French Canada, revisited

Since my posts about the Canadian leg of the Great (North) American Road Trip have been a bit disjointed, I am going to write this post that will contain my overall impressions of the Great White North. While I’ve talked about the various things that Zac and I did when we were in Canada, there are a lot of interesting cultural things I also want to comment on.

First, I LOVED Canada. The people were so friendly, and it felt like everyone was really interested in getting to know us and learning more about where we were from. That being said, it was definitely really obvious that the people in Montreal were a lot more welcoming and interested in us than the people in Quebec City were. We noticed it for ourselves, but a lot of the people we spoke with in Montreal said that Quebec City has a reputation for being pretty “separatist.”

I kind of touched on this in an earlier post, but it is historically weird that there is a part of Canada where they speak primarily French. However, the people in Quebec consider their language to be a really important part of their history and culture. I also mentioned that people in this part of Canada seem to have a really strong pride in the history of their province. They definitely have a sense for how easy it would be for them to kind of default into speaking English since they are surrounded by it and the official language of their country is English. So, to counter this pressure, some people there are very defensive about speaking French. This is definitely far more true in Quebec City than in Montreal.

In Montreal, Zac and I would try to speak French to people we encountered, but most, if not all, of them would just respond in English if they could tell that that was our language. Most of them didn’t think twice about it and they didn’t seem rude or put out by it. In Quebec City, however, most of the people we spoke with honestly didn’t even speak English. I definitely thought this was notable because even when I’ve been in France, most people who you come into contact with at least understand a little bit of English. But we had a waitress at one of the restaurants where we ate dinner in Quebec City who literally could not understand any English whatsoever. A lot of other people who knew English would act pretty put out at the fact that we couldn’t communicate with them exclusively in French.

I don’t know why Montreal is so much more relaxed about this than Quebec City is. It probably has something to do with the fact that it’s just a bigger city. Most big cities tend to be more diverse and more liberal than smaller cities. McGill University is also located right in the heart of Montreal (close to Le Montagne). McGill is an English-speaking university and it’s one of the best in the world. I imagine that the influx of English speakers from McGill probably also has something to do with Montreal’s more laid-back approach to speaking French.

So, that is Canada in a very, very small nutshell. As I said, I really liked visiting Canada, and I definitely want to go back to Montreal at some point (maybe for Osheaga 2013?). Someone that Zac and I work with (with/for…whatevs) told us that to the north of Quebec City there is a really amazing place to go whale watching, and I would LOVE to go there for that. So who knows, if I have my way, I’ll even be back in the Q.C. at some point :)

Okay and now for the FINAL tidbit of info that I learned about Canada. As you know, Zac and I have a Newfoundland dog named Sasha. Since we got him, I’ve become kind of weirdly obsessed with finding out about Newfoundland Province in Canada, which is, as you may have guessed, where the breed originated. Well I asked someone in Montreal what Newfoundland was like, and she said that everyone from Newfoundland was made fun of and mocked! She said they were called “Newfies” (which is also what the dogs are called), and that they are known for being super weird. Newfoundland province is pretty isolated and not very densely populated, so apparently it’s just a weird place. So…that explains a lot. Not bashing my dog, but yeah…his crazy personality makes complete sense now ;)

What a Newfie…

I will say, Sasha was the only one who was glad to come back from vacation. And that’s because his “vacation” was at the kennel…

OSHEAGA

Does this title look completely nonsensical to you? Have you heard of any of the following bands: The Weekend, Of Monsters and Men, Sigur Ros, MGMT, Bombay Bicycle Club? If not, then you were in about the same boat as I was when Zac informed me one night, after we had roughly planned out our trip, that we would be in Montreal at the same time that Osheaga was going on and that I should be so excited because all of the aforementioned bands (and MORE!) were playing there. I didn’t question it too much despite the fact that none of those bands are bands I would have ever thought I wanted to see live. Being the good AMAZING girlfriend that I am, I said, “cool, let’s get tickets.” It was a trip to celebrate Zac finishing the Bar Exam, after all. Zac needed no additional prompting. That very night, I became the recipient of the wonderful gift of a day pass to Osheaga.

Right now, you are probably saying to yourself, “Laura, that is all well and good, but we still do not know what this ‘Osheaga’ that you speak of actually is.” To which I say the following: you have likely heard of Coachella. (And here I am reminded that half of my readers are my grandparents so I need to find a new way to explain this.) Osheaga is a music festival (it’s the Canadian Coachella). It is essentially three days of concerts in a park. There are about five different stages and tons of the coolest indie music you can imagine. At any given time, there are two or three different bands playing, so people can kind of choose which ones they want to see. Zac and I got tickets for one of the three days.

It is actually HUGE. This year, Osheaga SOLD OUT. Which, because it’s in a giant park on an island, is a feat. It takes place in Parc Jean-Drapeau, on Ile Sainte Helene. The best way to get to the park (that’s what “parc” means in English, in case you guys didn’t realize that…) is to take the subway. On the day of Osheaga at around 2:00, Zac and I got on the subway to head that direction. When we first got there, it was a calm and idyllic setting. Despite the fact that Montreal was experiencing a heat-wave (it was about 90 degrees – VERY hot by Canadian standards), it was really pleasant to be outside listening to some music. We found a spot in the shade, relaxed for a bit and had a beer.

At around 3:30, this band called Bombay Bicycle Club came on. Zac had heard of them before, so we figured we’d just make our way up to the stage and watch from close up. There were about 50 other people up there, so what the heck. Bombay Bicycle Club was pretty good. We had fun watching them and being so close and we thought it was especially awesome because the band coming on after them, Of Monsters and Men, is a really good band and we thought it was cool to have secured such a good spot to watch them. It was honestly not even this crowded at this point:

WELL. When Bombay Bicycle Club were done, Zac and I turned around, and the fifty people who were around us watching BBC had turned into about TEN THOUSAND. This is not even and exaggeration. Honestly. If anything, it’s an understatement. (I actually have pictures of the “before and after” on my camera, but I can’t find the charger and yada yada yada, can’t upload these photos to my computer.) This is a picture I got off the Of Monsters and Men website. We were WELL in front of this white tent, and I honestly don’t think this picture even captures about 1/3 of the people who were there.

The issue was that, first, like I said, Of Monsters and Men is a really good band. Secondly, they were the only band performing at this time, so literally everyone that was at Osheaga came to see them. Like I said, it was about 90 degrees and the middle of the afternoon. The sun was blaring down on us and I started to get kind of panicky/hot/claustrophobic. And when I say “kind of,” I mean, EXTREMELY. We were sweating like crazy and the sun was right in our eyes. Eventually, Zac and I made our way further toward the back of the crowd because when you’re in the front at a concert like that, people just crowd in because they all want to get as good of a position as possible and I pretty much thought I was going to get crushed.

After we got a little further away, everything was fine. It was still VERY, VERY crowded, hot and sunny, but we were able to appreciate the band as we saw a bit more from a less intense vantage point. After Of Monsters and Men, we made our way to the main stage area where we saw the Weekend (AMAZING! I had never heard of them before but now I love them), Florence and the Machine and Sigur Ros. This is the main stage – there were two side by side, and when one act would finish, another would start immediately on the other stage. It was really efficient.

Sigur Ros was actually one of the main reasons Zac wanted to go to Osheaga so badly. They’re a really good Icelandic band (Of Monsters and Men is actually Icelandic also…weird) who Zac has been listening to for quite some time. One of the bad things about any music festival is that there tend to be a lot of young crazy people there. Luckily for us, Sigur Ros was playing at around the same time that another band, MGMT, played. A lot of the young, crazy, annoying drunk people went over to the MGMT stage, leaving a slightly older and less rambunctious group to watch Sigur Ros. I know I sound like I’m about 95-years-old saying this, but honestly, music festival college kids are uh…the worst. So being with a more relaxed crowd was a really nice way to end the otherwise very intense day.

After Sigur Ros, Zac and I literally RAN for the subway. We got back to the city in record time, and everything went far more smoothly than I expected it to.

Overall, my impressions of Osheaga are positive. It’s funny because at the time I was deathly hot, sweating like a pig (don’t tell me how ladylike I am…), claustrophobic, hungry and dehydrated, BUT, looking back on the experience, I would tell you I had a great time and that I can’t wait to go back sometime! It was kind of fun to be outside in a gorgeous park. (Jean Drapeau Park honestly is really pretty – even with the hustle and bustle of a music festival, so I can only imagine what it must normally be like!) I listened to some bands I never would have heard of if I hadn’t been there. People watching at these things is unreal, and overall, it was probably the best day that we had on a completely awesome road trip. It was exciting and fun and I really do hope to make it back to Osheaga sometime. I also hope that if/when I do, it won’t be in the midst of a Canadian heat wave.

Ah Canada – Beautiful In the Winter…

Okay. So remember when I said, “pretend you don’t know I’m back from vacation and I’ll just continue to post as if I’m still there…”? Well…the jig is up. I have obviously NOT been in Canada for the past four months. But I do still want to (b)log this trip in my travel (b)log, so bear with me while I finish this up. Then it will be onto Denver, Vail, and if you’re lucky (and by you, I mean, my completely non-existent blog readers) a post about good ole Oklahoma! 

After our time in Quebec City, Zac and I headed to Montreal. While the vast majority of people we spoke with prior to leaving said that Quebec City was far more interesting than Montreal, Zac and I both thought the opposite! I can definitely see why Quebec City would be a better place to visit if you had kids – there are more actual “attractions” there and things that could keep kids entertained. Montreal is more just a city. As in every big-ish city, there are things to do and see that are more on the touristy side; however, it felt nice to just experience being there and to try to experience some of the authentic culture. 

The view driving in

Like Quebec City, Montreal has a section that is very old, called “Vieux Port.” Unlike in Quebec City, the Vieux-Port in Montreal has been a bit modernized and feels like a real part of a vibrant city – not like a tourist trap. It also is only one small section of the city. Zac and I walked around there a couple of times and we ate there one day, too, on the patio of a really casual, yet tasty restaurant. And here is the downside of blogging about a trip four months later – you kind of forget some of the details about your trip – as in, say, the name of the restaurant I’m referring to right now. It doesn’t matter too much, anyway, because it’s not like I would necessarily recommend going to this exact restaurant. It was a pretty typical restaurant, but it was a nice atmosphere – kind of looking out over the water, but like I said, you could easily replicate this experience at most of the restaurants down on the port. 

Anywayyyyy. One of the most popular things to do in Montreal is to go the “Mountain.” As our guidebook pointed out, it’s not actually a mountain, but a very gently sloping hill. But, everyone there unironically calls in the Mountain. It was a really convenient drive from our hotel to get there (we could have walked, actually, but…eh). Once we drove up to the top, we walked around in the woods up there a little bit, and we had a great view of the city.

Me on the Mountain

Apparently, one of the all-time best things to do if you’re in Montreal in the summer months is to go to the Mountain on late Sunday mornings. There is hardcore LARP-ing (live-action role playing) which you can watch while you (openly) drink bloody marys (how do you pluralize this??), and lay in the sun. Unfortunately, Zac and I were not in Montreal on a Sunday morning to partake in this tradition, but it sounded really fun! 

You guys – quick digression – I think it’s a really bad sign about my blogging abilities that literally at least once each post I think, “I wish you could do footnotes in a blog post.” This little paragraph would probably go in a footnote, if that were possible. Since it’s not, I will just interrupt this beautifully crafted post to explain LARPing since it’s kind of a major part of what I was just talking about. Have you ever seen people in the park on weekend afternoons wearing like…renaissance knight costumes? And they are fake-sword fighting or jousting each other? This is LARPing. I don’t know how people get into it, but it is a decently common thing that is also pretty openly mocked by EVERYONE who doesn’t participate in it. And apparently on the Mountain on Sundays, there is both some world class LARPing, and some world class mocking going on. Okay. So uh…footnote ended. 

After our trip to the Mountain, Zac and I went down to this neighborhood adjacent to the Mountain called “Le Plateau.” It is a really neat area, but it’s also kind of the new up and coming area in Montreal. It’s still in the “hipster” phase of being very cool and edgy, but maybe a bit too underdeveloped for some people’s taste. In about three years, the yuppies will discover it, drive up the prices and then the hipsters will be forced to find another place to claim. The circle of life. 

Like I said, the Plateau was definitely on the “hipster” side of the “Hipster or Brokeass” (eh sorry) scale that Zac and I developed, but only just. (And here’s where there would be another footnote). This Hipster-Broke scale is a highly intricate sliding scale that Zac and I developed while wandering around this area. It’s like, there is a really fine line sometimes between an area that is considered “hipster” or “up and coming” and an area that is considered “dangerous” or “the wrong side of town” or the “blight of the city.” It can sometimes be hard to tell which type of area you may be in. 

So, like I said, the Plateau is safely on the “Hipster” side of the scale, but it still felt new and really unique. We randomly came upon a really adorable kind of like flower-lemonade shop. We went in and had some of the lavender lemonade, ate some of the flower-flavored cookies and relaxed for a bit. 

Bar-Exam hair ;)

We also ate dinner in the Plateau area one night (at an Irish Pub…super cool) and it was interesting to see how, at night, the area became pretty hoity-toity (a factor on the scale) and seemed more upscale than during the day. It was a really interesting and cool area, and the people we met there were young, really cool and really, really friendly. Way TOO friendly in the case of two bartenders at said Irish Pub. But alas, that is a different story for a different day and a different long and very rambling blog post. 

I know I’ve said this before, but I’ll be back with the rest of Montreal soon! 

 

Montmorency Falls

This is a continuation of my Quebec City post from a couple days ago.  I realized when I was about 3/4 done writing that post that I forgot to mention something else that we did, and at that point, I was kind of too lazy to go back and edit.  Gotta keep it interesting around here.

Like I said, in Quebec City, the attractions did not take as long as anticipated, so we were trying to find some other things to do.  Zac read in the guidebook I bought about a waterfall near the city that seemed like it could be really cool to see, Montmorency Falls.  Originally, we thought it was 30 miles outside the city, so we assumed it would be really picturesque and nature-y, so we planned on going out there to have a picnic, hike around and see the falls.

In reality, the waterfall was about a 5 minute drive from the city, and it was actually very very crowded and touristy.  It was a HUGE waterfall – about twice as high as Niagara Falls – and there is a Montmorency Manor right by it, which was a really fancy lunch restaurant.  Also, it was kind of in the middle of a suburb, so it wasn’t very nature-y, and my hiking outfit seemed kind of ridiculous once we got there as seeing the waterfall could not have entailed LESS of a workout if I was looking at a picture of it on the internet.  PS yes, I had a “hiking outfit.”  This is how you know I’m not a real hiker, although I actually do enjoy it.

We parked up at the top of the falls and walked over to the bridge that spans the top of the falls.

You can’t really tell how tall the waterfall is from any of my pictures.

Through the trees

The outfit.

After seeing the waterfall, which, as I’ve been saying about a lot of things in Quebec City, didn’t take nearly as long as anticipated, we decided it would be a good time to replenish our diminished supply of groceries…stupid raccoons.  We found a grocery store in the area and stocked up so we could have some breakfasts, lunches and snacks not in restaurants.

Later that night, we ate a delicious dinner at a restaurant called Le 48 in the Lower Town region.  I took this picture of my fish and chips, which was really good!

Fish & Chips

Obviously, as we all know, this is not a food blog.  The main reason I’m posting this picture is because it reminded me that I wanted to talk about another Quebecoise “delicacy.”  A lot of the restaurants we passed in Quebec did not serve real Canadian food.  They mostly all had Italian, Irish Pub type stuff, pizza, sandwiches, etc.  The one Canadian food we noticed everywhere was this dish called Poutine.

You guys, we all know that America gets a lot of crap for being fat and loving nasty fried food.  Well, I think it’s time we turn our attention to the Canadians in this respect because they truly eat this dish that is SO gross.  It is french fries smothered in gravy and topped with CHEESE CURDS!!!!  And sometimes, if they’re getting fancy, they put other toppings on too, like bacon.  Can we just discuss how terrible that sounds?  I wanted SO badly to order it, and say that I experienced a bit of the local cuisine, but I could not bring myself to do it.  No part of me didn’t want to gag whenever I actually thought about eating a bite of that.  It was kind of disappointing because, as our tour guide at the Citadel said, there was only one restaurant in all of Quebec City that actually served authentic Canadian food, so it was kind of disappointing not to be able to really get into the culture in that respect.

I feel like these past two posts make it sound like I’m trashing Canada, which I am not.  I had a really good time there, and literally everyone we met was so friendly and welcoming.  I just notice the things that I think are funny/weird and like to make light of them.  But truly, Quebec City was a great place, so I’m sorry if these posts make it seem like I didn’t have a good time there.  It was really fun, and Zac and I are already talking about going back to Montreal sometime.  So keep reading, Montreal is coming up next, and there may be a little guest post from my travel partner :)

OH and the answer to my “name that tune” from my last post was Jay-Z.  And my theory of hip hop will just have to be disclosed at a later date.  But once I do disclose it, you will all think I’m brilliant.

 

Excuse my French, but I’m in French-Canada *

*Name that tune!  (Hint: in one lyric of this song, my theory about hip hop is partially confirmed.  Yes, I have a theory about hip hop.  Because I’m hardcore.)

Let’s get down to business.  After camping, Zac and I drove up to visit our neighbor to the north, Canada!  Originally, when we planned this trip, we were going to go straight from Maine to Montreal and spend a fair amount of time there and then Toronto; however, several people told us that we should actually be going to Quebec City and that it was a lot more interesting than Montreal.  So, we drove from Maine to Quebec City and spent a couple of days there.  

Before I talk about Quebec City, I just want to say a few words about the drive because it was beautiful.  Maine is a really beautiful place, and also MOOSE TERRITORY!!!  You know how there are always deer crossing signs everywhere?  Well in Maine, they have Moose Crossing signs.  I was really hoping to see a moose, even though I realized how unlikely that would be.  I mean, of all the times you have ever seen a deer crossing sign, how many times do you actually see a deer nearby?  But, I was looking intently at the sides of the roads for a moose, and I lucked out!!!  I started screaming, probably almost causing Zac to drive into oncoming traffic, but eventually we got turned around and I took a picture of this beautiful scene:

Moosey!!! (I scared him away by screaming this at him as I was trying to take this picture…oops hope he wasn’t too thirsty.)

Maine

Once we got to Quebec, I quickly saw that Quebec City is a really interesting place.  Actually, the whole province of Quebec is pretty interesting.  It’s a French-speaking part of Canada, which is honestly just WEIRD.  This area hasn’t been a French colony since the eighteenth century, and the people who live there are just stubbornly clinging on to their French-speaking history despite the fact that they were a British colony for about 4 times as long as they were ever associated with France.  I actually thought it was fun to be around French again, so I’m not really complaining, but if you think about it from a historical perspective, it is so strange that they speak French anywhere in Canada.  

I thought that Quebec City was very cool, but I will say that I think it was a bit oversold to me.  It is one of the oldest cities in North America, and it is a walled city, so a lot of the old town is within the walls.

What would this blog be without a dorky picture of me? (Stay tuned because there will be more in this post!) These are the aforementioned walls of the city.

Zac and I spent a lot of time walking around within the walls, but were kind of disappointed with how touristy it is.  It doesn’t really feel like there’s much that’s authentic there, but there are some neat shops and restaurants to see. 

Alley

Vieux-Quebec

While we were walking around the Old Port, we stumbled upon a museum of the Quebecoise Navy.  Since we were meandering and not really sure where to head next, we just went in to see what it was like.  This was the first time I realized how intensely proud of their history the Canadians are, and especially of their military history.  I don’t know if I have any military buffs in my readership (no way.) but this may surprise them, as Canada has like…zero independent military history.  Remember that Canada wasn’t even its own country until 1867, and since that time, it has fought ZERO wars where it wasn’t a “teammate” of another country.  Also, Quebec is not a province that borders any ocean.  So the Quebecois Navy defends a river.  Granted, it’s a large river, but a river nonetheless.

As promised.

This theme was reiterated later on the trip when Zac and I took a tour of the Citadel of Quebec.  It’s actually one of the more interesting attractions in Quebec, and walking through the old town didn’t take up quite as much time as we expected it to, so we thought, ‘why not?’  Quebec has a really cool Citadel, which is associated with the fortifications of the city.  The tour guide was going on and on about how efficient and awesome the structure was when someone in our tour group asked, “Has the fortification ever been attacked?” and she was forced to admit that it had not.  But yeah, so all of this is to say that Quebec has a very strong sense of pride in their military, which is really cool, but it is also kind of strange.  One funny/goofy thing of interest is that their military “mascot” is a BILLY GOAT.  Apparently, this goat was given to them by the Queen of England (maybe she was mad about their declaring independence and this was her passive-aggressive gesture?) Regardless, the Canadians apparently see no humor in the fact that this is the image of their military that they are actively promoting:

Did you guys think I was joking about there being a lot of dorky pictures in this post?  Wait, it’s about to get better.

I couldn’t convince Zac to do this with me, so I was forced to play both parts on my own…

I did, however, get Zac to pose in this picture with me, which is an incredible view of the city from the fortifications (disregard my outfit, it’s from earlier in the day when we attempted to go hiking, which will be detailed in a later post…):

So that’s part one of my post about Quebec City.  I don’t mean to be disrespectful to Canada or their military, but it is very, very apparent how much pride they have in this institution, which I think is interesting and noteworthy.  And I do think a billy goat is not that intimidating of a mascot for a military to have.  I think you can agree?  Anyway, I’ll be back to finish talking about the Q.C. later, when I’ll reveal the answer to my “name that tune” and “theory of hip hop” referenced above.  I think I should go into T.V. writing with these cliffhangers, huh?

Sebago Lake State Park

Sorry to keep you guys waiting in suspense to hear all about the rest of the trip!  After my last post, the hotels we stayed at only allowed us to connect so many devices to the internet, and I kept having to choose to connect my phone so I could keep up to date with work e-mails.  Being an adult sucks sometimes (all of the time).  However now that I am back, I plan on just continuing to blog regularly to finish out the posts I had planned to write, so just pretend you don’t know that I’m not currently on vacation and check back for the next week or so for more updates!

Alright, so I last left off saying that I had a surprisingly good time camping.  Does this surprise anyone more than it surprised me?  It worked out really well that we planned on not staying the night in Portland because even though it was really fun and super cute, I think we had kind of exhausted the Portland-esque activities that we wanted to do in one afternoon, and were happy to move on.  We wanted to camp somewhere a bit north of Portland to get a head start on the drive to Quebec City, and it ended up working out perfectly.  Zac asked around a bit in Portland and was told that Sebago Lake State Park was a great place to camp and it was about 30 miles north of Portland, so it was perfect!

We got there around 4:30 or 5, and were assigned our campsite.  While Zac set up our camping gear (I say “our” because I am now the proud owner of my own sleeping bag!), and got everything ready at the site, I ran out to a nearby grocery store to get some things to cook out and snack on during the night.

The sleeping bag I wanted to buy…

Side note, I stopped at Wal-Mart when I stayed over in Erie, PA to get a sleeping bag for this portion of the trip, and I was VERY tempted to buy this Disney Princesses one, but I had a vivid image of me in a tent, soaking wet and freezing cold in my dumb cloth sleeping bag, and it was enough to deter me.  The “real” sleeping bags ranged in temperature from 10-30 and 30-50 degrees.  I got the higher one even though those temperatures seem very low to be sleeping in a tent…hopefully I’ll never really need to test out its true capabilities.  So yeah, that’s the story of my sleeping bag.  How glad are you guys that you know that?

Alright, so when I got back to the campsite with the groceries, Zac had everything set up and ready to go!  After cooking out some hot dogs and having a nice little campfire dinner, Zac and I ventured down to the lake to hang out.  The lake had a little beach area, and we just sat on a log, listened to music and chatted for a while.

So that was camping, and it was really really fun!  The bad part came later when I forgot about all the food I bought and left it sitting out on the picnic table when I went to bed.  The raccoons definitely came out to snatch it around at 2:30 a.m., which woke me up.  Once I was awake, I became very paranoid about the noises I could hear – at first I thought it was a psycho murderer, then I got a bit more realistic and thought it may be a bear, and was equally scared.  Obviously I was way too scared to get out and check since I didn’t want to alert the bear and/or murderer to my presence, so I just laid awake in terror for a while.

Once the noises stopped and I was trying to go back to sleep, it struck me just how uncomfortable I was…this is the major downside of camping.  Sleeping on the ground with no pillow = major back and hip pain.  Yes, I sound like an 80-year-old, but I was in pain all over.  Eventually I tossed and turned around enough to get comfortable enough to fall back asleep, but all in all I think I was laying awake on the ground for about an hour and a half :(

In the morning when I woke up again, I realized that the raccoons had made off with the muffins I bought for breakfast.  Jerks!  However, the good news about this was that it was the perfect excuse to swing by McDonald’s and pick up breakfast, and I am pretty much always looking for an excuse to go to McDonald’s breakfast.  (I’m not kidding, in case that wasn’t obvious – I LOVE fast food, but try not to eat it that often…don’t judge.)

After that, we were off to Quebec Cityl!  I will write about it soon…again, pretend you don’t know that I’m really back in Ohio :)

I’m not drunk!

Whoa, when I just re-read my last post, I realized it sounds like I was really drunk when I wrote that!  I blame Zac.  He was talking to me while I wrote it and I couldn’t keep up my train of thought.  Anyway, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it…

Anyway, I promise I’ll be back soon to talk about camping, etc.  We are now in CANADA, the ancestral homeland of this little gigantic cutie:

So I’ll be back with updates a bit later :)