August 29, we were actually fed, showered and on the road before well before 9 AM (AST), which was a first for us. We had few plans except to get the hell home, each of us for our own reasons. Short Pants accepted the destination with his typical sangfroid – he’s a pretty good traveler for all his disappointing lack of confidence in my navigation skills. Baby Girl was positively radiant at the prospect of going home for reals. She lives very much in the moment. She’s enjoyed each activity of the summer at it’s time, but has never stopped missing home, her pets, and Mama, not in that order.

Phantom of the Opera and lots of conversation carried us out of Cape Breton pretty quickly. While we were manifestly intent on getting home quickly, I did agree to a short diversion to the Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy. The Rocks are dramatic sea-sculpted formations carved out of the red sandstone cliffs by the year-round weathering of the Fundy tides. The rocks have been formed into arches, caves and giant mushrooms.

There was a nominal charge to enter the park. We paid about $20 for the three of us then raced our way down the path towards the water. It was fun to get some exercise. The tide was just going out as we started our walk along the shore. Tourists were wading in thigh deep water to inspect the rocks. As an experiment, we left a large rock at the waterline to mark the level. An hour later, on our way back, the watery places where the tourists had been wading was high and dry, and our marker rock was standing alone on a wide beach. We did some quick calculations to figure that the water had dropped about a meter in 45 minutes. Cool!

Well after that, it was just a car chase as we made our way north through New Brunswick and into Quebec. We had to cover as much ground as possible if we were going to be back in Toronto for school on Monday. As dusk approached we found ourselves across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City in the ville of Levis. We found ourselves accommodations at an outpost of the ever-popular Holiday Inn Express. Those Johnston Kids settled in for some quality time with Treehouse on cable while I ordered pizza and salad from a local place that delivered.

We picked at our food and hit the hay early. Too much driving is exhausting.