Mont Tremblant

 We decided to head to Quebec for a short holiday to celebrate our anniversary.  I'm pretty sure our anniversary is some date in late May.  Since we are retired, booking from Sunday to Friday makes sense.  It is less crowded and sometimes cheaper during the mid-week.  All was set when I received news that my aunt had passed away and the celebration of life was scheduled for Saturday, the day after our stay in Mont Tremblant.  Strange how events transpire!

Mont Tremblant is a 4 season destination, especially since they host an Ironman event.  There were a plethora of hikers, runners and bikers present, even during the mid-week.  And for good reason.  Tremblant boasts some incredible biking and hiking trails.  There is a big ski hill, for which it is predominantly known, reaching a height of 932 meters.

View from the top.  Yes, that is snow!

Upon arriving in Mont Tremblant, I phoned my uncle.  He is 92 years old and lives year-round in Mont Tremblant.  We drove over to his house for a chat and to plan a meal out on the town later in the week.  I punched his address into my car and found out he lived 2 houses from the condo we were renting.  Strange coincidence!

What to do on our first full day at Tremblant?  You guessed it!  We hiked to the top.  Not sure why we did not bring hiking poles, but without them I was not prepared to hike down the mountain.  Fortunately, there is a knee-saving gondola.  Funny item about the gondola...  They charge less to descend than to ascend, however there is still a charge for taking it to the bottom of the mountain.  In rather deplorable French, I asked the attendant where we can purchase tickets for the descent.  Perhaps I looked a little haggard.  Perhaps he noticed that we are no longer youngsters.  He asked (in English, my French did not fool him at all) if we had hiked to the top.  After saying "yes", he motioned for us to get on the gondola for free!

The Ski Village

The hike was tough but not "911" level.  The views along the trails are beautiful.  Since we hiked in late May we encountered a few blackflies, but nothing a shot of insect repellant can't handle.  As would be expected, prices in the restaurant at the top are expensive.  Nickie had a beer, but I was not inclined to pay $32 for a half liter of horrible red wine.  To be honest, wine in the area restaurants is expensive, but typically quite good.

Speaking of the area restaurants, we were surprised at how good the food was.  I think this was a backlash of having been in Cuba, but almost every meal we ate out was topnotch.  There was a fully stocked kitchen in the condo, so we also had a few meals "in".

Next on the itinerary was hiking on the Mont Tremblant park.  This is not one of those cozy little parks, but spans over 1500 square kilometers.  The trails are well marked, but I would advise staying on the trails.  Getting lost is not a good idea in the area!  We hiked "La Roche" trail, which boasts some beautiful views of Lac Monroe.

Lake Monroe

Another hiking area near Mont Tremblant is called Domaine Saint-Bernard.  We didn't see any large shaggy dogs.  Again, beautiful well marked trails abound in this private protected habitat.  Saint-Bernard has less elevation than in the Mont-Tremblant park - a good option for a recovery hike.

That's a BIG rock!

On Friday we drove to Montreal and attended my aunt's celebration of life the next day.  The drive back to Barrie was quiet, with only sporadic congestion along the 401 and the 404.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the 401 near Toronto, think of a multilane road designed for upwards of 400,000 cars.  Then put 8,000,000 cars and trucks on it and you have an idea of the congestion...

We have nothing planned for the summer, although we will likely make a few lighting-quick forays into the wild, when time permits.  My house in Creemore is up for sale, although the current real estate market is slow.  How slow?  Apparently the Toronto market is the slowest since 1990.  Once uncertainty surrounding the US tarifs is resolved, it is expected to rebound.  In the meantime, I'm getting tired of maintaining the property while there are no showings!

Cheers!