Quebec’s Beach

When people in Quebec want to go to the ocean they all seem to head to Old Orchard Beach Maine. There’s a lot more French being spoken on the beach than English.

It’s not my favorite beach, not because of Canadians, but because it’s so darn crowded. There are plenty of other less crowded and wilder beaches in Maine.

In spite of that, Saturday I found myself at that very beach. My lovely wife and I were invited to get together with relatives. Of course, most of them were from Quebec, so they had to go to the beach they all love. To be fair, you can get poutine there and if there’s a more Canadian dish I don’t know about it.

Some of my Quebec relatives speak good English. Others . . . not so much. That’s fine. My command of the French language is about 60 – 80 percent, depending on the subject and speed of delivery. A day at Old Orchard Beach provides pretty good immersion.

I thought I was doing fairly well until I realized I couldn’t understand the people a few beach blankets over from us. Turns out they were speaking Spanish. No wonder I was lost.

After the beach we scooted over to Portland Maine for dinner. On the way home we stopped in on some of our Maine friends and enjoyed some campfire time.

There was a chance that the northern lights would be visible in our area. We stopped along a dark section of road. The northern lights didn’t show up, but it was a wonderfully clear night for star gazing. I love it with the Milky Way is super visible and dominates the sky.

It was a long day, but a good one.

-Sixbears