Once again, I've made a 7-hour trip in 11 hours,

[Redstone]

using my talent for fiddly-faddling around the back roads and tiny towns of Quebec and Vermont instead of driving on the highways.

But we made up a fair amount of time at the border; there's over an hour wait if you come back to the US from Canada on I-89, and only a few minutes if you cross via an obscure road.

And I got to take Mrs R and the Little Guy to some places they'd never been to before, which is always fun.

And, as a bonus, we got to eat lunch at Danny's Diner in Cowansburg, Quebec, and how many opportunities do you get to do THAT?

A good day, indeed.

Redstone

[WritingIsMyReligion]

1. You sound like my father.

A greater fiddle-faddler you'd have trouble finding, though perhaps you could give him a run for his money. Drives my mom and I absolutely insane.

Glad you had fun, though. :D

:hi:

[Redstone]

3. Nah, Mrs R enjoys it too. Especially because her prior husband was one of those guys who

always had to make good time whenever they went anywhere.

I like to enjoy the journey itself, and she does as well.

Redstone

[SeattleGirl]

2. Fiddly-faddling is fun (say that three times fast):

I like doing stuff like that. Sounds like a great time.

[Redstone]

4. Yup, I got to take them through Smuggler's Notch, where they hadn't been before,

along with a few new Vermont towns. Even one or two where I hadn't been before.

A good day indeed.

Redstone

[BikeWriter]

5. Aha, practicing your smuggling skills, huh?

[Redstone]

6. BW! How the hell have you been, old hoss? It's been too damn long since we've

crossed paths.

Redstone

[BikeWriter]

8. Good to see you too, Pard. I've been practicing my hermit skills

[Redstone]

9. But come out of the hermitage and talk to us Now and again, OK? We all do the

hermit bidness now and again, because we have to (don't we?), but we also gotta remember that we have friends, like our buds at DU.

Yes?

Damn good to hear from you again, it is. But I'm tired and not walking well from the many hours in the car today, so I'll get with you next time, OK?

Redstone

[Oeditpus Rex]

7. I'd *much* rather fiddy-faddle around the back roads and tiny towns

You can't see stuff like this from an interstate highway.

[Redstone]

10. Oh, yes, indeed. I'll be posting pix maybe tomorrow. I found yet another recycled Muffler Man!

In a forgotten corner of Quebec. Film at 11.

Redstone

[Oeditpus Rex]

14. I'm hoping to find a Muffler Man

on Drury Lane.




:hide:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. Sounds like fun!

We love taking adventures!

[Redstone]

12. There's probably some Zen saying about enjoying the journey rather than

just getting to the destination...I always have enjoyed the journey itself. There's SO much to see along the way.

Redstone

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. Hear hear!

I especially love those surprises...like the sight of a bluebird suddenly flying by, or the cow that decided to take a stroll outside the fence.

I love to roll the window down and "moo" at cows. Once when I did this, a bull came storming over and gave me hell for talking to his babes. I drove away before he could knock the fence down. :rofl:

[havocmom]

16. A blessing I wrote long ago involves backroads:

May your life be like a back country road
Beautiful
Peaceful
with occassional interesting turns
to give wonder and awe

[havocmom]

15. Glad you had a grand time. Backroads are SO much more interesting.

Havocdad took me google-earthing in his old hoods back there last night and then said: 'And then, there's Canada...' Thought of you and the family touring up there.

Someday...

Welcome back, big guy. The kiddies were unruly and a firm hand will be appreciated around here just a bit.

[Redstone]

17. What, there was another insurrection? I ALWAYS miss the good stuff. What was it

this time? Fried chicken? Olive Garden? Something equally silly?

Heaven help me, I have to drive ( 2 hours each way) to Massachusetts tomorrow for my uncle's 70th birthday party, after all that driving yesterday, so I have to rest today. Fill me in when you can...I'll be back next week with any luck.

Canada's great fun, even if the region right around Montreal is DAMN flat (Think Kansas or Iowa, with all the corn). Amazing to think that the province of Quebec goes from cosmopolitan metro Montreal with 4 million people, all the way north to where there are Eskimo villages you can only get to by boat or bush-pilot airplane, complete with polar bears...it's a different place, for sure.

Redstone

[havocmom]

21. Porn, paid campaign operatives, much concern about our loyalities

it's been Salvador Dali in hack prose around here.

[Redstone]

22. Salvador Dali? You mean we're arguing about melting watches now? Sounds like I picked

a damn good time to be away.

I've declared an official Pain Emergency for tonight, so I may not be back around until next week. I trust you'll help the mods keep the lid of the pressure-cooker bolted tightly until then.

PS: Loyalties? Say what? I thought the name of this website kinda defined our loyalties. But what do I know?

I'm drifting from the Vikes...see you later.

Redstone

[havocmom]

23. nah, it's been like trying to make sense out of Dali, using traditional thinking

Sweet vike dreams

[1gobluedem]

18. Back roads are the best anyway

You see more of the 'real' area that way. We always take the back roads, or state roads, when we travel and stay off the expressways.

Check out Moody's Diner in Waldoboro if you come back through Maine. It's been there since the 1920s.

Glad you're all having fun.

[Redstone]

24. I'll add that diner to my database of "place to see when I can," and thank you.

Redstone

[graywarrior]

19. 7 hours would get me to Georgia

:cry:

[alphafemale]

20. We ended a vacation by taking a backroad once that made my daughter spew.

:D

We left I-95 as we headed back to GA and took little two lane through the NC Mountains that had lots of curves and whoop-dee-doops.

She was catching up on all the Xmas vacation she'd put off while playing with cousins, and reading and writing in the back seat.

"PullOverPullOverPullOverPullOver!"

She was proably about 12. She's a college junior now.

Fun times.

:D

[DS1]

25. check out what I found on my trip up last Sat

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=6852116

[Redstone]

26. Oh, yes, that's mighty fine. But how the HELL do they keep the

birds off the seeds until they can harvest them?

Redstone

[DS1]

27. No idea

This was a small field, I suspect they do it for fun. A local was there and said I was allowed to walk right in and take picture, and someone else was painting the scenery.