Road Warrior Momma: Day 16

Day 16 – June 13, 2102

Burlington. VT – Montreal, On

96 miles/2hours

I don’t know what it was….Vermont air, perhaps….but the chickadees slept till 8:30!!! I couldn’t believe it. Construction around the hotel had me up at 6:30!

Took our time getting ready and then walked around downtown Burlington (late breakfast at Starbucks). It was still pretty cloudy & a little chilly. We ended up buying new sandals for me (blew mine out on the Cape), Aud (hers were old, dirty & ugly) & Bear (who grew out of the ones I bought in MAY!). Then we headed lakeside.

Lake Champlain was so pretty, with the mountains of upstate New York on the horizon. I tried so hard to get good pictures, but FAIL. So little justice in what I got. It was beautiful. What baffled me – we were the only people there! No one was around?

Back to the hotel we dragged ourselves to check out. I successfully snuck a bell cart…got it all loaded and we made it to the parking garage, where we got busted by the bellmen of the day….I feel terrible (I worked at a bell desk for a season in FL), but can’t afford $10 a check-in/out (with all our luggage – easily $20 a day). He kindly backed off…but, still stood around and watched!?

So with a heavy heart, we bid Vermont adieuL.

On the way to Montreal, Rich called me to ask me if I’d checked with Verizon about coverage…I did not. Honestly, I’d forgotten. So, I was nervous heading north…not sure why or what I expected, crossing the border. They just asked for my passport & the kids’ documentation. She asked me if I had permission from their dad to take them to Canada, and I presented a letter. She asked me where I was going and why & if I had a place to stay. Then she asked if I was transporting alcohol or tobacco…I said no, and immediately panicked. I did check beforehand and my research indicated that I could bring alcohol….I had a bottle of wine (unopenedJ) left over from the Cape.

Now, officially, nervous.

On our way – and I noticed all highway signs are in French (no clue) and the speed is listed in kilometers (my speedometer doesn’t measure in KMs). Aw jeez…I was right to be nervous. Can see it now, pulled over for speeding and busted for packing wine.

But we made it to Montreal, without incident. I also did it with printed out Mapquest directions….as Verizon lit up my phone as soon as I crossed the border with warnings of excessive data charges. Phone is off until Saturday.

We took a walk through Old Montreal and it was no different (IMO) from any other city? I really didn’t see anything extraordinary. Even the Note Dame Basilica wasn’t as pretty as some churches I’ve seen in Boston and New York.

We found no restaurant that interested us in our journey (some fare offered: sweet breads, duck confit, lamb lollypops, roasted rabbit). Our dinner was in the Marriott dining room.

Kids were less than thrilled to discover Canadian TV had Phineas & Pherb in French! It was too funny watching their reaction…poor kids; have to play with each otherJ.

Sorry, I have no pictures from today….some sort of memory problem is preventing me from
downloading and then uploading. Hopefully Rich can fix it this weekend. BummerL.