i took baby blue (working name) on its first big roadtrip this weekend to montreal, canadia. i was struck by how radical the transition from vermont to quebec is. vermont is beautiful - rolling hills, little cutesy towns in valleys, patches of snow on the ground. but quebec is, well, brown. it is as if the entire province conspired to embody uglier shades of this daring band of the light spectrum, people, land, sky. the snow has melted away, and there are no trees or grass to hide the ravages of winter. and all the land for dozens of flat miles around my colorful mobile habitat has been conscripted for feeding the skinny socialist descendants of the proud galls, those original creators of our freedom fries.

that being said, montreal is really a cool, fun city. the french speakers are not mean, there are a lot of jazz clubs, good climbing gyms, fun places to go dancing, good food. aside from the 8-month winter, it's pretty solid.

lesson learned - even if you are bring something back to the US, which was originally purchased in the US, still gotta declare it. i didn't, and now my passport has a little stamp that says "alleged terrorist, handle with care".