vacation

Way back in February, just before I took an extended vacation from blogging, PJ and I went on a real vacation.  We headed up to Mont Tremblant, Canada, for a week of winter fun... and we had a total blast!  We stayed in a cozy condo with a fireplace, and we had no internet or phones for the week.  We took tons of pictures of our adventures, here's a sampling:

As you can see, Mont Tremblant is BEAUTIFUL!  I insisted on stopping all the time to take pictures of the scenery.  We had clear blue skies, days when the sun broke through the clouds, and LOTS of snow :-)

We spent most of our days snowboarding, unfortunately that meant one day PJ sprained his ankle pretty bad (that's it in the upper right corner)... even more unfortunately? It happened on Valentines Day!  I yelled at him, it went something like this: I have been skiing and snowboarding for over 20 years and NOBODY with me has ever been taken down the mountain by Ski Patrol, until you!!  I was pretty bummed, but since it wasn't broken, PJ powered through and we still had more days of snowboarding.  

One night, we went snowmobiling.  It was awesome, riding through the woods with only our headlights to guide us... I even drove my own snowmobile!  

One thing we did a lot of was eat.  Up top you'll see poutine, which is the best idea anyone has ever had.  There was actually a cafe in the village at the base of the mountain that served 20 varieties of poutine and nothing else!  If  you've never had it before, traditionally poutine is french fries, brown gravy, and cheese curds.  We ordered ours with pulled pork and bacon on top... and felt like total piggies!  

Other yummy things included a caramel apple with chocolate and candied nuts, and endless crepes from Catherine's Creperie!  (Seriously, we ate there 5 times, haha).  

The last night we were in town, we treated ourselves to a delicious dinner at Aux Truffes - and we were glad we did!  Both PJ and I tried dishes we had never even heard of before, and we ended our meal with a glass each of Canadian Ice Wine.  When the wine got to our table, we were a little worried because it smelled like a strong whiskey... but thankfully it tasted like a syrupy sweet cider and was the perfect way to finish up the week!

One of my favorite treats was maple taffy, probably because it was an interactive candy treat... above I show the steps to creating a maple taffy lollipop: 1. Pour a strip of hot liquid taffee onto the snow; 2. After 45 seconds, place your stick firmly onto the edge of the candy strip; 3. Roll it up! 4. Enjoy your lollipop of mapley/snowy goodness, YUM!

Probably the coolest, most special things we did on our trip was going dogsledding.  We spent a whole morning with the dogs, helping to get them harnessed,  feeding them biscuits, and driving the sleds!  PJ and I each drove for part of the ride, and we both loved it so much.  If you ever have a chance to get out on a dogsled, do it :-)

Another place we went was the Spa Scandinave, which there are no pictures of (we weren't allowed to have electronic devices on us!)  The spa itself was a cluster of small buildings in the woods, with outdoor hot tubs and cold pools in the private courtyard.  All we really wanted were massages, but what we got was a relaxed outdoor evening - complete with a family of deer that roamed the grounds.  

If you're planning a winter vacation for next year, think about heading to Tremblant.  I could go on forever about the beautiful mountain, the friendly people, and the delicious food... but I won't.  If you'd like to see a few more pictures, you can check them out here.

<3 barb