Day 1 of Our Canadian Adventures

In July my hubby and I celebrated 20 years of marriage. I really can't believe it's been that long since we first said "I do!"

To celebrate we decided to head to Canada for a much  needed vacation. When we married we did so quickly - we were young and eager. That meant we didn't have a lot of time or money to spend on a honeymoon so after three days, we headed back to work. We also wanted to see places we hadn't seen before and have lots of adventures. I'm not a huge fan of trying new things so the whole trip was way out of my comfort zone and thus one large adventure, but I was determined to have a good time...and I did.

Our first adventure started the very first day. Maine is a large state. It takes at least six hours to drive from the top near Madawaska to the bottom near Kittery. We started from our home around 10am on Saturday, the 13th of July and headed north. The largest county in Maine is Aroostook and commonly called "The County." I've only been there once before and hubby hadn't ever been.

What one should know at this point is where we were headed this first day...Quebec City. What one should also know is that Quebec is only about four hours from our home. We were on the road much longer than four hours though...much longer.

Once you pass Old Town, which is north of Bangor, on I-95, the speed limit jumps to 75mph. This was a nice perk to being on a little traveled road - even if it was a highway!

And this is how I spent a lot of the time on the road. While we used a GPS, it was nice to use actual maps to verify we were going the right way and how much further we had to drive. We also used the maps to see what else was might be in the area for us to go explore.

One very fun thing we noticed along the way was the Maine Solar System model. This was built with help from high school students (they helped build the actual models) and maintained by students at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. I had heard about the model years ago and we stumbled upon some of the giant planets, but missed all the rest. 

Uranus

Jupiter

Saturn

There was a recent write-up about it as well in one of the local papers with some more info and even plans to extend the model into Canada which would be very neat!

Aroostook County is very famous for potatoes. In fact, school children used to start school in The County in early August so that they could have time off from school to help with the harvest. While some schools still follow this model, not all do since the advent of more modern farm equipment. However, seeing acres and acres of potatoes while we drove by was pretty fascinating. To hear about something is one thing, to see it brings it to a whole other level.

Another reason my hubby picked this particular driving route was to also see as much of the St. Lawrence River as we could. He was really hoping we would be driving along it the whole time from our border crossing in Madawaska until we arrived in Quebec City. However, that was not the case. We never even got a glimpse of the mighty river until we had already been in Canada for a few hours - right at sunset - and we were still pretty far from it. 

Cell phone photo snapped while driving at dusk. 

I was attempting to capture the absolutely gorgeous sunset but didn't have the right camera for the job.

We finally arrived at our hotel in Quebec City at almost 11pm. It was a 12 hour day of driving, but we did take our time and enjoy all the new sights. The hotel we stayed at was located in the business district of the city. The old city - where we would spend the entire next day - was about a 10 minute drive from the hotel. 

Next up....our adventure in Quebec City....

16 years ago today....

...I married my best friend. It's hard to imagine we were ever that young. Hubby was a mere baby at age 20 & I was the "old" lady at 21. If you'd like to read some of our wedding memories, I blogged about them earlier HERE and HERE.

In honor of our sixteen years together, here are "16 Things I Love About My Husband" and these are in no particular order.

#1

He gets up early every morning, drives at least an hour to work (unless he's "in the field" elsewhere) and is excellent at his job. He has many night meetings (planning boards) during the week & sometimes doesn't get home until close to 11pm or later and then gets up by 5:30 & does it all over again. He does ALL of that so I can stay at home & take care of our children. He works extremely hard for us & I love him dearly for it.

#2

His logical mind. Seriously. I can't believe I'm admitting this though. ;-) I am SO not logically. I am the creative free-spirit in this relationship. Thankfully we do complement each other. I know that if I ask him for his opinion on something I want to jump in to, that he will see all the pitfalls I missed. And I keep him young. ;-)

#3

That he bought me a Suburban - which I LOVE, but he wishes he could drive all the time. Instead he drives, what I call, "the clown car." It's a Geo Prism and it's tiny. He folds his six foot frame in to it each & every day for that long commute while the boys & I have the roomy Suburban - and I love him for it.

#4

All that gray hair of his! He swears it's all due to me & the boys, but for whatever reason - I do love it. Especially because it makes him look slightly older than me. And if it doesn't, for all that's good in the world - don't tell me!!!! But I love it on him.

#5

I love how he reads my blog & Facebook each day to keep up to date on what I'm doing. Any odd or weird comments from "anonymous" on here are probably from my hubby.

#6

He loves me more & I love him more than we did the day he wrote what's below....

This is one side of the stairs at camp that lead to the sleeping loft. Every time someone stays, they write who & when on the stairs. We're now on to the other side, but this was written on our honeymoon 16 years ago. Yes, all, he convinced me to go to camp for our honeymoon. It was my first time ever going & I had no clue what I was agreeing too but I did agree to one night. Then I made him take me to Camden - to a bed & breakfast - for a couple more nights.

#7

I love that the day after we got married, we stopped again in the tiny town we were wed & my darling hubby was baptized. At the time he had been a Christian for about a year. My childhood pastor wed us & asked hubby if he'd be willing to do this as they were planning a baptism for that Sunday. So we did.

#8

I love that he can build stuff like this:

without any plans of any kind. I showed him a bunch of different photos on line & he built it. He did a very rough sketch & built it. I love how handy this guy is & the things he can fix & build & make. Wait until you see the house plans he's making for us!

#9

I love that he is almost a full foot taller than me. Whenever he gives me a hug, I fit right under his chin. When that happens, I'm pretty glad I'm so short.

#10

I love that he lets me drag him places he'd rather not go just because he likes spending time with me. Places like homeschool conventions, clothes shopping, and (on the rare occasion) chick flicks.

#11

I love that he simply cannot take a serious photo. Really. This is what I usually get & he always knows - well almost always....

#12

I love that he loves my cooking. I'm not as good of a cook as his mom. My food is a lot blander. I need to learn to use me some spices I know. But he loves it all the same.

#13

I love that he likes to cuddle up to me at night to go to sleep. And he doesn't complain when I stay up so late at night that by the time I crawl in to bed, he's sound asleep. But he will usually roll over in his sleep all the same.

#14

I love how he likes to play games with us - even though he wins 9 times out of 10. One of our favorites is Settlers of Catan. This photo was taken a two years ago at camp. We played it again this year. Plus we learned how to play Mancala & hubby won most of those games too.

#15

I love how he watches me when I don't know it.

#16

I love how we have been married for 16 years & I love him more than I did then. I never really understood that concept. I suppose it's one you have to live. Marriage is far from easy & we have certainly had our rough spots but getting through those & learning from them is what strengthens a marriage.

Thanks, honey - for sticking around the last 16 years. I know that the next 16 (and more) will be even better. I love you. Happy Anniversary.