Happy 23.5 Anniversary to Us. Let's Go To Old Quebec!

Phil and I were able to take a long weekend away to celebrate our 23rd anniversary (which happened back in May but we took a raincheck to wait until life + the shop + the kids schedules were less busy).  So don't say Happy Anniversary in the comments if you already said that back in May or you would look silly.  Just kidding, there's no rules!  

We left work early on Friday and drove 3.5 hours up to Hallowell, Maine to The Maple Farm Inn where I was a little bit convinced that we would be murdered and nobody would find the bodies. But we are happy to report that we are indeed alive, and the stay was pretty nice with a delicious breakfast.  The innkeepers are charming, the room was clean and comfortable (minus the ladybugs??) and the jacuzzi was huge, but the whole inn and their website needs a renovation. 

Free Thanksgiving Dinners

We watched the new Fantastic Four movie while Phil killed the bugs on the walls for me.

On Saturday morning, we went for a walk until my thoughts of bears coming out of the forest to eat us got the better of me (hey, we are in the woods of Maine!) and we headed back for breakfast and to pack up for our next destination.

Maine blueberry pancakes - mmmmmmm.

"Isn't this a lovely drive by the water?" we thought premonitionally.

A birdhouse wall!

I was very excited to spot the Moose Crossing signs along the way, and this one had flashing lights that made me imagine a big moose pushing the button and waiting to cross the road.  Sadly, no meese were spotted.

Along the drive, we went from a brisk fall to a snowy winter, and the roads were windy through the mountains, with no cars to be seen and no shops/gas stations and no internet service.  

Hello anxiety, my old friend.  

The temp dropped into the 20s and the car was fogging up so bad so we blared Jesus Music (shoutout to Lord I Need You and What an Awesome God) to get us through.  If I can help it, I will never travel that route in the winter again.  I know I'm a leetle dramatic, but yet again the thought of death was near.  

In case you're keeping track, my Scared to Death Tally was now three: 

1) Murdered at the inn

2) Eaten by the (non-existent) bears

3) Stranded on the side of the road and frozen to death

Finally we saw the border to Canada!!  I was never so happy to see a federal agent in all my life.  

We went through America's checkpoint where the nice guy promised internet service soon, then through the Canadian checkpoint where I was asked to provide proof of where we were staying in Canada.  Thankfully I had an email confirmation to show, but I never would have thought they would have asked us that.  I'm sure that we looked terrified after having escaped death three times and then been questioned about our whereabouts.  Once we crossed into Quebec, the roads were much better, we had internet service, and their were signs of life and cars.  Bonjour and Bienvenue!

We stopped at a grocery store to get some snacks for the hotel and I couldn't resist trying the ketchup chips.  Verdict - pretty good, sweeter than expected.

We drove on to Old Quebec City and arrived at the beautiful  Le Chateau Frontenac, our lodging for the next two nights.  

Pinch me.  

But not too hard, I'm sensitive.

On second thought, when we told the federal agent where we were staying, he probably didn't believe us because we were wearing sweats and driving a Subaru.  "You're staying at the castle?  Do you have proof?"  Honestly, who could blame him?  This was not our typical getaway, it was a dream destination, and we went when the rates were very low but still pricey because it's that kind of place.  We had a valet take our car and park it underground, and we never touched it again until we checked out on Monday.  And then, we walked around and explored the exactly-what-I-had-pictured little French Canadian city within the walls: 

Most of the ice cream shops were closed for the season, which we understood.

That one's for our Andrew Pauric

That one's for our Xander

This one was open!  I bought a sweatshirt.

So the reason the rates were low at this time of year was because they are about to enter their Christmas season, with a festive Christmas Market that sounds amazing.  We could see everyone getting ready with decor and some places were already decked out.  We got some sneak peeks, but I can totally get why people would want to go when it is in full festive swing.

We ate dinner at La Buche where the bathrooms are on the bottom floor, graffiti is everywhere, and the communal sink is a tub with dripping pipes...

... but that $19 French onion soup was THE BEST I HAVE EVER EATEN in my whole life.  Worth almost dying in the basement bathroom bathtub.

Scared to Death Tally = 4

Those are tears of joy

We also got the poutine, not as spectacular as the soup and we probably could have shared one.

We stopped to buy an ornament (an ice cream cone!) and a Quebec magnet for our fridge and then walked back to the hotel.

Guest book from 1893

What does a normal couple do after eating too much?

I wouldn't know, since we're not a normal couple, but we put on shoved our poutine and cheese bodies into our bathing suits and hotel robes and slippers and headed to the hot tub.  

Let's take the most unflattering photo ever.

Phil's size 14 feet could not fit into the hotel slippers.  One size fits all, my bum.

The hotel was completely full, as I was told upon checking in, and the pool and hot tub were very busy and not very relaxing.  Y'all know I love me some kids, but when you save and splurge on a fancy hotel, hearing kids scream and throw pool toys was not the vibe we were going for.  We could get that for free at home.  But you know what?  The pool is exactly where the kids should be having fun, so we went back to the room to relax and watched some Flavour (Canada's Food Network) on tv and soundly went to sleep.  

On Sunday morning, we went to a delicious Crepe Restaurant:

Phil's Moka: a handle-less bowl of coffee + hot chocolate

We both ordered savory savoury crepes, but I would get the sweet one next time after seeing another table order strawberries and bananas and chocolate - oh my!  Our were very good though.  I had ham and swiss and eggs and onion and béchamel, and Phil had egg and sausage and bacon and onions and maple syrup.  The onions were raw, which was slightly shocking and appalling, as I expected them to be caramelized but I picked them out and survived.

Then we walked over to the beautiful Notre Dame de Quebec church for 9:30 Mass where we had time to explore and pray for awhile before Mass started.  I don't know where I heard this as a child, but when you enter a new church, you get to make three prayers that are extra powerful.  OK that sounds totally bogus but I still do it.  Hey a prayer's a prayer!

The Mass was in French but lucky for us, Catholic masses are universal, so we could easily follow along with the order of things.  The Communion line was interesting, as people just get in line in the center, and when a person turns to walk back, they walk on either side of the line back to their pew as the whole line sways left to right to left to right to make room for them.  Very different than in America!  We stopped for some Canadian coffee after and explored the quaint city some more.

Canadian Coffee is apparently weak

Oh wait!  I did spot a moose!

We went to an Irish pub for a late lunch, and had more poutine...this time we shared though.  We are learning!

It snowed ALL DAY on Sunday and it was gorgeous.  We did have to buy Phil a new winter coat since we weren't exactly prepared for this weather on November 15.  Even the Quebecois's seemed surprised by how early the snow had come.

Speaking of winter coats, I was so impressed with the Canadian way of dressing in the winter.  I know I'm being judgmental but the people I saw who were dressed appropriately for the weather (good boots and layers and weatherproof jackets, hats and gloves and scarves and hoods) were speaking french and the ones who were wearing sneakers and sweatshirts and looking less prepared to survive a snow storm, were Americans speaking English.  Even the little girl at Mass who brought up the gifts took off her jacket, scarf, hat, gloves and was still wearing a snowsuit and boots underneath.  It kept amazing me how often I could spot the difference and I think we could learn a lot from our Northern neighbors on this one.

Like a scene from a Hallmark movie

We bought the kids some chocolate at the Musee du Chocolat but otherwise just peeked into lots of shops and kept walking.

This is where the Scared of Death Tally became 5.

Not the kiss.

But the approximately one million stairs, covered in snow and ice, that led up and around the city's wall, overlooking the St. Lawrence River.  Between the altitude and the workout, we were feeling pretty out-of-breath at the top.  Then we couldn't quite figure out how to get back around as the snow was covering everything, so we just did it all in reverse while I slipped many times but never fell.  I'm a weeble and I wobble.  I just want to point out that while I internally freak out a lot, Phil is not scared of any of this, which is one of the many reasons why I married him.  My rock.

Silly American in short socks and shoes

We made it back down to the hotel in 15 minutes but it seemed much longer.  It was definitely a good workout for the day, which ended with over 17,000 steps and 31 flights climbed.

We went back to the hot tub, which was much calmer on a Sunday afternoon, and soaked luxuriously for awhile before a local woman befriended us made us her captive audience.  If you're curious, she was 57 years old, a human Rights lawyer, spoke 3.5 languages but could read 7, never been married or had kids, but had been engaged 6 times.  She called herself a "narcissistic witch", hates Trump, hates men in general, though she admitted there are a few good ones while looking at Phil suspiciously, could not get over the fact that I was an "accounter" and had 7 kids (literally asked me if I had them all by choice or did I have a gun to my head while she eyed Phil suspiciously again) and then quickly one-upped that by telling us all about her friend who has 9 kids, and on and on and on.  She did tell us where to go to dinner though, and that one opinion we were happy to listen to.

Guess how much my Fettucine Alfredo was?

Guess.

$32.50 Canadian and it wasn't that great.  

Phil's chicken parm was delicious though and he shared because he is in fact "one of the few good ones".

We walked back to the hotel and decided to get a drink at the luxurious hotel bar to end the evening:

We then Facetimed the kids at home, who were being wonderfully taken care of by the amazing Maggie for the weekend (thanks girl!) to show them some sights.  Before we knew it, 8 am Monday morning had arrived and it was time to go.

:(

Even though we went a different route on the drive home (through Montreal) the roads were pretty bad because of the snow and our windows were caked in a muddy slush that made it hard to see.  Phil was a trooper for driving while I anticipated death for the *counts on two hands* 6th time and broke my own rule of no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving in order to blast Matt Maher's The Advent of Christmas album.  Eventually we got through Canada, Vermont, and New Hampshire when the weather cleared up, as did the hopes of surviving.

6 ~ 7

We made it home around 4:30 pm, walked Lucy Doodle with the kids, went to a car wash and then out for pizza to catch up on everyone's weekend:

We missed those faces!

Maggie snuck this picture of Brendan and his napkin :)

Some of the chocolates we brought home were little coffins with skeletons inside:

Death by chocolate.  

And that makes the tally 7.

We already want to go back, with the kids and maybe in a house rental because eating out was the majority of our costs.  Totally worth it for a 23rd (and a half) anniversary trip... just not for a family of nine.  Here's a little compilation of the videos from our phones, for those interested: