Monday
Woke up at 3:30 am for a 7:00 am flight from Indianapolis, IN to Philadelphia, PA where I met up with cousins Lou and Lin on the next leg of our flight from Philly to Burlington, VT (my first ever time to set foot in Vermont) where Lou's brother and my other cousin, Rick picked us up at the airport. He had driven from New Jersey to Burlington. We then drove to Quebec City, Canada, a french speaking province.
Rick, Lou, Lin and Cathy after eating dinner and a fabulous Maple Syrup Pie with whipped cream. It seems everything up here is made with Maple Syrup!!!
Tuesday
Today we are taking advantage of the good weather and heading over to the Ile D'Orleans, an agriculture island sitting in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. This island is unique in how it was platted for farming -- split in the middle (the highest point on the island) and narrow plots of land on either side down to the river. This is the same platting that was done on our Trepagnier ancestral land. And I must say that venturing out away from the city, I was really glad Lou was with us to communicate with the French only speaking residents.
View of Quebec City from the bridge leading to Ile D'Orleans
Eglise de Saint-Jean - Church of St. John
Next stop...the lavender farm in the town of Saint Francois.
Lin, Rick and Cathy sitting among the fragrant lavender
Lin, Rick and Cathy sitting among the fragrant lavender
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Love these stone walls with roofs on them!!
Rick, Cathy and Lou. Rick and I enjoying a fresh strawberry milkshake
More views looking toward the Mainland showing the long and sometimes narrow landscape of the farms.
This is the old mill, Moulin du Petie-Pre, that sits on the property that once belonged to my 7X great grandfather. Construction started in 1691.
Rick, Lou and I standing next to the marker on our ancestral land. I felt very grateful and appreciative to my ancestors for their journeys and struggles so that I could be here today. Just a truly awesome experience!
This view of the St. Lawrence River looking north. Cap Tourmente in the left background. It's amazing to think that our ancestors traveled down this river from France to settle in this area what was then called The New France.
It's hard to describe in words how beautiful this Basilica was. It was just breathtaking! The First Chapel was built on this site in 1658, the Second Church from 1661-1676, the Third Church from 1676-1876, the First Basilica from 1876-1922 and the present Basilica in 1923. And it just so happened that we came on the Feast Day of St. Anne. There were so many, many people here; even those that had come from far away and camped out across the street for the pilgrimage.
This excerpt was taken from the Visitor's Guide.
"Welcome to the oldest pilgrimage site in North America! The Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre' has been welcoming people from all walks of life for over 350 years. This renowned pilgrimage site, dedicated to Saint Anne, the grandmother of Jesus, is visited by over a million people every year! Through a multitude of magnificent paintings, mosaics, stained-glass windows, and wooden and stone sculptures, discover the Shrine's extraordinary history and the role it has played and continues to play in our people's faith."
Next we're heading back into Quebec City to view more sights.
Can't seem to get enough pictures of the Hotel Frontenac
Sunset over Quebec City with the mountains in the background
Wednesday
Today's journey has us starting off kinda where we left off yesterday. First stop was to Chez Marie, the little bakery we spotted yesterday, but decided to wait till this morning for fresh pastries. And oh my, the cinnamon rolls were delicious! 
Lou, Lin and Rick enjoying their pastries.
Lou, Lin and Rick enjoying their pastries.
Next stop, the Genealogy Center of Archives and Cultural Property of Chateau-Richer to learn more about our ancestor Romain D'Estrepagny. Lou and Lin had been to the area once before but this center was closed. Today we are hoping to find out more information. And we did!!! Two very important facts that we weren't aware of. One being that Romain IS buried in the church cemetery across the street, but no known marker. The 2nd fact being that Romain spent some time in Cap Tourmente near La Petite-Ferme. It was so much fun listening and visiting with the volunteers in the center. And just as we entered another couple was just finishing up and heard us mention that we were Trepanier relatives and it just so happened that they were Drouin (Romain's wife maiden name) relatives, so in some sort of way we too were related!!!
The headstone of another Trepanier relative. We'll have to do some more research to figure out who old George or his wife here belongs to! And the others that follow this picture.
The three of us trying to sort all this out!!!!! with another Trepanier headstone in the foreground.
After learning of the Cap Tourmente connection to our ancestors, we decided to head up that way. Here is what is left of the St. Joachim first church built in 1685 by Msgr. Francois de Laval and later burned by British soldiers in 1759.
A museum photo of the farmland and marsh taken from Cap Tourmente
Wheat swaying in the wind
No stairs for us today!
The walking bridge and the falls just as they are about to plummet
Thursday
We are wrapping up our Quebec City trip this afternoon, but before we do we'll head back into the city for a few more sights.
One of the many beautiful houses along Boulevard Laurier
The exit side
Really had a great time in Quebec City with my cousins and so glad we got a chance to retrace a bit of our ancestral history. Hated for it to come to an end as this trip had been a few years in the making. Leaving Quebec City we had about a 4-hour drive back to Burlington, VT only to find out along the way that our flight back to Philadelphia had been cancelled. So since Rick had a car, we just hitched a ride with him all the way back to Philly. It was kinda rainy and gloomy and with the sun going down we didn't get to see much of the beautiful countryside. These are a couple shots of Vermont. Look forward to coming back here another time!
Friday
We arrived at Lin's sister's house at 1:00 am in the morning so was able to catch a few hours of sleep before I had to catch a 10:00 am flight back to Indianapolis where Larry picked me up from the airport and then back to Scottsburg, IN.
Sunday
Today we are headed into Louisville, KY to spend the day with nephew Ryan and his wife, Andrea and two children Arden and James. We had an absolute wonderful day getting to see their beautiful home, walking to lunch literally right down the street and enjoying the kidos play at a local park in town.
The St. James Catholic Church was on our way to lunch so we popped in to check it out.
Lunch at Mark's Feed Store BBQ and it was delicious!
And ice cream afterward at the Comfy Cow!
Ryan and Andrea's beautiful house
Arden climbing
And James pondering what he's going to get into next!!
Week 7 & 8 - August 1 - August 9
Monday morning we left Indiana heading back home with stops in Southaven, Tunica and Vicksburg, MS, and Marksville, Abbeville and Kinder, LA for some gambling, relaxing and of course cousin time with Marcel and Cheryl at Shucks! Mmm Mmm fantastic!
Till next trip!
