Against all odds, we are not dying

Hello chocolate loving friends.

I am here in the heartland of Charlevoix, Quebec trying my darndest to speak le franch. It is an amusing endeavor.

Yesterday, I had an apparent breakthrew when I ordered lunch and the waitress kept exclaiming about how great my french was (buttering me up for le service? Peut-etre). I was super satisfied with myself. Oh lala I am so french. When the meal came? It was not what I thought I’d ordered.  “C’est la vie.”

The actual biking part of the trip has been harrowing, to put it mildly. Apparentlythis is monsoons season in Canada and it has rained every day all day (ok ok we had some sun today, but not until the last kilometer). Also, it has been particularly grueling. I am the youngest guest on the trip (by 20 years… at LEAST) and I am walking up some of these hills. I think this may say more about my endurance than it does about the trip, but je suis FATIGUE.

The good news, however is that the hardest is over. The other good news is that the countryside is beautiful, and a cool rain feels remarkably heaven sent when you are climbing 16% inclines for kilometers on end (ok, so I actually rode the van on that hill, but vous comprendez, n’est pas?)

The GREAT news is that Canadians follow after my own heart and aiment bien le chocolat. Today I had chocolate cake for after lunch, and then visited 2 chocolateries after biking. So long as there is chocolate, toute va bien.

And now, without further adieu: Voila les photos!

Rain? Check! Hill? Check! Walking the bike? Check!

The sun makes a rare cameo(i.e. my smile)

And now the good stuff”:

chocolate sculptures!

Time to go eat dinner and drink d’alcohol!

Je vous aime!

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Withdrawl

I’m home for about 35 seconds.

My parents and I are headed to Quebec tomorrow to go on a bicycle trip with VBT (Vermont Bicycle Tours). As my mother kindly pointed out, we haven’t been on a trip just my parents and I since I was 3 and we went to Club Med in Mexico. That was a wonderful trip except that I screamed whenever they left me in daycare (which was all the time, if I recall correctly) and our hotel room had rats who ate holes in our underpants.

That doesn’t bode particularly well for this trip, however we are starting our stay off in a 5 star hotel, so (fingers crossed) at least no rats.

Additionally, as this is an exercised based tour (shudder) one might be concerned about the quantities of chocolate and ice cream provided. However, if past experience is anything to go by, VBT loves to feed you. Here is a picture of my sisters and I during a break on our trip from Prague to Vienna 2 summers ago:

I think it is safe to say, no one is going to starve.

The same can NOT be said of conditions here in Ann Arbor. I returned home yesterday afternoon to find our house empty of people, full of puppies and devoid of chocolate. Obviously, most concerning was the latter (my parents were at work, they’re very dedicated people. And the doggies belong to us, I was expecting them). Apparently my father has issued a “no-chocolate” embargo (or something) on our house. My mother is about to waste away! Of course my first order of business was to run to Whole Foods and buy some yummy dark chocolate (with pepermint, de-lickyourlips-cious). It was much appreciated upon my mother’s return from work. No Chocolate? Seriously, who ever heard of such a thing?

Anyway, that’s just one more example of my good selfless chocolate-giving nature (although I did make my mom pay me back. Whole foods chocolate is EXPENSIVE).

Alright, it is time for beddybye. I have to wake up early and fly to the francophone city of Quebec. But not to worry: I’ve informed my father how important blogging is to my fans. He’s agreed to bring his computer. Anticipate ACTION SHOTS.

For now I will leave you with puppy shots. Mucho amour.

back in the pupster days