# Things to do in soutwestern Quebec / southeastern Ontario

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-soutwestern-quebec-southeastern-ontario/997868>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Tags:** vacation-travel\
**Created:** [February 21, 2024, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-soutwestern-quebec-southeastern-ontario/997868 "2024-02-21T08:32:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-soutwestern-quebec-southeastern-ontario/997868/1 "2024-02-21T08:32:13Z")

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We’re going to extreme upstate NY for the solar eclipse in April.

The place we’re staying may be very relaxing (lakefromt, very peaceful) but I suspect that some household members may get bored after a couple days.

We’ll be practically walking distance from the Canadian border. About 90 minutes from Montreal. About 2 hours from Ottawa.

There does NOT seem to be a lot to do short of going to one of those places. Are there any quaint touristy towns that would be worth wandering around? Any other interesting sights?

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**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-soutwestern-quebec-southeastern-ontario/997868/2 "2024-02-21T12:23:07Z")

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I am planning an Ontario/Quebec/New England road trip.

Parts of [this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maine-vermont-new-hampshire-montreal-and-ottawa-road-trip/996890) may be of interest.

mmm

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**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-soutwestern-quebec-southeastern-ontario/997868/3 "2024-02-22T02:55:25Z")

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We go up to St Jean sur Richelieu in the summer; 25 mi/40km due north of the NY/VT border. In town they’ll speak English but outside of town it’s farm country & pretty much French only. Mont Saint Gregoire is a relatively easy hike up, a volcanic mountain in an otherwise flat area; with the right weather, views can be pretty amazing.  
Instead of crossing at Rouse’s Point, NY, which can have some traffic, take the Rt 2 bridge into VT, left on Bay Rd & right on Line Rd to the border crossing at Rt 225. Line Rd is a little two-lane country road; well _two_ country road. If you’re going east & swerve over the center line you’re now in CA.

Further east is the Haskell library, with parts of the building in both US & CA; about as useful a side trip as the world’s largest rubberband ball or Carhenge.

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**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-soutwestern-quebec-southeastern-ontario/997868/4 "2024-02-22T03:50:19Z")

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Thanks!

We may have crossed at that border crossing, back in 2017 - we definitely crossed either there or Alburgh (taking a not-direct route from Bretton Woods NH to Montreal).

And we’ve done the border crossing near the Haskell, back in 2019, on a not-too-direct route from Rutland, VT to Sherbrooke.

Never been to St Jean-sur-Richelieu though - looks interesting. A bit of a hike from where we’ll be (closest crossing would be the Chateaugay one) but it’s within whatever distance we might want to go.