Montreal: Final Day (Day 3)

Montreal:  Day 3

Between our own walking, the bus tour, and the horse ride from yesterday...we felt like we really had seen a lot of the major sights of Montreal and it was time to do something a little different.  So, we chose to go to the Montreal Biodome!  The Biodome housed the 1976 Olympics velodrome.  

I am in love with sloths and this place touted an entire exhibit featuring "Nature's Slowpokes"!  The line to get in was a mile long. (I'm kind of not exaggerating.)  While the kids and I held a place in the line, the others went to see if they could find out more about the venue...and possibly another shorter line. 

 

I was determined to stay because if there was a chance of getting to see a sloth up close...I wanted to do it!  (Years ago when I started this blog of 45 things to do before I turned 45, I considered putting "hold a sloth" as an item.  I'm not sure why I didn't; I guess that I just thought that it was too out there and not "worthy" of taking up a spot on my list.) 

Kissy face with a sloth poster.

We finally did get in.  It turned out that there was a much shorter line at the planetarium entrance.  We bought a package set of two movies at the planetarium, entrance into the gardens, insectarium, and the Biodome.

 

Needless to say, I made a not so slow-poke bee-line to the sloth habitat!  Natural light from the dome's glass roof and soothing creamy colors set a very sloth like tone.  We lounged around on the couches and waited for the "sloth show".  But, alas...there was no sloth show.  Apparently, the sloths are not trained and the visitors are not allowed to interact with them either.  They simply lay around, come out if they feel like it, and just basically act like sloths.  Although I was glad that they didn't pester them, I wanted to hold one and kiss its little shiny nose.

 

The Biodome had other sloths in the "Tropical Rainforest".  I was on a mission to find the FOUR sloths who lived in that ecosystem.  And while I was looking for the sloths, there were other little lovelies to see. 

Tamarind

Alligator

Scarlet Ibis

Otter

Bobcat

Eventually, I asked one of the workers where the sloths were.  Her reply, "They are nocturnal and hide in the tops of the trees against the roof."  My heart was a little bit broken.  I truly had envisioned myself as magnet for the sloths.  I just knew that they would come running to me...seeking comfort in my presence. 

Moving on, we went through the other exhibits and marveled at those creatures.

Starfish

My little hatchling.

Once we (my folks, Nicholas, and I) had completed all of the ecosystem displays, we met back up with Summer and Shawn who were hanging around the sloths.  Not thinking anything of it, I asked if they had seen the sloths.  AND THEY HAD!!!  A worker had put out some food for the them AND THEY CAME OUT!  THE MAMMA AND THE BABY!!!  WHAT?!?  And neither Summer nor Shawn came to get me or text me.  Seriously?!  Uh. 

 

From that moment on, I was determined to sit on the couch and wait as long as it would take for my own personal sloth show. 

 

My folks, Shawn, and Nicholas went to the insectarium and gardens while Summer and I stayed with the sloths.  It was after 2:00 and the movie tickets were for the 6:00 showing...and I wasn't moving until those sloths came out, the place closed, or it was time for the movie.  The Biodome had wifi.  So, Summer and I just tapped away on our phones and luxuriated in the presence of the sloths.

 

Near 5:00, they poked their heads out and adjusted their grips. Ta da!  That's all folks!  

 

Mamma

 

Baby

My mom snapped a nice shot of a yellow jacket while they were touring the gardens and the insectarium.

Two!

By the time we were done with all of the attractions and the planetarium, we learned a lot!  And had darn near walked ourselves to death.

Another meal and drinks along the rue... with entertainment by some unique street performers.  These two dogs and rabbit appeared to be on break but we tipped them anyway.

Days 1 & 2 in Montreal

In order to get from Plattsburgh to Montreal there were several options for us.  We could have driven the rental car ourselves at a cost of over $500!  We could have taken a bus or a train.  However, both were rumored to be long (as in 5 or more hours for what would be a 1.5 hour car ride), ran at odd times, and were not always on time.  In the end, we found a cab driver who had a huge van with three rows of bench seats and plenty of room for luggage.  The driver was a chatterbox who NEVER stopped talking!  His conversation was informative and pleasant and my mom and Shawn kept up with the flow while the rest of us just listened (and/or tuned it out).

Not surprisingly, I chose to tune it out and read aloud (to myself)!  The AC in the van didn't work and no one could hear me above the wind anyway.  Actually, it worked out really well for me since I'm reading a hard book that has many words I don't know.  Usually I have to stop and look up a word or two for every page I read.  Since we turned off roaming and turned on the airplane mode, I was unable to access my trusty dictionary app.  So, reading it out loud seemed to make it at least SOUND like something a little less nonsensical. 

(The book is the doctoral thesis of: Richard Malcolm Weaver, Jr (March 3, 1910 – April 1, 1963) was an American scholar who taught English at the University of Chicago. He is primarily known as an intellectual historian, political philosopher and a mid-20th century conservative and as an authority on modern rhetoric. Weaver was briefly a socialist during his youth, a lapsed leftist intellectual (conservative by the time he was in graduate school), a teacher of composition, a Platonist philosopher, cultural critic, and a theorist of human nature and society. Described by biographer Fred Young as a "radical and original thinker,"^[1] Richard Weaver's books Ideas Have Consequences and The Ethics of Rhetoric remain influential among conservative theorists and scholars of the American South. Weaver was also associated with the "New Conservatives," a group of scholars who in the 1940s and 1950s promoted traditionalist conservatism...from Wikipedia.)
 

We arrived at the border and cleared through easily.  There was still a half hour to go to before we were to arrive in Montreal...and the conversation never lagged (while I kept on reading).  Our driver warned us that the streets in this section of Canada were in need of repair.  (He was pleasantly surprised to see construction crews!)  He soldiered through the construction on the interstate and deftly zipped down the old streets of Montreal to deliver us to our 'otel...Vieux Montreal by Springhill Suites/Marriot.

Our kids love the suite type rooms!  Each kid had their own space.  This is Summer's "apartment", although she doesn't seem to be interested in having a guest.  Summer stayed with Shawn and me; Nicholas was with my folks.  The desk clerk said that our rooms were "communicating" and I love that new term!  (It means they are adjoining.)

We freshened up a bit, donned an extra layer for the hint of a chilly breeze, and were off to see the surrounding sights.

First stop:  Chez Suzette...a little corner restaurant.

We were seated upstairs with a view of Rue Saint Paul, a pedestrian street with restaurants, shops, other 'otels, and street performers.  Note the woman in all white in this photo.

Here she is all set up.  None of us knew who she was supposed to be.  My mom guessed Joan of Arc.  I tried looking her up but I was unable to find a statue on Google Images that matched any combination of the following characteristics:  white, woman, statue, sword, crown, Montreal, street perfomer.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed watching her from the restaurant window and from the street level as well.

After walking on Rue Saint Paul for a bit, we chose to visit the port area...maybe see if we could find our cruise ship terminal.  Along the Prom du Vieux-Port the kids appeared contemplative while strolling through the Pac Man street art.

Grandma still needed to be "walked" due to her vertigo.

After our walk through town, watching some other street performers, and then a quick trip back to the hotel for a change of clothes (and a power nap for my dad), it was time for Shawn and I to have some drinks.  My folks watched the kids and agreed to take them to dinner.  =)  Bonsoir!

 

After a few drinks at a rooftop bar we decided to find some dinner for ourselves.  But then...an invasion!

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Day 2

As a general rule, the Hop-On/Hop-Off type bus tour is always great!  We usually take one of these tours when we are in a big city that offers one.  The tour guide spoke a million words per mile while she narrated the drive in French and English.  (Amazing as she was, it was difficult to follow along with her.)  We drove by all of the major sites...

 

Once through the whole loop we decided to "hop-off" to go back to Chinatown.  Naturally, the street vendors were out in full force selling trinkets, plastic junk, cell phone cases, ewelry...

After looking through dozens of fans, I chose this one.  I have a fan at school for days when the AC is out, steamy arrival/dismissal duty, and/or an overly warm classroom in winter.  And I fell in love with this one!  ($3.00)

 

Having a carriage ride is one of my mom's favorite things to do and since our bus tour was challenging to comprehend...we chose to do a horse and buggy tour to fill in the gaps.  Nicholas was thrilled to sit up top with the driver!

 

 

 

After a day full of touring, Shawn and I enjoyed ANOTHER dinner by ourselves!

Days 9 & 10: Plattsburgh

Days 9 & 10:  Driving to Plattsburgh and Staying in Plattsburgh 

Plattsburgh was picked as a destination for no reason other than the fact that it was the closest Avis drop-off to the Canadian border.  So, Shawn looked around at things to do and see near the area and found this place.  I did a Google search for "Lake Champlain sea glass" and found that although this is not the "sea"...they do indeed have beach glass.  That was a plus!  And so, we picked staying here for two nights. Click here to visit their website.

I love the term "Pleasantly Full" rather than "No Vacancy".

We drove leisurely to get here and arrived around 3:00 pm.  The day was HOT for the locals, but just seemed a little warm and stuffy to us Floridians.  The lodge wasn't set up to have central AC but had plenty of fans and window units in our rooms. 

My mom and dad took the upstairs room called the Spinnaker and the rest of us took the larger room ( Weaver ) with a king and a roll away bed.   We got settled a bit, looked around, and then headed out for dinner at the nearby marina.

While we were waiting for our food to come, my mom kept looking at this woman who was sitting at a table outside on the porch and remarked at how much she looked like someone she knew from Vero Beach, FL.  Oh well, right?  No!  It turned out that this was a couple from Grand Harbor...where my folks live!  Amazing!  (And to make it even more amazing, they had a similar thing happen when we were in Talkeetna, Alaska, two years ago.)

After dinner, we drove around a little bit and enjoyed the sunset...

No filter

Sleeping Beauty

Summer woke up early and asked me if it would be ok if she wandered around taking arty photos. 

The breakfast was made to order.  There was a choice of a frittata...

Or waffles with fresh strawberries.

My mission was to go for a walk and try to find some sea glass.  As you can see from the map, the water's edge wasn't far!  So, I set off wearing sneakers, jeans, a sweatshirt, and a ball cap. 

I walked around the "Long Point".

Out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement in the meadow to my left.  I figured that it was just a bird.  But then, I looked again and realized that it was two large brown animals!  They were hopping like gigantic rabbits through the tall greenery.  I walked on.  When I looked up again, one large deer was standing in a bit of a clearing...checking me out.  I fumbled around for my phone and managed to get a picture.

And then I walked a little closer and took another.

And then another!  It was totally posing!  OMG!  It was quite huge too.  My guess is that if I stood next to it, its head would have been almost a foot above me (and I'm 5'4").  And the tail was huge too!  It was very long and very fluffy!  She stuck it straight up in the air when she turned to hop into the woods.  That was cool! 

Still on alert from my deer encounter, I made my way into the marsh and into the woods.

As I walked, I was being bombarded by sensory happenings.  I had my earbuds in and had to turn up the volume to drown out the bugs buzzing around my face.  I was being stung by mosquitoes THROUGH my jeans and sweatshirt!  The ground was squishy and I had to be aware of where I was walking.  Spiders were conspiring to attack me.  Every few steps there was rustle at my feet...  Oh the sacrifices one must make for their sea glass. 

The critters at my feet turned out to be frogs.  (Nicholas took this picture while he was on a walk with Summer and my folks.)

Luckily, there was a kind couple who shared their bug spray with me and I was able to go on hoping that I was not going to be eaten alive THROUGH my clothes.

Where there was a chance to leave the path, I did.  I held onto some roots and "repelled" down to the shoreline.

I'm still working on getting a good picture of a yellowjacket.

Meh

Alright, but I wish you could see more of his body.

Ta Da! 

There were about 15 of these rock piles.  Some good natured person stacked these up for passersby to enjoy.  I placed another rock at the top of each one that I came to.

THEE POINT!  A storm was brewing and I knew that I should head back. But, I dilly dallied and explored around, taking some arty shots along the way.

I spied this perfectly hollowed out log and tried not to be attacked by the Sasquatch sized spider living inside.

One rogue day lily through the log.

And a shot of the lily just standing tall.

Another rock pile.

I collect buoys and couldn't resist this biggin!  My thought was that I would give it to the owners of the lodge and they could keep it or toss it once I was gone.  Nevertheless, I could not pass this up!

I walked on, got SOAKED, and enjoyed myself a lot.  This picture shows my very handsome walking stick (and spider whacker) and the buoy.  Note that the buoy now has a lovely matching rope!  I found that later and decided that it should come with me. 

(This picture of Summer is from the front side of the same building as the above photo.  Summer, Nicholas, and my parents also went for a walk at the same time that I took my walk.  She's dry here, but they too got drenched!)

During my adventure through the woods I found black raspberries and collected a few dozen up for my dad who loved eating them as a child.

And lo and behold, I actually found some seaglass.  Not much, but that blue one was worth the hunt.



W  E  T !

Luckily, Shawn was out running some errands and was able to pick me up.

After a lunch of sandwiches and an in room jacuzzi, I warmed up and enjoyed sitting in the great room...reading with my mom.

Later, Summer and I played Scrabble.  As you can see, we are not great logophiles!  I won, but not by much.

Apparently when in Plattsburgh one must have something called a "Michigan".  There are at least three places in town to get one, but we chose the restaurant that also served beer.

This is a Michigan.  It is a red hot (but not spicey) hot dog served with chili, mustard, and onions.  It tasted like a coney dog...or a bit like a Skyliner.

They can be ordered with the onions on top (left) or buried (right).  It was quite good both ways.  (My dad, needless to say, had his WITHOUT onions.)  We topped off our Plattsburgh, NY, stay with a Michigan.  ???