Quebec to New York

Our clever plans to bike to the ferry from our campground were sabotaged by sketchy weather, but our ferry ride across the St. Lawrence River into Quebec was a great entry into the old walled city.

Like a scenic city in Europe, the old town of Quebec was filled with people and narrow streets filled with cool tourist shops, restaurants, and art vendors.  Got lots of exercise going up and down from the river to the city on the bluff!

Can you find Dixie among the other Quebec notables in this giant mural?

Broke our routine of eating "in" to enjoy a traditional Quebecois dinner:  yellow pea soup, mixed meat pie (above) and maple sugar pie (below).  Also enjoyed the international feel of the Quebec farmer's market, with quail, exotic cheeses, many fruit liqueurs, and blueberry wonders.

This town was founded by Champlain in 1604 and at some point was completely surrounded by a huge medieval style wall.   We got our exercise walking the ramparts.

My favorite special feature of Quebec, however, was how the extensive grain elevators along the waterfront were lit up with lights that slowly changed through a range of blues and purples----pictured here to the right of the cruise ship and as seen from the ferry back to our car at night.

Were privileged to be allowed on the Road of the King from Quebec to Montreal, which is a two lane-er along the St. Lawrence.

A lovely day after our dreary rain-threatening ones in Quebec.  We picnic-ed by the river.

Celebrating the warm weather in our campsite beside the St. Lawrence, we tried to spend the evening with our windows open.  The result was spending 2 hours trying to kill the multitude of mosquitoes and other bugs that had infested our interior, before discovering that hundreds of mosquitoes were trapped between the window and the screen and that various brave (or small) souls were making it through the blockade and into the RV.  These bugs produced a horrifying hum which alerted us to their presence.  This experience helped to steel us for later bug misadventures.  Unfortunately, the white pseudo-suade walls of the RV are now stained with black and red blotches!

Down the Chemin du Roy and into New York for the most famous of all waterfalls.  Got to Niagara in time for an evening stroll and especially enjoyed the turbulent rapids above the American falls, viewed here from a footbridge across them and lit by major spotlights on the shore.

Enjoyed our free lodging at the Seneca Indian casino in downtown Niagara until some dude decided to turn on a generator and giant spotlight right outside the RV at 12:30 am.  Well, the location was great, as we launched our bikes from there the next morning.

Rode upstream along the rapids and over to islands in the river.

Rode to the top of the falls on the American side.  Smelled like seagull poop:  major nesting site for them below the falls!

Best of all, we crossed the border on our bikes so we could actually see the falls falling, which is only possible from the Canadian side!

Here are the Canadian "Horseshoe Falls" as viewed from Canada, with tour boat in the midst.

We were amused by the color coded rain gear provided by the boat tours from US and from Canada.  Guess which boat is the Canadian one?

Almost got our camera crushed and confiscated for taking this shot at customs.  We had to ride our bikes with the big boys (cars, trucks, etc) to get back across border.  Felt weird to ride up to booth and get asked about firearms and contraban food!

Then off to the Finger Lakes region of New York, for three tangled days of Women's Rights, Cornell/Ithica/Frank Havlak, and a cool state park.

This is the highly restructured church where the Women's Rights Convention of 1848 got the ball rolling on the quest for women's right to vote, own land, get better pay, have legal rights, etc.  Got in a a special Ranger led tour here.  Very moving to me.  The wall beside it is inscribed with the Declaration of Sentiments, still so relevant.  Google it.

This woman is one of my heroes.

We got to take a tour of her home, where she entertained the women who were at the foundation of the women's rights movements.

Then we got to shoot the gap between classical Ithica homes to park and camp behind the rental home of Frank Havlak, Dirk's nephew.

Frank, who is just finishing up his PhD and end of the year studies, took time out to show us his robotic car lab.  This is the research vehicle that can drive itself!  No, he is not driving the car, but only showing us the control panels.  It can be driven manually if needed, though.

Frank will soon be saying farewell to his research car to head to California and his new job for Tesla, working to get fully self-automated cars on the market within a few decades.

I was delighted when one of the options for dinner that Frank presented was the vegetarian spot, Moosewood, a famous Ithica joint from whom I have two cookbooks.  I insisted on this option, of course, and snagged a free sticker for our RV as well!

Had to take a walking tour of Cornell, where not only Frank but our good friend Maria went to school.  Stopped by the Cornell dairy for a 1/2 gallon of very local milk and some yogurt.  The campus was spectacular, including its own huge waterfalls, arboretum, orchard, dairy, and botanical gardens, as well as being perched on a hill above the lake.

Ithica campus had similar falls, but this was actually a nearby state park, Taughannock, whose falls and river gorge and waterway were all impressively formed in the slabs of shale and limestone, making unique formations.

Who would have thunk this about New York?  Could have enjoyed more time here, but we have a date in Chicago!