Storeybook Gardens

Jack and his dad ride the train.

Mom with Zane on the horse

The boys hanging out with Humpty Dumpty

Jack loved this slide




The boys enjoying their horses. Yee-Haw!

These videos were taken at the beach and at the splash pad. It was so much fun having little people around! Thank you Keith and April for bringing Jack and Zane to meet us.

Zane @ Niagara Falls

Boys and bubbles with Gramma Barb, Aunt Shirley and dad.

Zane and Aunt Darlene

Keith, Jack and Gramma Barb.

Keith, Zane, April, Jack and Gramma Schultz

OMG just realized I never posted about the Bourie family visit

Zane is wearing the yellow shirt and Jack has the blue and orange one.

Quechee, Vermont

This first picture is one of the Quechee gorge. Below that you will see one of the many amazing buildings we noticed in a small town called Woodstock in Vermont. It was a very nasty hot day and we did not spend as much time there as we would have if it had been more tolerable. We do plan to return again in nicer weather to check out the town on foot. we spent the rest of that day and the night in nearby Quechee. There I enjoyed hours in the indoor pool while Deb caught up on our laundry. Thanks for the clean clothes Deb. The next morning, early, we wandered out and down the street to the shopping centre at Quechee gorge where we discovered the moose carvings and also to the gorge itself where we walked along part of the trail system until we decided it was really too hot even at 8 am. The bridge is actually the highway crossing the gorge.

These were the final pictures from our trip. After Quechee our travels were mostly by car and not so many hikes. We did walk through some stores and malls especially when we manged to get into Erie, Penn. Our plans included a night closer to Buffalo but the motel prices between Erie and Buffalo just seemed too high and we really don't need to purchase more things so we ran for the border and spent a night in a cheap Port motel before visiting with Mom, Jon, Terry and Shirley then coming home. We planned to return to bring a bunch of things to mom toward the end of this week, but forecast of more heat to come made us change our plans. We drove back to Crystal Beach on Tuesday morning. We took mom with us shopping in Buffalo since she seldom gets there. I managed to make a wrong turn on Elmwood so I decided to tour the city and go to a different store closer to the Peace Bridge. We had a great day and Mom was happy with her purchases and all the things we brought to her. We later had a nice visit with the Smyth family and with Sandy Beroud before we had another quiet night in that cheap Port motel. This morning we had a leisurely drive back home and I still have a few more vacation days to enjoy!

A few more shots of things we noticed while walking on trails in the White Mountains.

New Hampshire White Mountains

These pictures were taken at parks and along trails which we visited in the White Mountains area of New Hampshire . The power plant was located in the center of the city of Drummondville Quebec and was surrounded by parkland with many hiking/biking/jogging trails. What a nice thing to have in the middle of a rather large city. Again it was great that we could visit early in the morning and miss all the traffic. There are definate advantages to travel with an early riser.

This short clip shows porpoises which were playing along the ferry during our crossing. Of course I missed the best shots but they were there and we enjoyed watching them.

Here you can easily identify the belugas due to their white bodies. There were a couple of groups of Belugas that passed by our ferry during the crossing from Les Escoumins to Trois Pistoles . We also saw a couple of Pilot whales but unfortunately I didn't get good footage of them. I have discovered it is very difficult to zoom in while videotaping on a small camera. This was an awesome trip and an amazing ferry ride.

Les Escoumins

Our view from the balcony of our second floor motel room in Les Escoumins. The river was actually closer than it looks.

The apartment sized room we enjoyed in Les Escoumins. It was hard for pics to do the place justice. Very roomy with love seat, table and chairs, 2 queen beds, kitchen and bathroom along with that great balcony. The motel also had a spa and heated outdoor pool but we ran out of time due to our sightseeing and the need to sleep.

Here you can see the table and into the kitchen which came fully stocked with dishes, utensils, pots, etc.

These are various photos taken along the St. Laurence river and one of the free ferry which crosses the Sagueny river at Tadoussac. The highway at river level was blacked due to construction so traffic was held at the top of the escarpment which allowed us to get out of the car and take pictures while whale watching. Yep, we saw our first belugas while waiting for traffic to move again. So cool!

Ste. Anne de Beaupre

The province of Quebec is filled with beautiful churches and shrines but these buildings at Ste. Anne were just unbelievable. It is awesome the amount of artwork contained both inside and outside of the many buildings on this much visited property. Apparently we arrived during a special weeklong celebration for which many people make a pilgrimage and some even stay and camp on the property across the highway from the church buildings.

Canyon Ste. Anne

Note the rainbow beside my shoulder.

View from the walkway across the gorge.

Looking down from the trail beside the gorge.

Deb and a friendly black bear.

True Canadian experience, Tim's coffee and a moose. Another larger than life piece of art can be seen in the background on the right side.

We toured the Canyon at Ste. Anne. The nicely maintained paths were shaded, great because I do recall it was getting hot that afternoon. We loved the artwork near the top of the park. There was also a large picnic grounds and play area for little ones. We headed right down the trail to find the gorge and waterfalls. Very cool with walkway across the top of the falls, then a trail on the far side of the gorge going downward and a lower walkway across the gorge and more trails back up to the top of the falls. We enjoyed watching some people who were rock climbing down as a group in one section of the gorge and in another spot there was bungee jumping available. Walking the trails was enough excitement for us thanks.

Parc de la Chute-Montmorency

Near the edge of Quebec City, right alongside the highway is the giant waterfall, Montmorency. The falls are higher than Niagara and very impressively you can wander through the park surrounding the bottom of the falls, take an Ariel car to a restaurant near the top, then walk the trail and cross the walkway bridge across the top and the brave can also make their way down the stairway shown in our pictures. Very scarey thought if you could have seen the crumbly material that highside is made of. It was a hot afternoon so we stuck to the lower portion of the park and enjoyed the mist from below the falls.

Old Quebec

Beauty and history too, what a great place to visit. Traffic nightmares make me glad we don't live nearby! The canon and wall with holes for guns are part of what was built to provide protection for the city.