Leaf-Peeping 2010

1,776 miles driven over 12 states in 4 1/2 days

Here is where we went Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Canada (Montreal and Quebec), Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut.
full photo album

Thurs night:
left around 9:00 pm and drove until 12:00 and slept at a rest stop in New Jersey

Friday:
Headed north through New York State. Saw upstate New York which was absolutely beautiful this time of year. We drove through the Adirondack State Park, through Albany and into Canada.

Drove all around Montreal. Found a Starbucks for free wi-fi and realized that Montreal was not where we thought we were going and actually we were hoping to see Quebec City.

Ate dinner in Montreal at the most charming restaurant called Juliette & Chocolat in the hippest most fabulous neighborhood.

377, avenue Laurier Ouest
Montreal, QC H2V 2K3, Canada
(514) 510-5651
julietteetchocolat.com‎

I ordered in French. It was fabulous. We had a jambon and fromage (ham and cheese) crepe and a dulche de leche pear desert crepe. Yummy.

We got back in the car and drove 3 more hours and slept at a beautiful rest stop outside of Quebec City. Man it was cold that night in the car.

Saturday:
Drove into Quebec City. I was giddy like a school girl. I loved it. I loved the language, the people, the food, the architecture, the experience. Words can not do justice to the European quaintness of old town Quebec, but maybe photos can.

Around 2 pm we jumped back into the car to head back to the USA and drove through Maine on a small highway and past a gorgeous lake called Wayman Lake. The leaves were bursting with color.

6 hours later we made it to Portland, Maine where we ate lobster at Jay's Oysters. Neither Paul or I had even had lobster before, so it was quite comical to watch us try to figure out how to shell the thing. I will say that it was amazingly delicious, but Paul and I agree that we will never eat food again where we can still see its body as we are consuming it.

Sunday:
Woke up early to find a shower. We found a YMCA in Portland and they gave us a shower pass for only $3 a person. So off we headed to our respective locker rooms only to find out that the ladies showers were communal. I am not a nudist and felt a little awkward to shower in front of a bunch of ladies, but my pits stunk and my hair was a bit oily so I had to just do it.

We spent most of Sunday in Maine driving down the coast and looking at small towns and saw the famous Portland Headlight as posted about earlier.

We stopped in Kittery, Maine and took the dogs to an amazing park/beach where we let them run off leash. Jack kept drinking the salt water and shortly thereafter realized it didn't sit well in his stomach as diarrhea shot out of his bum. Poor Jack. I had to actually wipe his butt with a towel, it was really awesome. Paul made me do it cause he was gagging.




From Maine we headed into Salem, Massachusetts to see the famous Witch Museum. I must say I was a bit disappointed. I was expecting something more horrific and spooky. Lots of people were dressed up though, but not my favorite part of the trip.

Around dinner time we rolled into Boston. I was told we had to eat Italian food in Northern Boston and googled to find a well recommended restaurant calle Giacomos on Hanover Street. We drove past and it was packed. The line was out the door and the wait was over 2 hours. So I called them up, got the order to go in 15 min flat and we ate in the car. I would highly recommend this restaurant. We got pumpkin sage tortellini with a marscapone sauce and it was definitely enough for 2 all for $14. It was heavenly.

Monday:
Headed to Cape Cod. Found some magical deserted beach and ran the dogs for a while.

Continued to New York to see some friends and got stuck in horrible holiday traffic. Ate dinner in Westchester New York outside of the city and began our return home. We made it as far as New Jersey and slept at another rest stop.

Tuesday:
Drove home and had 6 hours of class that evening.

Wew, I am tired.
Click here for more photos (all 200 of them! Enjoy.)