BUS TRIP N E AMERICA

Leaving New York soon after 8am on Sunday morning saw us heading out towards Boston, which was to be our lunch stop.
The weather was kind and we only drove through a few showers as we drove north and across the state line into Conneticut passing by New Haven where Yale university is located before then heading to Hartford the capital which hosts over 40 of the nation's largest insurance companies.  Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain both lived in Hartford.
We soon enter the state of Massachusetts and arrive in Boston  where we lunch at Quincy Market which has been the site of market stalls since the 1600's.
Our travelling companions on the bus come from the UK, NZ , a few from USA and the rest from Australia.  It seemed so strange to have so many Aussies within the group.
In the evenings there are optional tours and dinners and we have done Boston at night and then last night we went to a 'sugar shack' which is the name for maple syrup plantations.
It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup and the trees have to be 25yrs old before they produce.  The trees can live for 300 yrs and the tapping can only be done during a 3 to 6 week period in spring. There needs to still be snow around the base of the tree so that at night the temperature is below zero but during the day the temperature needs to be above zero. The trunks are tapped and a bucket is hung to collect the sap which is then boiled at different temps to produce the syrup.  We had dinner at the sugar shack and sampled various products utilising maple syrup and even had 'popsicles' made by pouring syrup over ice and then rolling it onto a popsicle stick and then enjoying.  It was like soft but not runny toffee so you made sure you didn't waste time eating it.
During our 2nd day we had passed into Canada and spent the night at Quebec city.
We got to walk around the old city before leavimg at lunchtime and driving on to Montreal.
The weather has been kind to us and except for driving through a few showers we have had it fine.