Spurlock Family Travel Blog

NEW YORK TO OHIO Day 9 of 9 Saturday, July 6, 2019 Mixed storms and sun, hot and humid 9 days, 5 cities, 2 countries ****I have been journaling almost all of my travels since graduating college in 2003.  In 2019, I decided to make them digital! I'm happy to share our adventures with you, but keep in mind they are actually for me and my family!**** BRUNSWICK, OHIO On our way home from New York, we passed through northern Ohio.  Mom mentioned that her dad is buried close to the area we were passing through.  I was excited to see my grandfather's gravesite because I was three years old when he passed from lung cancer.  My memory of him is running into the home they lived in and hopping on his lap.  He always had a half dollar to give us when we visited.   His name is engraved on a plaque memorializing America's veterans who are buried at this cemetery.  You can see mom pointing to it above.  Take the first entrance into the cemetery...

MONTREAL Day  8 of 9 Friday, July 5th, 2019 Rainy mid 70s ****I have been journalling almost all of my travels since graduating college in 2003.  In 2019, I decided to make them digital! I'm happy to share our adventures with you, but keep in mind they are actually for me and my family!**** Dylan and I hit the gym this morning after packing our things and waiting for mom and Paris to finish packing. We did some abs, upper body circuits and finished with the bikes.  This kid is a champ! UNDERGROUND CITY The Montreal people prefer to call this the Underground Passages according to our tour guide Francois.  But guess what, Google and all the maps call it the underground city.  Her reasoning is there are shops and restaurants, the subway and convention center but there are no schools, government buildings and the like that would make it a "city".  Good point - tell Google that :) 41 miles of tunnels to shopping, walkway over Chinato...

MONTREAL Day 7 of 9 Thursday, July 4th (Independance Day) *NOT celebrated in Canada :) Sunny and 90 degree ****I have been journalling almost all of my travels since graduating college in 2003.  In 2019, I decided to make them digital! I'm happy to share our adventures with you, but keep in mind they are actually for me and my family!**** Our plan was to get the famous Fairmont Bagels for breakfast and continue through Mont Royale to the St. Joseph Oratory.  The weather was 90 degrees,  Sahara dry, beating sun and we knew parking would be tough. We found a spot quickly and paid at the meter to only realize after 4 blocks of walking that we were about 10 blocks away still!  That was a map fail on my part. FAIRMONT BAGEL We chose one of each blueberry, multigrain, garlic and onion with strawberry and Lox cream cheese.  The tiny storefront was super hot with no air conditioning so we were happy there wasn't seating inside. Instead, we cho...

MONTREAL Day 6 of 9 Wednesday, July 3, 2019 Sunny and 91 degrees ****I have been journaling almost all of my travels since graduating college in 2003.  In 2019, I decided to make them digital! I'm happy to share our adventures with you, but keep in mind they are actually for me and my family!**** With the Jazz Festival in town, it was really hard to find a hotel for the four of us to include 2 queen beds at 11pm at night.  Luckily, the Westin in the Old Montreal area was available and we were able to check-in close to midnight.   The location here was WONDERFUL!  We were able to walk to so many awesome things and restaurants - everything happens for a reason, right?!   Start Rant: You can find out about our VRBO Vacation House part one from the night before in Ile de Orleans post.  NOTE TO EVERYONE - DO NOT BOOK WITH VRBO!  They will not refund the renter if the owner falsely advertises a property.  End Rant. *...

ILE DE ORLEANS Day 5 of 9 Tuesday, July 2, 2019 Sunny and 87 degrees ****I have been journalling almost all of my travels since graduating college in 2003.  In 2019, I decided to make them digital! I'm happy to share our adventures with you, but keep in mind they are actually for me and my family!**** Our last morning in Quebec City before launching towards Montmorency falls.  With an 11am checkout and an easy 3-hour drive to Montreal, we had several hours to explore the falls and Ile de Orleans.  I enjoyed coffee on the balcony with my mom just talking about her dad, my grandfather, who passed away when I was three. We actually did an unexpected detour on the way home to see his grave, her elementary school and her home in Brunswick, Ohio.   Conversation between Dylan and I. D: "How long does it take to get to Montreal? " Me:"2 hours" D: "Good, then we don't need to stop for Grandma to pee."  Montmorency...

QUEBEC CITY Day 4 of 9 Monday, July 1st, 2019 (Canada Day) 76 Degrees & Partly Cloudy ****I have been journalling almost all of my travels since graduating college in 2003.  In 2019, I decided to make them digital! I'm happy to share our adventures with you, but keep in mind they are actually for me and my family!**** DAY DATE Paris and I toured the city on a guided walking tour with Sam on an unexpected day date.   Mom and Dylan decided to stay behind this morning and relax their legs after over 20,000 steps yesterday! Sam does several free tours in Quebec City every day.  It would be fun to do a food tour with him too.  He's super funny, knows his facts and does a great job with familiarizing you with the city.  Can you believe that we were the only people from the U.S. on his tour today out of about 20 people?  Several countries were represented and he remembered where every. single. one. of us were from. Amazing!  We cov...