I can't believe that we have live here for more then half year already.
OK, let's look at how we came here.
It all started on an early Sunday morning, unfortunately, it was not a sunny day,
it was a rather sad, gloomy rainy day.
These was the driving route, if you look into a map (if you still have one!),
it is just simply straight up.
Detroit - Hwy 401 - Chatham Kent - London - Woodstock - Cambridge - Guelph - Mississauga - Toronto - Ajax - Oshawa - Baltimore - Brighton - Trenton - Belleville - Kingston - Cornwall
Since our destination is a coastal area and if you have been to one before,
you would know that nothing is "flat" around coastal area,
and to make it worst, nothing is "straight" either.
and to make it even worst is that we were scheduled to move on end of October,
(we were informed of this moving date, not by our choice)
In Portland, Maine there is a ferry that would go to Nova Scotia daily,
it is only a 5.5 hour boat ride and it ships the car too.
But, they stop service on winter time and their last ride is on October 15!!!!
so instead of driving to Maine (13hr) and catch a boat ride (5.5hr),
our driving route became a 3-day trip of driving straight up to Quebec
and then drive all the way back down.
The only one good thing is that it is the prime time to look at autumn leaves
Guelph - I took this picture because one of my good friend studied here long ago.
After a whole day of driving, we arrived Cornwall,
a Canada town located right across up state New York
We ate dinner on the last rest stop, so by the time we get to this hotel,
it was just time to pass out
well, at least for me, it was, I pass out the second when I hit the bed.
For my brother-in-law, it was not the case. at all.
He drive with us to take my car there because we got a quote from the moving company,
to ship my car there, it would cost us US$2500
while if we drive there, it would only be US$300 for gas only,
so it's a no-brainer for us to make that decision.
when we all settled down in the hotel and just get ready to sleep,
he was calling his wife and family to see how they were doing.
His wife, my sister-in-law was taking the kids to sleepover at her brother's house,
they have a dog, just when they were on the phone, the dog bite my very young niece.
it was not a very serious bite, but there was blood shed,
so, a simple sleepover became a commotion of running into ER and at one point,
they were thinking to call the police and animal service
because it was NOT the first time the stupid dog bite children.
But her brother just doesn't want to give up the dog
and he won't do anything like putting him in a cage
when there is infant child presence in the house?!
so, my brother-in-law and my husband, they were both worried sick
whilst me sound asleep since long ago.
What made it worst, was that, later that night,
my brother-in-law's phone suddenly crashed!!!
nowadays, it's hard to live without your phone for just one day,
let alone that you are thousand miles away from home, on a road trip to a different country,
he tried restart it, he tried taken our the battery,
he tried every trick that we know, and it just wont start.
so we plan on going back to US to find a verizon store the next morning to see if they can help.
Best Western Parkway Inn & Conference Centre
1515 Vincent Massey Dr, Cornwall, ON K6H 5R6
www.bestwesterncornwall.com
(Picture from hotel website)
Because it was going into low season (winter) so the price was around CAD$135
(can't remember exactly) and it was around US$80 after exchange,
and I would say for the room size, cleanliness, everything, it is worth the money.
In US, for that price, you can go to chain hotel and
you can only get a standard room without that seating area, nor the fire place.
This is the breakfast corner.
When I walked in there I just felt "Harry Potter",
it's like an old castle with brick wall and fire place,
and the atmosphere is warm and calm
(Picture from hotel website)
The breakfast was great!!!
Usually, you go to a chain hotel in US, only the "standard" breakfast items are provided
mostly, it would be some frozen sausage/patty (heat up by microwave in the back)
and egg, bagel or muffin, cereal, yogurt, milk.
but here, they have a lot more hot food items and they were freshly made from the kitchen
they have a pancake machine AND a waffle machine, too
and they serve maple syrup with that, how could you turn down maple syrup!!
people are really nice and kind here, too.
(Picture from hotel website)
one thing though,
here in Canada, they serve Canadian bacon not the US bacon!!!
don't know the difference???
this is US bacon
this is Canada bacon
From Wikipedia : Back bacon is a cut of cured bacon sliced to include
both the pork loin from the back and a bit of pork belly in the same cut.
It is much leaner than American style side bacon made only from the pork belly.
(Picture from hotel website)
So, right after breakfast, we head out, back to the US.
We drive across Akwesasne International Rd which is on top of St. Lawrence River
that separated Canada and US
St. Lawrence River
Bridge across Cornwall Canada to Up State New York
also called Seaway International Bridge
Here we go again, back to the US.
When people see the name New York, they think of Time Square and city life.
Not in up state New York, here is as rural as it can be.
we drove about 20 min and finally found a business-like building where the verizon store is
it is a franchise store so the staff couldn't help much
and because of the rural location, they don't have much new phone stock here,
even if you want to switch to a new phone, you would have to wait for them to ship a phone here
So, our plan B would be going back to Canada and found a paid-phone,
just to last these couple days.
The road here is call Akwesasne Int'l Rd because this is a native Indian area,
"Akwesasne" is the name of this place where Mohawk people live.
Akwesasne not only cover an international border,
on Canada side, it covers two province: Quebec and Ontario
and on US side, it covers about 1174 acres in New York and Township of Dundee.
while searching for paid-phone, I found some information about Akwesasne,
Did you know that lacrosse, a game popular in many schools and colleges today,
was invented by Native people?
This activity is based on a game that was played by Native children across North America long ago. It helped to teach the hand-eye coordination that would be needed for hunting and fishing. The original materials would have been wood or bone instead of a pencil, sinew instead of string, and bone, leather, or rawhide instead of a paper plate.
There are many Native nations that play similar games, but it was the Mohawk form of the game (we call it Tewaarathon) that was seen by non-natives near the city of Montreal and was adapted by a Canadian named DeBeers into the modern game of lacrosse.
(Lacrosse is Canada's National Game)
And again!
the quickest cross-country trip we ever had.
Walmart Cornwall Supercenter
Try to find a paid-phone and it's just not worth it for couple days
so, we decided to let him use my phone just for basic communication in between 2 cars.
