Yet another year has passed and I have turned 59! I was so unstrung the months before my 50th birthday. I dreaded the sound of being 50, yuck. However, I’m looking forward to turning 60 next year. It will bring so many new opportunities. At least, that’s my plan. First of all, I can retire. YEAH! Enough driving a fire truck around and taking care of other people’s emergencies. I’m ready for a simple, unexciting part-time job. That’s only because I know I will have to work, a little anyway. I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed every night.
Bill took me to Quebec to celebrate my birthday. We love Quebec City. We drove up on Friday, arriving around 6 PM and stayed at a very nice Motel 8 in Sainte-Foy. The drive into Vieux Quebec was only 8-10 miles and very easy to manipulate. We had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, The Primavera. We love the pizza there, cooked in a brick oven. We ordered two pizzas and shared them. It was a beautiful evening and we took a short walk after dinner. The city was busy, which we hadn’t experienced in our previous visits. Back to the motel and to bed.
We set the alarm for 8 so that we could get a decent start on the day. It dawned overcast, which is typical for any traveling we do. We ate the continental breakfast provided by the motel. It was fairly good but nothing special, quite crowded. We drove into the city, parked in a lot by the river and spent several hours wandering around. We saw some sights that we have seen many times and a few that were new for us.
The sight that saddened us the most was the remains of the historic Armory building that suffered a devastating fire in April. The building was built around 1885 and covered a full block. Many of the museum artifacts were saved along with some musical instruments. Although the building was sprinklered, it was undergoing some renovations and the system was out of service. Murphy’s Law in action. We spent some time at the Joan of Arc gardens which were in glorious bloom. I’m envious although between us we have a number of the same plants.
We stumbled across a bridge along the edge of town that we didn’t know we could walk over; so we did and took a couple of photos. I try to get at least one decent picture of us together wherever we go. It’s fun to look them over at the end of the year and see where we have been.
It started to rain about 3:30 so we headed to our other favorite place to eat; The Portofino. We sat outside under an awning and an umbrella but it eventually was pouring rain and we moved inside. I usually have a wonderful ravioli dish that is the best I have ever eaten. However, the price was up to $24 and I just couldn’t see spending that kind of money for a plate of pasta. Instead I had salmon in a wonderful sauce, along with some vegetables. Bill enjoyed a small steak and fries.
It continued to rain. We walked to the funiculare and bought two rain ponchos. We made quite a site, covered from head to toe with plastic but the $4 was well spent. We continued to wonder around finding our way to the Petite Champlain where we visited the chocolatier and Bill purchased six of my favorite chocolate candies…chocolate covered cherries filled with liquor. Yum, they are fantastic! I eat them sparingly because they are sooooo good and a little pricey. I always forget that they have a pit. Luckily I haven’t broken any teeth. We finally had enough, so we headed back to the car and returned to the motel sometime after 7.
The next morning brought more rain and my birthday! We had breakfast, packed our things and returned home. We saw two deer on the trip up and a moose on the return trip. The wild lupines were blooming along the side of the road in and around Jackman. What a beautiful sight. We met Wendy and Dan for dinner at the Back Street Grill. Wendy brought me a nice arrangement of flowers and a gift certificate to Keepsake Quilting. After finishing a game of cribbage with Bill I headed home to sleep in my own bed.
