Day Six

So we left the hotel just before 9am. Deb drained the cooler and I packed the car and then we looked over and saw a McDonald's and a gas station selling ice. Now I am not normally one to eat fast food, but in the interest of curiosity I suggested that we check it out. Everything in Canada seems super expensive, so we wanted to test this theory using something that we know from the states, McDonald's just happened along our path at a moment of weakness. I was hungry and it was there so we decided why not. For 2 breakfast burritos, a hash brown and a juice cost me nearly $7 Canadian. I don't know what the cost of that meal at my local McDonald's would have been, but I can almost guarantee that if it was similar I would never again make such a purchase. The 4 lb bag of ice cost $2.59.

Fed, Iced and ready to go we headed towards Quebec City. It was a pleasant drive of about 2 hours to Montmorency Falls. It cost $9.50 Canadian to enter the park by car and I would have to say it was a fun excursion. Below is the sign and the mansion they use to house two or three restaurants, washrooms, and a souvenir shop.

Walking around the grounds we spotted a suspension bridge and a path to the bottom of the falls, so we decided to walk towards it. There was a little jut in the path to a look out point of the fall which is where the picture of me is taken and the picture of Deb was taken on that bridge.

The closer we got to that path to the base of the falls however the less excited we were to attempt it.

Fortunate for us there was another way to the base and we decided to take it. It cost $11 Canadian each for a round trip. Below is a picture of our transportation and some of us in said transportation.

I have to say I think that some of the best photos of the falls were taken from that cable car in the sky. Here is one below.

After leaving the falls, we headed to Quebec city. One of the fun things about driving in French Canada is you know that you can't read the signs and they know that you can't read the signs so a lot of the signs are pictorial. Below are two of our favorites.

Mine is the 4 way stop sign with little stop signs at each junction

and Deb's was the picture of 2 signs colliding on a sign.

We were hungry once we got to the walled portion of the city so the first order of business was securing lunch. Although it was around 3pm, we had not eaten since McDonald's that morning. Ok we had some snacks in the car, but nothing significant. Below is a picture of the restaurant and one of us at our table. The cost was a bit staggering for lunch, but I guess maybe if you drink alcohol it was a good deal, the meal included soup, entree, dessert and a beer or wine; we opted for apple juice, and my total with tip was $25 Canadian, which is still $24 and change US.

We must have selected a popular restaurant since after lunch, while walking around, I found a post card of the street that we walked with the restaurant in it. Below are a few pictures of us walking around and some of the city sights. I am climbing the stairs to the top of the wall that surrounds the city. It was really cool to walk on the wall and for a brief minute we imagined it similar to walking the great wall of China.

I like these pictures of us leaving the city wall as you can see how thick the walls are built. I can just imagine a gate and a soldier standing guard.

Once we left Quebec City we headed home. In the literal sense of the word. We headed back the the good old USA. We finally got to the boarder and for once there was no line. I was so excited I didn't even see that the light was apparently red. The customs officer was not to happy to see me, but he let us pass and We are back in America, this time with every intention to stay.

It was funny we saw lots of the sign above while driving in Canada, but never any actual Moose. That all changed once we hit Maine. On the road to the hotel we passed only 4 trucks in 10 miles, but we saw 5 Moose. Some on the side of the road, one crossing the road and another with no intention of moving out of our lane.

Check back tomorrow for more of the adventure.

Day Five

So we started out the day with breakfast in Alexandria Bay at the North Star Restaurant. Deb had a kind of Eggs Benedict with cheese sauce instead of Hollandaise juice and extra bacon and I had 2 eggs with hash. The prices were reasonable and the portions a good size. All in all it was a great start to our day. Up next we boarded a ferry ($7.50 pp) to Hart Island to tour Boldt Castle.

Below is a picture of Deb and Me in front of our transportation to the Island.

These pictures were taken on the ferry:

Once we arrived on the island we paid $7 pp to see the castle. Apparently the man that built the castle never lived there. His wife died unexpectedly and he never stepped foot on the island again. Construction started in 1900 and it cost 2.5 million to build. Can you imagine what the equivalent of that today is? Staggering.

There are a lot of rooms that are unfinished, but there are many rooms that are furnished and finished and they are spectacular. Here is a picture of me on the grand stairwell. It leads from the 1st floor to the 2nd. Deb misunderstood when I said I wanted to take a picture of the stairs before taking the elevator. She thought that I said I wanted to take the stairs and so she left without me. The elevator is really cool too. It has a glass window in it so when you are taking it you can see through to the gardens and surrounding islands.

They are working on restoring the castle and the admission fees are funneled into that. If you are ever in the 1,000 Islands area of New York or Canada it is definitely not to be missed. After leaving Hart island we had lunch at Brass Tacks before leaving the US for Canada.

Can I just say this time driving in Canada was a whole new world. Ontario was nice all the signs were in both English and French, but when we crossed into Quebec the English translations went away and the signs are completely in French. We got lucky though we made it to the temple with plenty of time for our session which luckily was in English. Below are some pictures of the temple.

Once we left the temple, around 10pm we then had the task of finding a hotel. We drove around a bit and everyone seemed to be full. I don't know how, but there was no vacancy. So we decided to head towards Quebec City, tomorrow's destination. About 10 miles down the road we found a hotel and settled in for the night.

Check back tomorrow for more of the adventure.

Day Four

We left Palmyra about 7:30 after dropping off postcards. I sent 3 Deb sent 20. Then we hit the road for Niagara Falls. When we got there, there were these guys with big orange flags that herded us into a parking lot where we paid to park to go see Niagara. Deb was skeptical, but it ended up being cheaper to park there ($5) than at the actual park ($10). Below is the first picture I took inside the park. If you look closely there is a rainbow and the land that you see is Canada. We took the Maid of the Mist and got some beautiful shots of the falls. Below is a picture of me on that boat ride. I would have posted more photos but the Internet at our current hotel is really slow and it is taking about 10 minutes a photo to post.

After Niagara we drove into Canada. Below is a picture taken from the Maid of the Mist of the bridge from the US to Canada.

Once in Canada we exchanged currency and Headed towards the Toronto Temple. Along the way we had lunch at a place called the Lake House in Vineland, ON. It is right along Lake Ontario and the views are spectacular, the food is good too although a little pricey. Check it out at http://www.lakehouserestaurant.com/

The Toronto Temple has magnificent landscaping but once again with the photos taking so long to load I opted for just one of the temple.

After leaving the temple which is actually in Brampton a suburb of Toronto, we decided to see some of the city. It cost $10 to park! But we decided it was worth it to see what Canada views as the worlds tallest free standing building. Once we got to the CN Tower it was another $30 to get to the top. We decided to do it and boy am I glad we did, it is truly a once in a lifetime experience. Driving up on it, the building does not look impressive or even taller than the other buildings around it, but once you are there it is not hard to see the roofs of all the other building several stories below you. The Skypod which is top observation deck sits 1465 feet above the ground just below the metal antenna. The observation deck for the Shanghai World Financial Center Building, at 1555 feet, is the only taller observation deck in the world to date.

Below is a picture of the CN Tower and one taken from the Sky Pod observation deck:

We got stuck in some traffic leaving Toronto but that was not as frustrating as the GPS telling us to take a ferry at 9:30 at night or the bridge work that we got stuck in once we were re-routed from the ferry to get back to the US. I find it amazing that we have to pay $3.50 to get to Canada near Niagara and another $2.50 to come back into the US near Alexandria Bay. But we made it and finally stopped for the night about 10 minutes to 11pm.

Check back for more of the adventure tomorrow.

Day Three

Well my worst fears were confirmed this morning. It snowed. I guess I should have taken some pictures of the snow. Luckily it was only flurries and by the time we got out of church they had stopped. I guess on the bright side I can now say that I have driven while it is snowing. We had breakfast at the hotel and then off to church.

Once this block of meetings were over we came back to the hotel and had lunch and then headed over to the sacred grove. It was beautiful. We read from Joseph Smith History and just kind of wandered around a lot. We were in the grove for about an hour and a half to two hours.

For more information about the events that transpired to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth once more check out http://www.josephsmith.net/josephsmith/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=497679179acbff00VgnVCM1000001f5e340aRCRD&locale=0

After the grove we had a tour of the Smith Farm and the surrounding buildings. It was super windy and freezing, but we had a blast.

Top: Me at the Log Cabin

Bottom: The Log Cabin and the homestead 85 % of which is original.

Too bad they don't know exactly which parts.


Then we drove into town and tried to play a visit to the place that the Book Of Mormon was first published, but they were closed for filming a documentary of some sort.

So we drove to the Hill Cumorah Visitors center and a trip to the top of the hill completed our Palmyra experience.

Then we drove back to the hotel, had dinner and settled in for the night.

Check back tomorrow for more of the adventure.

Day Two

Well the day started early, cold, rainy and with two unexpected surprises. The first came when I went to get ice and forgot the key card in the room. Which to many would not be that big of a deal especially since I am traveling with my best friend. Except my best friend was in the shower and happens to be hearing impaired. So not only was I stuck outside in the cold, literally, she couldn't hear my attempts to get back in. I took a deep breath and then sat down and called my Dad. I know you are thinking, how did she manage to grab her cell phone, but not the room key? The answer is no clue? Eventually she did hear me though and I was able to get back into the room, but Deb still ended up packing the cooler while I got ready since I wasted all that time locked out of the room.


The second surprise came after breakfast when we hit the interstate. I noticed that my driver's side view mirror was shaky, so I inspected the one on the other side to see if there was something wrong with the tires. Much to my dismay I discovered that sometime in the night or early that morning someone must have hit my mirror, knocking it loose. See picture below:

The Good news is that it only shakes if going more than 55 miles an hour and I do not think it is in danger of falling off. We drove about 300 miles today. Through Pennsylvania and to New York. Here are some pictures that Deb took from the car, trust me the view was much better in person, but hey that is the best I can do since you didn't get to come along.

We made it to the Palmyra temple about 5 minutes before the time that we needed to be there so most of our pictures were taken after our session here are a few pictures of the temple, cameras are not allowed inside.

Here is a picture that deb found online of the stained glass mural inside the temple. Click on the link for the story behind it all. http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=40428c6a47e0c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Day One

It is here! The long awaited day has finally arrived. It all started at 3am eastern standard time in Jacksonville, FL. Deb packed the cooler while I took a shower and we managed to be heading out of town at 3:45 am.



A few days ago I had gone on Tom Tom Home and updated the maps on my GPS, the free ones. Apparently something went wrong and the GPS wouldn't work! So I may have missed the first exit from 9A to 95N, but I was still on my home turf so to speak so it only took about a mile for me to figure out that I had passed my exit, so we turned around.

Our first stop of the day was at the South Carolina Visitors Center:

It was very foggy out, which makes for not great picture taking.

The second stop of the day was just outside of Columbia, SC. And anyone who knows me, knows I will drive pretty much anywhere and find a strawberry patch along the way to pick fresh berries. This time I happened across one by mere chance and have my bladder to thank. We decided to see what the Congaree National Park had to offer as at this point we had been in the car for almost 5 hours with only a walk around the outside of the SC visitors center as the only stretch. We got off the interstate and started heading in the right direction towards the park and saw a sign for strawberry picking. We stopped at a local Circle K, where there were no strange things afoot, to relieve my bladder and to see what Cangaree had to offer. When I inquired, and was informed that it was a swamp with a boardwalk, I opted for an edible excursion.

Here are the fruits of our labors, literally.

Deb was so excited to get the strawberries back to the car, she dropped one.

But that is ok, she ended up eating it :)

About 9:30 we got back on the road. We stopped a few more times for gas, bathroom breaks and to eat around 2:30 or so. We spent 5 hours driving through Virginia and I have to say of all the rest areas that we stopped at today the one in West Virginia was my favorite, because they had some beautiful flowers. I am a big fan of flowers.

Here are a few of my fav pictures.

So, I know that the goal for today was Altoona, PA but we had a mishap with the map, by this time the GPS was working again, thank you Mom E. It was saying take one road and my Navigator said to stay on 81 so we did. It turned out better than we could have imagined. We stopped and got a map and the traditional coupon books and then decided where to go from where we were. We decided to look for the best rate and found it too $26.99 a night for up to 2 people. Now I know you are thinking, that sounds too good to be true, and you would be correct. That room was a double bed. Now Deb and I have been friends for over 20 years, but I am not willing to share a double with her. So we kept looking and decided on the Travelodge at the same exit that promised breakfast and free wifi for only $49.99. Now I know that is a big difference from almost $25 to nearly $50, but it was totally worth it since the hotel has a restaurant next door and we were given something at check in to take over in the morning for FREE full breakfast menu for 2 people, sounds like it was totally worth it to me.


After checking in to the Travelodge we went in search of postcards, which to Deborah's disappointment we did not find and then on to dinner. The guy at the hotel had recommended Pat and Carla's Italian Eatery, and after consulting with a few of the locals we agreed to give it a try. I am so glad we did. I had the Pat and Carla's Alfredo, best Alfredo I have EVER eaten. It probably had like a million grams of fat and calories, but I am on vacation, so it doesn't count. I would recommend trying it if you are ever in this area.

Here is a picture of my plate and this is after I ate a bunch of it. Deb had the Chicken Cacciatore.

So now I am full and exhausted it is off to bed, we will be getting up at 6am to try to make it to Palmyra by 3 for the Temple session Deb reserved.

Check back tomorrow for more of the adventure.

Less than one week to go

So the itinerary is set, and the list of things to pack has been made. I already put my passport in the car and have started the laundry. I even got a hair cut so that I won't end up with a thousand photos of me with my hair pulled back. I cleaned out and washed the car, I am so excited to get on the road. I just need to work 40 more hours and then it is go time!

I know what you are thinking, so what is the plan. I will share the itinerary with you but be warned in advance it may vary a little once we hit the road. Things don't always go according to plan.

DAY 1- leave Jax early and drive to West Virginia. Now I know what you are thinking, I am crazy for thinking that I can drive 14 hours in one day, and to that I will say, yes I am crazy and I totally plan on doing it too, day 2 depends on how far we get on day one and I will be so excited to be on vacation the drive, in theory at least, should be no problem.

DAY 2 - drive to Palmyra, NY and do a temple session

DAY 3 - attend church in Palmyra and visit church historical sites

DAY 4 - Niagara Falls, oh yeah up first is the view from the NY side and then we will cross over into Canada to see it from that side. I have always heard that it is prettier on the Canadian side and I want to test that theory out. We then want to drive by the Toronto temple and check it out and then start towards Montreal.

DAY 5 - Drive back to the US on the way to Montreal, I know it seems silly to come back when we just left the day before, but I totally found a castle and it is on US soil, so we are going to hop the boarder and check it out, we hope to catch the 7:30 session at the Montreal temple.

Day 6 - Drive to and explore Quebec, this is Deb's day. I have given her total control so it should be fun, but I am leaving the details and decisions to her, but I will continue to drive :)

DAY 7 - Drive to Bar Harbor and check out parts of Acadia

DAY 8 - explore Acadia National Park, we hope to be able to do the non-technical mountain climb of Precipice Point this day. We will be going to my Uncle's for dinner

DAY 9 - My uncle is going to take us around on a tour of Maine. He mentioned something about a lobster and a boat, but once again I am giving up control of this day. I am going to sit back and enjoy, maybe if I am lucky he will do all the driving.

DAY 10 - attend church in Maine, there is a meeting house like 4 and a half miles from my uncle's how great is that!

DAY 11 - leave Maine for New York City, well North Bergen, NJ to be exact. At least that is where our hotel is located, but we totally plan on spending some time in the city this day.

DAY 12 - explore New York among some of the places we want to visit are Central Park, Empire State Building, Manhattan Temple, Gray's Papaya, Brooklyn Bridge, Mood, Chinatown and I am sure that there are more but I can not find the list right now.... hope we can fit it all in in just 2 days.

DAY 13 - Check out of the hotel and drive to Liberty Park, from here we can take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, I have been told this could take the whole day so from here on out the rest of the trip is not really planned, we may stay an extra day exploring NY or start heading home. Some of the places we might stop and check out, if there is time, include Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC

There are 16 days total that we can be gone, hope you will check to see what we are up to and remember the adventure begins May 7, 2010. Enjoy. I know I will!