So my MRI and CT scans came back negative. Which is good, I guess, that I don’t have anything physically wrong or a tumor or anything. But now I have the battles on two fields: 1. Find out why my ear keep whistling/twinkling/pulsing, and 2. Prove to everyone that I’m not crazy. I went to the ENT again on Tuesday and tried to describe again, in detail, what is going on with my ears. My anxiety didn’t help matters any. It’s hard to make a compelling case that my problems aren’t neurological/phycological when I act the way I do in face-to-face conversations in small rooms. But I did manage to get her to believe that there might be problems with my sinuses, due to the fact my ear tends to act up more in bad weather/high air pressure, and that dramamine has been helping me. So I’m taking another nasal anti-histamine twice a day. I know it’s not going to help with the static and muffled sounds in my ears and head, but I’m fine with that. I’m fine with tinnitus and hearing aids. I can hear better with them then I could before all this happened. I just can’t stand this intermittent, random pulsing. I didn’t even know a human could have this happen to their ears. I just thought my tinnitus would be a slow, steady decline in high end hearing and I was ok with that (well, I came to terms with that a long time ago).

Our trip to Quebec went great. It was nice to stay at a hotel the night before in Chicago and not be rushed at the airport. I got to show the kids the United people-mover art exhibit that’s under the tarmac. Our flight to Montreal was uneventful. Upon landing we had to go through customs. Then it was on to the Hertz car rental, then 2.5 hours of traffic, stuck in Montreal. We finally made our way out to the highway and stopped at a Tim Hortons. They had the self-serve kiosk, which really helped, as I was still unsure of my French skills.

Then we continued on and made it to Quebec City. We drove to the old city and parked in front of Le Chateau Frontenac for our stay. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that I’d be staying there but luckily I found a super cheap discount for this weekend. It was probably due to being offseason and the Easter weekend, but $180 a night was well worth it!

It was very nice, like core-memory nice, to go out with the wife, Jack and Elsa and explore the little shops and restaurants at 10pm. Everything was closed, but we were really the only people out. Then in the morning we went to 1640 Bistro and had delicious breakfast. I again got to practice my French, which is good enough for me to get around and order for everyone. Luckily everyone around here spoke English too, so they were very gracious listening to me fumble around in their home language lol.

Later that day we went to the waterfall, came back, did some more shopping, ate at McDonalds (more poutine!) and went back to the hotel. I did not have “watch the kids swim in the pool at Chateau Frontenac” on my bingo card, but there we were. I mean, I’m blessed. I have a great job with time off that can pay for this, I have a great wife who is also a great mother and raises awesome kids, and we’re all pretty savvy travelers. Yes, I’ve worked hard to get to this point in life, and I work hard to keep our marriage great. But it all pays off in way higher multiples then what I could have dreamt of.

The next day we visited L’Universite Laval, where I went for a semester back in winter of 1999 to study French. This is where the super surreal part happened, being in the commons area again but this time with my family, 26 years later. And then going down into the underground tunnels and looking around. I can’t thank my family enough for letting me indulge in this nostalgia trip. But I think they really enjoyed it too. I figure that my time is running out with Jack, to shape him in the ways I’ve been shaped. Like, I admire Thomas Jefferson and renaissance men. I like to be pretty good at a wide variety of subjects, like playing a sport, playing a musical instrument, speaking another language, etc. I think that actually being submersed in a culture with a foreign language, and hearing everyone talk differently, hopefully keeps his mind open. I mean, it’s so easy to get into an Us vs Them mentality, especially in politics, that it really helps to be around Them and put names to the faces, to make Them all real three dimensional people.

The drive back to Montreal was fraught with hilarity, when we again stopped at a Tim Hortons, hoping to recreate our previous enjoyable experience. Only this time there was no kiosk, so I ham-handed my way in French to order everything. The wife didn’t get the second salad we ordered, so I tried to tell the girl making them that we were missing one. She spoke no English at all. It’s hard to use my typically Midwest disarming, charming personality when there is a 100% language barrier. I’m sure I came across as some rude Anglo. But you know, it takes courage to speak another language. It doesn’t always go so well. Live and learn.

In Montreal we stayed at the work Embassy Suites ever, like not even a typical ES hotel. And all the stores and restaurants were closed for Easter. But we had a great diner in the hotel.

All in all it was a great, fabulous trip. It was a weird time to visit Canada, given all the politics going on. But we never saw or heard any of it. The US economy is crap now, with all of Trump’s Tariffs. And it’s going to get worse. But then it will get better. And that’s the part that scares me, the getting better part. Because what will our country look like at this point? We may have more American products to choose from, but will they be again good? If businesses have protections in place (like tariffs) then there’s really no impetus for them to compete and improve. Like with my new 3D printer I got from China. I’d rather buy these Rolls Royce of a printer from China than an AMC Pacer of a printer from the US.