Bienvenue a Quebec

We've been in Quebec for the past two days.  Ever since we picked up Shauna from her mission, I've wanted to go to Quebec, because I knew that it would be like going to France without having to cross the ocean.  Well, I wasn't disappointed.  We have been staying in Old Quebec, which is about a square mile portion of the old city that is enclosed for the most part by a wall that was built over the years from the early 1600's to help defend the city.  It is distinctly French, looks like many French cities I have been in, certainly sounds French with most people speaking French, but the ones that we encountered we're all bilingual, which made it a lot easier on Mom, and, I'll have to admit, for me as well, because my French isn't what it used to be.  We've done a lot of walking around the old city today, ate a lot, and have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  We'll be heading back to the States tomorrow, and we're looking forward to continuing our journey in New England.

One of the many gates accessing the Old City

At first, we thought this was a monument to a particular superhero, but it turned out to be one of the original leaders of the Catholic church here in Quebec

This reminded us of an area of Paris called Mont Marte

The Quebec and Canadian flags - right over a Subway (don't worry, we didn't eat there)

A typical building in old Quebec next to the walls of the city

The Chateau de Fortenac ( a nice hotel built in the 1890's)

The part of town below the Chateau with fun shops and restaurants

In the lower town, called Petit Champlain

Granite and Maple Syrup

Today we did things that were unique and typical for Vermont.  We started the day by visiting a granite quarry nearby.  Athough New Hampshire is officially the Granite State, Vermont actually produces more granite.  The granite here is a gray granite, probably the most common, and is seen on any of our temples.  The granite is first cut out in huge blocks called benches, which weigh 1,200 tons (that's right tons, not pounds).
Then they are broken into smaller 250 ton blocks so they can be lifted out of the quarry by a huge crane.  The quarry we saw was 600 feet deep, and they anticipate that there will be enough granite in this particular location to keep this operation going for another 40 years.

This pile of granite blocks is called a grout pile, left over from the earlier days of quarrying granite.  These blocks are the discarded onces because of their inferior quality.  Now they take the rejected granite and grind it up for other uses so that there isn't any waste.  I feel sorry for this homeowner whose back yard is covered in granite!

We also visited a maple farm, where they extract the sap from maple trees, and remove the excess water through various processes to end up with maple syrup.  They have maple runs in the spring when the temperatures get about 40 during the day, and that's when the tap the trees to obtain the sap. A maple run will last 2-6 weeks, during which time they are producing all of the maple syrup for the year.  Most of the maple syrup we buy in the stores is made from sugar and water with maple flavoring added.  The real stuff, the pure maple syrup is hard to find but is available if you look for it.

This was the maple farm we visited

They use sugar maples, drill a hole into the tree, insert a hollow tube into the hole and attach these fuel lines to drain the sap into larger containers to be processed into maple syrup

We also visited the capital of Vermont, Montpelier, and saw some vintage churches and buildings of interest.

The state capitol

This church reminded us of some of the temples of the Church

This would make a cool haunted mansion

We have been relying on our map app on our phones to get us where we need to be.  I will just say "Dunkin Donuts nearby", and it will direct me to the nearest store.  Today, we wanted to find a park to eat our lunch, so I asked my phone "parks nearby",and it proceeded to give me a list of 6 or so parks.  We went to the first one, and it turned out to be a triangle of grass in the middle of three intersecting streets with a monument in the middle, and no room for a picnic lunch.  So I asked the same question to my phone, and it gave me the same list, and I said "no" to the first one, it then asked me about the next one, and I said "no", and againg the third one I said "no", upon which my phone responded, "Oh don't get me started".  We just looked at each other and burst out laughing!

some more scenes of the Vermont countryside

Lake Champlain - New England's West Coast

Today we visited the largest lake in New England, and , by some,
considered to be the 6th of the Great Lakes.  But first, we had to visit some of the local places that make great treats.  Here in the town of Waterbury, where we are currently staying, you will find the headquarters of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.  We went on a tour of their facility, where we looked into a room where they make all of their ice cream.  (Sorry, Steve, I tried to take pictures of their production line, but they wouldn't allow photography in case there was any industrial espionage going on.)  The best part of the tour was free samples of their ice cream!  I'll admit, it was pretty darn good!  Then we went down the street to an apple cider press, and watched them place chopped-up apples onto layers and layers of porous trays, then place that into a cider press, and watch all of the juice come out and into a tank.  So, we sampled some of the cider, and also had some of their cider donuts, which was also delicious.  Then we headed to Burlington and toured the Lake Champlain chocolate factory, which was the most interesting tour of all, because we got to see them actually making chocolate confections from start to finish in this one room.  Of course, we got to sample some of their treats at the end of the tour. 

We then boarded the Ethan Allen III and sailed on Lake Champlain for a narrated cruise of the lake.  The lake is over a 100 miles long and 12 miles wide at its widest point, and forms most of Vermont's western border with New York, which is why some people refer to Vermont's western border as New England's west coast.  Several naval battles took place there during the Revolutionary War.  You can actually sail from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Champlain by way of its northern outlet which flows into the St. Lawrence River, and by canals to the south which connects to the Hudson River.  Anyway, we really enjoyed the cruise and the scenery.

Sailboat with the Green Mountains of Vermont in the distance

The Adirondack Mountains of New York in the distance

Lake Champlain from Burlington

Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial

Today we attended church at the Montpelier Ward, then in the afternoon, we visited the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial.  It is located in South Royalton/Sharon, Vermont, about 45 minutes from where we are staying.  Joseph Smith, Sr. and his family were renting a small house from his father-in-law, Solomon Mack, when Joseph Jr. was born.  Here in this part of the country, a town is not just a place where there are a bunch of building and streets, but it also encompasses the surrounding countryside until it runs into the next town borders, kind of like a county.  The dividing line between the towns of South Royalton and Sharon ran right through the Smith home, and Joseph Smith Jr. claims that he was born on the side of the house that was in the town of Sharon.  All that remains of the house is the actual doorstep to the home and some stones placed where they feel the foundation of the home was.  What is more impressive is the monument itself.  It stands almost 51 feet tall, is made of Vermont granite, and is topped with an obelisk that is 38 1/2 feet tall, representing one foot for every year of the Prophet's life.  President Joseph F. Smith, who was the prophet when the monument was built, wanted the obelisk to be polished granite, so that it would reflect light.  It certainly does that when the sun hits it just right.

We were given a tour of the grounds by a wonderful older sister missionary, Sister Mumford.  She gave us our own private guided tour of the monument and the surrounding grounds, and took us on their golf cart through the woods to the location of several other homes on the property that belonged to the Mack family.  It impressed me how these hardy people were able to make a living off of the land in this area where the soil is thin and the winters can be quite harsh.

It was a wonderful restful day, and we felt renewed spiritually and physically.  We are grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and for all that the prophet Joseph Smith did in helping to bring to pass the restoration.

We did stop by a cemetery and viewed some old head stones, many dating back to the early 19th century, about the same time that the Smith family lived here.  It also gave us an opportunity to enjoy some of the Vermont countryside.

 

The grounds of the memorial

 

This is a common sign on the highways here in New England.  As much as we would love to see a moose, we are happy that we have not encountered one of the large gangley beasts on the highway

Welcome to Vermont

Today we left New Hampshire and entered Vermont, which is only a couple of hours at the most from anywhere in New Hampshire.  We entered Vermont by way of the Cornish-Windsor
covered bridge, which crosses the Connecticut River and is the longest wooden covered bridge in the US and the longest double span wooden bridge in the world.  It is wide enough for 2-way traffic, and we saw a good amount of traffic go through it in the few minutes that we were stopped there.

We also stopped at the Vermont Country Store, which is a huge on-line store that carries just about anything nostalgic and country you can think of.  We had fun looking at vintage games and toys from our childhood, all kinds of candy, kitchen implements, gadgets, you name it.  The interesting thing about this store is that it is in the middle of the country in south-central Vermont, hours from any town of any size or from any major highway.  But it didn't lack for business when we were there today.  I guess it's close enough to the major cities on the east coast that a lot of people come up here for the weekend.

We drove through beautiful countryside in Vermont, and realized that most of Vermont is just that: countryside and beautiful.  It ranks 49th in population, with about 600,000 residents, and beating out Wyoming by just a few thousand.  We are now in Waterbury, Vermont, close to the capitol of Montpelier and only half an hour from Burlington Vermont and Lake Champlain.

The Cornish-Windsor covered bridge

Maybe a bit outdated sign on the bridge

Mom remembers playing this when she was about 12 or 13

Typical country church

Vermont countryside

Covered Bridges

Today was rainy off and on, so we decided the best way to spend our time was to visit the many covered bridges they have here in New Hampshire.  I think there are some 50 or so covered bridges in this state, most of them dating to the mid to late 1800's, but all of them have been updated but kept to their original design and construction.  Most still allow traffic through them, some are only for pedestrians.  They all were located over beautiful rivers, and the views from the bridges were just as beautiful as the views of the bridges.  To get to the various bridges, it was necessary to drive through the countryside, often times on just a local road, and once a dirt road, so we got to see a lot of the beautiful New England countryside.  All in all, it was a beautiful day!