Last summer I traveled around eastern Canada but so far I have only shared two posts from the trip, oops! The original plan was to make some vlogs, therefore I have a few GBs worth of footage. Turns out I don't enjoy editing video very much nor am I very good at it...but maybe it'll be a future project for me! Here are some photos from exploring old Québec city and Mont Tremblant! View from inside and on the balcony of Saint Joseph's Oratory. Beautiful place, but certainly a different type of grand than the Notre Dame Basilica (see pictures from day 2 post linked below). It sits very high on a steep slope so we decided to skip the hundreds of stairs and drove to the top. Mont-Tremblant Ski Resort is up in the mountains and a beautiful escape from the bustle of Old Québec. I loved all the fun architecture. There are plenty of activities for everyone in the family here. Don't forget to ride the free trolley up the mountain - you get to see some fun views of the resort! I took so many pictures of Old Québec but here are some of of my favorites. Loved this hotel..so beautiful inside and out. It looks like a castle! This is a section of the old … [Read more...]
Canada Trip Day 2: Old Montreal, Quebec
As promised in my first post of this trip series here, I'm going to share some of the beautiful architecture that Old Montreal has to offer. The historic district is filled with cobblestone streets, unique buildings, and a European air. For those of you that don't know, French is the official language here however the city is very much bilingual. Those in the tourism business will gladly help you out in English and you can barely detect a French accent - I was very impressed by this! We didn't venture into Chinatown but from the looks of it, it is worth passing. We parked in a lot right outside of Chinatown because it was in a really convenient location and the flat rate was a much better deal than anything you can find right in the heart of the district. One of my favorite destinations of this whole trip was the Notre-Dame Basilica. It is absolutely stunning and worth the few dollars for admission. When the doors open, you will find lines so long they wind around the building however it moves quickly. Check out the massive organ in the back: The rest of this day we meandered through the old town, ate, and soaked in the sights. Of course, we had … [Read more...]
Canada Trip Day 1
For the second time this summer, I flew cross country to explore again but this time I crossed a border as well. I will be starting a short series to share pictures from my Canada trip to the eastern side of the country here on my blog in the next few weeks. As a Washington resident it is almost imperative to visit Vancouver B.C. and Victoria, however it seems that we are not as keen to visit the other side of Canada - which you will observe to be very very unique. What an adventure this trip was! Today's post is brief and because it took an entire day to get to our first stop (Quebec City). Also, there is no better entertainment on a flight than looking out the window. After a stressful layover in Chicago, I have to say that O'Hare is not a great airport. No airport is better than PDX and I'm not just saying that because we have wonderfully ugly carpet. The airport seems really messy and has no wifi?! Major dealbreaker. Chicago redeemed itself when we finally left and I captured some really beautiful sunset shots. I was ecstatic to arrive to an empty airport after a full day of traveling. Customs was a piece of cake. More importantly, we got to go … [Read more...]