[In Vermont we tend to think that the world ends at the northern border. After all isn’t the so-called “Northeast Kingdom” where people live in caves and have not yet learned how to make tools. It turns out, however, that if you just keep going … past Island Pond, past the Miss Lyndonville Diner, past Derby Line … the odometer clicks back to zero and civilization begins anew. Oh, we know all about Quebec you say. That’s where Montreal is. Yes, but did you know that Quebec is larger than Texas, almost rivalling Alaska in territory. Say wha-a-a?
To celebrate Silverbelle Sandy’s most recent birthday we travelled two and a half hours north to a part of Quebec known as the Eastern Townships and discovered an exotic new world. We stayed in the town of Magog (May-gog) and stayed at a small B&B, using this as a platform to explore lavender fields, monasteries, and a town that is the mythical setting (Three Pines) for a popular mystery series. While the culture is French, the roots are British, as many of the original settlers were Tories seeking refuge from the American Revolution.
It’s not an easy place to describe, but we feasted on poutine and a breakfast of 17 different fruits while touring quaint lakeside villages, all the while listening to Inspector Gamache trying to catch the murderer in a Louise Penny mystery. It’s a whole new Jungle up there! SB SM]
Je Me Souviens!!
Just uphill from Gog?
BTW, of the”Northeast Kingdom,” you have encountered the novels of Howard Frank Mosher?