Sherbrooke

I am so far behind, and we've barely started. Somehow, Susan manages to keep up. I think it's because she wakes up earlier. Today we've made it to Brandon, VT. But there's a whole Quebec story to catch up with. So...rewind a few days to the day after our arrival in Quebec...the city of Sherbrooke.

I'd never heard of Sherbrooke, QC, and it's a sizable city. Just goes to show how little we know about our neighbors to the north. Sherbrooke was once an English-speaking enclave. Many of the buildings have inscriptions in English. It is home to two colleges. Since we got a late start on Wednesday morning, we decided to do a little walking tour of downtown. Quickly, we came upon the water feature that dominates the center of town. Waterfalls on the river, with a walkway along it. I'm sure it's lovely in the summer to stroll along. We were a little colder than that! But the water on the two separate waterfalls was powerful, and we were attracted to the ice formations.

I won't mention lunch....it was a disappointment. The lesson for meals is now -- don't wait until we're so hungry we just have to eat something.

After a couple of hours, we decided to head for the main event -- Quebec City, via the "scenic route". Pretty countryside, I'm sure bustling in the summertime with bicyclists and campers. It was pretty desolate in the winter.

Most noteworthy was the region surrounding Thetford Mines. Mile upon mile of strip mining, and we couldn't figure out what it was, till we checked with good ol wikipedia and found out it was all asbestos.