Off to Canada!

I just got back from my first trip to Canada! We drove up from northern Maine and crossed the bridge over the St. John River to Edmundston. There was not much to do over there, but we drove around and had lunch.

The bridge to Canada

  

I was convinced we were going to die on the bridge. We were stopped for a long time and I dislike bridges!

Straight down to the river. This is what we drove over. Apparently it's so the snow can go right through in the winter.

We had to stop at customs.

Sideways stoplight! 

We got lost. This is the hotel that we stopped at to get directions.  They were very nice, as was the hotel.

There was a ?paper? factory

Cute footbridge

Look! Canadian ducks!

Look! Canadian seagull! 

Look! Canadian tree!

Look! Canadian spider!

We went to KFC, which is called PFK, and my husband got his fries Poutin (with cheese and gravy) GROSS! 

Everything was in French. I don't speak French... I could read most of the signs though! 

Hunt for Clouds Leads to Fruit!

In pursuit of clouds

This last school year I ran an after school club called Junque Journal. It is part art and part writing. The club met for an hour after school once a week.

Well, we had to evacuate the school during our last meeting because someone burnt something and the fire alarms went off. Luckily it had *just* stopped raining, so we didn't get drenched. The sky was beautiful after the spring storm! I couldn't resist taking pictures of the clouds.

As I was driving home I couldn't help but continue admiring the clouds. I even pulled off to the shoulder to get a few pictures.

But that still wasn't enough. I saw one giant cloud (which I now realize is the same cloud as my first picture! I had no idea until now, when I began processing them!) and just had to find a better place to photograph it. I chased the cloud. I took a random exit off the highway and just drove randomly towards where I thought I could get a shot.

I pulled off at a cute little farm stand and grabbed the cloud picture (above) then wandered the farm stand a bit. 

http://www.springbrookfarmcountry.com/

 The Spring Brook Farm Country Store was very cute. They grow their own fruits and veggies, as well as flowers. I think they have animals too? Their website is in the caption of the photo I took. They were nice and reasonably priced for delish food! If you're in the area I would recommend stopping by.

I also went across the street to another country store, this one was just flowers. It was called Gary's Farm Stand. I asked them if they minded if I took some pictures and they said it was fine. One guy led me through the greenhouse to the back parking lot so I could get more cloud pictures too! Very helpful! 

Gary's Farm Stand
http://www.yellowpages.com/littleton-ma/mip/garys-farm-stand-10914711

Gary's Farm Stand

When I got home I took some photos of the food that I bought at the Spring Brook Country Store so that I could show the quality of their fresh local food. I can't show you how it tasted, but let's just say that between my husband and I the food did not make it past 2 days... 

Raspberries, Blackberries, Honey Spread, Strawberries, Peas
I also got honey sticks but they were gone by the time I got home!

Fresh raspberries

Fresh blackberries

Fresh Strawberries

Fresh peas  (I didn't have to share these with my husband! All mine!)

My friend told me I should try Honey Spread, so I did. You spread it on toast like jelly or butter. It is delish! 

Photo Detour!

On my way home from work today I took an unplanned detour.

In other words, I got lost. Well, not LOST lost, just wrong turn lost. I knew where I was, I had just never been where I was before...

You see, on my way home from picking up some takeout for dinner I got blocked in by traffic and was forced to miss my turn. This then forced me to drive over a bridge.

I hate bridges. Like, really. They freak me out. I get visions of earthquakes (unlikely but not impossible for Massachusetts!) that destroy the bridge and send me and my car plummeting into the water below. Being on a bridge without a car is slightly better, depending on the height of the bridge, but I still prefer to be on the banks and beaches of any body of water.

Anyway, getting off topic! I was forced to drive over a bridge! And, to make it worse, the traffic continued onto the bridge so I had to stay on it for longer than strictly necessary.

When I made it to the other side safe and sound I breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. It was so pretty! There was a little park off to the side, so I pulled off of the road and walked around a bit with my camera. My dinner was not completely forgotten, I grabbed a piece of cornbread to munch on while I wandered.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a large number of ducks floating along in the river!

The bridge I was forced to traverse and many ducks!

More duckies!

My next goal was to take pictures of these little quackers!

It took me a while to get all my ducks in a row... (ah hahaha, I am SO funny, right? ...right? ::sigh::)

The ducks are almost in a row... but not quite!

One, two, three! Three ducks in a row ah-ah-ah!

I was able to get pretty close to one little girl duck. Her beak was messed up. I felt bad for her, I don't think it was impacting her much though. After I got a few pictures of her she flew off back to the group.

There was something wrong with her beak

There were other birds around as well. There were many pigeons, a couple seagulls, and a few other birds here and there.

Seagull flying overhead

One little boy, all dressed up like a hunter- complete with a plastic gun in his belt and a foam sword, ran around chasing pigeons. I think he was intending to slay them. It was pretty adorable.