Quebec, Canada

Ree and I had one day together after her trip to NY and before I left to Canada for 5 days in the Pilatus. The trip was pretty long for that plane. I doubt we'll take it from one end of the country to the other again any time soon, but I didn't complain about racking time in type for my logbook.

We split the trip up into a couple of legs and had a weird overnight in Sault Ste Marie the first day. How do you get the pronunciation of "Soo" out of Sault, anyway? The town was small and I had the worst ribs I've ever eaten at dinner that night. Note to everyone: Canadian BBQ = very bad. The only benefit was that we called Canadian Customs over the phone and they cleared us into the country without seeing a soul. Sweet!

We left for Quebec the next morning, and the city was a far cry from tiny Sault Ste Marie. I'm pretty sure the province of Quebec considers itself another country, apart from the rest of Canada entirely. The people were fairly friendly, though I think there is a bit of a stigma instantly attached to you if you don't speak French. It was subtle, and most people moved between French and English fairly easily, but you were a second-class citizen if you didn't speak the official language. Since we had a couple days there, I explored the city.

I toured The Citadel, an old fort built over 150 years ago. I guess it was mostly built to defend Quebec City from the Americans during the American Revolution. It's still an active military base.

I walked around the old part of the city (Quebec was founded 400 years ago) and enjoyed tiny shops and the old architecture. It felt very European to me and it was a cool experience. The castle-like building is the Chateau Frontenac, now a hotel, named after a Duke. It's kind of their signature building, and is quite beautiful, sitting not far from the Saint Lawrence River.

Coming home, we did another overnight, this time back in the States- good old Chicago. I didn't have time to explore that, though, as we got in late at night and left early the next morning. We battled thunderstorms over the Rockies, and eventually found our way to San Diego, where the plane stayed and I airlined it home.  All in all it was another successful, fun, trip.

P.S. I know I'm lame for not having any pictures of myself, but I don't know how to say, "Will you take my picture?" in French. Spanish was easy. :)