I know this is a long way away, but I have been looking for an excuse to go back to Quebec City, and I think a road meet might fit the bill. Quebec City is a fantastic city, rich in history. It is interesting from a transportation perspective too, as in addition to the old Quebec Bridge (still the longest cantilever bridge in the world), a freeway tunnel was once proposed and somewhat started for a new road that would run through downtown. It's too far away to pick a weekend for right now, but I am thinking of sometime in late June or earlier July.
Thoughts?
I'd go. Sounds interesting!
I'd be interested if it's in the same window as the New York meet (June 28-29)- I'm going to be spending about a week in Quebec before then, so if it were the weekend before I could shuffle the trip around to be in Quebec City that prior Saturday or something.
Alternatively, if the New York meet didn't end up occurring for some reason I could schedule the trip around this meet.
Sounds pretty cool but I would net to get a passport since the last time I was in Canada was in June 2002 (ironically in Quebec) and if finances allow, I am still considering the NYC road meet too.
Do get a passport or a passport card, jpi! :)
It's going to be interesting and it's close enough to be a day trip. I think this city has the most freeway miles per capita in the country, if not the continent. So there's a lot of freeways to look at.
Both bridges are worth looking at and they're conveniently placed just next to each other. Boulevard Champlain / Unsigned 136 is also worth a look. And the only button copy sign known to exist in Québec near A-40.
In the vincinity, there's ÃŽle-d'Orléans and its suspension bridge.
Apart from that, the whole city (and especially Vieux-Québec, the Old Town district) will make you feel like you've been to Europe. I mean, Montreal feels American compared to this.
I'd be interested, as I'd be in Vermont full-time by then. But it would depend on what I wind up doing as far as work/college and whether it's during a rumored vacation I may be taking with my better half next summer.
I'd love to, but I doubt I'd be able to, between my financial situation and not knowing French.
Quote from: vdeane on October 25, 2013, 08:24:26 PM[...]and not knowing French.
This goes for everyone, and has been mentioned in other threads, especially for the 2011 Montreal meet and the 2012 Capital Region meet.
Given how touristy Québec City is, this is unlikely to be a serious enough issue for anyone. Sure, there will be thicker accents than in Montreal or Gatineau, perhaps even that the person serving you will go and request help from someone else, but it is in no way required for anyone to be able to speak French.
It's pretty much like going to Amsterdam or Berlin: as a tourist, no one will expect you to be fluent in the local language. If you want to feel more at ease, you can buy one of those phrasebooks for travelers.
I'll be there and will be able to help anyway.
For the record: AsphaltPlanet knows some French but isn't fluent yet (or are you now?), Duke87 hardly speaks any French (but his cousin, 'place-saint-henri', speaks it almost fluently), I'm not aware of jpi and froggie knowing any French at all, and corco has started studying it just now.
I agree. I've traveled all over Quebec province including rural areas, knowing only about fifteen basic French phrases plus being able to comprehend road sign French. No serious problems at all. True, I had the usual worry that people were talking about me behind my back in a non-English language. But I grew up with an Italian mother who on the phone regularly talked Italian with her friends, and made sure the kids never learned Italian, so I'm kind of used to that.
I've been to Quebec city twice, including some of the roadgeek sights AsphaltPlanet mentioned, such as traveling the old bridge he mentioned (still in use, as part of QC 175). But I'd like to go back and spend a few more days doing touristy things, too. I'd be interested in a meet there, if it works with my schedule.
I know VERY little french. When Steph and I were in Quebec in 2002 we spent time in Montreal which was like being in Toronto but when we went to Sherbrook, that was a different story. Still it is a beautiful part of Canada.
Sounds like fun, if I can fit it in my schedule.
I wouldn't be too concerned about speaking french. As Dr. Frank says, Quebec City is pretty touristy and caters to many English speaking tourists. I have also never had a problem with the language barrier along the A-20 corridor of Quebec either, as again, there are lots of English folks passing through.
I didn't realize my tentative date was so close to the proposed NYC meet. I know Corco that you prefer this, I don't know if others will however, as it could mean a lot of travel for people in a short amount of time. Seeing as the meet is likely 8 months away, I think I have some time to firm up the date.
I would try to make this one. I will take any excuse to get back to Quebec City again.
I took French in high school, but that was many moons ago. A few phrases came in handy when we were in Quebec in 2007, when we went as far north and east as Saguenay, but we got by largely without needing to know the language.
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on October 26, 2013, 07:30:41 AM
I didn't realize my tentative date was so close to the proposed NYC meet. I know Corco that you prefer this, I don't know if others will however, as it could mean a lot of travel for people in a short amount of time. Seeing as the meet is likely 8 months away, I think I have some time to firm up the date.
Yeah, don't schedule it around me- if other folks like that, then do it but otherwise I'll be going to Quebec regardless so I'm a happy camper. And yeah, if NYC doesn't happen for some reason I could schedule the trip around whatever date you guys end up choosing and make this the destination.
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on October 25, 2013, 08:52:53 PM
Quote from: vdeane on October 25, 2013, 08:24:26 PM[...]and not knowing French.
This goes for everyone, and has been mentioned in other threads, especially for the 2011 Montreal meet and the 2012 Capital Region meet.
Given how touristy Québec City is, this is unlikely to be a serious enough issue for anyone. Sure, there will be thicker accents than in Montreal or Gatineau, perhaps even that the person serving you will go and request help from someone else, but it is in no way required for anyone to be able to speak French.
It's pretty much like going to Amsterdam or Berlin: as a tourist, no one will expect you to be fluent in the local language. If you want to feel more at ease, you can buy one of those phrasebooks for travelers.
I'll be there and will be able to help anyway.
For the record: AsphaltPlanet knows some French but isn't fluent yet (or are you now?), Duke87 hardly speaks any French (but his cousin, 'place-saint-henri', speaks it almost fluently), I'm not aware of jpi and froggie knowing any French at all, and corco has started studying it just now.
Interesting. I always assumed that you needed to know French for anywhere deeper than Montreal.
Finances still stand; I'm not sure if I'll be able to do meets next year yet (or any beyond Corning/Elmira), but if I had to choose between NYC and Quebec City, I'd do Quebec City. It would be a three-four day weekend including some clinching around Montreal.
Quote from: vdeane on October 26, 2013, 03:37:53 PM
Interesting. I always assumed that you needed to know French for anywhere deeper than Montreal.
That was my understanding as well, to an extent, that French was mostly mandatory outside of the Montreal and Gatineau areas. I've also understood that the further east you travel in Quebec, the more you need to be comfortable using French. That being said, despite the fact that I took six years of French in school, I haven't had a conversation in French in a number of years and I don't believe that I could without some practice. I retained some vocabulary pretty well, so at least I can identify things in French.
It's been a while since I've been to Quebec City, only once, which was in 1994. This meet is something that I'll want to keep on my radar.
Quebec City? I've been to Montreal numerous times, never further upriver. It's close enough where it's an easy overnight getaway.
I'm interested. :)
I'd love to go back to Quebec City, haven't been there since 1984 and my wife has never been there. I'm the psycho who wants to go in winter, though! Previous visit was in August. Beautiful place to visit.
Let's see. Roads? French language? Fellow roadgeeks? I am definitely interested in attending this meet. Again, it is a question of getting the rest of my life (medical appointments, time off work, Mom's problems) to permit me to attend this. Keep me posted, though.
As for the French language issue, I found that as long as you know some of the pleasantries ("Good morning", "Please", "Thank you", "I'm sorry", etc.) that people seem to appreciate the effort, and may then even switch to English if they are able to speak it. Another trick, especially at a cash register, is opening your wallet in a way that shows you have American currency, or shows your driver's license. That will prove to them that you are a US citizen, and not a stubborn Anglo-Canadian, making them more willing to speak English to you.
I'm always looking for excuses to go to Canada, so I'd certainly be interested. Might be just a tad too far for a day trip though, so if anyone's going to be looking for a hotel room later on once a date has been decided on...
Quote from: Dougtone on October 26, 2013, 11:07:12 PM
Quote from: vdeane on October 26, 2013, 03:37:53 PM
Interesting. I always assumed that you needed to know French for anywhere deeper than Montreal.
That was my understanding as well, to an extent, that French was mostly mandatory outside of the Montreal and Gatineau areas.
Not so much. Outside of those areas you are unlikely to find someone who speaks English fluently, but there will be a decent number of people who speak English
a little, especially if their job is something like a gas station attendant.
In terms of this being an adjacent weekend to the NYC meet, that doesn't matter for me as the latter I am local to (and even if it weren't, I've been to meets two consecutive weekends before - see Watertown and Williamsport in 2011).
I spent several overnight stays in Québec City and had no serious issue with the language. If you find someone who appears stubbornly Francophonic, often just a fractured attempt at coming back to them in French will snap them into English, rather than listen to you continue to butcher the language. :-)
In any case, everyone who hasn't yet been to that city ought to go. There's nowhere else like it in North America, and Montréal isn't a substitute.
BUTTON COOOOPY
Could try to make this work. Montreal has flights to Iqaluit.
*reveals nothing else*
Quote from: Steve on November 19, 2013, 08:52:11 PM
BUTTON COOOOPY
Could try to make this work. Montreal has flights to Iqaluit.
*reveals nothing else*
Trying to get Nunavut under your belt?
Looking at my calendar, I am thinking this meet will either be on Saturday May 17th, 2014, or Saturday July 26th, 2014.
Any preference?
The latter. No conflicting plans on the former, but they're more likely to arise since it's my birthday.
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on December 26, 2013, 09:41:45 AM
Looking at my calendar, I am thinking this meet will either be on Saturday May 17th, 2014, or Saturday July 26th, 2014.
Any preference?
The former should work well for me, both for my personal schedule and also dodging the peak tourist season. I will almost certainly have a schedule conflict on the July date, but then my summer schedule already has lots of definite or likely schedule conflicts, hard for any summertime road meet to dodge.
I don't know of any conflicts in my schedule with either right now, but given that I'm unemployed I can't say I'll be able to attend with either date... May in particular is the month I'll go bankrupt if I don't find income.
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on December 26, 2013, 09:41:45 AM
Looking at my calendar, I am thinking this meet will either be on Saturday May 17th, 2014, or Saturday July 26th, 2014.
Any preference?
I'd love to try to make this one, so the only date for me would be the July one. I'm holding my own road meet on May 17th here in Illinois.
The May date would be better for me (in the unlikely event I can make it) because July 26 is the weekend of our anniversary. Ms1995hoo would like to visit Quebec City, but I doubt she'd be willing to make a road meet part of our anniversary!
July has later daylight than May, which will help me get up there if I attend, but it's doubtful, so don't let me influence the decision.
^ Seeing as both dates are about the same distance from the summer solstice, I wouldn't think that the daylight would really be all that different. Quebec City is fairly far north, so the days will be long either way.
At this point, I am leaning more to the date in July anyways.
May 17: 5:08 to 20:16
July 26: 5:18 to 20:25
Yeah, it's about the same, but just remember that with the solstice, the latest night occurs after and the earliest morning occurs before.
The July date would fit best in my schedule.
The July date is better for me as well.
The July date is best for me as well. The May date is my son's college graduation.
Might have a wedding (not mine) conflict with the July date. Won't know for sure for a while.
I am going to change the date of this meet. I just found out that this is the same weekend as Toronto's Festival of Beer, and I mean, priorities.
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on February 02, 2014, 05:37:18 PM
I am going to change the date of this meet. I just found out that this is the same weekend as Toronto's Festival of Beer, and I mean, priorities.
Hope there's no strange brew, eh.
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on February 02, 2014, 05:37:18 PM
I am going to change the date of this meet. I just found out that this is the same weekend as Toronto's Festival of Beer, and I mean, priorities.
Any idea of when the new date will be? I still like the mid-May date suggested earlier. If it's going to be another summer date, my summer schedule is already starting to fill up, with the last two weekends of June, the weekend of 7/19-20, and rhe first weekend of August already taken. While I might have some flexibility to move stuff around a Quebec meet, that flexibility will be pretty limited after the end of February.
Quote from: oscar on February 09, 2014, 07:57:35 PM
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on February 02, 2014, 05:37:18 PM
I am going to change the date of this meet. I just found out that this is the same weekend as Toronto's Festival of Beer, and I mean, priorities.
Any idea of when the new date will be? I still like the mid-May date suggested earlier.
Brandon's Starved Rock meet is now on the May date. I don't care, but others might.
What about the first two Saturdays in July? (I have the Extra Miler Club meet in Rochester on July 19, which is why I'm not suggesting that date, as well as wall-to-wall schedule conflicts thereafter into late August.)
I could probably do either of the first two weekends in July. To be honest my interest in hosting has waned somewhat, but whatever. I'd prefer a smaller group anyways, as its easier to host a smaller meet on the fly, then a larger one, especially given the fact that QC is an 8 hour drive from me.
I don't know how many of us there are, but I am interested in both the Starved Rock meet and this one (and A.J. may well be in the same boat). Hearing you say "July" makes me optimistic about attending.
My attendance is doubtful. At best I will be a couple months in to a new job and have no vacation time. It's closer than eight hours for me, but I don't want to answer some variant of "so you're driving to Quebec City, immediately driving back, and staying in a hotel two nights?". Or pay to stay in a hotel two nights that close to the NYC meet right after moving to a new area.
It being the same weekend as Starved Rock doesn't matter to me, but that's not a bad thing to consider anyways.
At any rate, I want to go to this. Someone make it happen.
Who's doing the planning for this?
Scott, I can help with the planning/hosting if you need me to.
I think I can figure out the tour, but as for restaurants, I could use some assistance with that.
Any further consideration of this? My summer is rapidly filling up.
I haven't made any other considerations for this. I was really excited for it when I proposed the idea last fall, but my interest level has waned considerably. The principal reason that I wanted to go is to photograph the Old Quebec Bridge at twilight, which is something that might not work in the context of a road meet anyways. Plus, I have taken some other cool bridge photos during the past year which has kind of made up for not having a good one of the Quebec Bridge.
For whatever reason, I am also no longer really too keen on making the drive to Quebec City from Toronto this year. I have driven both A-20 and A-40 before, and the flat terrain of the St. Lawrence river valley, while sometimes bucolic, can also be a tad drab. I wouldn't mind to do a side trip out to Sherbrooke to check out some of the roads out that way, but to this point, the drive to do so hasn't been strong enough for me to make a commitment. There are a few other roads that I personally wouldn't mind doing east and north of Quebec City, but none of them that would really fit in the context of a roadmeet unfortunately.
So, basically, the idea is dead...
Maybe next year, with another organizer?
I have wall-to-wall schedule conflicts most of the rest of this summer, but something next year (or even early autumn of this year) could lure me up there if my schedule permits.
Quote from: oscar on July 06, 2014, 06:01:24 PM
Maybe next year, with another organizer?
Paging Dr Frankenstein...
(We do always need more Canadian meets.)
There seems to be a lot of interest in it, so once I'm moved in, I can start work on planning.
I need dates. I'm unavailable in the last two weeks of August and the last weekend of September. The rest seems good, but I'll have to re-check my calendar.
What are everyone else's availabilities?
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on July 07, 2014, 01:48:25 PM
I need dates. I'm unavailable in the last two weeks of August and the last weekend of September. The rest seems good, but I'll have to re-check my calendar.
My availability is pretty limited for both August and September. The weekends in August you're free, I won't be
, except if I stretch really, really hard Saturday, August 9 (day only, not the evening nor the next day) might work. I'm on the hook to host a non-road event one of the first two September weekends you're free. I'm most likely to be available the third full weekend of September (Sept. 20-21). I suggest planning without me, and we'll see if your chosen date ends up working for me.
If any of you are willing to do something in the late spring of next year, I am willing to organize it, or help someone with it.
The only known conflict for me is Labor Day, but Columbus Day/Canadian Thanksgiving would be better for me since it would be less time off. Right now, it's just my five personal days. I'm not positive over whether I'd try to swing it or not; it would definitely push off my potential NYC/Long Island trip.
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on July 07, 2014, 01:48:25 PM
What are everyone else's availabilities?
I am unavailable the weekends of 8/2, 8/9, 8/16, and 8/23. Anything else is fair game at this point.
My weekends are pretty open right now, but it would be nice to have a few weeks notice on this one, since due to distance, it will require some time off from work.
Are we agreeing on sometime in mid-September? 6, 13 and 20 are open. I can also go into October if needed. Past that, it might get cold and we'll have less daylight.
September would be ideal for me.
Quote from: mtantillo on July 09, 2014, 11:21:30 PM
September would be ideal for me.
Likewise. I will be hosting a meet in CT in October and it is best they not be adjacent.
Of potential interest: fall colors usually peak near the end of September.
Quote from: froggie on July 10, 2014, 07:39:36 AM
Of potential interest: fall colors usually peak near the end of September.
Also of note, accomodation prices usually peak with the colors.
Quote from: mtantillo on July 10, 2014, 12:01:42 PM
Quote from: froggie on July 10, 2014, 07:39:36 AM
Of potential interest: fall colors usually peak near the end of September.
Also of note, accomodation prices usually peak with the colors.
Good point. I could do without the colors.
I will be in central Pennsylvania around the weekend of September 20/21 for a BIG toy show in Hershey, PA, unlike last year when I tied this same trip in with the Tom Tom road meet in NH I am focusing souly on this venue so no matter what I cannot make it to Quebec, would love to, been 12 years since I was in Canada but I am sure at some point down the road I will be up for a meet bnorth of the border. Have fun guys! :-)
I can do any of those three days but the 13th and 20th are preferred. The 6th is quite close to Labor Day.
QuoteAlso of note, accomodation prices usually peak with the colors.
In some hotels, yes. But I mentioned it because viewing fall colors has been an item of interest in road meets of the past (and has also been suggested for Duke87's Connecticut meet).
Just had a conflict come up on the 27th (big event at the college that weekend), but don't schedule it just based on me.
Carl: anything new on this? My fall weekends are starting to fill up and I'd like to coordinate carpooling/accommodations with a couple folks.