By William Crooks
In 1998, three friends and I decided it would be fun to hike Mt. Washington in New Hampshire at the end of our summer at Quebec Lodge. In the early 90s, my grandfather and I used to pass through the Beebe border, to play golf in Newport, with a simple smile and a wave; the U.S. border guards looked differently upon four shabby-looking teenaged boys driving in a barely road-safe car. You see, the car’s seats were frayed and full of holes, leading the guards (in their vigilance) to suspect we could be hiding something in them. So, they fastidiously went to work with exacto knives to make sure. After passing their examination, we were left with such a mess we had to fold everything back in and duct-tape it over for the seats to be usable again. We hiked Mt. Washington, a sublime experience to be recounted another time. Upon our return to Canada, the Canadian customs stopped us once more. “Why are your seats all taped up?” they said. “You must be hiding something in there!” they said. An hour later…
It is 2023. I leave Lennoxville, pass Letourneau’s and Waterville, pass through cute little Massawippi and Burrough’s Falls, then Stanstead and the border (an uneventful, 25-minute wait) and arrive at East Side in Newport to meet four other Good Eggs for a breakfast buffet. East Side is a very large restaurant (easily seating well over 100 people), hugging the shores of, you guessed it, the east side of beautiful Memphremagog Lake. A bakery and gift shop are part of the same building. Its décor is tasteful, including floral arrangements on each table, numerous plants, chandeliers and vintage wooden chairs. It was quite busy; we were seated in the buffet room itself. Large bay windows open out to a stunning view of the lake. Its balcony was closed for the day. Its tables are large, offering a spacious platform for good eating.
