East Coast Road Trip: From Clemson to Montreal

Started the day with a beautiful sunrise off our deck…

After showering. I saw this on the sink counter and had to laugh…

Today we traveled about 330 miles (roughly 5 1/2 hours) from Clayton to Quebec City. It’s a pretty straight shot with divided two-lane highways most of the way.

We first traversed the narrow Thousand Island suspension bridge…

After crossing the bridge, we needed to go through Canadian customs which just took a couple of minutes as the customs agent checked our passports and then we were off.

Once over the border, we were beginning to get a wee bit peckish, so we stopped for some Tim Horton’s at one of the ubiquitous “Onroute” off-ramps that are common in Canada.

As we got further and further north and east from Clayton, the fall color increased dramatically.

However, in general during this trip (up until today), we haven’t experienced as much fall color as we saw back in 2021. But that trip was focused on “leaf peeping” – we went a little later in October and I think the weather conditions (cooler) were better for maximum color. See that blog here:

https://ackleynewenglandfall2021trip.wordpress.com/

The route took us through Montreal, which we’ll be returning to in a few days. We arrived early at our hotel (before the standard 4pm check-in time) and we’re surprised to be in the very heart of Old Town. The gentleman on duty got us checked-in quickly, we took our bags up and then came back downstairs to move the car to the parking lot which was a short distance away.

Took a walk around…

Had an early dinner at Le Hobbit, just a short walk down the street, based on our hotel owner’s recommendation. Delicious!

Excellent dinner so we strolled back to the hotel along Rue St-Jean which is the “Main Street” of Old Town (Vieux-Quebec). Our hotel is at the corner of Rue St-Jean and Cote de La Fabrique. In typical French style, lots of folks were out and about and dining outside along this street.

Tomorrow, we’ll follow Chris Keating’s insider walking tour of the Upper Town section of Old Quebec. Chris is the owner of the Hotel du Vieux-Quebec where we’re staying. Lots of interesting history…