Our road trip to Quebec City started in Manchester, New Hampshire. Since I believe the journey is part of the experience, my friend and I planned on four stops for the 5 ½ hour drive to Quebec City and two stops for the way home (we always want to just get home on the tail end of trips).  

Our first stop was in Littleton, New Hampshire.  This small town has all of the charm of the quintessential New England town. The Ammonoosuc River runs just behind the main street where a cascading waterfall, remnants of old mill buildings, and a covered bridge set the scene.

Up the small hill, the main street is vibrant: many of the side streets are adorned with murals, umbrellas hang over rainbow stairs, and musical instruments – including painted pianos – welcome people to add music to the mix.

The street offers a selection of local shops including Chutters, which has been a mainstay in the town since the 1800s and boasts to have the world’s longest candy counter. Many of the stores have a bohemian or quirky vibe, such as Shaun Tehune’s photography gallery that sells much more than just his wildlife photos.

The next stop was Dog Mountain in St. Johnsbury.  Here, resident artist Stephen Huneck, shares his love for his canine friends and his art.  On site is the Dog Chapel; constructed in 2000, this chapel, according to Huneck, is “a place where people can go and celebrate the spiritual bond they have with their dogs”. Visitors are encouraged to bring photos and stories of their own animals to add to the enormous collection on the walls of the chapel.  Dog mountain offers a network of hiking trails and fields for dogs to come off leash and frolic in nature. There is also a gallery that showcases original and prints of Huneck’s work for sale.  The setting was picturesque, and the atmosphere felt welcoming and whimsical.  

Just after crossing the border, we stopped in Sherbrooke for their Mural Circuit. If we had completed the whole circuit, we would’ve seen 18 murals along the 2.5 mile walk, but we did about half of it. While I was hoping that this walking trail around the city would bring us by some cute storefronts and buildings, this section of the town felt pretty random. However, it did bring us down to the raging river and power plant, which I enjoyed experiencing. As someone who grew up on Where’s Waldo, I also enjoyed the scavenger hunt they created in each of the murals.  The murals were mostly the same in style, showcasing the history of the area; however, my favorite one was their trompe-l’oeil piece where the viewer becomes “The Fifth Element”. 

Our final stop of the drive to Quebec City was in the middle of the countryside. The Observatoire la Vache in St. George de Windsor is one of those roadside attractions that just make you ask “why”?  A large cow, composed of painted rocks, looks out over farm land with a viewing platform at the top. I was thinking that we would see a great view (as we had while we were driving), but the trees block the more impressive vista.  Still the site is well landscaped with flowers, picnic tables, bathrooms, a store, and a small playground; so it would make a good place for kids to run around as a break from a long drive. 

The first stop on our way back home was the Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook.  I picked this stop because of their suspension bridge, but that was before I found out that my friend isn’t a huge fan of bridges over water. We had just visited the Montmorency Falls the day before, and she bravely made her way across the bridge above the falls.  While I didn’t know how this bridge would compare, I did know that it is the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America, so I gave her the option of changing our hike. Still, she’s an adventurous soul, and she decided to take on the challenge.  Even though this bridge wasn’t as high up or over a raging waterfall, I found it scarier as it bounces with each step you take – even more so if someone else is nearby. Although I’m not scared of bridges, I felt a little wobbly after the crossing.  However, the vista of the gorge from the bridge was beautiful and the path meandering along the river below was nice to walk along.  If we had more time, I would’ve loved to sit with my feet in the river to take it all in.  

I knew that the cow observation deck we saw on the way up was random, but I could tell from the online pictures that our last stop would be even more random. Living in the Post Mills airstrip, the Vermontasaurus is a 122 foot long and 25 foot tall scrap wood sculpture of a dinosaur.  Brian Boland created the first dinosaur sculpture in 2010, and since then a few other smaller dinosaurs have joined the ranks.  Over time storms and time have collapsed parts of the creatures, so the sculpture is continually in flux and not always recognizable as a dinosaur. The airfield also holds a piano under an awning for people to play, a Soviet space capsule, and a few small gliders that look like they are still in use.  There are also supposedly more relics of balloons and medical equipment and such in the building across the field, but we didn’t venture over there this time.