Sheepish at Ulverton Woolen Mill, Quebec

The road to the Ulverton Woolen Mill was bumpy and secluded.

So bumpy and secluded, in fact, that we started to wonder why we were going to there.

Jokes were cracked. Giggles were heard. Where, oh where, in the world were we going? And what, pray tell, would we do once we arrived?

But we had an appointment to keep, a tour to take. In other words, somebody was waiting for us.

We couldn't just no show and return to paved roads. And so we kept going, biased before we arrived. We'd do our duty, do our tour, and then be gone.

However, the woolen mill proved us wrong. This old mill, built in 1849, has been salvaged, restored and turned into a lovely, rural retreat.

The natural falls churned and kicked up bubbly waves. The covered bridge spanning the falls was a visual kick-back to another era. A skinny suspension bridge offered an easy walkway from the old mill, over the angry water, and to an assortment of wooded trails.

The mill itself has been converted into a museum that showcases wool-making techniques of yore. The machines inside, though, are not of the spinning wheel variety. They are leftovers from the industrial revolution - big, noisy and oiled contraptions.

Plus, a cafeteria in the old mill's basement serves up simple box lunches of sandwiches and chips. After our touring and nature walking, we partook of these box lunches on the mill's outdoor patio, surrounded on three sides by a bend in the river.

It was lovely at the old mill. Lovely. Lovely indeed.

As we said our good-byes to the place and gathered up our things to go, we felt sheepish at the jokes we'd been cracking not so long ago. It was a reminder of just how important it is to keep an open mind, whether in travel or in life.