travel

Our road trips around the U.S.

2014 Trip Six, Oct. 4-5, Fall in Canada and Deb and Rebecca’s Wedding

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Tupper Lake, NY, Sunday Oct. 5

In order to get the view below,

View from Whiteface Mtn

we climbed the rock/stair trail below, equivalent to 25 stories.

The 250′ climb to the summit

Geographically, it made more sense if we went to Whiteface Mtn yesterday (Saturday). But Saturday was raining with low clouds. Whiteface Mountain, New York’s fifth highest peak, has a great viewing platform that you can drive (almost) to. Whiteface Mtn is 4867 feet in elevation. Why go there for the view if you can not see much? So Whiteface was saved for today, a drive of an hour from our new lodgings Saturday and Sunday in Tupper Lake.

The parking lot and restaurant at Whiteface Mtn at 9:00 am

The road to the top of Whiteface was constructed in 1931-35 as a tribute to WWI veterans, as a means of employment during the Depression, and a means of bringing tourists to the area, including those with disabilities. It took until 1938 to complete a tunnel through 426 feet of rock and install a 25 story elevator to the summit. (We took the elevator down.)

Chris and Ed at Whiteface Mountain summit

We had heard stories of long waits to get into the elevator and to even enter the Memorial Highway. It has a toll and only a limited number of vehicles can access the mountain at one time due to limited parking at the top. Today’s weather called for a cooler day with sun between about 10 and 2. The gates open at 9 am. Do we go early and avoid the crowd or do we go later when the view is better and endure multiple waits? We decided on going early and waiting up there until the skies cleared.

We were the 6th car parked at the top a little after 9 AM. The clouds were present about one half way up the mountain. The sign at the gate indicated that summit was 31 degrees, 10-20 mph winds, and zero visibility. It was cold up there. Fortunately they have a building with rest rooms, gift shop, and restaurant. Unfortunately the kitchen opened at 11. We had passed on the continental breakfast at the hotel in order to avoid the crowds and figured we would eat at the restaurant while we were waiting. Eventually coffee was brewed and Chris had some and then goulash was hot and I had some. A little after 10 the skies had cleared.

The hike to the top was on a combination of stairs and stone outcroppings with metal railings. The railings were still ice-covered in most areas but the stairs/stones were usually dry.
The climb up was a challenge with the wind, the cold, and uneven footing but we made it. The top has a small weather station, the elevator, rock outcroppings you can stand on and a few constructed platforms. The view was fantastic.

View from Whiteface Mountain

You can see in all directions, into Vermont, Montreal on really clear days, Lake Champlain, and the other peaks in the Adirondacks. The Adirondacks have several distinct sections. Keene, our first lodging location, is part of the High Peaks area where most of the mountains over 4,000 feet are. Tupper Lake where we are staying now, is considered more of the lakes and rivers section of the Adirondacks.

Our view from Whiteface Mountain allowed us to gaze on many of the “High Peaks” of the Adirondacks. We gazed at Mount Lyon in Canada, at 3829 feet the highest point between here and Siberia. There is a ski area on Whiteface also. It has the highest vertical drop in the east and compares very favorably with the big name western ski areas. The Adirondacks are steep slopes due to the Canadian Shield rocks that resist weathering well.

After enjoying the view and chatting with fellow travelers, we took the elevator down to the parking lot. As had been expected, the elevator, which only holds about 12 people, had a long line for people to come up to the top. Your eyes have to adjust from the bright sky of the summit, to the dim lights in the elevator and dark lighting in the tunnel cut through the rock to the bright light outside again.

As we left Whiteface Mountain, there were more than 30 cars waiting to go up the road. Adirondack Park receives numerous visitors from Canada. It is an easy drive from Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa. We have noticed some signs in English and French although not as many Americans in service industries speaking French to their visitors from Canada. Nothing as sophisticated as the museum in Montreal that had head sets with eight language options.

On one of our walks

After lunch we did some modest hiking at several locations in the woods. One location was dedicated to New York State’s first forester. In an interesting side note, in his efforts to test new tree planting ideas, he upset some of the landowners in this area. They went to their legislators and had his department at Cornell de-funded. Later a new College of Forestry was established at Syracuse without him. It remains at Syracuse today.

Another walk in the Adirondack woods

It seemed to take us more time to find the spots than to hike them. New York State, at least in this area, uses very small signs, set back from the road, in the same color scheme as the signs indicating who volunteered to clean up trash on a section of road, to mark areas of interest or recreational use. In fact, the road signs thanking the people who pick up trash are larger.

The Wild Center in Tupper Lake NY

On Saturday, since it rained most of the day, we drove to Tupper Lake and spent five hours at The Wild Center, aka the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks. The center has been around for ten years and combines displays, animals, videos, demonstrations and hiking trails to demonstrate how people and nature can live together. The same firm that designed the Air and Space Museum in Washington designed this.

The Wild Center

The Wild Center. I guess we have more leaves to see

It happened that Saturday was a “Green Expo” day. This resulted in free admission (a savings of $32) but a larger than normal number of visitors. We skipped the vendor tables but did listen to one presentation detailing how one builder enhances the living world in his construction/remodeling of homes. Some ideas were basic, emphasizing the critical benefits of smart tree placement on a residential lot. Others were more radical, encouraging people to study the history of the lot they are building on (for hundreds of years) to determine the plantings that are native to the area. No mention of cost in the presentation.

driving through the Adirondacks

Between Saturday and Sunday, our drives to and fro, we have driven many back roads and enjoyed the scenery. As you might expect, the fall colors are starting to fade but beauty is still there. Monday we will head further south to Lake George.

Ed and Chris 10/5 9 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Adirondack Park, The Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks, The Wild Center, Tupper Lake NY, Whiteface Mountain Memorial Highway | Leave a comment

2014 Trip Six, Oct. 3, Fall in Canada and Deb and Rebecca’s Wedding

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Keene, NY Friday Oct. 3

So how many of you have heard of the fort at Crown Point? How many of you have heard of Fort Saint-Frederic? How many of you have heard of Fort Ticonderoga? Before today, we had only heard of Fort Ticonderoga.

Lake Champlain is less than an hour east of Keene and was our destination for the day. Lake Champlain extends for 125 miles north-south and up to 14 miles in width. For most of its length, it is the border between Vermont and New York states. It is named after Samuel Champlain, French explorer. Remember him from our Canada excursions?

More importantly, in the days before railroads, it was an integral part of the water superhighway connecting Montreal area to New York City area via the Richelieu River, Lake George, the Hudson River, Lake Champlain, and two relatively short portages.

When the French and British were both trying to add North America to their empires and to cut out the other country, this waterway was extremely vital. It was a main route for battles and skirmishes for two hundred years. It was also the area of battles between the Algonquin Indians and the combined Iroquois Confederacy of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. As the Europeans tried to expand into this area, the Algonquins allied with the British and the Iroquois with the French.

area of Fort St. Frederic ruins

The French out of New France (Canada) built Fort St. Frederic, starting in 1734, on a peninsula near the southern end of Lake Champlain to guard against British and colonial intrusion. It was the base for French settlers in the area. Fort St. Frederic was never attacked directly but was destroyed by the French in 1759 to avoid having it fall into the hands of the British.

ruins of fort at Crown Point NY

Crown Point was a much larger fort built almost on top of the ruins of Fort St. Frederic. Crown Point was built by the British in 1759 and was the largest earthen fortress constructed in the U.S. It burnt due to a chimney fire in 1773. It was lightly guarded by the British after this and not reconstructed. In 1775, the Americans captured the fort, taking the cannon from here to fight the British in Boston.

Chaplain Memorial Lighthouse, Crown Point NY

Champlain Memorial Lighthouse, Crown Point NY

There is obviously a lot more history to be recounted, but that is my summary. We toured the ruins of the two forts, the museum and the Champlain Memorial Lighthouse. The state historical park of Crown Point has been described as: “Crown Point Fort, in its ruined but unaltered state, is probably the finest existing architectural and archaeological type specimen in the United States of a superior example of 18th century military engineering.”

The lighthouse was built in 1759 and served for 70 years. The lighthouse has a statue of Champlain and a bust done by Auguste Rodin.

We had lunch in Vermont, crossing the Champlain Bridge to the Bridge Restaurant, a small family diner with home-cooked food. We passed on dessert because we noticed Fort Ticonderoga was only 15 miles away. Our original plans were to visit it when we were in Lake George next week. But the distance from Lake George to Fort Ticonderoga was one hour and it was a half hour from the Bridge Restaurant.

Looking south on Lake Champlain from Fort Ticonderoga

Fort Ticonderoga was always associated in our minds with the battle to win its cannons for use in Boston. Today’s history lesson was that Ticonderoga was only one half of the cannons brought to Boston, Crown Point was the other half. Fort Ticonderoga could fit five times inside Crown Point and still have space left over.

Reconstructed buildings at Fort Ticonderoga

We spent several hours at Fort Ticonderoga. The Fort was destroyed by the British in 1777 prior to their abandoning the fort. Despite the hopes of some Americans, the focus of the war shifted to the south, Canada was not a major target, and this area was no longer of strategic value. After its destruction, it fell into ruin. Locals took most of the stone and brick to make their own buildings. It was stated that only 12% of the building today dates back to its original construction.

A wealthy family, the Pells, purchased the property in 1820, mainly for a summer residence. Over time, the descendants came up with the idea of making the fort a historical landmark. It opened as such in 1909; making their effort one of extreme foresight and generosity, since this pre-dated the U.S.income tax and tax deductions. It remains a tax-exempt educational institution today.

Our guide at Fort Ticondergoa

Besides our touring of the fort, we took an hour guided tour by a costumed guide. He gave a very interesting talk. I could go on about Benedict Arnold, the Green Mountain Boys, and other stories but will leave you with one tidbit. The guide told us that Fort Ticonderoga was the first fort built by the military architect. It should have been 200 yards closer to the water, the site selected did not give a clear view of any ships trying to sneak by. The architect also designed the barracks so they were higher than the walls, thus an easy target for the enemy.

Fort Ti Cable Ferry

To come back to Keene, we took a small car ferry over Lake Champlain to Vermont. The Fort Ti Cable Ferry has been operating since 1759-but today’s version does meet U.S. Coast Guard standards. We drove back to the Bridge Restaurant and had soup and dessert before completing our day back in Keene.

Vermont countryside

Ed and Chris 10/3 10 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Crown Point State Historical Park, Fort Saint-Frederic, Fort Ticonderoga, The Bridge restaurant | Leave a comment

2014 Trip Six, Oct. 2, Fall in Canada and Deb and Rebecca’s Wedding

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Keene, New York, Thursday, Oct. 2

For all of the hiking we did today, the chocolate mousse for lunch dessert should have tasted better. Today was perfect. Sunny with a few clouds. Mild breezes. Temps in the 60s.

On top of Mt. Jo in the Adirondacks

So our plan to climb Mt. Jo was a go. Mt. Jo is classified as a moderate hike. The peak is at 2876 feet, which is a 700 foot elevation gain. The round trip is 2.5 miles but the hiking up and down time took us about 2.5 hours. Once again, the trail reflects the Canadian Shield topography. Rocks, boulders, exposed tree roots, etc combine to make the hike an effort and watching one’s footing is critical.

Heart Lake at the bottom of Mt. Jo

The forest is a mixed hardwoods with coniferous and deciduous trees. The pine scent was not quite as noticeable today, maybe all of our senses were directed at our feet. Several times, we said, Are we on the right trail? Hasn’t it been a while since we saw a trail marker? Why does the trail go over all of these large boulders? Why when the summit is just a short ways does the trail disappear onto huge boulders without a clear means to ascend them?

This is a trail??

There was a constant refrain of “Are you sure this is the trail? Yes, I am. How do you know? Because the leaves are more smooshed down than they are off to the side. What, we are basing the direction of our entire hike on smooshed leaves?? No response.”

From Mt. Jo; ALgonquin Mt and Heart Lake

Part of the trail to Mt. Jo

But we persevered and succeeded. When we reached the summit, we were numbers five and six there. We spent about 30 minutes there resting and chatting with the other hikers who preceded and followed us. New arrivals kept coming and taking pictures for others was a popular past time. Chris had to work hard to get one family into focus with the parents, one young child held in the arms of a parent, and an infant riding in the back sling of the second parent. When a group of 20 school children (how in the world did they make it up here??) arrived for lunch and picture taking, a large number of the adults decided it was time to head down.

Most of the return hike was spent in the company of a couple from Houston. Going down was no piece of cake either. Footing on boulders and tree roots was a constant concern. I do not mind admitting that others passed us.

After that, a good lunch was definitely in order. We stopped at the Lake Placid Brewpub on the recommendation of a couple from the top of Mt. Jo. The meal was good. The chocolate mousse, chocolate for me and cookies and cream for Chris were not noteworthy enough to even finish them. This is the second time in a row that chocolate mousse has not been up to expectations. One in Montreal before we left was also not up to expectations.

The trail to Lake Placid

Lake Placid

After lunch we found the Brewster Peninsula Nature Trails along Lake Placid. This area is sponsored by the Garden Club of Lake Placid and the Adirondack Ski Touring Council. Lake Placid does not allow motorized boats. The water is very clear and it turns out it is the source for the city’s water system. This trail was pretty level and not as rocky, although not as smooth as yesterday’s trail at the V.I.C run by Paul Smith’s College.

Our final hike was back by Mt. Jo around Heart Lake. The trail here was again rocky and rutted. We finished up the hike and since by now it was after 5 PM, we made a stop at a small store and picked up a few sandwiches for dinner.

A good day, tiring but rewarding. We can see that the leaves are starting to pass peak. It is likely to be rainy on Saturday, that may be the end of color here. We did meet a couple from Lake George NY, our destination for Monday-Wednesday night. They believed the leaf color there was likely to peak next week.

Ed and Chris 10/2 8:15 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Brewster Peninsula trails, Keene NY, Lake Placid NY, Mt. Jo in the Adirondacks | 1 Comment

2014 Trip Six, Oct. 1, Fall in Canada and Deb and Rebecca’s Wedding

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Keene, NY Wednesday Oct. 1

Do you believe in miracles? Some of us do-and remember.

Lake Placid NY

Today was going to be a hiking day but it started out cool, cloudy, and foggy. We thought we would go to Lake Placid first and then go for our hike. Lake Placid is only a 25 minute drive from our hotel. It is a small town, less than 3,000 people. But it has had a big impact on winter sports. The 1932 and 1980 Olympics were held here.

We toured the Olympic Center and then took a 1.5 hour tour with a guide who was on the planning committee for the 1980 Olympics and was the head of the Protocol Committee. The tour was fantastic. It is impossible to relate all of the stories and details he provided. We will try to relate a few highlights that you might find most interesting.

In 1980 the U.S. was in a funk. Iran hostage crisis, home mortgage rates around 15% or higher, the Soviets had invaded Afghanistan and we did nothing. The Winter Olympics were being held in Lake Placid in 1980 even though the US had egg on its Olympic face after Denver had won the rights for the 1976 Olympics and reneged on their pledge. The U.S. hockey team was facing the all-powerful Russian team that had won the last four Olympics and had defeated most of the NHL teams in exhibition matches. The U.S. was not expected to do well.

arena of 1980 Olympics hockey game

Well, as many of you know, the U.S. beat Russia and went on take the gold medal, beating Finland in the championship game. It is familiarly known as the Miracle on Ice. It is hard to over emphasize the impact this game had; on the future of the Winter Olympics, on hockey, on U.S. ego, and, as we heard today, on Russia.

Our tour guide has been doing these tours for 15 years. He has had 40-50 Russians on his tours who were alive at that time and who have uniformly told him that it was the beginning of the end of the Soviet empire in their minds. One young Russian woman told him that her parents made her promise to visit Lake Placid when they found out she was going to visit the U.S. for that same reason.

In 1980, Soviet propaganda consistently told its people that communism made them great, communism even made the hockey team great. It took two days before the official propaganda machine told the people that their invincible team had lost. It told them their team lost because the U.S. had bribed the officials. When the Soviet people found out the real details and realized how they had been lied to, it began people thinking. That was the story we heard.

Or we should say, one of the stories we heard. Our guide reminded us of Herb Brooks’ motivational messages to his team. In the Russian game, it was: “If you play the Soviets ten times, they will beat you nine times. But tonight, this is your time to win.” At the Finland championship game, after the second period when the U.S. was down 3-1, he said: “If you lose this game, you will take it to your F****** graves.” They won the Finland game 4-3.

The concrete below was the site of the speed skating track in 1980, the ski jump is in the background

1980 was the year Eric Heiden won five individual gold medals. His sister Beth won a bronze. No one before or since has won five gold individual medals. He told us how classy a person Heiden was and it was unfortunate for him that the hockey game over-shadowed everything else. The silver and bronze medalists, not from the U.S., in the competition where Eric won his fifth gold medal, carried him from the stadium on their shoulders.

Lake Placid was probably the last of the small time Winter Olympics. The entire opening ceremony was 25 minutes long.The heads of the local committee were a minister, a dentist, a radio station manager, etc. They wanted this to be an Olympics for the athletes. They were offered an extra $250,000 (remember this was before huge TV sums for the games) to switch the time period for the U.S. and Russia game. They refused because it would upset the training plans of the teams. (The U.S. Russia game was shown in the U.S. on a three-hour tape delay, not live.)

U.S. Vice-President Walter Mondale made a last-minute change to watch the championship game on Sunday. Our guide told the local chairman who had planned to be at luge at that time to switch his plans and attend the hockey game. Despite his reluctance and his Republican affiliation, the local chair made the change and he and Fritz Mondale jumped for joy together when the U.S. won.

The local committee got NY State to construct a new penitentiary in the Lake Placid area. It was used to house the 1700 athletes for the Olympics and then modified to house prisoners. The speed skating rink was outside on the high school track with refrigerant pipes under the track, the high school was shut down for several weeks and became the media center.

Lake Placid has a winter sport culture. The first ever Winter Olympic gold medal was awarded to a speed skater from Lake Placid. There never has been a Winter Olympics without Lake Placid people. Vancouver had 14, Sochi had nine. The overwhelming percentage have been born in this area, although some do move here to train. For decades, the arena here was the home ice training facility for the figure skaters from the U.S. and Canada. Lake Placid is the only place that has erected a memorial to the figure skating team members that died in a plane crash in 1961. Three generations of one family have been Olympic contestants.

On our way around the Adirondacks

Well, there are more stories but you can come to Lake Placid and take the tour yourself. Time was moving on and a hike without a meal break did not seem wise. While looking for a restaurant, we ran into three gentlemen from Menasha, WI; one lived on Firelane 8. They were traveling with Nationwide Tours out of Appleton. We did not get their names, though. But by the time lunch was over, it also did not seem wise to start a mountain hike in mid to late afternoon. So we drove around the Adirondacks until we arrived at the Adirondacks Park Visitor Interpretive Center.

Along our hiking trail

Hiking Trail

This used to be a state-run facility but with cutbacks, it is now run by Paul Smith’s College, a private four-year higher education institution with about 1,000 undergrads. It has a museum and a system of trails. We arrived there in time to learn that the school has a Wednesday evening buffet open to the public by reservation only; and then learnt that reservations had to be in by 2 PM. We missed the deadline. (So dinner was popcorn from a Lake Placid popcorn store; not as good as Candyland in St. Paul.)

Along the hiking trail

The trail system was smooth with a path lined with wood chips and plenty of identifying trail markers. This allowed us to enjoy the scenery and not be watching our feet all of the time. The colors were great and the scent of pine was frequently in the air. Locals tell us that this fall is the best in five years (yea) but that the peak was probably last Saturday (boo).

On the road heading back to our lodging

On the road

Our drive home took several interesting turns as we roamed the roads. We checked out Whiteface Mountain and first learned that the road to the top was closed due to road construction; then we learned that the road should be open on Saturdays and Sundays. So more about that on Saturday’s upcoming post.

Ed and Chris 10/1/14 10:45 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Lake Placid, Lake Placid Olympic Center, Paul Smith's College Visitor Interpretive Center | 2 Comments

2014 Trip Six, Sept. 30, Fall in Canada and Deb and Rebecca’s Wedding

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Keene, NY, Tuesday Sept. 30

Road trip six of 2014 is about one-half over and we are back in the U.S. The next 9 nights we will be in the Adirondacks of New York State. During our five nights in Montreal, the fall colors in New York have also progressed.

Fall colors in New York

We left Montreal and successfully dealt with detouring around a major ramp from one highway to the next critical highway that was closed to travelers in our direction. We successfully re-entered the U.S. without upsetting any border crossing guards. We successfully found a Best Buy to purchase a new camera since I dropped the camera as I was trying to put the strap around my wrist. It fell onto a granite sidewalk. It broke. This time I bought a service contract that covers drops and falls. Now I will never drop a camera again.

As mentioned in a previous post, the Adirondacks are an extension of the Canadian Shield. This is a unique area. It is not state or national park. It encompasses an area larger than Yosemite, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks combined. But it is only 48 percent publicly owned, the rest is private. There is a regulatory body to control development. Adirondacks Park has a wide variety of topography but one notable fact is that it has 46 mountains over 4,000 feet in height. Over the next nine days we will drop in additional factoids.

Ausable Chasm

Plattsburgh NY was a stop before our night’s lodging. We ate here, gassed up the car,and re-filled a prescription at a local Walgreens. Our activity for this driving day was a visit to Ausable Chasm. The Ausable River flows from the Adirondacks to Lake Champlain. It is not a huge river but given the elevation drops from the mountains to the Lake, the river has carved a few gorges/chasms and created some waterfalls.

cairns along Ausable Chasm trail

Ausable chasm

Ausable Chasm is one of those waterfalls and chasms. It is a privately owned tourist attraction dating back to 1870. It offers trails, scenic views, and a rafting trip through a short portion of the chasm. Our effort to take the raft trip was thwarted though. The falls here also provide hydro power and the power company turned off the tap a short while before we got there. So our trip was limited to hiking.

Ausable Chasm

Ausable Chasm is also where I dropped the camera. This generated a return trip to Plattsburg. Tonight I will charge up the new camera.

We checked into our lodging, the ADK Trail Inn. Not much to comment on yet, it is of the Mom and Pop variety. The Auable River runs behind it and provides some scenic views for us. Dinner was at the ADK Cafe in Keene, down the road about 5 miles from our lodging. We heard their advertisements on Upper NY Public Radio when we were driving in Quebec Province. They are of the type that serves locally raised products, etc. Tonight’s meal was quite tasty.

Ed and Chris Sept. 30 10 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Adirondacks Mountains, Adirondacks Park, ADK Trail Inn, Ausable Chasm | 1 Comment

2014 Trip Six, Sept. 29, Fall in Canada and Deb and Rebecca’s Wedding

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Montreal, Monday Sept. 29

The Montreal Underground was talked about as a marvel of shops, offices, and restaurants below ground level linking downtown buildings. Without having seen it, we envisioned something grand; some combination of Twin City skyways, Calgary Plus 15s, a San Antonio river walk only enclosed. Maybe we should have left our expectations behind and have just approached it without pre-conceptions.

Looking for underground entrance by convention center

There were areas of light, open shopping and restaurants. But they were more limited. We had difficulty finding the entrances. We had a map indicating where entrances were supposed to be. Even with that, signage (to us anyway) was difficult to find.

In the afternoon,we spent 15 minutes wandering around Montreal University’s Sherbrooke Hall where map indicated an entrance should be. Eventually we asked two service workers for assistance just to get out of the building and back onto the street. They directed us to a door we had not used, thinking it was only an emergency exit. Well, it did have French words that seemed to indicate that. Evidently, the alarms only rang at night and on weekends.

When we entered at the convention center first thing in the morning, another supposed entrance, we again needed to find a guide to inform us where it was. Here, the entrance led to a series of underground tunnels without shops, restaurants, or anything. The tunnels were wide and modern, but not many people. After several blocks of wrong turns and dead ends, we made our way to an area of shops, etc.

This, Place Villa Marie, was under a series of modern high-rises and was an obvious shopping area. It even had a Dunkin Donuts where we re-grouped. We decided to head outside and enjoy city architecture. This was the newer downtown, instead of Old Montreal of tourists, with offices, churches, plazas, etc. We wandered for quite a while, making our way up to McGill University and its Redpath Museum.

Redpath Museum

McGill is well-respected and large. Redpath Museum goes back to the early days of the institution when an wealthy trustee had the museum built as an inducement to keep the then President John Dawson from accepting an offer from Princeton. Evidently Dawson had a passion for science and was a collector of some renown at that time. Building the museum for Dawson’s collection was sufficient to keep him here. The museum is noted for a large collection of items but for a visitor it was less than exciting. But as a destination, it got us out walking for several hours to reach it and get back.

Sun Life Building in Montreal which in WWII housed

Sun Life Building in Montreal which in WWII secretly housed Britain’s negotiable securities which were sold over time in NYC to pay for the war

Returning was going to be via the Underground and that Sherbrooke Hall entrance mentioned above. After that abortive effort, we went back outside and eventually found Complexe Desjardins, another complex of high-rise offices with a lower level of shops and restaurants. From here, we had better luck returning to the Convention Center which was only a few blocks away, again by underground tunnels without shops, etc.

So, our day was spent, kind of, doing as we expected, exploring the Montreal Underground. My advice to future visitors, forget it unless it is freezing outside. And check out maps in advance; unlike the Twin Cities skyways, the Underground leaves large swaths of the downtown area unconnected.

Mont Royal cross

Biosphere

So ends our Montreal portion of the trip. We leave you with two photos of Montreal icons that we saw from a distance, without personally viewing it. The Biosphere is a dome left over from the 1967 Expo with environmental displays. The cross is 100 feet tall and is on top of Mont Royal, looking down on Montreal and McGill University.

Ed and Chris 9/29 10 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: McGill University, Montreal Underground, Redpath Museum | 1 Comment

2014 Trip Six, Sept. 28, Fall in Canada and Deb and Rebecca’s Wedding

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Montreal, Sunday Sept. 28

This is Sunday. It must be time to visit another large church. In case you have not gathered, the French-Canadian history of the province includes a strong dose of Catholicism. It seems that every other town and every third street is named after some saint. And around every corner is another church, famous for some feature.

St. Joseph Oratory

Today’s spectacle was St. Joseph Oratory. (An oratory is usually considered similar to a chapel and set aside by ecclesiastical authority for prayer and Mass, frequently for a private or semi-private use. We had to look it up.) St. Joseph Oratory, however, is huge, but not beautiful. Its dome is the second or third largest in the world for Catholic churches, surpassing St. Paul’s in London, Notre-Dame in Paris, St. Patrick’s in NYC, and Sainte-Anne de Beaupre up by Quebec. St. Peter’s in Rome is larger and possibly one in the Ivory Coast.

Inside of St Joseph Oratory

We went to 11:15 Mass in the crypt (basement) church which only holds about 750-900 people depending on how many you squeeze into the pew. It was in English, one of the few such available to us although the accent made listening a challenge. The main basilica seats 2,200 and supposedly can hold another 10,000 people standing. That last fact seems questionable to me, maybe it includes the outside terrace. The interior seems plain to me, although the sculptures and stained glass are praised.

The Oratory was built due to Brother Andre (now a saint) who joined the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1870 and became famed for extraordinary cures attributed to him. In 1904 a little chapel was built. Construction of the current building began in 1924 and completed in 1955.

Some of the crutches

In the votive chapel area of the Oratory are walls with crutches from grateful pilgrims who attribute their cure to him. These are just the ones up to the year 1937 when he died. The temperature in the votive chapel is markedly warmer than the area around it due to the number of candles burning. We did not notice any air-conditioning; not sure how warm the votive chapel gets in summer. This chapel can hold 10,000 votive candles. Not all are burning but we observed a constant stream of people lighting candles.

Pilgrim climbing the stairs

We observed a number of pilgrims climbing the 283 stairs on their knees. A center portion of the stairs are reserved for pilgrims. This keeps the pilgrims safe from the 2,000,000 visitors the Oratory receives each year.

Some of the creches on display

At the museum, a display of creches from around the world lined the walls. The diversity and creativity was remarkable; many were made of simple materials indigenous to a region. The display was not heavy with fancy/expensive creches.

Some other interesting facts. The carillon have 56 bells originally made for the Eiffel Tower. Technical difficulties prevented that and generous pilgrims bought the bells and had them installed here. The organ has 5811 pipes. The oratory is named after St. Joseph, the patron saint of Canada.

View from Mont Royal

After our visit, we went to Mont Royal. This park is situated on high ground just east of St. Joseph Oratory. Mont Royal was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead who is well-known for planning NYC’s Central Park. We stopped at one overlook to view Montreal but, frankly, we had walked enough yesterday and seen enough heights and were not impressed by any descriptions of the park to spend further time here. I know,it is ranked highly in travel guides but one needs to set your own priorities.

We turned our car back into the garage, happy to get off the roads and to stop commenting on bicyclists bad habits. But, we did comment to each other the near absolute absence of car horn honking. Given the traffic, the pedestrians, and the bicyclists, there was a wealth of opportunity to sound one’s car horn. But it did not happen. We do not know if it is illegal (for instance,red turns on red are illegal in Montreal) but found nothing to support this theory. Maybe it is just cultural.

Chris’ poutine dinner

A late lunch was at a local dive serving poutine and smoked meat sandwiches. Both are local traditional foods and both are over-rated. Poutine is now available in the Twin Cities but we had not tried it before. It is french fries with gravy and cheese curds; Chris added pulled pork to hers. I had the smoked meat sandwich with fries and cole slaw. Smoked meat is basically pastrami. We can say we tried it and can put the memory behind us. This one at least was inside an open-air courtyard between two buildings. Many of the cafes stick a couple of tables on a wood frame floor constructed for this purpose and using 3/4 of the sidewalk. People get squeezed into the remaining 2 feet of sidewalk.

Ed and Chris 9/28 7 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Crèche, Minnesota travel blog, Mont Royal, Nativity scenes, Pilgrim crutches, Poutine, St. Joseph Oratory | Leave a comment

2014 Trip Six, Sept. 27, Fall in Canada and Deb and Rebecca’s Wedding

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Montreal Saturday Sept.27

I wonder how many gazillion photos and videos are taken each day? We certainly took more than our share today. Another gorgeous day, sunny, slight wind, and temps ranging from 60-80. We were up and out to spend the day at the Olympic Park/Biodome/Olympic Tower/Botanical Garden all right next to each other.

The Olympic Tower

The 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, and as usual for such events, bunches of money were spent to spruce up the town and build new arenas, etc. Olympic Park was the host area for most of the games. The Tower was built as part of the stadium, the velodrome was converted to today’s Biodome, and other facilities were constructed in this Olympic Park area. When we visited today, construction maintenance was visible in many areas. I will not go into details about the stadium; it has had numerous construction issues and its major tenant, Major League Baseball Expos departed at the end of 2004 for Washington D.C.

View from Tower towards downtown Montreal

Our first stop was the Olympic Tower. We arrived in the parking lot at 9:07 A.M. and were the first car parked in this cavernous, underground parking garage. The Olympic Tower is the tallest inclined structure in the world-this claim is Guinness World Record certified. It is at a 45 degree angle! The Leaning Tower of Pisa is only 5 degrees. It is 540 feet high. The glass enclosed funicular that takes you to the top can hold 76 people. We were the only two in our ride up.

Olympic Tower and the funicular that brings you to the top

Picture taking was great. The glass on the enclosed cabin was clean, although the glass at the observatory level 540 feet was pretty buggy. The windows do swing open and window cleaners attach a safety harness when they lean out to clean the glass. (I asked, not that we observed them doing it.) Smog in the area was quite visible over the downtown but still you could see in all directions.

Biodome: Macaw from tropical rainforest area

Of course this is not cheap. Montreal must not subsidize its civic attractions. The cost to visit the Tower, the Biodome and the Botanical Garden was $50 for one person plus $15 for parking. We made sure to make a full day of activities here.

Biodome: Beaver posing for visitors

The Biodome could be summarized as an indoor conservatory and zoo. It has separate regions such as tropical rainforest, Canadian forest, sub-polar regions and a display about earth’s formation and fossils. As we walked along the pathway, we also watched the numerous families enjoying a day’s outing.

Olympic Tower, Stadium, Rings, medals stand

Back outside, we wandered around Olympic Park. Olympic Park now consists of the Tower, Biodome, the stadium, planetarium, ice arena, outdoor stadium, tennis courts, sports clinics and outdoor entertainment areas, etc. We walked over to the corner where the Olympic Rings and logo were now located.

For lunch, we went exploring down the major street that brought us to Olympic Park. On our drive here we had not been focusing on restaurants, simply destination. We picked a direction and luckily came across a local restaurant within two blocks of Olympic Park. It was a nice combination of fast food burgers (Ed) and sit down breakfast service (Chris). I took one of the basic options listed on the display board and managed to order and pay without confusion. The place was crowded, one set of four guys who were in loading up on lunch were from a team working on setting up logistics for Sunday’s Montreal Marathon. We had just heard about it and will need to adjust our Sunday activities to not get caught in street closings.

Botanical Gardens

The Montreal Botanical Garden is across the street from Olympic Park. The largest area of display is more like an arboretum with walking paths through various species of trees and shrubs. Indoors, they have displays of bonsai, tropical plants, desert plants, etc. The University of Montreal has a section devoted to biodiversity.

Botanical Gardens

Montreal Botanical Gardens

Back outside, the Gardens have a Japanese Garden, Chinese Garden, and First Nations Garden. Special display gardens included sections on toxic plants, medicinal plants, perennials, useful plants, shrubs, lilacs, etc. We spent several hours wandering around the gardens and under the tree-shaded canopy, periodically relaxing in the chairs and benches scattered throughout. Other people had the same idea, we came across individuals just sitting and reading in their favorite chair.

Montreal Botanical Gardens: What you can do with just leaf and red lettuce

There was a dilemma though. The Gardens have an illuminated display in the Japanese and Chinese Gardens beginning at dusk. That was still a few hours away. In addition, the car was parked a few blocks away in the huge underground garage that might not be inviting to walk to when it was dark. We decided to walk to the car now, find another restaurant for a light snack and re-park the car in the Gardens parking lot.

Montreal Botanical Garden

Down the street in the other direction we found a Tim Horton’s and shared a sandwich and their hot kettle chips. Dessert was a donut and milk. Back at the Gardens, we parked in the lot easily and returned for more strolling and sitting. We chose a bench facing the setting sun and with many like-minded folks, most of whom had cameras, waited out the sunset.

Chinese Garden at dusk

As dusk was coming on, we headed back to the Japanese and Chinese gardens. Wow. All of a sudden all of Montreal had arrived at the Gardens. This night of illuminations is a big deal. Throngs were crowding the paths. Where did they all come from? The areas we had just inhabited, while people were present, were nothing like this. Well, they were coming just for the evening display and paying full price. Even when we left at 8 P.M., there were several hundred people still lined up to get their tickets.

Montreal Botanical Gardens: Chinese Garden at sunset

Japanese Garden at night at Montreal Botanical Gardens

The Chinese garden area was bright and colorful with lighted lanterns and fanciful lighted animals decorating the pathways. We slogged along in the slow-moving crowd, taking our pictures and waiting for others to take theirs. The Japanese garden was shadows and light, soft music and lights fading in and out on trees and shrubs. The Garden website, listed below, has a brief video highlighting the illuminations that you might be interested in. (The show runs from Sept. 5 to Nov. 2.)

http://espacepourlavie.ca/en/botanical-garden

Moving our car was a smart decision. It was dark and the lot here was swarming with cars driving around the aisles waiting to pounce on an open spot. Our ride back to the hotel gave us a chance to experience urban traffic, including bicyclists (it was still 70 degrees out) of whom only two of 30-40 were using lights. Teamwork driving was essential to spot street names, bicyclists, road work, etc. Luckily we have practice at that.

Ed and Chris Sunday 9/28 9:30 A.M

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Montreal Biodome, Montreal Botanical Garden, Montreal Olympic Tower | Leave a comment

2014 Trip Six, Sept. 26, Fall in Canada and Deb and Rebecca’s Wedding

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Montreal Friday Sept. 26, 2014

Today was our allocated day for history type museums. Surprisingly, one church falls into that category. The Notre -Dame Basilica on weekdays makes itself over into a tourist stop. Masses are held in a chapel and the Eucharist is removed from the main church to the chapel. Instead, a $5 admission is charged and hordes of tourist come through, take their pictures, and go on guided tours. That was certainly true today as hordes flocked through the church this morning and the square outside was even busier when we walked by this afternoon.

Notre-Dame Basilica or Montreal

The history of the church is interweaved with that of Montreal. Montreal was founded in 1642 by a small group of people from France planning to build an ideal community and convert the native people to Catholicism. The original name was Ville-Marie, City of Mary.

People of Quebec were skeptical due to the town’s close proximity to the Iroquois who were British allies and frequently attached settlers. Initially, a good number of the colonists died due to Indian attacks. But the city prospered, as we know from Thunder Bay and Grand Portage, partially due to being a center for the fur trade. Now there are 1.6 million in Montreal with 3.8 million in the metro area. Quebec has been left in the dust although Toronto is larger.

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal

So the town prospered, as did the church of Notre-Dame. Originally founded by Jesuits, the Sulpicians arrived in 1657 and still serve the church today. The original chapel was replaced by a stone church seating over 1000. That still was not large enough and the present church was built between 1824-1829 and seats 3200. The architect was an Irish Protestant from New York who moved to Montreal, converted to Catholicism, and died just a few months after its opening.

Notre Dame Basilica

The church interior has a blue hue, the color associated with Mary. Much of the interior decoration was added after the church was completed. The altar has numerous statues. French made stained glass windows were added in 1929. The stations of the cross are intricate carvings. The organ has 7000 pipes.

Bronze sculpture in chapel

The church added a chapel seating several hundred in the late 1800s. Kind of hard to have an intimate funeral or wedding in a church seating 3200. However, an arsonist burnt the chapel in 1978 and it has been re-built. Only two of the stained glass windows survived. The front of the re-built chapel has a huge, modern bronze sculpture piece.

The Notre-Dame Basilica was actually our second stop. First, we made a quick visit to City Hall, where Charles de Gaulle in 1969 stated: Vive le Quebec libre. Long live Free Quebec. This was during a state visit during the time when tensions were rising about Quebec declaring its independence. (Side note: There were two plebiscites on the issue. Both lost but the second one in 1995 lost by a slim margin of 50.6 to 49.4. 94% of eligible voters turned out.)

City Hall was built between 1872 and 1878. The lobby and Council Chambers were open for viewing. We were surprised to see so many official seats until we read that the Council has 64 members and a mayor. Evidently much work must be delegated since it only meets 11 times a year.

Our major stop for the day was the Montreal Archaeology and History Complex. Complex is the correct term. It is built on the site of the actual remains of the city’s birthplace. It occupies four buildings, connected by underground exhibitions taking you through the stone foundations of early buildings including the first cemetery and first marketplace.

Exhibit at Montreal Archaeology and History Complex

First time visitors view a 20 minute multi-media show summarizing the history of Montreal. The city is built on an island and the initial settlement was on a point of the island where the Little River joined the St. Lawrence River. As further development occurred, the new buildings were built over the original ones. Our tour walks you past some of the stone foundations and the initial sewer pipes. The Little River was the first sewer. The pipes were not constructed for quite some time and replaced the Little River.

Archaeology and history complex

Twice we had to get directions and/or retrace our steps including the most important part of the day when we had lunch at their cafe. Turns out, the cafe is in the first building and when we were hungry we were in building two, or three, or four. We made it to the cafe in time to get one of the few tables open to touristy type people who had not made reservations. Excellent food again. These people use seasonings and spices!! Who knew the flavor that can come from seasonings?

Ah, Marco Polo knew about spices. Sounds like a weird connection does it not? But the Montreal Archaeology and History Complex was hosting a special exhibit on Marco Polo. Our tour guide was a young man who was heavily involved in the exhibit and his enthusiasm was infectious. Most of us had heard of Marco Polo but we certainly had not read his book about his travels from 1271 when he was 17 to 1295 when he was 41.

The exhibit reminded us how little known the East was to Europe at that time, how many advancements it had over Europe, and how daunting such a journey must have been. While goods had traveled the spice road from Asia to Europe for quite some time, the goods were transported by different traders, each for a segment of the route. Polo traveled by land to China and returned by sea.

Polo’s written descriptions were the first writings describing many of these areas to Europeans; not only China, but Vietnam, India, Indonesia, etc. His tale was actually “dictated” to a scribe when Polo was in prison. Venice was at war with Genoa when he returned from China and Polo went to war as a Venetian and was captured and imprisoned. His cellmate wrote down Polo’s adventures and the book was published when the cellmate was released (a year before Polo was). It became a hit and was translated into many languages. Polo’s writings were one of the reasons Christopher Columbus was looking for China when he “discovered” America. Our tour guide was exuberant as he related the route, the people and cultures Polo encountered, and the life in China under Kublai Khan.

Chateau Ramezay Montreal

But the day was getting on and so did we. After a stroll along the streets of Old Montreal, we came to Chateau Ramezay. This building was built in 1705 by the first Governor General of Montreal. It is now a museum that details the life during this French colonial era. There is a mention of the American occupation of Montreal in 1775 before their defeat in Quebec City. The museum celebrates the French culture of Montreal.

By now, it was late afternoon and we had put in a full day. My attention was less than perfect so we decided to call an end to museum time. We did enjoy the sun and people watching for a while before heading back to the hotel. A late dinner was at a local restaurant on St. Paul Street where we sat outside and watched the world go by while we ate flammekueches, basically a French thin bread version of pizza. Once again we watched, and did not do much listening to conversations as most of them were in French. We do know that tourists come here from all over, though. Our basilica tour had visitors from India, Australia, UK, Japan and Ukraine besides the states.

Ed and Chris 9/26 11:20 PM

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Chateau Ramezay, Montreal Archaeology and History Complex, Montreal City Hall, Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal | Leave a comment

2014 Trip Six, Sept. 25, Fall in Canada and Deb & Rebecca’s Wedding

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Montreal, Thursday Sept. 25

Well it was a beautiful day. Our first day of temperatures in the 70’s since we left St. Paul two and one-half weeks ago. Despite a four hour drive, we put the weather to good use.

Kingston is at the head of the St. Lawrence River as it takes water from the Great Lakes and dumps it into the Atlantic Ocean. The river was “improved” in the 1950s with a series of locks and dams to create the St. Lawrence Seaway, allowing ships to travel to Duluth. The St. Lawrence was one of the great exploration routes of early explorers like Cartier and Champlain.

St. Lawrence River and islands

At Kingston, the river’s geology is such that there are numerous islands in the river. The Canadian Shield runs south across the river to the Adirondacks, creating these islands. Thousand Islands is an understatement, like calling MN the Land of 10,000 Lakes. In both cases there is a definition of what qualifies as an island (two trees growing on the land which is above water all year) or a lake (minimum size of ten acres). There are actually over 1800 islands in the river and there are almost 12,000 lakes greater than ten acres in MN.

The Kingston area is home to the greatest prevalence of these islands. The Treaty of 1793 led to a resolution of the border between Canada and the U.S. Drawing part of the U.S./Canada boundary line in the St. Lawrence generated a need to divide up the islands. Canada received 2/3 of the islands but the land area for each country is roughly equal.

Small islands with homes

That small bridge actually connects a Canadian island with a U.S. island

We drove a half hour to Ganonoque to take a 2.5 hour cruise on the river. The cruise took us in and out of Canadian and U.S. waters by islands large and small. Some of the larger islands have power and phone service brought by underwater cables. Parts of the area have been recreational homes for generations, dating back to the U.S. robber baron era when industrialists from New York, Cleveland, Chicago and Pittsburg summered here.

Boldt’s Castle and outbuildings

The cruise ship circled one island where George Boldt, the owner of the NYC hotel, Waldorf Astoria, built a castle for his wife. But since she died before it was finished, it remained uncompleted for decades until the Seaway Authority took it over to make it into a tourist destination. The legend has it that 1000 Island dressing originated by someone here (versions vary) who gave it to Boldt who introduced it at his hotel.

A home on the only island artificially constructed by connecting three shoals

After the cruise, we drove to Montreal. This time we plotted our directions to the new hotel precisely. Good thing. The last 10 minutes involved numerous one-way streets, partially on butt-busting, auto shock challenging cobblestone streets. The SpringHill Suites Old Montreal is (as its name suggests) in the Old Montreal area. This is the historic district rampant with tourists. The car is parked for several days as we walk around the area.

Ed on Rue St. Paul street with cobblestones

Ed on Rue St. Paul with cobblestones

Along Jacques Cartier Place

Our first foray into Montreal gave us enough daylight to tour part of the area around the hotel without time for any museums or historical sites. More of that will take place tomorrow.

Along the Old Port area

Clock Tower WWI Memorial along St. Lawrence River

Dinner was at a restaurant in which Charles Dickens wrote the notes for “A Tale of Two Cities” in May of 1842.

Ed and Chris 9/25 10:15 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: 1000 Island Cruises, Ganonoque Boat Line, Kingston Ontario, Montreal | 2 Comments

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