After Katy's rave reviews of Valcartier from Lyla's school trip on the eve of COVID, we decided to book a winter wonderland trip up there with Katy's family. Again we lucked out on the timing, just as Omicron's prevalence nose-dived in the US and Canada. Border restrictions, mask mandates, and proof-of-vax requirements were all in effect but aside from foggy glasses they didn't impact our trip. It was seriously cold and snowed every day, but the Quebecois carry on fine in the harsh conditions, and once we adjusted our gear, so did we.
I love the COVID tracking from the metro Boston wastewater - ie the poop report. It tracks perfectly with community testing of individuals and here, on the day we left for our trip, we were reassured to see that virus levels had returned to baseline
We wanted to find winter on this trip, and leaving on a freakishly warm day let us experience a 60-degree drop in temperature in 18 hours.
We stopped midway up in Vermont, now the 45th state that I've spent the night in. DE, MS, KS, AR, and AK remain.
Crossing the border was a breeze. We had our negative molecular tests ready and registered in the Canadian travel portal. We prepared a quarantine plan by identifying a hotel that we could stay at for 14 days in case we tested positive.
The only snag was that border patrol randomly selected Erin for COVID testing upon arrival. (Coming in by plane, from Katy's family 3 out of 4 were selected). Border patrol supplied a kit for PCR testing that required swabbing with video monitoring. We packaged the kit for pickup by a courier at our hotel and could travel freely while awaiting results. The results came in (negative) four days later and after we had returned to the US.
Shopping in a Quebec mall
Destination #1 was outdoor skating in Trois Rivieres. We learned about this place from a NYT article on outdoor skating in Quebec and it looked to have the longest set of trails in the province.
We arrived near sunset and the temp was single digits but we had the place to ourselves. The ice was absolutely perfect because they use Zambonis to maintain it.
In the maze of paths we kept splitting up and finding each other. Katy and I zoomed the 2-mile trail around the perimeter to stay warm. The Marylanders showed their skating skills.
The next day we awoke to snow and checked out Canadian Costco. These cheese curds are pronounced squeak-squeak and the 1.2 lb bag was delicious.
The outdoor gear store Latulippe had all manner of winterwear, including arctic-quality mittens. We settled for sub-arctic mittens and balaclavas.
I bought a Tilley hat on super-sale to protect my head for many years to come
They must have had 15 different types of wool socks
Oh dear, does that say -13 for the overnight low?
Village Vacances Valcartier is 25 min north of Quebec City and like that icon indicates, is known for snow tubing
It also has North America's only ice hotel
Not sure how they can keep the temps set to the high 20s when the overnight low is -13. Apparently the ice hotel was fully booked but we suspect many guests bailed to their warm indoor room.
The ice bar looked amazing but sadly hadn't opened back up yet
The room carvings were also stunning
Hawaii here we come
Morning temp for our full day at Valcartier
All told there were 60 tubing runs. Check out the videos to see how it's done.
We skated again on the outdoor trails
A subgroup made an expedition to Quebec City
The winter carnival was cancelled this year, but when it's on they have kayak races across the river involving portaging across the ice floes
Maple syrup taffy treat
We finished with a meal at a fancy First Nations-inspired restaurant where the emphasis was on fish and game
We planned an outing to western Mass for a day of downhill skiing on what turned out to be the coldest day of the year
Tessie became the first one in our family to receive a downhill skiing lesson
The older girls roamed free on their 2nd and 4th times at a ski hill
I stayed inside and off skis, trying to avoid inhalation of Omicron virions. To me, the crush of humanity at ski resorts ruins the enjoyment of being outdoors in the winter
I'd rather be XC skiing on the questionable snow at our local XC center
We had a couple of weekends of excellent pond ice
It's been a few years since we had a major snow event, but this user-friendly storm arrived on a Saturday and dumped almost 2 feet of fluffy snow to play in
The local XC course had all of its trails open and with our newfound endurance Caroline, Erin, and I cruised around 10K of trails
Caroline has a couple hardcopy textbooks for freshman classes. I remember these lists on the inside covers that tell the stories of the books' owners. On this one, it would appear that Mark Liu may not have been a book steward, but then future caretakers worked some restorative magic and now the book permanently resides with the off-scale grade of "OK". Kind of like us all during the pandemic.
Multitasking at work
Caroline competing in a Science Olympiad competition. Her subjects were Forensics, Environmental Science, and Ornithology.
Half of Erin's badge and patch collection - they're double-sided
Heather's Mom's old spinet was pronounced terminally ill by the piano tuner and needed replacement.
Our neighbor had a baby grand he was selling and presto - change-o, we have a new cat perch
Not quite as fierce as the 3-day blizzard described in "The Long Winter"
Slopestyle
Caroline finally learns to fun of clearing frozen snow in New England
