Day 724: First time out of the US!

AU CANADA!!!!

How we've missed you!!

As a French teacher living so close to the border, I was accustomed to taking students to Canada twice a year, plus usually at least 1 personal trip a year, sometimes more. Naturally as a French speaker I always loved going to Quebec and having a chance to speak some French (plus the delicious chocolatine, tarte au sucre, and an abundance of international foods that we can't get in Vermont. Oh and the SPAS! The spas!!!). Suddenly being cut off from our neighbor to the North felt like such a loss to me. 

And sure, a year ago I made it all the way to Maui, which is a lot farther away, and one could argue much more culturally different from Vermont than Quebec. But actually crossing an international border? This felt like a HUGE milestone. 

There was bureaucracy to deal with: PCR tests within 72 hours of arrival, downloading of apps, uploading of vaccine cards, planning a quarantine location, etc. But the whole family tested negative, we got in the car on Friday afternoon, and made the short drive to the border! We had a small snafu (the border agent said he didn't have one of the kid's vaccine information in the system, even though it was uploaded and appeared to be there on my end in the app, but we had the paper card and presented that and were eventually let through).

We stayed in Sutton, Quebec, planning a ski weekend at Mont Sutton. Skiing in March is always a gamble, but lucky us, a huge storm swept through Friday night and all day Saturday! Sutton got at least a foot of snow. Conditions were amazing!

We also took full advantage of the amazing cheese selection! Even the small town IGA had more cheeses than the Whole Foods in Burlington. And delicious bread (why is it so hard to find a decent crusty bread int he US?), here is our dinner Saturday night, along with an obligatory tourtiere:

Because of my recent concussion, I didn't get to hit the slopes, but I explored the nearby Nordic Spa (Balnea, absolutely highly recommend!) and also hit the trails on my snow shoes at  "Plein Air Sutton", just next to the ski hill.  It was beautiful.

Our last time out of the country was France in February of 2020. So a little more than two years later, we managed a big international adventure 6 miles over the border into Canada. It felt freeing, and it felt like a big step. I've missed Canada so much, and even though it felt a little complicated to get there, it felt like a reassuring step toward normalcy. It also felt VERY exciting and special to be there. I can't wait to go back again soon! 

Kids before and after:

Covid 19 Check in:

Vermont Positivity Rate: 4.4%

Total Vermont Deaths: 611

Total US Deaths:  970,000