On to Quebec!

As a part of our Fall Leaf Tour, we had decided to visit our friends Ernie and Noela who lived just across the border near Lachute, Quebec.

On Wednesday morning, we loaded up Ken & Bonnie's car and left the campground around 8:15.  We crossed the border into Quebec...

...and within a couple of hours, we were approaching Montreal.

Because the traffic was fairly congested as we traveled through Montreal and we were all needing a bathroom break, we stopped at a Tim Horton's on the other side of Montreal.  We enjoyed some hot drinks and some of their TimBits.  :)

As we headed out of Montreal, the countryside was dotted with farms everywhere.

About this time, Bonnie realized she had left her belly bag at Tim Horton's.  Fortunately, when we called the restaurant, someone had found it and turned it in to the manager.  Thank goodness!  Since we were so close to Ernie and Noela's, we drove on to their house and decided we would go back to Tim Horton's after lunch.

After hugs and greetings with Ernie and Noela, we enjoyed a delicious lunch of cold cuts, cheeses, and salads.  Then, we all hopped in Ernie's big truck and drove back to Tim Horton's to pick up Bonnie's bag, and then out to their family horse farm.

At their horse farm, they give riding lessons as well as stable and board horses.

The farm was started by his dad, and then Ernie and Noela took it over and added their own ideas, and now their son, Peter and his wife are running their farm and adding their own touch to the business.

Ernie and Noela gave us a tour of the stables and the fields...

...with their cute little granddaughter, Alexanne, leading the way.  :)

We also met the biggest horse living at the farm, Allie May.

They explained a lot of what it takes to run a horse farm and riding stables and it is a lot of hard work!  Every day the stables have to be mucked out and the horses fed and taken care of as well as all the riding lessons they provide.  During the summer, many of the riders participate in horse shows and the farm transports the horses back and forth to the shows.  And on top of that they make a lot of their own hay so during the summer they are busy cutting, raking, bailing and storing hundreds of big bales of hay.

After saying our good-byes to Peter and his family, Ernie & Noela took us to a park located on the reservoir of the Riviere des Outaouais.

After parking the truck, we walked along a bike trail down to a nearby campground.  The campground had full hookups and a lot of nice big sites.

As we walked through the campground, we enjoyed talking and visiting as we went along which always makes walking more fun.

After we returned to Ernie and Noela's house, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of coq au vin that Noela had prepared for us and then played a couple of games of SkipBo with the women winning both games!

Touring Around Vermont

With a 100% chance of rain today, we figured today would be a good day to visit some of the local specialty stores and visit Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory.  We also wanted to see the Von Trapp Family lodge in Stowe, Vermont.  Since the rain wasn't supposed to move in until after noon, we decided to take a drive through the countryside to Stowe, Vermont, first.

The leaf colors are changing more every day.

Vermont's countryside is so picturesque with all its barns and farms.

Our first stop of the day was at the Vermont Maple Outlet in Jeffersonville.  They had an exhibit that showed how maple trees are tapped for their syrup.  The tube coming down from the tap connects to a main line that other trees are tied into.

Below is how they used to tap the trees and collect the syrup.

We tried some maple caramels which were pretty good and then headed back down the road.  We drove past this old mill...

...and then headed up the mountain towards Smugglers Notch.

We could see a few of the green ski runs from the Smugglers Notch Resort.

When we reached the summit,

we could barely see the Smugglers Notch Cliffs because of the clouds.

Smugglers' Notch got its name because the narrow pass was used by northern Vermonters when President Thomas Jefferson passed an embargo act forbidding American trade with Great Britain and Canada.  Since Montreal was closer, the locals continued illegal trade with Canada carrying the goods and herding cattle through the Notch.  In later years, fugitive slaves used the Notch as an escape route to Canada and during Prohibition, liquor was smuggled over from Canada.  

As we began descending from the summit through the tight windy curves, we began to understand why it was called a Notch.  

We soon came to another part of the Stowe Mountain Resort where gondolas were crossing over the road.  

As we approached the town of Stowe, we passed by this very unusual jeep...

...with extreme traction control.  :)

Before heading into Stowe, we drove up to the Trapp Family Lodge.

The Trapp Family Lodge is a 2,400 acre resort that was formerly the home of the Trapp Family -- the family from which The Sound of Music was written.  Baron Georg von Trapp and his wife Maria settled their family in Vermont in 1942.  The family expanded the home to a 27 room ski lodge in 1947 but the lodge was destroyed by fire in 1980.  A new Austrian-syle lodge was opened in 1983.  

The clouds had really moved in and it had started raining so we were unable to enjoy the views which reminded the Trapp family of their Austrian home from which they fled.

It does look like they might have enough wood for a long cold winter.  :)

After leaving the Trapp Family Lodge, we drove into Stowe and found a Subway where we enjoyed our Subway "picnic" lunch under their porch.  

Our next stop was the Vermont Annex Store in Waterbury.  

We sampled cheese at the Cabot Annex Store...

...and chocolate at Lake Champlain Chocolates.

Next, we headed a little further south to my favorite place of the day:  Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory.  :)

We took a tour of the factory that involved a short movie explaining how the company evolved, watching the ice cream being made and packaged and then sampling some ice cream in the lab where Ben and Jerry originally tested their flavors.  

I really liked this sign in their lab.

And their ice cream was delicious (of course)!  

After finishing the tour, we got a "real" cone of ice cream (not just a sample) and the boys got their picture taken on a Half Baked Lid of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.  :)

How do you like the Ben & Jerry RV?  This is similar to the original Ben & Jerry RV that they drove around the country in the early years introducing people all over the country to their ice cream.  Unfortunately, the original RV burned up on their way back home which ended up bringing national attention to their ice cream.  

Our last stop for the day was at the Green Mountain Coffee Cafe located at the train station in Waterbury.  

I'm the only coffee drinker of the bunch so I was the only one to sample some of their coffees.  We sat outside for a few minutes while I was enjoying my coffee and while we were there, the same couple we had met at Bolton Landing who had been staying at the B&B that was a boathouse over Lake George happened to walk up.  What a coincidence!  We enjoyed talking with Tom and Michelle from Michigan again and hope to meet them again some day!  :)

While it was a rainy day (and is still raining now as I write this post), it was another great day.  We have fun and meet the nicest people no matter what the weather is like!  :)