The Races at Saratoga

Saratoga for the races has always been on my to-get-to list, too. Sounded so genteel and civilized. Today we get to find out.

Well, the track is pretty and we love the paddock parade where trainers and jockeys bring out their horses for an up close and personal look before each race. While, there might be more families here, the crowd looks pretty much like any other race track...maybe it's fancier for the Travers Cup.

It takes us forever, but we finally figure out how to buy clubhouse reserved seats...it's very warm and sitting in the shade will be far more comfortable. We have a good time...haven't a clue of what we are doing and lose a bunch of money.



Leave after the 7th race and go into the village of Saratoga Springs. It's adorable...graceful Victorians with hanging baskets everywhere. We're going to Hattie's for dinner. We've been told to have the fried chicken (the restaurant won a throwdown with Bobby Flay) and the jumbalaya. The place is packed and we're glad we are arriving so early. It's old down south comfortable (been there since 1938). The jumbalaya is thick, huge and very good. The chicken, however, is dry ... even the dark meat...and the cornbread is dry too...big disappointment.

The Lake George Schroon Valley RV Resort unfolds in mysterious ways. While it caters to a kind of Nascar crowd and isn't in the slightest bit attractive, since we've moved to the river site and had a rousing night of dancing, it feels better. We also find out they lend DVD's out for free (very necessary because no TV or cable here). They also have WiFi, but don't really tell you about it. (And we need it because our roaming internet relies on cell phone coverage and there's none of that here either.) You get an hour free a day they say with extra time available for purchase. Fact of the matter they just give you the code for the extra time. The pool is also fairly nice and there's a big game/video room. They also rent go-carts and tubes for going down the river. It's understandable why there are so many kids here...they are having a great time.

When Rick is in the office taking back a DVD, he hears tonight's entertainment is a hypnotist. He goes down for a while and it's mobbed.. the hypnotized people on stage are convinced they are glued to their chairs and they really can't get off! There's a lot going on at this place...wish it were prettier.

Lake George

We re-entered the States yesterday. The TransCanada Highway between Quebec City and Montreal is in incredibly poor shape for such a major thoroughfare. Pass through Customs easily ... great relief because last year we got busted for having a lemon slice topping a piece of leftover salmon!

Lake George is the destination for the next four days. Had never been there and it was very high on my list.

Don't actually know how to properly capture our feelings when we drove into the Lake George Schroon Valley RV Resort. Horror and angst, perhaps. We were very close to leaving and seeing if The Sagamore had a room. Spent a dreadful night, very loud and very unattractive.

Rick is a god! While the park is not what we had thought it would be, there are a few sites on a very pretty river. I had tried to book one months ago and couldn't. This morning Rick marched up to the office and found out someone had not shown up for their river site. We were unhooked and there within 15 minutes. Site #54 is the best there is here.

We go from the ridiculous to the sublime...lunch at The Sagamore on Lake George in Bolton Landing. We spend a leisurely afternoon, dining on the terrace, watching the water and investigating the grounds. It is lovely. Tried to book a dinner or luncheon cruise...totally full. If you come here, should reserve in advance. The schooner, Morgan, is a beautiful 75-year-old vessel, gracefully appointed.







Wander into the village...have to drive all the way into Glen Falls to find a grocery store, go back, grill shrimp on flavor infused skewers and intend to lock ourselves in. Little did we know how the evening would turn!

We hear a band tuning up. They start to really rock. We throw on some jeans and follow the sounds to a big pavillion on the property. There's a huge crowd, from infants to grandparents, movin' and a groovin'! Of course, we spend the next two hours dancing to the sounds of Standing Room Only. They are very good!

Quebec City - Part Deux

We love dining al fresco...and that's including breakfast. Awake to a stunningly beautiful day...cook bacon on the grill, make fresh wild blueberry pancakes inside...and have a picnic dejeuner. These Canadian blueberries are like the ones in Maine...very, very small and very, very sweet.

Our plan is to have a big breakfast, skip lunch and have an early dinner, then head to a free concert on the dock that is part of the 400th anniversary celebration. That will be followed by a slide show projected on huge refinery containers about Quebec history.

Catch the ferry, drive through Battefield Parkland (which is gorgeous) and down Grande Allee, Quebec's version of the Champs E'lysee. It's very pretty and very hip...crammed with sidewalk cafes and nightclubs. We will return later.

Notre Dame in Old Quebec is not of the scale of its namesake, but it glitters with gold everywhere. We enter during a celebration of parents and children all applauding enthusiastically. Find out it is some sort of school award ceremony.

We return to the one store I had scouted out yesterday for a serious visit...Boutique De Noel De Quebec on Rue De Buade. I am a serious Christmas freak and have carefully acquired a very large number of Victorian style ornaments. They are not that easy to find anymore, but here I hit the motherlode! I find some exquisite additions for the collection and can't wait to see them on this year's tree.

Comes 4 p.m. and we decide, we need a nibble and go back to Grande Allee to one of the chic little cafes. We choose Cosmos and it's terrific. Rather chi-chi food. The paninis sound too good to pass up, though they're more than we want to eat. But whatever...Rick has a chicken, mango, avocado, accompanied by frites....I order smoked trout with chevre with a couscous salad side. We can only make it through about half the food...have them package the leftovers and know we are toast for filling 3 hours until the concert and 5 hours before the light show. Sometimes you just can't do it all. We take the ferry back.

Quebec City

We spend the next day and a half working our way to Quebec City. The Confederation Bridge is quite an engineering feat. It's 8 miles long and is as pretty as the 7 Mile Bridge we had marvelled at last winter in The Keys. And taking the ferry to PEI and the bridge out proves considerably less expensive. The toll was $55...(they only charge on the way out, so the ferry was free on the way in)....would have been twice that much if we'd done it in reverse.

Had a very hard time finding a place to stay last night because the 2007 Woodall's Directory must have been written before the new Transcontinental Highway 2 was built. All the directions were from off the old Rt. 2 and the exits on the new road are different and few and far between. We finally find a place in Grand Falls (which I cannot describe to you because we hightailed it out of the Paradis de la P'tite Montagne campground quickly this morning). They bill it as quite a place...it's not.

We had hoped to stop at Robinson's Farmer's Market before we left PEI...never found it. So we are pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel for dinner. Had bought a large flat bread and put it in the freezer weeks ago. Also there's andouille sausage in there and marinara sauce in the pantry. Had stopped a ways back to buy milk and picked up some mozarella. Sauteed green peppers and onions, built a pizza, topped it with fresh parm and popped it in the oven. Exactly what we needed. To top off the evening, we are able to get Maine television and, political junkies that we are, are thrilled to find the Democratic convention on.

We get to Camping Transit (dreadful name) in Levis about 1 pm. It truly is in the middle of cow pastures which you can smell, if not see. The grounds are pretty plain, but there is a pool, hot tub, playground and a small restaurant. The people are very nice and though, French, speak almost flawless English and don't mind speaking it. We dress and take off for Quebec City via ferry. It's about a 15 minute drive to the dock...we decide to put the car on...it's $8.75 for all of us...runs every half hour, takes about 10 minutes to arrive in Old Quebec and is extremely efficient.

I haven't been in Quebec City for probably 20 years....and never in the summer. In another life, always came to ski at Mont-Sainte-Anne de Beaupre. Vieux (Old) Quebec is like being on the Left Bank in Paris...winding...oozing history and charm. We just walk and walk, do some reconnaisance at stores I want to revist tomorrow and get a handle on the schedule for activities going on celebrating the 400th anniversary of Quebec.

One of my favorite hotels in the world, the Chateau Frontenac is now a Fairmont. Instead of the traditional lunch there, we opt for cocktails. The Chateau is as grand as ever and the view of the St. Lawrence River and it's boardwalk is still mesmerizing.

Cocktails and bar peanut mix almost fill us up...take the ferry back to Levis...pull left-over grilled steak from the freezer and make a just-what-we-needed-after-so-much-seafood salad.

Charlottetown Redux

It's raining and the perfect time to catch up on housekeeping chores. Mid-afternoon the sun breaks out and we go back into Charlottetown to explore once again.

We are once again charmed by this city. Reminds us just a little of Georgetown...a definite commercial area on the water and gracious homes on the street. Eveything is neat, clean and well cared for. Even the government buildings are striking.

For some reason I had it in my head that Victoria Park contained gardens. Totally wrong, but a very nice municipal park that's worth a ride around. The All Souls Chapel at St. Peter's Anglican Church is supposed to be beautiful. Though the Moon Handbook says it is open all day, that is incorrect. It was locked, but the main church was open and pretty.

We've been wondering to which church the spires we've been seeing from across the river belong. It's a small town, so after circling around a little, we find the Basillica...and it is stunning. Constructed in the early 1800's, it is grand and surprisingly not mentioned in the guide book.

Our day was planned around a 6 p.m. concert that is held every night at Peake's Wharf. We order drinks and a mussel appetizer at Peake's Quay and thoroughly enjoy the Celtic trio.
Buy a large lobster at the Lobster Wharf, go next door and order some side dishes to take out. Steam the lobster back at Tor and watch a regatta and savor the sunset as we eat outside.

The Links at Crowbush Cove

We have a tee time this afternoon at The Links at Crowbush Cove. Squandered the morning watching the Olympic closing ceremonies while having brunch...took the leftover chicken kebobs, sauteed some more peppers and onions for an omelet...topped with some yakatori sauce.

Crowbush is a relatively new course, circa 1993, but has hosted some pro made-for-tv events. It plays from 5010 to 6903 yards with four sets of tees. While it is not a real links course in the traditional sense, it is littered with sand and grass bunkers, a couple of pot bunkers with access ladders and faux gourse. Nine holes have some Gulf of St. Lawrence views. It is very, very pretty and we're not hitting the ball too bad. Only warning....bring lots of balls...the faux gourse eats them up!

We haul out the mussels we bought at the fisherie and try a new preparation that I've wanted to experiment with. Grilling them. Just put them straight on the grill...give them about 10 minutes, serve with melted herb garlic butter. Totally different fantastic taste.

Cavendish and Prince Edward Island National Park

Cavendish and Prince Edward Island National Park is on the agenda for today. Oh, by the way, we were originally going to move to Cavendish for the last couple of days in PEI, but the island is small enough to get almost anywhere in an hour and we're very happy where we are.

Cavendish and its surrounding environs are agog with Anne of Green Gables stuff...the home, a faux village, amusement parks, specialty stores! Great things for kids...we decide to pass, but since neither one of us has read it, Rick is now half way through it and giving me the Cliff Notes.

The Park is huge and divided into two distinct parcels separated by the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We've pegged the eastern portion as our first stop...but first head to a cafe and a fish market in North Rustico Harbor that I've read about.

The village is picture book perfect...fishing boats, lobster traps everywhere, a little boardwalk on the water and a few shops.

The Blue Mussel Cafe is everything we've been looking for! It's on the wharf, it's shabby chic and the mussels are perfection! Rick has a seafood chowder that he declares the best he's ever had and the smoked mackerel appetizer (which we ordered because we'd never had it) is scrumptous! We learn they buy their fish at the Doiron Fisheries that we had on our list already. After lunch we head straight there. For $34, we buy 2 lbs of mussels, 2 large PEI king crab clusters, a huge local halibut steak and 6 smoked mackerels.

The Park is beautiful...(But we check out the place in the park we were planning on moving to and we are so glad we decided not to move..very primitive and no view of the staggering landscapes.) The Park is dotted with beaches of various sizes, ammenities and crowds. The dunes are chisled and we stop many times to take a look.

We enter the western portion of the Park and just continue to drive and look out onto the Gulf. We will spend the remainder of the afternoon at another of the beaches. The Sullivan Beach is not as pretty as some of the others, but it is also not as crowded. We sit in the sun, read beach
books, walk the sands. Wonderful afternoon.

Since the crab we bought is already cooked, it's the perfect thing for dinner 'cuz we don't have to do much. Make a Louie sauce, drawn butter, a baguette, cole slaw and watermelon slices. Great ending to a great day.

Charlottetown and Panmurre Island

Yesterday we spent the day in Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island. It's a charming little city and we just kind of roam. Buy a few souvenirs and have a lunch at Peake's Quay on the wharf of mussels and a lobster roll...this one is made differently...a lobster patty on a burger roll...quite good, but we're still seeking the marvelous mussels this island is known for.


Today we explore the eastern end of this island...and the weather is spectacular. The Moon Handbook to Atlantic Canada has been terrific for steering us to great and off the beaten track places. We plot our day to first go to Murray Harbour because the book says it is a place where seals are visible. We wind our way throughout the backroads of the countryside and thoroughly enjoy the ride. Murray Harbor is a cute, very, very,very small blip on the map...but the only gulls bask in the glorious sunshine this particular day.



We climb around a few rocks and look at a non-functioning lighthouse that seems no bigger than one found on a miniature golf course. Rick chats with a very young boy and his father who have just caught a bunch of mackerel. He wants to know their secret!

Our main excursion of the day is to go to Panmure Island to the beach. We find a beautiful beach with soaring cliffs.The rocks, dirt and sand here is all a kind of rusty red color. We set ourselves up, eat our picnic, read, walk the beach and collect a bunch of mussel shells the like of which I've never seen before. They are a vibrant blue with a lustrous mother-of-pearl interior. I don't know what we'll do with them, but they're pretty.

The town on the mainland across the way with a real lighthouse is called Georgetown...of course we need to take a picture.

It is a terrific day. We're falling in love with PEI. It is not jaw-dropping gorgeous like we saw in Lake Louise last summer. But it beautiful, gentle, very green, soft and soothing. The homes, from the very large to the very modest, all have sweeping, incredibly manicured lawns...flower beds and boxes adorn everyone of them. There is most definitely pride in ownership and it is quite striking.

Had prepared a cold dinner before we left since I know I wouldn't want to do anything when we returned. It's a great summer meal when you can get good tomatoes. I used grape tomatoes since they seemed to have more flavor. Cut them in half or use small chunks of regular tomatoes. Julienne a bunch of basil, mince two or three garlic cloves, throw in a cup of oil, salt and pepper...and here's what makes it all work....remove the rind of a wedge of brie...chop and add to tomatoes...cover and let it sit at least a few hours...the tomatoes break down the brie and
thicken the mixture into a lovely sauce. Serve over hot pasta...it's fabulous.

The Ferry to Prince Edward Island

We are off early to get to Caribou, NS to catch the ferry to Prince Edward Island. We are trying to make the 1 p.m., but Dorkette (our GPs) sends us a new way out of Cape Breton which is a gorgeous drive around Bras D'or Lac, but is fraught with peril...it's very narrow, very winding and very, very bumpy. I would actually recommend this drive called the Bras D'or Lac Scenic Trail as opposed to the Cabot Trail if you are in a car. Much prettier. We pass what looks like a cute place called Rita's near Irish Cove if you want to stop for lunch or tea.

We are now on a real highway and racing to the 1 o'clock...but it's 12:35...not sure we'll make it...but it's quite okay..there's another at 2:45 and maybe we can just relax for an hour or so. It's only a 75 minute crossing, so catching this is not crucial as our drive after deembarcation is only 28 miles to Charlottetown, PEI.

Remarkedly, I've read there is no charge going one way on the ferry. We are a 40' motor home, towing a Jeep Grand Cherokee with two people aboard. I know they get you on the bridge on the way off the island, but looking at the round-trip rates...$98 for vehicles over 40' and including all passengers....it still appears to be quite a bargain being underwritten by the Canadian government. We'll see on the way out.

We make the 1 pm ferry....almost last ones to get on. Settle in for lunch...Rick chooses pizza, I have a bowl of chili...the weather is very cold and rainy and the chili hits the spot. Everything is going just fine...until...we reach the PEI port and hear there are mechanical difficulties. Apparently they cannot get the bridge that gets the vehicles and people off in its correct position...we see people welding things all over the place...we are stuck on a water tarmac! Fortunately it only takes about 45 minutes and we can disembark.

Head to our next destination near Charlottetown and are pleasantly surprised. There's an inexpensive motel at the Southport RV Park, but the RV sites are on the Charlottetown River overlooking the city. Our space is wide, gracious, on the end with no one near us and quite pretty. If you come here reserve space #40. We'll be here for three days as we explore the eastern end of PEI.

The long delayed dinner is on the grill...chicken shish kebobs with pomegranate sauce, rice and grilled asparagus. The evening lights glow in Charlottetown across the river.

The Cabot Trail

It's a beautiful, warm day and we are going to drive the whole reknowned Cabot Trail. It will take all day, but we have plans to stop for lunch at the Keltic Lodge along the way and within the boundaries of the Cape Breton National Park. We're doing this in the car...and thank heavens...this is no road for a large motor coach.

We drive and drive and drive and drive....so far all we're seeing looks like the scrub and mountains of West Virginia! Every once in awhile, we catch a view of the ocean, but it's few and far between. Entrance into the park is $7.80 per person and even in order to just get to the Lodge, you must pay the entrance fee.

We see the red peaks of the Lodge over the hill and we can't wait for a little respite from this drive. The main dining room is not serving lunch, the casual Atantic Ocean Room is perched over the water and we score a window table. Civilization.

We have an order of mussels and one lobster and crab pot pie... chocked full of seafood, totally decadent.,,,but it is billed as indicative of the heritage of Cape Breton and we feel compelled to have an educational experience! Terrific!

We briefly debate where to continue with the entire trail given the lackluster views of the first third. But we have heard the western side is the most stunning and we didn't come all this way to whimp out now. We should have. While the western end does have more soaring landscapes, it's again about 90% scrub. I would totally recommend picking one side or the other (depending on where you're staying) and make it a four hour trip, as opposed to nine.

Speaking of places to stay. We really like Louisbourg, but it is a very long way to the rest of Cape Breton. We didn't get into Baddeck, but understand it is nice and is definitely far more centrally located for day excursions.

We get back to Tor and Rick races out in the waning light to go fishing. He picked up this affliction in The Keys last winter and this is the first time he has had a chance to give it a go. We are fortunate we are not hungry because of the our large lunch...no fish are harmed and the other planned dinner is delayed once again as we decide we only want a small tomato sandwich.