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Well, friends, I’ve been road tripping it big time since I last checked in with you here at Coffee with Julie. 16 hours and 47 minutes of road tripping to be precise, according to Mr. Google. But, naturally, it’s actually taken us much longer than that since we’ve made stops along the way.

On Thursday night, we left right after work and put in a few hours to make Friday more enjoyable (or a little less painful, depends how you look at it, I guess!). We just pulled into a basic place off the highway, near Quebec City, and slept there for the night. Then on Friday, our goal was to make it to Truro, Nova Scotia.

On the way, we stopped in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, and had a picnic lunch.

According to legend, a young native girl saved her village by luring a Mohawk tribe over the great falls and down into the gorge, more than 75 feet below.

Although we were constantly amazed by how green the landscape was compared to our crispy, dry and desperate grass back home in Ottawa, the water levels were very low in the gorge. (You can click here to view the water in full glory.)

After lunch, we kept rolling along and pulled into Moncton, New Brunswick, for dinner. The main street was lined with fantastic looking little eateries and the pubs looked especially appetizing. But it was Friday night, and with two children in tow, we were not in a position to wait for a table outdoors.

However, we lucked out and managed to get a table at a little place called Graffiti within two minutes of walking in the door. The staff were so friendly, and the place had a nice vibe to it.

I chose salmon, with rice and salad as my meal. Nicely presented, but bland. Hubby found his meal fairly mediocre too.

After dinner, we hit the road again to make it to Truro. We arrived around 11 pm and pulled into the first decent looking highway-side hotel we could find. It was a Holiday Inn, priced at $129 a night. It suited us just fine — two Queen beds and nice and clean. We showered, threw on pj’s, and crashed.

I’ll finish the tale of the road trip itself soon. Luckily, there is nothing drastic to report! While it makes for dull blogging, it is so wonderful that the kids are so much easier to road trip with now that they’re a little bit older. (Mama does the happy dance!) Also, we missed the opening ceremony for the Olympics … what did we miss? What was the highlight for you?