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Darn fence!
You can see other interpretations of ‘boundry’ at the original post. Or you can check out a few of my favorites so far here, here and here.
This is an intriguing photo challenge. What boundaries do you see around you? Care to share?
Peep and me meeting this morning at the park.
Peep and I had so much fun! We especially liked foiling all our mamas’ attempts to get cute pictures of the two of us together. We talked about it before we set out on the trail and decided one or the other of us would always turn away when either of them pointed a camera at us.
Got our plan down. Onward!
It worked great.
They hardly got any good pictures of us together while we went on our long walk. After awhile they just gave up. Score one for the dogs!
What’s over there?
We got to walk through the beautiful woods on a very pretty day. And it was cooler too, only in the 50s (10s in Celsius) which I like a whole lot better than the hot summer days when my coat is just so hot!
Want to come to the park with me next time?
Most of the time I got to be off leash, though when we got near a road my mama put my leash back on cause you know I like to chase cars. There wasn’t anyone else out there though, it was wonderful. The whole place was just for us!
This is my good friend Peep!
Peep and I decided that once we got back to the beach we’d let the moms take pictures of us sitting together, as long as they didn’t make us sit too close.
We did this for the moms.
We like each other and all, but we still like our own personal space, you know?
So then after we posed for them my mama was talking to Peep’s mom about calling us so she could get pictures of us running to her, and I heard her say ‘call’ and figured that was good enough, so I took off for her, leaving poor Peep in the dust.
Coming mama!
Peep says the only reason I got ahead of her was because I cheated. I think it’s my due as a princess.
Either way we had a wonderful time out there in the park for a couple of hours. When we got home mama had to comb out my furs to get all the bits of leaves and stickers out of me. I was sort of a mess. But I’m a good girl and stood quietly on my table till she was done cleaning out my armpits.
Then I took a nap. Cause that’s what a princess does after a big day. I heard mama and Peep’s mom talking about when we can go again before hunting season. I’m pretty sure we’re going to get one more long walk together soon.
Wait up!
I hope so. Cause Peep and I are champion walkers in the woods kind of dogs. Plus we look good doing it.
Don’t you agree?
Yep. Will pose for food.
.
This is MY house!
I can not believe my mama took me to that place! She had only been home for two days and I wasn’t nearly finished playing with her when suddenly she took me for a ride and left me there!! She said she was really sad when she dropped me off and she even cried in the car after, but I don’t believe it.
I’m not even sure I want to talk to her, though I did howl all the way home from camp. Mama tried to talk to me but I would not listen and would hardly look at her while we were driving home. I didn’t trust her when she said we were going to see daddy.
But then we pulled into my driveway. Mama had opened the windows and I was sniffing (it’s hard to howl and sniff at the same time, I think mama did this on purpose!) and I could tell it was my house so I started pawing at my crate door real hard and mama laughed and let me out. She set me down on the driveway and I ran as fast as I could to the front door and pressed my nose into the wood waiting for my mama to open the door!
As soon as she did I raced inside straight to my daddy and then around and around the living room, and then I raced down the hall to check out the bedrooms and then I ran to the kitchen just to see if it was still there (cause that’s my favorite room) and then I ran back out into the living room and barked at my people. I told them off!
Then I brought my mama a toy and we played for a little bit.
This is my toy!
I guess I’ve forgiven mama. She’s sitting out here on my deck with me while I keep watch. I haven’t closed my eyes once since I’ve been home but I’m starting to think a little nap might be in order
I’m glad to be home.
Happy sigh….zzzzzzzzzz…
It’s a beautiful fort.
We figured wrong.
We spent the entire day at Fort Ticonderoga. We were there shortly after they opened, and we attended the last talk of the afternoon. The fort is now part of a nonprofit, with an educational mission statement. Each year they present the fort as it might have been in a particular year in history. We saw it as it was in 1755.
Our guide, as a resident of the fort in the mid 1700s.
The stone fort sits on a peninsula of land in Lake Champlain, near the border to Vermont. It was built to control river traffic and it was held by the French first.
Watching over the lake.
Most of the talks we heard were about the French and Indian War which started in 1754. Our guide said that it was actually a war between the British and the French…but since the British won they got to name it, and they named it the French and Indian War, though there were Native Americans fighting on both sides.
There were over 100 cannons in the fort in the mid 1700s. Over the years the fort fell into disrepair and most of it was destroyed during many conquests and losses. Today the cannons on the outside were purchased during the reconstruction of the fort in the 1950s. The blue ones are actually brass and were purchased from a Spanish fort. They are very ornate.
Beautiful cannon handles.
There are only two cannons at the fort today that are original. They are in the center of the fort and seem quite small compared to the cannons out along the edges of the fort.
At home where they should be.
Another interesting thing we learned is that the people providing the information dressed in period costumes live the 1700s soldier life at the fort. Beyond dressing and talking about the period they also eat the food of the period. That can get pretty boring.
Cooking in ovens dug into the clay.
Apparently the most common food stuffs sent to the fort back then were dried peas, salt pork and wheat for bread. The young man making bread told us he was on week 21 of eating pea soup every day.
There is also a full time shoemaker at the fort. He said he learned the craft through apprenticeship. He makes all the shoes for everyone at the fort, and repairs old shoes.
Making 18th century shoes.
Every soldier would get new clothes once a year. There would not necessarily be a shoemaker at the fort, most soldiers repaired their own clothes.
We also got to watch and learn about different battle techniques.
Ready, set, FIRE!
Then we went on a tour of the fort gardens. The area is located in very fertile farmland, so the fort had a 6 acre farm growing vegetables to augment that pea soup diet.
Beautiful gardens.
Today there is a small vegetable garden growing crops that would have been grown back in the 1700s.
Our garden expert.
Everything that is harvested there is used in the fort restaurant.
In the early 1900s the fort and most of the peninsula was purchased by the Pell family. (Yes the Pell grant family.) They built a summer home near the gardens and began to restore the fort which was in ruins.
Over the years different members of the Pell family worked on the restoration and lived summers on the beautiful land. There was a house garden full of flowers inside a walled garden that is still maintained today.
Pretty inside the walled garden.
The house is falling into disrepair, and the park is working to find funding to preserve it as well.
Fixer-upper.
The last talk of the day wasn’t held in the fort. It was across the lake, up on top of Mount Defiance. During one of the skirmishes someone took two cannons up to the top of that mountain to threaten the fort. It didn’t work…but the mountain was named at least in part because of that act.
The fort stands strong.
The view from the top of the mountain is stunning. You get a birds eye view of the fort and the surrounding country which is filled with rolling hills and farms.
Farmland for as far as you can see.
The talk on top of the mountain was about a specific battle between the British who had 3x as many troops as the French who were defending the fort. The British felt so sure that they could take the fort they had the local Indian chiefs sit up where we sat that day, to watch the battle. It didn’t turn out well for the British, but it’s a long story. I guess you’re just going to have to go visit the fort for yourself. I promise you won’t regret the time spent. I bet you’ll find yourself just like us, lingering, learning, listening.
And imagining.
The view from inside.
.
After a day of walking (over 9 miles, 23,000+ steps, 80+ flights of stairs) we decided we needed to do something that did not involve so much activity.
So we drove northeast to the small town of Les Eboulements and stayed at a bed and breakfast. We’ve never stayed at a B&B before, and I felt like I was a visitor in someone’s home. Which I guess we were.
Our B&B, breakfast was fabulous.
In the morning we left after a home cooked breakfast served on the screened porch. We headed up and over the mountains on roads like this:
Roller coaster roads.
We saw many signs warning us of steep downhills. They even gave us the percentage of the grade. The steepest we had was 18%.
Slow down! Put the car in a lower gear! Do not panic!
And though this is moose and whale country, the only moose we saw were these….
There was also a sign that said if a moose destroyed your car, call 511.
…and the only whale was this one at a park in Saguenay which was the furthest north we got.
Whale of a fountain.
We also saw a lot of this….
Stop!
…and had to follow a few of these through road construction sites:
Follow me!
But we also got to see a lot of this…
So peaceful.
…and this…
Covered bridge over Ha! Ha! river.
…and this…
You can’t see me. Right?
…and especially this:
Saguenay’s fiord.
We wished we had time to go further north, it just kept getting prettier. But it was a long day in the car and we were glad to get back to our B&B.
Because in the morning it was time to head south for more adventures.
Stay tuned!
We even got our gas pumped for us!
When I left you last we were walking around old city Quebec. We had walked to the top a long hill and done a walking tour of the fort. We planned on participating in a walking tour of the city itself, but we were tired. So we walked to the tourist information building and asked the woman what we could do or see that would not involve any more walking.
She looked confused.
Why would we be in Quebec City and not want to walk. She suggested a couple of musee (museums) where we could sit in ‘conditioned air.’ We suggested maybe a boat tour and she perked up saying that was a good idea. So we walked to the boat tour place only to find out the last tour for the day was already headed out.
We really wanted to be in town for dinner and the evening lights. But it was only 2 in the afternoon. We sat in a square for awhile but it felt like we were just sitting to while away the time.
So we decided to drive to some waterfalls we had heard about, even though that would mean giving up our valuable parking spot in town. The falls were only a few miles out of town and we figured the drive would be nice, we could rest, restore, and then come back to town for dinner.
This is what they looked like:
Montmorecy Falls
Yes, you see correctly. Those are stairs to the right headed up to a bridge at the top. You know us right? How many of you think we walked up there even though we had, only an hour before, been looking for something to do that did not involve walking?
A better look at the stairs.
You would be correct. Because if there’s something to do that gets us higher, gets us a view, challenges us….well…
Part of the way to the top.
…then you’ll see us there. Though we did say in 10 years when we are 70 we might just look at it from down below.
Good place to rest.
Maybe. But I wouldn’t count on it.
At the top of the stairs you walk along a long path and finally you get to the bridge.
This thing sways a bit.
Which of course you must walk across. And stop in the middle and stare down at the water rushing past.
And try not to think about it.
On the other side are more stairs to get you closer to the water.
Not doing the zip line. Nope. Nadda. No way.
Yes, that’s a zip line. Lucky for me they closed it for the season at the beginning of September.
By now it was getting late so we went back across the bridge and back down the stairs to the car. Where we came upon a large number of people walking toward the stairs wearing orange hard hats and repelling like gear. A special event of sorts was going on..they were going to use the zip line.
Lucky them.
Gonna walk up a gazillion stairs to fling themselves across a waterfall.
Le Chateau Frontenac
Dinner and dancing on a warm fall night.
In the center of the old city is the LaChateau Frontenac hotel, build in 1892-1893. It’s huge, looks like a castle and it looms over the waterfront of the city.
Overwhelming
It’s impressive, but I was more drawn to the simple stone and brick family homes.
Someone lives here.
They all look so warm and inviting and I like to imagine what it must be like to live there in a property so old, in a culture so unlike my own.
I also like the busy commercial streets full of tourists. The row upon row of shops and restaurants each offering something unique or fun or both intrigue people from all over the world.
Busy with tourists.
At one end of town, high up on a hill is a fort. It’s the Citadelle de Quebec, and of course we walked way up there and took the tour. This is our guide.
He spoke fluent French and very good English and knew everything about the fort.
I took this picture because it shows the tour group in his sunglasses. The tour was an hour and a half, and we learned much about the life of the soldiers that lived here, before, during, and after the war of 1812. It’s still an active military base today.
Old and older.
In the above photo you can see the oldest building that survives, built in the 1700s out of field stone, sitting (in this shot) in front of a building made of cut stone built in the 1800s. The older building was the powder magazine, and the outcroppings were there so that if the building exploded the explosion would be absorbed and not injure people in the fort.
Built to protect, even in the 1700s.
From the fort you got a terrific view of the city.
The old city has a boardwalk that runs along the front of it overlooking the water.
Also in town are many churches, two of which are called Notre Dame. We found this small older version on our last night as we were heading for the car.
Beautiful.
It sits in a perfect little square of very old buildings, all lit up at night. That evening, even though we were headed to the car after a very long day having walked over 9 miles and up the equivalent of 80 flights of stairs, (the header photo of this blog is one of the many hills we climbed.) we sat down and just soaked it all in for a bit.
We had already visited the larger version of Notre Dame closer to the center of town.
Statley.
This church is beautiful inside in a way that is different than the Notre Dame church we saw in Montreal.
Reverent.
So there’s a little bit about Quebec City. There’s a whole lot more to see and do in the city. We walked a lot the one full day we had in Quebec. But it wasn’t all in the city. Oh no indeed. I have much more to show you, but it’s time for sleep tonight.
You’ll have to wait for Quebec Part II. I think you’ll be surprised.
The blue house.
.
Open
Bonjour,
Fall blew through our open Bed & Breakfast window last night. It’s now a chilly 7.77C (46F).
We are leaving Quebec Province this morning. There is much more to this place than just Quebec City, beautiful as that is. Depending on how late we arrive at our next adventure I will post pictures from the city. And later I will find time to show you around other beautiful places here .
Promise.
On the way to Somewhere Else.
Change Is Hard 