean and Rue St. Louis, making the family a might bit grumpy.  We then headed west along Rue St. Louis to this wonderful park just short of the Port St. Louis, one of the city wall’s gates.  The whole family sat on a bench enjoying the nice breeze that had picked up and even occasionally nodding off.  A wedding party drove by in a limo honking the horn repeatedly.  Many in the park gave a cheer and clapped.  Really neat.

One of the gates along the old city walls

Arising from our stupor we continued up a small road to the Citadelle.  In front there were two guards in beaver fur caps doing their absolute best to stand still.  Though the weather was nice I bet they were pretty hot and it must’ve been unpleasant at the very least.  Then entrance to the fort was a curved walkway meant to prevent cannon fire through the outer and middle walls to the center of the fort.

La Citadelle guard -- must be a very tough job to stand still wearing that hat in the (relatively) hot summer sun

There were several plaques along the walkway explaining that the French had built a defensible garrison at the east end of the current fort in 1693.  They later added some towers out in the Plains of Abramham to the west as well to help protect the easiest approach to Quebec.  The fort was steadily improved, especially after 1759 by the British in their desire to retain hold of Quebec.  Enthusiasm for fully funding the work ran low, however, until an attack by the rebel colonies in 1775 moved it up quite a bit in priority.  The current fort was largely built between 1820 and the 1840s as further threats from France and the United States concerned the British.  The fort (and upper old city) sits on a promontory of land called Cap Diamant or Cape Diamond.  It got its name because French explorers found rocks they thought were diamonds and sent them back to France — turns out they were quartz.  Oopsie!

The family wasn’t so keen on doing the guided tour nor viewing the “Ceremony of Retreat” that the guards do every night at 6p to close the fort so we headed back down to the upper old city via the Governor’s Walk.  The Governor’s Walk was opened in the late 1950s and connected Dufferin Terrace to the Plains of Abraham (site of the famous 1759 battle in which Britain captured Quebec).  What wonderful views!  Addison also saw some graffiti about “Quebec Libre” which I assume were left by separatist leaning folk.

The Plains of Abraham

View from the Governor's Walk of a marina on the southern shore of the Saint Lawrence River

Cargo ships on the Saint Lawrence River

Sing with me! "The seaport is a busy place..."

Looking back at La Citadelle from Dufferin Terrace

Now back in the upper old city we walked to a store that Addison had wanted to buy a wooden sword from.  That done, we headed back to the room to rest a bit.  We set out to that crepe place — still a long and slow line.  So we decided to go to a restaurant called Saint James or somesuch.  Addison had steak but the rest of us built our own pasta.  Though a bit sweeter than I think the sauce should’ve tasted my fettuccine with alfredo sauce, bacon, mushrooms, and scallions was pretty darn good.  Michelle had dessert afterwards and thought the chocolate mousse pie was a bit off.

Genetta went back to the room while Michelle, Addison, and I went to get Addison some candy we had promised the day before.  Returned to the room to sleep and blog.  Tomorrow we return to the United States after one last shot at that infernal crepe place.  Though I will miss Canada I’m sort of looking forward to being back in the old U.S.A.  Still, I have come to understand why Quebec is called “La Belle Province.”  The city alone earns it that title.  I hope to visit Montreal properly one day as well as points east towards Saguenay fjord and Gaspe.

Woke up with a dang headache.  Ugh, hate that.  Anyhow, staggered down to McDonalds to get the kids some breakfast (sausage biscuit and sausage egg McMuffin, though they didn’t call them exactly that, this being Quebec) before Michelle and I could get our breakfast at the pastry shop (Paris Croissant) down the street.  I had a twist with chocolate and a strawberry and cream cheese strudel, Michelle a cinnamon bun.  Addison even got in on the action and got himself a strawberry and cream cheese strudel, though I’m sure he offended everyone by asking for “one of those toaster strudels.”  The place is nice but they play this techno-pop or something that the night before was fine but in the morning, with a headache, far less so…

Our hotel, the Hotel Manoir Victoria

Walked the streets a bit to get oriented and did some shopping.  Quebec, more than any city I’ve been to in North America, feels like a European city.  Close together buildings, steep hills, a street layout that looks like a drunk designed, lots of old stonework and wrought iron, etc.

Typical old town Quebec street scene

It is an old city, founded on July 3, 1608 by Samuel de Champlain.  It remained in French hands until captured by the English in 1759 during the Seven Years’ War.  The British colonies to the south (soon to be the United States of America) tried unsuccessfully to capture the town under generals Montgomery and Arnold (yes, that Arnold — before he turned traitor) in 1775.  Scattered throughout the town are flags celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the founding as well as this cool “statue” of a ship found in one of the squares:

Quebec City, founded in 1608

Addison picked up a belt in a Native American store — turns out the belt is made in the U.S. — but of course he later decides it is too big.  He never tries things on in the store, so, yeah, that happens!  Also got a couple of magnets for the magnet collection.

Store selling Native American goods

One thing we’ve had to be careful of is these tiny electric buses that run a route through the old city.  They are silent as ninjas (or, at least, as silent as I imagine a ninja is).

What a ninja that can transform into a bus might look like.

I managed to take some pictures here and there but as the sky was an almost uniform gray they aren’t that great.  Man, I hate that sky — it totally kills any chance of nice looking outdoor pictures!  We wandered up to the front of the Chateau Frontenac and sat along the Dufferin Terrace, a beautiful “boardwalk” overlooking the St. Lawrence (or Saint-Laurent) river.  While I tried to kill my headache we listened to a performer belting out Sinatra lyrics.  He wasn’t bad!  The terrace has tons of seating along benches facing the river and little covered gazebo areas.  Large cargo ships, many heading to or from the Great Lakes, passed beneath us.  What a beautiful place.

Dufferin Terrace, Quebec City

This view from Dufferin Terrace would be beautiful were it not for the weather, honest!

Statue of Samuel de Champlain at Dufferin Terrace

Still feeling bad, but knowing we should probably eat a light lunch prior to our high tea at the Chateau Frontenac at 2p, we headed out in search of food.  We ended up at this place called “L’Omelette.”  It was a pretty charming place and the prices fairly reasonable, as reasonable as anything gets in Quebec that is — what an expensive town!  However the service was a bit slow, perhaps the kitchen was overwhelmed.  It was also quite hot and humid and my headache just kept pounding.  I drank an apple and strawberry smoothie that, while good, was overpriced for the serving size.  I decided to just skip lunch and have some Quebec maple syrup pie.  Holy crap, that was wonderful!  It is like pecan pie with the brown squishy filling but instead of having pecans and tasting like them it tasted like maple syrup.  Addison had a burger he didn’t like much, Genetta got a ham omelette she liked, and Michelle some bread and cheese that was so-so.

Went on to Chateau Frontenac and, despite the headache, decided to proceed with tea.  We were seated in a room with an awesome view of the river.  Stained glass heraldic crests lined the tops of the windows and wood rafters defined the space.  Our waiter was great and had us sniff all ten varieties of tea they offered, including one that technically wasn’t a tea but a South African bush (Michelle said it smelled like grass clippings, I think she was right).  I chose the Maple Maple (of course!) to which I added maple sugar cubes.

High tea room, Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City

You should’ve seen us trying to class it up.  We did a pretty good job at it (though I had no idea what this implement that looked like a strainer was for — turns out it was for pouring the tea through so no tea leaves got in the cup) and I was very proud of the kids.  We started with some seasonable fruits (watermelon, an orange cherry thing, raspberries, blackberries, cantaloupe, honey dew, etc.), then that was followed up by a three-tiered lazy susan type of contraption.

The bottom level had salty finger foods like ham and asparagus (yum) and a bunch of stuff I wouldn’t eat (and probably significantly jacked up the price — oh well) like pate, shrimp mousse, salmon, etc.  Genetta did try, and hate, the pate.  Amazing!  The middle level had ginger cookies, scones, etc. — all the cake-like stuff.  The top level had more fruit-oriented concoctions with strawberries and the like.  Still being full from lunch and nursing a (fortunately abating) headache I largely passed on the food.  I did enjoy my three cups of tea, however, and the service was great.  It was also fun just enjoying an hour or so sipping tea with the family.

My headache nearly gone, we returned to the terrace to await our turn to tour Chateau Frontenac at 4p.  It was led by a lady in a Victorian dress costume.  She stayed in character pretty well.  We learned that the Chateau opened in 1893 with over 150 rooms and had expanded several times since to have over 600 rooms.  It is nearly solidly booked in the high season of summer.  They have 12 km of halls and just over 700 staff.  Mind-boggling.  We learned that the hotel was one of six built by the Canada Pacific Railway (Chateau Laurier being another) as a way of attracting travelers to use their trains.

Entry courtyard for Chateau Frontenac

We visited the Lindbergh suite, named after him but there is no evidence he actually slept there.  The copper roof of the hotel took several years to go from copper to green and lasted 100 years but is now in the process of being replaced.  Unfortunately, this continued the trend of some of the buildings I most want to photograph being obscured by scaffolding.

Chateau Frontenac with wonderful tarp and scaffolding obscuring the main tower, ugh.

There is an interior garden on the roof of one of the smaller parts of the hotel where chickens are raised (for eggs) and bees are also kept.  It was really cool to see that kind of behind-the-scenes stuff.  The tour wrapped up with a visit to one of the banquet rooms — beautiful chandeliers and painted walls and ceilings.

Garden with chicken fence, Chateau Frontenac

Banquet hall, Chateau Frontenac

I took some more photos on our walk back to the hotel.  We also stopped at a gift shop or two and bought a couple of magnets.  After relaxing an hour or so we set out to Chez AshTon for dinner.  Chez AshTon is a Quebec fast food restaurant that is practically next door to our hotel.  We went there on the concierge’s recommendation for decent poutine.  He claimed that Chez AshTon invented it (technically, it’s in dispute) and that was the best bet.

Chez AshTon, purveyors of fine poutine

What is poutine?  It is a food invented in Quebec in the late-50s or early-60s, though there are several different origin stories.  It is fries covered with gravy and cheese curds in its most basic form.  However, different regions and different restaurants do variations of it.  Chez AshTon, for example, had the basic poutine (pronounced poo-tin) as well as one covered with green peas and another covered with ground beef and thinly sliced sausage.

So, I had the basic poutine (in a very generous “mini” size) and a roast beef and cheese sandwich.  The sandwich wasn’t bad, like a better Arby’s.  The poutine, however, wasn’t entirely to my liking.  While I loved the gravy and fries (I mean, who doesn’t?!) I couldn’t get past the texture of the cheese curds.  They were kind of spongy and firm, almost like Circus Peanut candy.  Not only that, but they didn’t add a whole lot to the experience taste-wise.  I think I’ll stick with my fries with gravy and parmesan cheese concoction (from now on known as pseudo-poutine, or pseutine, to me).  Still, I’m glad I tried it.  Michelle tried it also and had a similar reaction.

Poutine -- I'll stick to my gravy fries with parmesan, thank you very much

Headed out to an adjacent street for some shopping.  In a “midieval boutique” Michelle found a pillow cover she liked and Genetta found a fancy shirt.  Some more shopping was done and we headed back to the hotel for a few minutes rest before heading out again just after 9p to see Quebec’s “Le Moulin a images 3D” down at the waterfront.

It was a lot like Ottawa’s “Mosaika” in that it was projected against a building and told the history of the region, in this case Quebec.  Rather than being narrated, however, it was instead a series of images and animations with some decent music accompaniment.  The 3D wasn’t always that effective (and it used the old-timey red and blue variety glasses) but sometimes it stood out.  It was also quite a bit longer than Ottawa’s.  Overall, I think we prefered “Mosaika” better but they’re different enough that both are worth it.

Le Moulin a images 3D, Quebec City

Headed back to the Hotel, stopping at McDonalds for some quick drinks first, and bed.