For our Thanksgiving trip this year we drove up to Quebec City please accept the following as a review of same (sorry I am still in work mode :o) )
Friday morning we started out right on time at 8:00ish!
The weather on the drive up was mostly dry, we ran into some snow around Lake Placid/Elizabeth Town, but nothing too bad all in all we were on the road for about 8 hours or so, that is including a wait about an hour long to get over the border, there were only 2 booths open!
But it was well worth the drive, because it was amazing up there! When we got into Old Quebec City it took us a few tries around the block to actually find the hotel we were staying at, then we checked into the hotel, dropped off our stuff and went out to find somewhere to eat!
Our room at the Hotel Champlain...Note the fire place, jacuzzi and flat screen/hi-def TV!
Downstairs in the lobby and breakfast nook
Some pictures we took walking through the city after dinner, it was absolutely magical with the lights and the snow coming down!
Saturday morning we headed out of town to see Sainte Anne de Beaupre, which is an amazing 350 year old church that seemed to be something straight out of Europe, it was just beautiful, the pictures do not even come close to doing it justice. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but it is still an active church and there were people praying and we didn't want to disturb them.
On the way back to town we stopped at Montmorency Falls which is a waterfall that was literally on the side of the road, it was pretty neat
After the falls we went back to the hotel to drop off the truck then we went out on the town to do some exploring and geocaching! We found all 6 caches we had book marked for the trip which I think is a record for us to find in one day, plus it took us to some interesting landmarks in the city, it was a blast!
Hotel Frontenac - the most photographed hotel in the world...
And some caching pictures...
Well this one isn't exactly a caching picture, I saw it on our way to one of the caches and couldn't resist snaping a shot...
The cache that was here was under the fountain, we learned later on our carriage ride that this fountain was sent from the French government to Quebec City as a gift for their 400th anniversary this past summer
Doing a cache called Le quartier des Irlandais
Matt trying to get our bearings...Little did he know he was standing right ontop of the cache...
Me signing the log book for La chaussée des Écossais which was our last cache of the day and almost right across the street from our hotel!
A beautiful building I had thought was a church...but apparently not it was originally used as a jail!
When we were done with the caching we went back to the hotel for a bit then we went out and found a horse drawn carriage ride, which was fabulous! It was nighttime and it had just started snowing so everything was beautiful, the streets and the lights, it was magical! Our driver was great, he was knowledgeable and funny, but not too goofy, and the horse was just beautiful (and huge!). The ride was about an hour long and took us past some more interesting landmarks and took us back past some of the places we saw when we were caching and explained more about those places. After the ride was over we went and found some food at a pub, we did a little shopping (apparently the shops all close up 7 on Saturday's in the winter!) but ended up turning in early anyway since it was such an exhausting day!
Saturday Night shots...
Parliament (taken from the carriage)
First trial run for the Empire State Building
Random Alley Art, there were sculptures like this placed in alleys all over, it was kinda neat...
And that was pretty much our trip! It took us a bit longer to get home than to get up there because we ran into some snow that seemed to slow traffic up alot, but it was nice to get home and sleep in a bed that was not rock hard and have Sirius at our feet :o) But we would go again, maybe in the summertime though, Matt likes the warm and it would be nice to see some of the amazing fountains that they have with water running through them.
Friday morning we started out right on time at 8:00ish!
The weather on the drive up was mostly dry, we ran into some snow around Lake Placid/Elizabeth Town, but nothing too bad all in all we were on the road for about 8 hours or so, that is including a wait about an hour long to get over the border, there were only 2 booths open!But it was well worth the drive, because it was amazing up there! When we got into Old Quebec City it took us a few tries around the block to actually find the hotel we were staying at, then we checked into the hotel, dropped off our stuff and went out to find somewhere to eat!
Our room at the Hotel Champlain...Note the fire place, jacuzzi and flat screen/hi-def TV!
Downstairs in the lobby and breakfast nook
Some pictures we took walking through the city after dinner, it was absolutely magical with the lights and the snow coming down!
Saturday morning we headed out of town to see Sainte Anne de Beaupre, which is an amazing 350 year old church that seemed to be something straight out of Europe, it was just beautiful, the pictures do not even come close to doing it justice. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but it is still an active church and there were people praying and we didn't want to disturb them.
On the way back to town we stopped at Montmorency Falls which is a waterfall that was literally on the side of the road, it was pretty neat
After the falls we went back to the hotel to drop off the truck then we went out on the town to do some exploring and geocaching! We found all 6 caches we had book marked for the trip which I think is a record for us to find in one day, plus it took us to some interesting landmarks in the city, it was a blast!Hotel Frontenac - the most photographed hotel in the world...
And some caching pictures...
Well this one isn't exactly a caching picture, I saw it on our way to one of the caches and couldn't resist snaping a shot...
The cache that was here was under the fountain, we learned later on our carriage ride that this fountain was sent from the French government to Quebec City as a gift for their 400th anniversary this past summer
Doing a cache called Le quartier des Irlandais
Matt trying to get our bearings...Little did he know he was standing right ontop of the cache...Me signing the log book for La chaussée des Écossais which was our last cache of the day and almost right across the street from our hotel!
A beautiful building I had thought was a church...but apparently not it was originally used as a jail!
When we were done with the caching we went back to the hotel for a bit then we went out and found a horse drawn carriage ride, which was fabulous! It was nighttime and it had just started snowing so everything was beautiful, the streets and the lights, it was magical! Our driver was great, he was knowledgeable and funny, but not too goofy, and the horse was just beautiful (and huge!). The ride was about an hour long and took us past some more interesting landmarks and took us back past some of the places we saw when we were caching and explained more about those places. After the ride was over we went and found some food at a pub, we did a little shopping (apparently the shops all close up 7 on Saturday's in the winter!) but ended up turning in early anyway since it was such an exhausting day!
Saturday Night shots...
Parliament (taken from the carriage)
First trial run for the Empire State Building
Random Alley Art, there were sculptures like this placed in alleys all over, it was kinda neat...
And that was pretty much our trip! It took us a bit longer to get home than to get up there because we ran into some snow that seemed to slow traffic up alot, but it was nice to get home and sleep in a bed that was not rock hard and have Sirius at our feet :o) But we would go again, maybe in the summertime though, Matt likes the warm and it would be nice to see some of the amazing fountains that they have with water running through them.
