So we've had the chance to do some traveling this year. First New York City, then Montreal and Quebec City, and finally a short visit to Traverse City, Michigan.

It was our second trip to NYC, and our third or fourth pass through Traverse City, but our first visit to the French-speaking part of Canada.

Of the three destinations, I think I liked Canada the best. Partly because it was all new to me, but partly because Old Montreal and Quebec City offered experiences that you generally do not get in the U.S. The walled city of Quebec is a living museum, with shops and restaurants alongside old historic buildings and churches. Same with Old Montreal. At one point, it was walled as well, and there is one place where you can still see the remains of that wall.

The churches of French Canada are amazing. We went to two or three that were called Notre Dame, basilicas with incredibly ornate detail inside and out. One was in Montreal (it's where Celine Dion got married), and one was in Quebec City, where they have the only "holy door" (given to them by Pope Benedict on their 300th anniversary or something like that) in North America. Then there was the St. Joseph Oratory, outside Montreal on the slopes of Mont Royal, built by Brother Andre (canonized in 2010 I believe by Benedict). And the Shrine to St. Anne, the grandmother of Jesus, outside of Quebec City.

But those weren't the only churches we visited - they were just the most famous. All were beautiful. Again, while you can find beautiful churches in America, they're far fewer (it seems) and further between. (Probably there are way more in the US, but to find that many in a relatively small region was pretty cool.)

In New York City, we turned it into a Broadway trip by going to see 4 shows. We saw Ramin Karimloo as Jean Valjean in LES MISERABLES, we saw MOTOWN, MAMMA MIA, and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. (Unfortunately, we saw Phantom before Norm Lewis took over as the Phantom and Sierra Boggess returned to the role of Christine Daae.) It was a little too cold to do a lot of outdoor stuff, and though we did make it to the Guggenheim and Central Park and the Top of the Rock, we ended up mostly dining and seeing shows. Still, it was a great trip.

The last of our sojourns was a long weekend to Michigan. The Cherry Festival was going on in Traverse City when we were there, but we passed on it. Instead we let the kids spend a day at the Great Wolf Lodge water park, and spent the remaining two days going up and down the two peninsulas (Leelanau and Old Mission) and visiting the many wineries along them. Found some good wines, some good restaurants, and many beautiful views into the lake and Grand Traverse Bay. The old lighthouse at the 45th parallel on Old Mission Peninsula was a neat little bit of history to top things off.

So that's been our summer so far. Band camp starts next week so we're going to be homebound the rest of the summer and fall.

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