I've been wanting to check out Mont Tremblant for years. So, when John made reservations to stay at one of the campgrounds at the National Park du Mont Tremblant for the weekend after school got out, I was thrilled. I was especially excited to not be the one to plan this get away. With my nose to the grindstone for the weeks leading up to the end of school, I was happy to not have to pack up the car, get directions, and organize gear. I was also happy to just get in the car after a long school year and explore a new area.
As luck would have it, the day before we were to leave, John's computer was stolen out of his car. When he reported it to the state police, he found out that some guy broke into four cars parked along the Bolton access road that day (he was doing some work on the Outing Club cabin). One of the "victims" actually heard his car windows being smashed and got the perpetrator's license plate number and reported it to the police. For whatever the reason, the police couldn't get to the accused house for several days, and when they searched for the stolen items, none of them were there. Needless to say, John was sick about the whole thing-- as he has never backed up his files, but has handled it like a champ-- claiming it is a "first world problem". So true, but such a shame.
Because John's computer was missing, he wasn't able to print directions to the campground we'd be staying at. When I came home from school on Friday afternoon and looked for the reservation information on his iphone, I noticed that the reservations were for Thursday and Friday night, not Friday and Saturday nights. I also did a quick Google Map search and noticed that it would take a minimum of 4.5 hours to get there, and I also did a quick NOAA weather search and noticed that there was a 60% chance of rain for Saturday. All that being said, we decided to go for it anyway. I quickly jotted the directions from the phone's google map app onto a piece of paper (because roaming charges for cell phones in Canada are crazy pricey) and we set off at 4pm on Friday. Our fatal flaw was not having a map.......
We actually hit traffic in northern Vermont and outside of Montreal, so it took us 3 hours to do what is normally a two hour drive to Montreal. John had heard that Mont Tremblant was 45 minutes north of Montreal, but after a horrible Thai dinner pit stop, it took us three more hours to get to the campground. This has to do with the fact that we took a secondary road with stop light after stop light instead of the interstate that paralleled it (had we had a map, we might have recognized this).
We arrived at the National Park gate and just opening our window to get a park map introduced a nauseating amount of mosquitoes into our car. I don't think we've ever set up a tent as quickly as we did that night! But, the kids transferred flawlessly to their sleeping bags and John and I were able to sit outside and sip a much needed beer.
We woke on Saturday morning to the sound of rain, so decided to just jump in the car and go out for breakfast. We ate at a super quaint cafe where everything on the menu was in french and then decided to head up to Mont Tremblant. The rain continued, but we put our raincoats on and explored the mountain resort. There was a gondola to ride up and down to the base of the mountain where there were shops, an alpine slide, rock climbing, etc.
It was raining, but the kids didn't seem to care. They even happily went on a bike ride around several of the beautiful lakes and villages on an amazing paved bike path.
Because we didn't have campground reservations for Saturday night, we had to pack up our tent and come up with an alternative plan for that night. Just packing up the tent, we got bombarded with more mosquitoes, so we were actually fine with the original snafu. We did go on a hike to a beautiful waterfall before heading out of the park, but the kids needed naps, so we headed out to find a place to stay.
Mont Tremblant was packed because there was a half ironman triathalon on Sunday, so we knew we'd never find a place to stay there. So, we drove twenty minutes south to a cute town called St. Agithe du mont. We eventually found a cheap, but not inexpensive motel. Though the room was less than ideal, there was a heated pool, so the kids were fired up to swim in the rain.
Hazey even went down the big slide!
John was happy because he got to see the Bruins game and we were all happy to be out of the bugs.
On Sunday, we went back to Mont Tremblant, rode our bikes along the bike path, ate crepes and drank wine at a great cafe while the kids played on a playground and we watching world class runners finish the half ironman. And the best part about Sunday..... is that it only took us 3.5 hours to get home!
I love that even though the signs were all wrong about going up north, that we went for it anyway. The kids were amazing travelers and adventurers. They rolled with it and we all had such a great time exploring a new area. Now I'm all fired up to check out the other numerous parks in Quebec. I've always been of the mindset that you have to go far away to get to big mountains and national parks, but a whole part of the world has been opened up to me and I can't wait to plan a trip for next summer.
