Friday, May 20, 2016

Bienvenu to Quebec City

Those French Canadian people have a different word for everything and signs to match! It could have made the navigator crazy but thankfully the pictures told us what we were looking for.


Welcome to beautiful Quebec City! It is the capital of the Quebec Province located on the St Lawrence River. The city is 400 years old with a Citadel featuring fortified city walls, the oldest in North America.  We felt like we had arrived in Europe without having to cross the Atlantic. Sweet!!

The quaint historic boulevard was lined with sidewalk cafes and with the warm sunny weather every cafe packed out for the lunch hour.





At lunch we enjoyed mixing with the locals but, of course, we got found out quickly when we didn't speak any french.  
C'est La Vie. 




 It was a treat to stroll through the historic Old Quebec and take in the beauty of it all.


 Lorraine met up with some friendly ladies who wanted to play Red Rover, Red Rover
 Tom met up with Franklin D. Roosevelt for a man to man talk.



For the short time we were here we sure enjoyed you Quebec City. Now it's time to head back to Blue Boy and out of town to our next destination. 

Thursday, May 19, 2016

"Welcome to Canada"

Hey there, my name is Chewy and I hitched a ride with these two Americans to be their guide in Canada. At the border the Immigration Office welcomed them in now I will show them the sights.

As you can see they will need my help to find Nova Scotia

First stop was Toronto and where Mr. Tom met Monty Moose who is the overseer at the CN Tower.

The CN Tower is 1,200 feet high and lightning strikes it 75 times a year. Glad we had a clear day. 

Wow! The ride to the top took 58 seconds traveling at 22 kilometers an hour. Smooth ride to an incredible view.

Lunch at the top with a 360 view of the city of Toronto. 

    From ground level the city looks just as spectacular as from above.


 Then we checked out Canada's only major league baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays. Their stadium built in 1989 has a retractable roof and a hotel built right into it. Now that's a room with a view!
Chewy helped us score some good tickets and them showed us where the local baseball fans hangout.


We enjoyed meeting these two Canadian blokes who made us feel like locals in no time.  

 The ball park itself was unimpressive but the people were great. We received the following handmade note from a stadium staff member...not sure why or how but it was pretty cute, eh?



Game over, Blue Jays lost, but we won having had a beautiful day in Toronto.
We made our way to a camp ground outside of town and in the morning headed east on the Queens Highway.
 While on the road today Chewy suggested we stop at the BIG APPLE to sample the freshly made pies.



As in usual Meadows fashion, while on the road, we ate the pie right out of tin. YUMMO!


Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Tigers & Model T's in Detroit

There was no mistaking that we were getting close to Motor City when we saw a gigantic tire like this one!

No camping was available near town so we opted for a night at Roberts RiverWalk Resort Hotel on the Huron River.  It's convenience outweighed it's luxury but they did set us up with the worlds best cabby driver. Thanks Clyde for the love and informative ride to Comerica Park.
Time for Tiger Baseball 

What a gorgeous night and view of the city skyline.
We scored some great seats! Tom could have been paid for calling balls and strikes it was so close.



In the center field pavilion are bronze tributes to Tiger greats, too many to list.
 Only a few little sprinkles on us but the Minnesota Twins got drenched in the first inning giving up 8 runs. Tigers WIN!!!!
 What a fun game in a beautiful park! This ballpark scores high on the Meadow-O-Meter!
Now for something completely different, a visit to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford, in 1929 designed the Greenfield Village grounds as a private school displaying American ingenuity and inventions by the great minds of that day. On the 200 acre grounds are the homes and inventions of the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, Noah Webster, and of course, Henry Ford. 





The historic buildings; general store, town hall, church and laboratories and were all actively used for teaching and hands-on learning for the students who attended.




The Henry Ford Museum had impressive exhibits covering the history of the Ford Motor Company as well as other inventions by trailblazers from that time period. Below is the the Wright Brothers airplane.

Here is the assembly of a Ford Model T
Henry Ford's invention of the assembly line made it possible to produce over 15,000,000 of these Model T cars. What an amazing feat!
This 1929 Model A Roadster pick up truck is almost as cute as the one our neighbor is currently restoring in his garage. Do you just love this Mike and Marsha?



This 1959 VW Camper brought back fond memories for us. We almost thought of trading it in for the Chinook, but without an inside shower...no deal!

As kids in the 1960's, both of us saw this Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile at our local Market Basket grocery store. So cool!
We are whistling a new tune about our experience in Motown and now heading north to Canada.