Day 7--Montreal's Place des Arts & Place des Congres

Day 7—Fri June 18
An Evening in Montreal

After the market, we walked the distance home, rested for a bit, ate a burrito dinner, and then walked to the Metro and took it to Place des Arts. On the way we passed a bakery with elaborate cakes in its window, a store selling fresh seafood, and walked through an alley where I took a shot of a colorful clothesline.

At the Place des Arts we stepped into the jumping beat of a big concert of salsa, calypso, reggae, meringué music with thousands of people crowded into a large plaza before elaborately lit stages. Here among the throngs, we met Luke's girlfriend, Diane, at the Starbucks. It was so hot and so packed with people that Suz and I waited in long lines to get cold drinks.

Diane introduced us to a lot of her friends (all gay men) and we stood for a couple of hours way back from the stage, listening to the music and people-watching. I was leaning on the building and an older man came and leaned beside me; then leaned into me, closing the space each time I moved away. Finally, I stepped back into a doorway to get out of his reach, but he kept looking back to see what I was doing. I was uncomfortable because of this and because we had walked such a distance and stood for so long. My feet and tailbone were sore.

Diane, Luke, and Suz in our little niche before the Starbucks



The windows of this building on the edge of the park flashed to the beat of the music and changed color

The windows are now red; note the crush of young people

From where we were standing we could see the stage performance best on the huge TV monitors

The stage like the nearby windows changed colors to the beat of the music

We left about 10:30 pm for the Metro and got home a bit after 11. The Metro was in the Palais des Congres with its varied colored windows and an art display called the Lipstick Forest. I took pix of Suz and Luke in the forest .

As soon as we got back to the apartment we all fell into bed to read a bit and cool off before going to sleep. 

Father’s Day tomorrow and and Jessica’s birthday today. Just now remembered. Dang! Missed them both.

Day 8--Dinner at Diane's

Day 8—Saturday, June 19,
Montreal, QUE,
0 mi

Woke up when we woke up and then walked to breakfast at a popular little French restaurant around the corner from Luke’s apartment. I had two eggs over etc. with large delicious thin crepe.

After breakfast, Suz and Luke went to the Botanical Gardens. I stayed in the apartment and worked on my journal. My spine/tailbone is still extremely sore whenever I must walk, stand, or climb stairs; just plain sore when I sit. Mother/son needed some time together without me.

The two got back to the apartment, and after about an hour or so we dressed and drove over to Diane’s house, about half an hour from Luke’s in another part of the city. On the way we passed the church towers below and we also drove across the Jacques-Cartier Bridge and saw two enormous ferris wheels in La Ronde Theme park on an island below the bridge.

At the Buchanan’s, we sat in the back yard and enjoyed an edamame appetizer and then a cold green bean-mushroom salad, dirty rice, and wonderful mustard salmon for dinner with white wine. After dinner Diane served a tiramisu that she had made because the night before, at the concert, Luke had primed us to say that the food at his place was good but that we missed desserts, such as tiramisu. Voila! It worked. Diane made a delicious tiramisu.

Me, Diane's mother Marie Yvanne, Luke, and Diane after dinner in the backyard

When the mosquitoes started biting, we moved inside, took pix, and talked for a bit, and then left for home about 10 pm.

Marie Yvanne, Luke, Diane pulling a zany face, and Suz

We crossed the St Lawrence over another bridge but could see a fireworks display over the river by the Jacques-Cartier.

Fireworks and ferris wheel near the Jacques-Cartier

Day 9--Theft & Destruction

Day 9—Sunday, June 20
Montreal, Que
0 mi

Woke this am early and let the cats in and out and then read for awhile while Suz and Luke slept. I’m reading the Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummins and loving it.

When Suz got up, we had a bite of breakfast and then donned our cycling clothes. We planned on Luke’s driving us to the Route Verte (Green Route) and cycling for several hours before running Luke, who relies on public transportation, to Ikea and several outlying stores in the afternoon. 

However, when we got down to the street and the car, we found the front driver’s window broken into small glittering pieces which littered the street and front seat . . . and the GPS gone. There is something conspiring to keep us off our bikes!

We trooped back upstairs and looked up an auto glass place. They could fix the window if they could have the car between 1 and 5. So. . . we changed out of our cycling clothes, worked on getting all the glass and the remaining things out of the car, and then drove to IKEA where Luke bought a shelf unit and we enjoyed strolling through. I bought a few small things for Christmas stockings.

Then we went to Buy Rite and bought a new TomTom GPS. After this we went to a few outside equipment stores looking (still unsuccessfully) for long underwear for Suz. When we got back to the apartment, we unloaded our stuff and then Suz and Luke drove the car to the Auto Glass place which required a long walk to the Metro or home; thus, I did not go but worked on this journal. Surprisingly, the place paid for a taxi to bring Suz and Luke back to the apartment. 

Suz and Luke ate lunch—I’d already eaten—and then we all played with our computers and photos for a bit until mother and son returned to the Auto Glass place to pick up their car at about 3 pm.

For dinner this evening we three went to the Bombay Mahal and had delicious Indian food. 

We treated Luke—the bill came only to $50, including the tip. When we returned to the apartment, we caught up the journal, transferred money, and printed directions to Button Bay State Park and to Burlington, Vermont, from Montreal.

Day 10--Button Bay Camping, VT

Day 10—Monday, June 21,
Montreal to Vergennes, VT
418 miles


Our very circuitous route out of Canada and to our Vermont campsite

We said our goodbyes to Luke who had to be at McGill and in Montreal by 7:30 am.

Suz and I packed up the car with some difficulty. Luke’s street is one way, so first Suz went up the street to get the car and then drove it around the block to park it across the street and closer to Luke’s apartment. Then, we two cleaned out the car and put the bike rack on it. Then Suz brought all of the luggage down Luke’s curving wrought iron steps from the second floor—Charlotte running up and down the steps too. Suz had to bring the luggage because my tailbone is still an agony and even without carrying anything I have to take the steps like a baby—slowly and with both feet on one step.

Because of her injured wrist, however, Suz could not get the bikes down so I managed to shoulder them down. Mine is light and was okay to heft onto my shoulder, but hers with its rear rack I carefully bumped down one step at a time. Finally we had the bikes and gear loaded. Got off about 8:30 am, with Suz doing the city driving which she doesn’t mind but I dislike. We headed out without hooking up Suzette, our new GPS. We had Google printed directions to Burlington, VT and then directions from there to Button Bay on Lake Champlain where would camp. Peter & Sonja are in Costa Rica or we would have stayed with them.

Well, we sailed 35+ miles past out turn south on US-87. When we discovered our error, we got off and headed south on Hwy 243 to 245 and crossed the border north of Newport, VT, via a tiny border crossing.

Entering Vermont from Canada

Desperate for a bathroom and needing gas we stopped at a station and got gas. The station had no bathrooms, a theme prevalent in VT. Very few of the general stores, gas stations, or shops have public toilets.

Groceries and gas, yes; public bathroom, no

So, we stopped at the first roadside picnic tables we found and used the "green door." The picnic tables were beside Route 5 and pretty noisy but we didn’t mind as we wanted to stretch and enjoy some crackers and cheese.

Suz enjoys crackers and cheese at a roadside pitstop

I called Peter & Sonja several times but got only the answering machine as they must still be in Costa Rica.

We arrived at our campsite about 5 pm after a full day in the car driving bootless extra miles but enjoying the beautiful drive through the green mountains. Our timing precluded all but a very short 5-mile ride before putting up our tents and getting dinner. I hope we can get in more riding, but the weather and the time seem to prohibit same.

My tent; I didn't take my ultralite Hubba Hubba because I needed more warmth in these northern climes

Suz enjoying dinner at our Button Bay campsite

Suz blowing bubbles after dinner; we needed a little inanity after this long day

For dinner we had noodles Parmesan with tuna and the green salads Hansi had fixed for us. The salads were still surprisingly fresh and crunchy. We ended the meal with bite-sized Oreos and coffee.

After dinner we took another ride, this time out to the point at the recommendation of the duty ranger. To get there we had to pedal a dirt/gravel track through the woods. It was hot but very beautiful at the point which was across from a small island and covered with flat rocks that stretched into the water. We searched for the small button stones for which this area of Lake Champlain is famous, but the Ranger told us that campers had long ago collected the last of them.

Internet photo of Button Bay "buttons" returned by the Girl Scouts after many years

When climbing the mere three steps up from the rocks at the point, I had a brief bawl. How was I ever going to ride in Newfoundland? I was in agony with my spine and had to crawl up the rocks. I was thinking about our third day in NF—a day reserved for hiking Gros Morne Park. I will not be able to do it if this pain does not subside. I cannot walk or climb without breath-catching pain. 

In the tent I made myself as comfortable as possible and almost finished reading Outside Boy. Spent a wakeful, uncomfortable night.

Day 11--Second Day at Button Bay

Day 11, Tuesday, June 22
Button Bay, Vergennes, VT
Biked 22 miles

Today we finally got in a ride. We ate a leisurely breakfast and then donned our bike duds and rode 11.5 miles down Button Bay Road, which is also the Champlain Bikeway. It felt great to be on a bicycle again, particularly as I found a solution to my tailbone pain last night—four Ibuprofen and an Advil. By the time we’d finished breakfast, I was moving with more ease and less discomfort than I have been since my fall.

On our ride, we stopped at two different old cemeteries and also took several photos of the vistas and farms and farmhouses. We stopped at 11.5 miles because there was a general store at this junction—the only commercial place we’d encountered on this lovely rolling ride.

Near treeless McMansion with  acres of mowed lawn on the Lake Champlain shore; its only redeeming factor the builder's attempt to make it look old  by copying the style of most VT farmhouses: hooking all the buildings together so that one can get from the house to barn (in this case garage) without having to go out in the snow

At the g.s. we ate a couple of deviled eggs and some potato salad at a long wooden table set off to the side. I also had a Mocha Frappacino (Suz nabbed the last coffee) and bought a bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies. 

Feeling full and happy, we bicycled back to the campsite with the wind at our backs. I would have been content to cycle all day, but we needed certain supplies, so around noon we took off for Williston. Before leaving, I took another dose of painkillers. Too soon, I think, as I got very woozy and sleepy. Had to ask Suz to take over the driving. 

We stopped in Vergennes and Suz, a rock hound, scoured the small nearby beach for some of Lake Champlain's Zebra stones. She found plenty to fill her pockets, and I picked up a perfect heart stone to carry back to Jeff.

We also stopped at the Kennedy Brothers Factory, but it it is housed in a modern brick building and sells only touristy stuff now, and not the beautiful maple bowls that it sold back when I went to school in VT. Nevertheless, Suz bought a cherry bowl for Jim and a couple of spools and odds and ends. Then we stopped at the Vermont Wildflower Farm and bought some seeds.

It took us forever to find the Williston WalMart. It was hidden behind some other buildings and did not have the large sign that it does in other places . . . this is very nice now that I think about it. Suz needed to buy a duffel bag for her camping gear and we both bought a pillow. Suz has to be careful because she broke her neck years ago and still gets neck/headaches if she doesn’t align it correctly at night, and my pillow isn’t large enough. I wanted to buy some body wash as I’d left mine at Hansi’s. Suz bought a new pair of long pants also.

On our way back to the campsite it clouded over darkly and began to rain. We decided that we would rent a cabin there if it was not too expensive. But, when we got to the campgrounds, no one was on duty and there was no way to change our overnight reservations.

Our camp dinner between the raindrops this evening was rice, cheese, tuna again, and Caesar salad.

Dinner over, we made peanut butter sandwiches for tomorrow's drive

Slept a bit better, but the pillow I bought is too soft, and it poured all night.

Day 12--Reunion in Randolph, VT

Day 12, Wednesday, June 23
Button Bay, VT, to Randolph, VT
60 miles

It rained heavily all night, again ruining our plans for a morning ride before driving to Suz’s friends’ house in Randolph, VT. Nonetheless, we ate our usual bowl of oatmeal and then packed up our soggy tents and gear. It took us three hours to eat breakfast and break camp. We must do much better than that on the ride!

My wet, soggy tent

Determined to get in a ride, we donned our bike clothes and started out along the Champlain Bikeway in the opposite direction of the day before. Soon we were in a resort area that also contained the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. We stopped here at 9:50 am and the woman putting up the flag told us that they opened at 10 but that we could begin our tour. When we saw a $9 entry fee, we told her that we had to be out of our campsite by 11 and that we thought we’d skip the tour. She really wanted us to see the place, so gave us entry stickers and told us to donate something on the way out. We went to the building with the video she recommended but the lights would not turn on nor would the video work, so we walked to the harbor and saw the longboats, a Lake Champlain replica of the gunboat Philadelphia, and a replica of the 1800s schooner Lois McClure. Two re-enactors who were there took us on a tour of the boats and told us their histories.

The 1800's Lois McClure Schooner

Galley

Suz checking out a supply box

Re-enactor--a much stouter version of Cap Huff?

The Philadelphia, a 1700's lake gunboat

Two beautiful long boats docked near the ships

After this we rode back to the campgrounds, packed up the last of our things, and started off toward Randolph. We had cycled only 4.5 miles!

We stopped in Middlebury for lunch and a visit to the folk museum next door to the restaurant. Ironically I had stopped here and visited the folk museum just the year before when on the C2C ride. Finally we headed out of town to pick up Hwy 123 over the mountains and past the Waybury Inn.

Internet photo of the Waybury Inn where Jeff & I held our wedding luncheon in 1969.

Decoy display in the Middlebury Folk Museum

Hwy 123 was being resurfaced, so it was a slow, dusty climb. We stopped at the Ripton General Store and bought two wedges of VT Sharp Cheese (I'd stopped here last year, too).

The proprietress at Ripton General Store, still using an antique cash register

Ripton General Store, site of frequent snack cheese runs when Jeff and I attended Bread Load School of English

Ripton General Store woodstove, still in use during the winter months

Near the top of the mountain we passed the Robert Frost Wayside and then came to Bread Loaf. I was driving, so drove us onto the campus a bit.

Bread Loaf dormitories, nearest is Larch; the other is Birch where Jeff and I had  a room on the third floor

After passing Bread Loaf, we drove down to the Middlebury Snow Bowl for a quick look, and then stopped at Texas Falls. Here rock hound Suz gathered some more rocks (she had gathered some small ones the day before at Lake Champlain).

Suz posing prettily whilst gathering stones

On the other side of the mountain, we stopped in Rochester at a used book/bakery across from the Pumpkin Patch B & B where I stayed last summer with the C2C crew. We hung a left out of Rochester and climbed over Rochester mountain to Hwy 12, which we took north to Randolph. The road was very scenic and steep.

We got to Randolph about 4:30 pm. No one was home, and we were just deciding to tour the town a bit when Gordon and Bonnie Grant pulled in. These are old friends of Suz's and her first husband, Luke's dad. Their house is enormous and painted orange, yellow, and red. We were eating cheese and crackers and enjoying a glass of wine when Luke and Diane pulled in, they, too, with a bottle of wine and a loaf of delicious crusty bread. They had driven down to this reunion from Montreal.

Dinner was chili a delicious salad, and Luke & Diane’s bread. After dinner we took a walk through this picturesque town and then returned for brownies and yogurt ice cream before bed.