Quebec City

Here are a few photos of Quebec City. It is the closest thing to being in France without leaving North America. French is the official language but most people can speak a little English as well. All signs, menus, etc. are in French however.

Founded in 1608 Quebec City is one of the oldest cities in North America. The ramparts surrounding Old Quebec are the only fortified city walls remaining in the Americas north of Mexico’s and were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 as the ‘Historic District of Old Québec’.

Quebec is situated on the narrowest part of the river and was a site of battles between France and England. It was a very strategic location. Whoever controlled Quebec controlled access to shipping from the Atlantic Ocean.

I have used up all the French words that I know (about 3) so it is time to head to Maine.

The Blog is Closing Soon

Our original intent was to use this blog as an alternative to posting on Facebook. We didn’t want people that we didn’t trust to know we were going to be away from home for months.

However, little by little we gave in to the temptation to post on Facebook. So, at this point, the blog serves little purpose. It will go away soon but we will continue to post on Facebook.

Long Live Rock

I enjoyed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame more than I expected.  I was expecting a typical museum, interesting but not exciting.  But there were so many interesting exhibits, including exhibits with sound and audio, and small theaters to watch the artists’ past performances, it made it all the more fun.

We spent about a half day there and I could have easily gone back the next day to go through it again.  There was so much information to absorb.  I already had a vague idea about the origins and and continuing evolution of rock, but they did a great job laying out rock’s history and how country, blues, and other genres laid the groundwork.  They also did a good job in showing how one artist or band influenced those that followed.  Also, one region of the United States would influence another which would influence England, for example, and then, in turn, affect music back in the United States.

They gave due credit to such “country” artists such as Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and even Jimmy Rogers and Hank Williams.  Blues/soul credit went to Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, James Brown, Marvin Gay, and many others.  Of course, Elvis (and others), got a tremendous amount of credit for bringing it all together and delivering the new sound to white audiences.

I could go on and on.  Click on each picture to see the caption.

You’re never too old to rock & roll.
Pam on the 4th floor.
Geddy Lee’s bass. Blake’s favorite bassist.
Moody Blues inducted this year. We saw them in concert in January in Tulsa.
Copied off the internet. Looks as if his clothes were inspired by those in the Moody Blues exhibit.

The Original Hot Pocket

“Pasties”, basically meat pies, are sold everywhere in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They say that they were originally brought from England by Cornish miners.

According to Wikipedia: “Today, the pasty is the food most associated with Cornwall. It is regarded as the national dish and is filled with beef, diced potato, turnip, and onion, and seasoned with salt and pepper.”

They are about as unappetizing as a Hot Pocket, only blander. Sometimes food is more about the adventure than the taste.

Mackinac Bridge

This was the view a short walk from our campsite at Strait State Park in Michigan. The bridge spans the Strait of Mackinac and connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. The Strait of Mackinac connects Lake Superior and Lake Huron.

We will be here a few days. In a day or two we will take the Ferry to Mackinac Island and post some pictures from there.

Wisconsin

So what do you do in Wisconsin? You buy cheese! We are traveling through Wisconsin and spent some time in the Ashland historic district. They have some beautiful murals on the brick walls around the town. We also stopped by a cheese house to buy some fresh cheese which was awesome!

Duluth, Minnesota

Sounds pretty boring doesn’t it? Well it isn’t the most exciting city but Duluth has a few claims to fame:

1. It is one of the largest freshwater ports in the world. It takes ships about seven days to reach the Atlantic Ocean.

2. It has a cool “aerial lift bridge” that that has to be raised for the cargo ships to enter and exit the harbor.

3. It is the birthplace of Bob Dylan. (I saved the best for last).

We had to go through Duluth for a second time. The first time was to head north on what they call the “North Shore” of Lake Superior. The second time was to leave the area to head east.

The big lake they call Gitchi Gummi

Gordon Lightfoot sang about it in the “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”.  Lake Superior is the largest fresh water lake in the world.  It looks like an ocean.  They say it acts like an ocean too; several hundred ships and boats have sunk in it over the years when storms kicked up enormous waves.

We drove through Duluth Minnesota on the way.  It looks like an interesting city.  We will try to see more of it when we go back through to get back around the Southern part of the lake.  More on that later.

Pella, Iowa

Staying in Pella for a few days with the recommendation of friends of ours: Dennis Shook, Richard Miller, and Pat Versteeg. This is a Dutch community and a very interesting & quaint little town. The Bakeries and meat markets are wonderful. According to Judge Shook, they say in Pella “If you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much.”

One day delay

We have to wait until Sunday to head north. Why? Well, we sold our truck to these folks from Houston. Their credit union says that they cannot cut us a check until we provide proof of vehicle inspection. We said that Oklahoma does not require or do vehicle inspections. That did not satisfy them. So we are going to drive to Texas on Saturday just to get a Texas vehicle inspection to make the credit union happy. Drive to Texas, pay $7 to get our truck inspected, and return the same day. Then we can sell the truck and, hopefully, we can head north on Sunday.