The kids wake up at 6:30. As we’re leaving the appartment today, we do a laundry (there’s also a dryer), eat breakfast and pack our bags and the car. The first stop is Montmorency Falls. A 83M high waterfall.
Zeno is not in a good mood, so we carry him up the stairs, just pausing to make pictures of the powerfull water falling down in between the snow and ice left overs. The river is still half frozen. The suspension bridge on top gives fantastic panoramic views.
The snow became ice, so it’s really slippery. Cleo and Olga can even slide down the stairs next to a look-our point.
As Zeno is super done with the cold, we go back down to our car. The kids re-energise with the help of a huge bag of cashew nuts, their favourite snack.
We continue the drive visiting Ile d’Orleans. It’s where the French started their colonisation. We can access it via a bridge. There are some suger shacks where maple syrup is being produced (in season now) from sugar maple. And there is a chocolate factory with chocolate from Belgium. We buy some for a visit later this trip.
We take some pictures of Quebec’s skyline, tour the island and notice many apple trees, vinyards and older houses (19th century).
Back on the main land Tim drones the waterfall, we do some grocery shopping (still many empty shelfs), and notice a mountain at a distance where white ski paths are noticable. It’s the mountain we’re heading to for our ski adventure tomorrow.
We wanted to do another canyon waterfall walk but even the car park is closed so we skip it completly. So to pass the time we head to the nearby Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area. It’s a nature park famous for its migratory birds, but the 50% discount and empty parking space is not very promising. There is an ice cold wind and there seems to be no single living thing in the ice fields around us.
After a short toilet stop, where we see a yellow bird, we defy the cold and walk to the bird center. Luckily the road is ice free. Zeno hates the cold and had to be carried the full 2km. We start to regret we did not take the Deuter with us. The bird center is closed. We just see many bird houses and some birds of prey circling above.
The way back is even colder as the headwind is even stronger. We’re happy we made it back to the car and drive to our next holiday house.
It’s a cabin at the foot of the mountain we saw earlier today. We’re on the first floor and there is only one bed. We cannot find the booking advertisement anymore as we wonder how four people should sleep here. The couch cannot be turned into a bed. The only thing we can do is putting some blankets on the floor and hope the kids won’t mind tonight.
Luckily they are distracted by the pool and hot tub. Cleo swims some laps in the big but cold pool. Another family already occupies the hot tub. But as Zeno is shiffering, we join the family and Cleo makes friends with Constance, the 4-year-old girl.
We’re back home at 18, cook noodles and hope for a good night sleep as tomorrow promises to be anotber intense and cold day.
We look up the advertisements for the holiday park and find that even the studios here should have an extra bed. So we examine the closet behind the couch again. It was locked. When we unlock the closet a bed comes out so everybody can sleep safe and sound tonight, dreaming of snow and ice. It will be minus 13 tomorrow morning….
